Packer Central

YAC Attack Makes Packers’ Passing Game a Real Pain

While Jordan Love is a threat to strike deep at a moment’s notice, the Packers’ pass catchers have dominated after the catch.

Bill Huber

Green Bay Packers tight end Tucker Kraft (85) makes a catch against the defense of Miami Dolphins linebacker Jordyn Brooks.
Green Bay Packers tight end Tucker Kraft (85) makes a catch against the defense of Miami Dolphins linebacker Jordyn Brooks. / Wm. Glasheen -Imagn Images
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GREEN BAY, Wis. – The Green Bay Packers made the Miami Dolphins look silly on Thursday night because quarterback Jordan Love stretched their defense like Silly Putty.

Over the course of the season, no quarterback has thrown deep with greater frequency than Love. Against the Dolphins, however, a big percentage of his passing yards came after the catch.

That ability to stretch the defense vertically while picking up a bunch of what coach Matt LaFleur calls “leaky yards” on underneath passes could make the Packers’ passing attack double trouble down the stretch.

“When you’re running guys deep, the defense has to respect that,” Love said on Sunday, four days before a Thursday night showdown at the Detroit Lions. “Then if they do, they’re going to stay on top and it’s definitely going to create more room from the second and third levels.

“So, that’s when you can find those underneath guys. You make one guy miss, there’s a lot of room between you and the next man. That’s what we try to take advantage of on some of those plays. If they’re not respecting the deep balls, we’ll just take the underneath stuff and let these guys go eat.”

Love was 21-of-28 passing for 274 yards against the Dolphins. By our count, 190 yards came after the catch with the aid of 11 broken tackles. Both were season highs. That just about matched Pro Football Focus’ tally of 187 YAC and 10 missed tackles.

The leading receivers against the Dolphins were tight end Tucker Kraft (six receptions for 78 yards) and running back Josh Jacobs (four receptions for 74 yards). That’s 152 yards. Those passes went 20 yards downfield.

“Opens up a lot of stuff,” LaFleur said of the team’s ability to turn short passes into big gains. “Those are leaky yards. Nobody wants to give up those, but both those guys are so physical and they’re tough to bring down and, when you do bring them down, you feel them.

“Tuck’s an animal, I think we’d all agree with that – both him and Josh. And it’s not just those two guys. I just love the mentality of our football team. I think our guys, they strain for one another, they fight, they block, and they try to inflict pain, which as a coach you love to see.”

According to PFF, Kraft is 14th at the position with 36 receptions but second with 353 yards after the catch.

“My play style, I think the YAC brings the juice,” Kraft said after the Miami game, when his six receptions provided 61 after the catch.

“When someone sees me run someone over or break a tackle and keep going, everyone’s on the sideline jumping up and down. That brings energy and it moves the sticks, too. Positively, I would say my greatest attribute as a tight end is my ability to move with the ball after the catch. And I like to do it.”

Among the 44 tight ends with at least 20 targets, Kraft is No. 1 in YAC per catch by a full 2 yards – 9.8 for Kraft, 7.8 for Isaiah Likely and nobody else with even 7.0.

Over the last decade, only two tight ends have averaged more YAC in a season: the 49ers’ George Kittle in 2018 and the Jaguars’ Marcedes Lewis in 2015.

“It’s awesome. It’s awesome to see,” Love said of Kraft. “I think it gives everybody juice. And like we talk about, I don’t think it’s not fun for a defender trying to tackle in the cold weather. Tuck, he’s another guy who loves that contact and loves trying to run guys over. So, it just gives everybody a little bit of juice when you do that.”

Thanks in part to his highlight-reel cut against the 49ers, Jacobs among 40 running backs with at least 20 targets ranks fifth with 11.1 YAC. Of his 74 yards against Miami, he gained 71 YAC with seven missed tackles.

It’s not just Kraft and Jacobs. Of the 100 receivers who have been targeted at least 27 times, Jayden Reed is seventh with 7.4 YAC per catch.

According to SportRadar, the Packers are fourth with 6.5 YAC per catch and second with 11.2 receptions per broken tackle. Dontayvion Wicks has caught only 21 passes but he’s broken eight tackles.

The Lions have missed the 12th-fewest tackles and allowed the 18th-most YAC.

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Bill Huber
BILL HUBER

Bill Huber, who has covered the Green Bay Packers since 2008, is the publisher of Packers On SI, a Sports Illustrated channel. E-mail: packwriter2002@yahoo.com History: Huber took over Packer Central in August 2019. Twitter: https://twitter.com/BillHuberNFL Background: Huber graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, where he played on the football team, in 1995. He worked in newspapers in Reedsburg, Wisconsin Dells and Shawano before working at The Green Bay News-Chronicle and Green Bay Press-Gazette from 1998 through 2008. With The News-Chronicle, he won several awards for his commentaries and page design. In 2008, he took over as editor of Packer Report Magazine, which was founded by Hall of Fame linebacker Ray Nitschke, and PackerReport.com. In 2019, he took over the new Sports Illustrated site Packer Central, which he has grown into one of the largest sites in the Sports Illustrated Media Group.