Former Strength of Packers Could Return, Just in Time for Broncos

GREEN BAY, Wis. – Could the YAC attack be back for the Pack?

From the Week 1 victory over the Detroit Lions through the Week 8 comeback win over the Pittsburgh Steelers, Green Bay Packers quarterback Jordan Love was the No. 1 beneficiary of yards after the catch.

Through Love’s first seven games, he ranked sixth in the league with 11.9 yards per completion. Of that, he was first with 6.5 yards after the catch per catch.

The next week, arguably the NFL’s best run-after-catch player, tight end Tucker Kraft, sustained a torn ACL against the Carolina Panthers. With that, the YAC attack disappeared off the face of the earth. The next four games, 35 quarterbacks threw at least 50 passes. No quarterback benefitted less from YAC than Love, with just 3.0 yards per completion.

In Sunday’s huge NFC North victory over the Chicago Bears, the YAC attack didn’t rise from the dead but it definitely came off life support. Love went 17-of-25 passing for 234 yards, including 95 yards after the catch. His 5.6 YAC per completion ranked 15th out of 32 starters.

If it’s the start of an upward trend, the timing is perfect considering the defensive power of this week’s opponent, the Denver Broncos.

“There’s just not really a weak link out there,” Packers coach Matt LaFleur said on Wednesday.

Sunday’s game against Chicago was the team’s best day from a YAC perspective since the Pittsburgh game, when Kraft went berserk and 245 of Love’s 360 passing yards came after the catch. Kraft was injured against Carolina, and the impact was severe. Here are the per-game numbers, according to Pro Football Reference.

Carolina: 101 yards after the catch, 3.9 YAC per catch.

Philadelphia: 71 yards after the catch, 3.6 YAC per catch.

N.Y. Giants: 29 yards after the catch, 2.2 YAC per catch

Minnesota: 59 yards after the catch, 4.2 YAC per catch.

Detroit: 39 yards after the catch, 2.2 YAC per catch.

Chicago: 95 yards after the catch, 5.6 YAC per catch.

Kraft has proven impossible to replace. Among all players targeted at least 40 times, he’s No. 1 in the NFL with 10.8 YAC per catch, according to Pro Football Focus. Even after missing five games, he’s fourth among tight ends in total YAC.

Green Bay Packers Green Bay Packers receiver Jayden Reed catches a pass against Chicago Bears safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson. | Wm. Glasheen/USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

But at least Jayden Reed returned to the lineup against the Bears. He was a nonfactor from a YAC perspective with his four catches for 31 yards including only 3 yards after the catch. But his track record is strong. Last season, 72 receivers were targeted at least 60 times. Reed was sixth with 7.2 YAC per catch.

“He’s a YAC machine,” LaFleur said last week. “He does a really good job, whether it’s handing him the ball, flipping him a screen, getting him downfield in a pass concept, he does a really good job after the catch.”

Perhaps the more noteworthy YAC development on Sunday was Christian Watson, whose 41-yard touchdown catch in the third quarter came almost entirely after the catch. It was a play reminiscent of his long catch-and-run touchdown against the Eagles in 2022 and showed that his rare combination of size and speed doesn’t have to be used only on deep routes.

“If you watch me on that play, as soon as he caught the ball, I had my hands in the air,” running back Josh Jacobs said. “I was like, ‘Oh, he’s gone.’ He didn’t even look like he was running, which is even crazy in itself. I’m not betting against him in a foot race against anybody.”

Before Sunday’s game, Watson in six games had caught 21 passes with just 37 yards after the catch, according to PFF. Against the Bears, his four receptions for 89 yards included 46 after the catch.

“Yeah, you’d love to,” use him more in that role, LaFleur said on Monday, “it’s just a lot of times it’s dictated by coverage, and if you’re not getting those coverages, it’s hard to do. We hit him on a slant early in the game versus a single-high look, and when teams are playing like cloud or even quarters, it can be a lot more challenging to get those completions.

“The one on third down [for the touchdown], that was man coverage, where it was him and Chauncey (Gardner-Johnson), and he did a really good job setting him up and just beat him with speed.”

It won’t be easy against the Broncos. According to Pro Football Reference, they’ve allowed the fifth-fewest yards after the catch and have missed the seventh-fewest tackles. On Sunday, the Raiders averaged 2.2 YAC. In Week 11, though, Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs piled up 181 YAC.

YAC could be a pivotal component for the Packers. While quarterback Jordan Love loves throwing the ball downfield, the Broncos’ league-best pass rush, which is on pace to tie the single-season sacks record, probably will not allow a lot of long-developing plays.

“Honestly,” Watson said after the game, “I think we’ve just got a lot of guys who can make those plays. I don’t really think it matters who’s out there. I think we’ve got a lot of dogs, a lot of guys who play with a lot of confidence and 10’s got a lot of confidence in all of us. It just allows us to go out there and play fast and play free and make plays when our number’s called.”

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