{"id":39505,"date":"2025-12-11T13:06:14","date_gmt":"2025-12-11T13:06:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=39505"},"modified":"2025-12-11T13:06:14","modified_gmt":"2025-12-11T13:06:14","slug":"former-strength-of-packers-could-return-just-in-time-for-broncos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=39505","title":{"rendered":"Former Strength of Packers Could Return, Just in Time for Broncos"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure data-player-type=\"mini\"><\/figure>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/images2.minutemediacdn.com\/image\/upload\/c_crop,x_2030,y_186,w_1431,h_804\/c_fill,w_2160,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto\/images%2FImagnImages%2Fmmsport%2Fpacker_central%2F01kc4x9egm37xxk87kr5.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-1\">GREEN BAY, Wis. \u2013 Could the YAC attack be back for the Pack?<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-2\">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.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-3\">Through Love\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-4\">The next week, arguably the NFL\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-5\">In Sunday\u2019s huge NFC North victory over the Chicago Bears, the YAC attack didn\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-6\">If it\u2019s the start of an upward trend, the timing is perfect considering the defensive power of this week\u2019s opponent, the Denver Broncos.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-7\">\u201cThere\u2019s just not really a weak link out there,\u201d Packers coach Matt LaFleur said on Wednesday.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-8\">Sunday\u2019s game against Chicago was the team\u2019s best day from a YAC perspective since the Pittsburgh game, when Kraft went berserk and 245 of Love\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n<ul id=\"inline-text-9\">\n<li>Carolina: 101 yards after the catch, 3.9 YAC per catch.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul id=\"inline-text-10\">\n<li>Philadelphia: 71 yards after the catch, 3.6 YAC per catch.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul id=\"inline-text-11\">\n<li>N.Y. Giants: 29 yards after the catch, 2.2 YAC per catch<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul id=\"inline-text-12\">\n<li>Minnesota: 59 yards after the catch, 4.2 YAC per catch.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul id=\"inline-text-13\">\n<li>Detroit: 39 yards after the catch, 2.2 YAC per catch.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul id=\"inline-text-14\">\n<li>Chicago: 95 yards after the catch, 5.6 YAC per catch.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p id=\"inline-text-15\">Kraft has proven impossible to replace. Among all players targeted at least 40 times, he\u2019s No. 1 in the NFL with 10.8 YAC per catch, according to Pro Football Focus. Even after missing five games, he\u2019s fourth among tight ends in total YAC.<\/p>\n<figure><figcaption><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/images2.minutemediacdn.com\/image\/upload\/c_crop,x_117,y_0,w_2287,h_2287\/c_fill,w_720,ar_1:1,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto\/images\/ImagnImages\/mmsport\/packer_central\/01kc4xfb1z0hqe8m5ggp.jpg\" alt=\"Green Bay Packers Green Bay Packers receiver Jayden Reed catches a pass against Chicago Bears safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson.\" \/><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p id=\"inline-text-17\">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.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-18\">\u201cHe\u2019s a YAC machine,\u201d LaFleur said last week. \u201cHe does a really good job, whether it\u2019s handing him the ball, flipping him a screen, getting him downfield in a pass concept, he does a really good job after the catch.\u201d<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-19\">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\u2019t have to be used only on deep routes.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-20\">\u201cIf you watch me on that play, as soon as he caught the ball, I had my hands in the air,\u201d running back Josh Jacobs said. \u201cI was like, \u2018Oh, he\u2019s gone.\u2019 He didn\u2019t even look like he was running, which is even crazy in itself. I\u2019m not betting against him in a foot race against anybody.\u201d<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-21\">Before Sunday\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-22\">\u201cYeah, you\u2019d love to,\u201d use him more in that role, LaFleur said on Monday, \u201cit\u2019s just a lot of times it\u2019s dictated by coverage, and if you\u2019re not getting those coverages, it\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-23\">\u201cThe 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.\u201d<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-24\">It won\u2019t be easy against the Broncos. According to Pro Football Reference, they\u2019ve 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.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-25\">YAC could be a pivotal component for the Packers. While quarterback Jordan Love loves throwing the ball downfield, the Broncos\u2019 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.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-26\">\u201cHonestly,\u201d Watson said after the game, \u201cI think we\u2019ve just got a lot of guys who can make those plays. I don\u2019t really think it matters who\u2019s out there. I think we\u2019ve got a lot of dogs, a lot of guys who play with a lot of confidence and 10\u2019s 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\u2019s called.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"inline-text-28\"><\/h2>\n<figure><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>GREEN BAY, Wis. \u2013 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<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":39506,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-39505","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-green-bay-packers"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Former Strength of Packers Could Return, Just in Time for Broncos - Breaking News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=39505\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Former Strength of Packers Could Return, Just in Time for Broncos - Breaking News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"GREEN BAY, Wis. \u2013 Could the YAC attack be back for the Pack? 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