The Green Bay Packers didn’t get a massive payoff on this sequence, but the setup was the fun part. Over three plays, they built toward a clean answer to a possible Vikings blitz, and the final snap turned into a quick slant for Matthew Golden [0] with just enough room to keep the drive moving.
It starts with a look the Packers had been dabbling in against Minnesota: Dash motion. The 49ers used a version of it heavily in their drubbing of the Rams in Australia, and while it’s been called a few different things - “Banana” being the favorite - this article uses Dash.
The motion is long and looping behind the line before the blocker comes downhill at the snap. It’s a little like Orbit motion mixed with a tight end coming across to block.
Against the Vikings, Green Bay used it in a small package, and the results were uneven. But the structure was clear.
Mark Redman [86] was usually the motion man, and his job was to kick out the End Man On Line while Jacob Monk [62] pulled from left guard. The running back would take the handoff and go behind that action.
The Packers hit one nice run early with it, though the overall returns were only so-so.
Still, a pattern showed up. When the Packers lined up with Redman on one side and used Dash, the outside defender from that side started to come hot.
That tendency showed up again on 1st & 10 with 7:23 left in the third quarter. Green Bay came out in the same general look, with Redman as the outside tight end in YY Wing on the right and motioning across. Again, Redman kicked out the EMOL, Monk pulled, and Isaiah Rodgers [2] came on the blitz.
Then came the wrinkle.
On the next drive, with 1:24 left in the third quarter, the Packers changed the presentation. Josh Whyle [81] was the Dash motion man this time, and Green Bay was no longer in YY Wing. Instead, Matthew Golden [0] was split wide outside where Whyle had started, giving the Packers a chance to test whether Minnesota had an automatic boundary blitz built into the call.
If that was the check, Green Bay had the answer ready.
Rodgers disguised it well until the snap, then shot straight toward the backfield. Jordan Love [10] caught it right away and delivered a fast throw to Golden on the slant. Eric Wilson [55] was buzzing over, but he couldn’t arrive in time, and Golden slipped under the tackle for a few extra yards.
That’s the whole appeal of this kind of sequence: the first two snaps are the setup, and the third is the punch.
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