Paul Bretl | 11/28/2024
GREEN BAY, Wis. — The Packers will be without Romeo Doubs for their Thanksgiving night matchup with Miami, putting more on the plates of Dontayvion Wicks and Malik Heath.
Doubs sustained a concussion in Green Bay’s win this past Sunday against San Francisco when going up for a ball in the back-right corner of the end zone, coming down hard on his back. As of Tuesday, Doubs was still in concussion protocol.
In a Packers’ offense filled with playmaking potential, as he did last season, Doubs has provided a steady presence week in and week out. His 52 targets are tied with Jayden Reed for the most on the team and he ranks second in yards with 483.
Where Doubs has really thrived is in helping this offense move the chains, oftentimes in those must-have-it third down situations. Of his 34 receptions, 25 have picked up a first down, and Doubs has done that in a variety of ways, from where he’s lined up to what routes he’s asked to run.
“Rome, he’s such a problem if you get him one-on-one with DBs,” said Adam Stenavich. “He’s an excellent route runner. He can win in the quick game. He can win over the middle. He can win on the long ball. So, he’s a really versatile wide receiver.
“The one thing he’s been doing great that people probably haven’t taken notice is his run-blocking. He’s done a really good job in the run game. He’s becoming a total wideout for us and doing a good job. If he’s not out there, we are deep and I think these guys are gonna do a great job if Romeo is not out there, filling in for that.”
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It will, in all likelihood, take a group effort to make up for Doubs’ absence. Reed and Christian Watson will have to continue to come through for the offense on those third downs, while Dontayvion Wicks and Malik Heath likely see more playing time.
Wicks’ sophomore season has been plagued by drops. Pro Football Focus has credited Wicks with six drops this season, tied for the second-most among receivers. He also has the highest drop rate in football at 26.1 percent and his catch rate of 37.8 percent is the second-lowest among qualified pass-catchers.
However, despite the drops and inconsistent play from Wicks, he is still third on the team in targets with 45, and he’s second in touchdowns with four. The reason is that he’s a well-refined route runner with a diverse release package at the line of scrimmage who knows how to create separation, allowing him to win–and get open–at all levels of the field.
To illustrate this, PFF has a metric called separation percentage, which tracks how often a receiver gets open by beating the coverage rather than benefitting from how the defense defends the play. So far this season, Wicks ranks second among all receivers in this category, creating separation on 74.5 percent of his routes.
Against San Francisco, Wicks would catch a pass from Jordan Love over the middle of the field, setting up a catch-and-run opportunity for him, picking up 25 yards. As always it was a smooth route from Wicks, but what hasn’t always been the case was that it was a smooth reception as well. The context of when this happened in the game matters, with Green Bay in control at this point, but hopefully this play can be a catalyst towards more consistency from Wicks in the remaining weeks.
“It was great,” Stenavich said of Wicks’ reception. “It was great. Just for him to go rolling in there over the middle of the field, strong hands catch, get some good YAC. He’s got all the ability in the world, and we trust him. That was a really good thing to see.”
Heath has most often been known for his willingness and ability as a blocker in the run game. But the point of emphasis for him this offseason was fixated on his route running to pair that element with his already strong pass-catching hands.
The Packers have seen this growth from Heath throughout the regular season in practices, but we got a glimpse of those aspects on display late in the fourth quarter of this past Sunday’s game. With the Packers at the three-yard line, Heath’s release at the line of scrimmage helped him gain enough separation against the cornerback for Love to throw the ball up to his in the back left corner of the end zone. Heath then went up and picked the ball out of the air with “violent” hands.
“He’s done a really good job,” Stenavich said of Heath. “Malik’s always had really good hands. Big thing this offseason was him working on his routes, working on his drop steps and all that stuff. Just being violent when he catches the ball and he’s made some great plays in practice.
“He’s just one of those guys that’s just been biding his time and waiting for his opportunity. We’ll see this Sunday–see him out there in a little bigger role probably.”
Awaiting the Packers on Thursday night is a Dolphins’ pass defense that has been quite stingy this season when it comes to eliminating big passing plays. This is a product of the players that they have on the back end, led by cornerback Jalen Ramsey, along with this being a defensive scheme that disguises their coverages with the best of them.
The 6.1 yards per pass attempt surrendered by the Dolphins’ secondary is the fifth-lowest mark in football this season. They’ve also given up just 27 explosive pass plays–or plays of 20-plus yards–which is tied for the second-fewest in football.
“I think all across the board, they’ve got really good players, especially in the back end,” said Jordan Love of the Dolphins’ defense. “It’s tough, because on such a short week, this is a defense that, they’ve got a lot of stuff in their arsenal in terms of coverages, pressures.
“In a game, they’re mixing up their calls and do a bunch of different looks. It’s a game you’ve got to be focused in and dialed in on all the pre-snap tells you might get and just seeing what they’re getting to post-snap. They’re a very good defense. We talked about in the beginning of the week, they’re top-10 in almost all the categories. So definitely a really good challenge coming here Thursday.”
By Love’s own admission, and as we see on Sunday’s he wants to push the ball downfield. He trusts his arm and he trusts his receivers to make the plays. This week, however, could provide Love, LaFleur, and the offense as whole a test of their patience. This may be one of those games where leaning on the run, taking the checkdown, or continually targeting the short to intermediate parts of the field may be a requirement to moving the ball consistently against Miami.
Then, if the Packers can eat their vegetables and move the ball steadily in that capacity, it could then open up some downfield opportunities for Love and the passing game to try to capitalize on.
“It just comes down to understanding what the defense is trying to do, seeing the coverage and obviously post snap recognizing if they’re bluffing or doing any disguise,” Love said of the defense. “After that, it just turns into finding completions. Obviously we want to push the ball downfield and exploit whatever coverage they might be in, but if we don’t have a great play, just understanding where I need to go and finding those checkdowns for sure.”