Jordan Love, Aaron Jones Give Packers Proven Formula to Beat Cowboys

With Jordan Love and Aaron Jones running at peak efficiency, the Green Bay Packers have a chance to score a big upset against the Cowboys in their wild-card playoff game.

GREEN BAY, Wis. – Jordan Love has been great down the stretch. He’s been even greater since the return of Aaron Jones.

Combined, they give the Green Bay Packers more than just a fighting chance to upset the Dallas Cowboys. Rather, they give the Packers a proven formula to get it done.

Fully back from a knee injury, Jones during his final three games of the regular season rushed for 127 yards against Carolina, 120 yards against Minnesota and 111 yards against Chicago.

During those same three games, Love had three total touchdowns vs. the Panthers, four total touchdowns vs. the Vikings and two touchdowns while snapping the team’s longest streak without a 300-yard passing game in more than three decades against the Bears.

Not coincidentally, because of their combined impact, the Packers won their final three games of the season to sneak into the playoffs.

“I think we’ve been playing well off each other,” Love said this week. “With him back in that run game, he’s made some huge plays, opened up the run game in an explosive way and, obviously, I think it’s helped the pass game, just helping open things up and make the defense try and cover both the run and the pass.

“I think it’s awesome having him out there. He’s been doing a really good job, the O-line’s been doing a really good job. I think it’s helping us play complementary ball with the run, the pass and tie things in, make things look like each other.”

The “make things look like each other” is a staple of a Matt LaFleur-coached offense. Put simply, Running Play A looks like Bootleg Pass B or Play-Action Pass C.

With Jones at his best the last few weeks, those lookalike plays have been incredibly effective.

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The last three games, according to Pro Football Focus, Love is 20-of-26 passing for 299 yards on play-action passes. Of 32 quarterbacks with at least 50 total dropbacks, Love on play-action ranks seventh in completion percentage (76.9), sixth in yards per attempt (11.5), fifth in yards (299) and fifth in passer rating (139.7).

The return of vintage Jones has raised a quality play-action attack to new heights. With Jones in and out of the lineup and AJ Dillon not bringing an explosive element, Love among 32 quarterbacks with at least 250 total dropbacks ranked sixth in completion percentage (72.3), sixth in yards per attempt (9.6), third in yards (1,348) and sixth in passer rating (114.5).

The jumps in yards per attempt and passer rating are impossible to ignore.

“I think any time that you’re running the football more effectively, it opens up the passing game, whether it’s through play-action or dropback,” coach Matt LaFleur said. “Just the threat of the run game will dictate some of the coverages that you may see. Typically, more people are going to load the box and that creates opportunities on the perimeter.”

Over the last three weeks of the season, Jones ranked first with 359 rushing yards. Of 34 running backs with at least 28 carries, according to PFF, Jones was third with 5.7 yards per carry, first with 18 missed tackles and tied for first with 13 carries of 10-plus yards.

Jones’ three-game streak of 110-yard rushing games tied Ahman Green and John Brockington for the longest in-season streak in franchise history.

“Just the way he hits the line of scrimmage is pretty elite in this league,” offensive coordinator Adam Stenavich said. “There’s a few guys that have that ability to hit the line of scrimmage with that speed and just attack the defenders. I love watching him run, I love how he approaches it, I love how he gets off on the snap and just frickin’ hits the holes.

“I love how he gets off on the snap and just frickin’ hits the holes.”

“I don’t have enough great things to say about Aaron Jones, just how he plays and he’s just been such a tremendous asset for our offense. Obviously, we’ve had him the last three games and he’s had 100 yards every game and just makes us two-dimensional, really helps our ground game open things up in the passing game.”

Opening up the passing game will be key on Sunday against a Dallas defense that’s allowed the second-most play-action touchdowns, according to PFF.

Against the Bears, when Love was 8-of-9 for 148 yards on play-action attempts, he threw for 316 yards – the second-best of the season and his career. He was not sacked, though, so the Packers snapped a 34-game streak without a 300-yard net passing game. That was the longest streak since a 53-game stretch between the 1990 and 1993 seasons.

“I’m just so proud of him,” Jones said. “Like I said at the beginning of the season, he had played one game but before he had really gotten a quality number of snaps, people were counting him out, saying he shouldn’t be a quarterback in this league. I could just sit back and smile because he’s proven them wrong.”

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