Jet Sweeps Take Flight

With jet sweep-style runs and passes – or the mere threat of them – the Green Bay Packers' offense took off against Minnesota.

GREEN BAY, Wis. – The Green Bay Packers treated the Minnesota Vikings’ defense like a stretchy piece of elastic last week.

On the fourth play of Sunday’s game, Tyler Ervin came in motion and, a split-second after the snap, caught a 2-inch pass from Aaron Rodgers that he turned into a gain of 6. Three plays later, receiver Allen Lazard came in motion, caught a 2-inch pass from Rodgers and gained 9.

On the fifth play of the next drive, Lazard came in motion, took a handoff from Rodgers and outflanked the defense for a gain of 19. In the fourth quarter, Ervin had runs of 21 and 12 yards on jet sweeps. Combined with five long-ball completions from Aaron Rodgers, the Packers had the Vikings pulled from east to west and north and south.

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With the emergence of the speedy Ervin, especially, the jet-sweep runs and flip passes appear to be a big part of Green Bay’s offense. It’s easy to see why. When a receiver runs full speed across the formation before the snap, even the possibility that he might get the ball is enough to freeze the defense for a split-second. That minute moment of a time can be just the difference for a play to be a success or failure.

That it’s quarterback Aaron Rodgers who ultimately decides if the ball is going on the jet sweep or to the running back on a traditional handoff or even a quick pass only adds to the advantage for the offense.

“It’s something that they have to prepare for,” Ervin said. “I think, at the end of the day, the more things they have flashing in front of their face, the more things they have to worry about.”

Ervin looks like a real X-factor with his running back/receiver/returner versatility. He had four touches against Minnesota, the second-most of the five-year pro’s career. His 38 rushing yards crushed his four-year total of 25 yards. His 21- and 12-yard runs were the longest of his career.

“One thing we’re always talking about in the wide receiver room and just in general on offense is blocking for your teammates, especially if you’re not getting the ball or it’s not coming your way,” Ervin said. “So, the blocking is extremely important. We’ve got a whole bunch of guys who are willing to do their part, they’re 1/11th. For me, I’m just going to say it over and over again, I’m glad to be a part of the group.”

Here are three coaches on the upside – or the challenge, depending on the vantage point – of jet sweep-style runs and passes.

Packers offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett, on what jet sweep-style plays do for the offense:

“I think it puts the defense in a bind on how they’re going to adjust. Is it a regular motion? Is it a fly motion? It just gives them so many different things to look at. I think that’s something that a lot of people around the league are doing. There are definitely some advantages as long as you have a plethora of different things you can do out of it. I think that’s so important. It fit this past game, and it’s something that definitely we thought kind of confused them a little bit so we wanted to keep going with the stuff that was working.”

Outside linebackers coach Mike Smith, on how those plays impact the edge defenders:

“It just takes your eyes off it and puts it in the wrong place. You see all different types of stuff, you see guys that do it with the flip play in the run, you’ll see it with some zone-read stuff. Definitely, it slows it down. Just try to stress to my guys that you’ve got to keep your eyes in the right place. That’s not our play to make. That’s really at all positions. That’s why it’s kind of a trend right now in the league, so it’s definitely something that you’ve really got to work.”

Lions coach Matt Patricia, on Green Bay’s jet-sweep usage last week:

“It’s definitely a copycat league, so once something trends the year before, you’re going to see a lot of teams doing it. Certainly, Andy Reid has done a great job of this stuff for a while with misdirection and some of that motion that we saw a little bit from Green Bay last week. A lot of it is what we call ‘eye control’ and making sure that we’re really disciplined of what we’re looking at. Some of that has a purpose, some of it is trying to leverage the defense and get outside and take advantage of the space out there, some of it is a little bit of window dressing, as we like to call it, and try to distract you from what you’re looking at and get you out of a gap or get a little bit more space inside as opposed to keeping everybody down in that area down by the box. It’s something that we’re used to, we’ve been seeing, but I think a lot of people tend to do their offseason projects and offseason study, and now we’ll see a lot more of it because it was successful last year. It certainly is a problem, especially with young players because it is an eye-discipline thing.”