When you're in a position such as myself - someone who writes almost exclusively about the passing scheme - how much is there to talk about in the preseason? We all know that both sides of the ball tend to be a bit vanilla in the preseason. And, even if I think that narrative is a tad overblown, the offensive and defensive gameplans don't really dig deep into the playbook.

Yet, even with that, there are always little nuggets to be found. Tiny little "what if" moments that leave you dreaming a bit about the upcoming season. For the Packers, I'd say that's likely more true this preseason than it has been in the past. So let's dive into a couple plays of the Packers running the same concept and dream on the future.

As with all concepts, it goes by many names. I had traditionally referred to it as "Curl/Dig", but I've also seen it commonly referred to as "Spin." Let's call it Spin, because we're into the whole brevity thing. It's a simple two-man concept, where the inside man runs a curl route and the outside man runs a dig (in-cutting) route over top. The idea is to have the curl pin down the slot defender, then wrap the dig over the top and into the space created by the curl. It's something we didn't really see in Green Bay until Jordan Love came into the Eagles game.

In a piece about the Packers comfort in moving to Love as the starting QB, Albert Breer told a story about this specific play. 

At the end of every week in the fall, Matt LaFleur has his quarterbacks—not just the starter, but all of them—go through the offensive plays in the game plan and rank them. It’s an exercise done chiefly to make sure he, as a play-caller, is aware of what his quarterbacks are comfortable with, and what they’re not.

In that Eagles game, LaFleur felt that this concept - Spin - would be perfect against the loose Quarters-based coverage the Eagles were running, but it was a concept that Love was not comfortable with. Over the headset, LaFleur asked if Love would run it. He did, they found success, and they ended up running it a few more times during the quarter. (It's a really interesting piece that you should absolutely check out.)

Since he had success with it against the Eagles, is it a concept that Love feels a little more comfortable with? We won't know that until the regular season starts, but the Packers ran this twice against the Bengals, with both times coming with Sean Clifford under center. There are a few notable things to mention about the way they ran it against the Bengals vs. how they ran it against the Eagles.

The first thing to mention is the alignment they're running it out of. Instead of a true two-man concept from a twins set, they're running it out of trips, which allows them to marry the two-man Spin concept with Cross-Country Dagger.

Dagger is an old two-man concept that you still see every Sunday. The idea is to have the inside man run a go route and clear space for the dig behind it. Cross-Country Dagger takes that concept and turns the go route into a deep crossing route, helping to de-clutter the middle of the field for the dig route.

By running Spin from trips, they're able to get the Cross-Country Dagger action from WR3 (crosser) and WR1 (dig), while the WR2 (curl) still works as the pin-down route for the hook defender.

So that's the first thing. The second thing? Instead of wrapping the dig over the curl, that route veers a little more vertically.

It's a slight difference, but it is a difference. The curl still pins down the hook defender, but pushing more vertically initially gives you more space to work with behind that hook defender. Also, by breaking at a slightly more vertical angle, it can lead the receiver more vertically up the field (as opposed to horizontally) and can help create more YAC (yards after catch) opportunities.

I think it's about time we got to this actual game, yeah?

Play 1: 3rd & 7, 1:21 remaining in the 2nd quarter

In this first clip, they're backed up on their own 11, with Spin coming from the trips formation on the right. Luke Musgrave (88) is running the crosser from the 3, Samori Toure (83) is running the curl from the 2 and Dontayvion Wicks (13) is running the dig from the 1. Clifford hits the top of his drop and gets rid of the ball before Wicks is even out of his break. 

Wicks comes down with the ball and picks up a few yards after the catch. 19 yard gain and the chains keep moving.

Play 2: 1st & 10, 0:47 remaining in the 2nd quarter

Clifford threw an interception after Play 1, so we'll pick this up with the first play of the ensuing drive. The Packers are on their own 34 with time winding down on the first half. They come back with the same concept, with the main difference being the crossing route from the 3 running much deeper (and being run by Tyler Davis this time). Still, the action on Spin is the same, with Toure still on the curl and Wicks on the dig. The hook defender is pinned down by the curl, Wicks bends vertically and finds a really nice alley to run after the catch, to the tune of 47 yards.

The Bengals show a two-high coverage look pre-snap, but rotate to single-high post-snap, with the weakside safety rotating down to rob the middle. That makes this a tighter throw than it otherwise would be (and I don't think Clifford saw him before he released the ball), but that rotation - along with the single-high safety turning a comically big circle on the backend - allowed for a big catch and run.

Did I write too many words about a single concept from a preseason game? Yes. Yes I believe I did. But I hope at least one of you found it as interesting as I did.

If you're interested, I also walked through every throw of Jordan Love's from the game, with an eye on how he did with his decision-making process. 

I'm hyped to be back for another season writing about the Packers passing game on this very fine website. Thanks for being along for the ride.

Albums listened to: Beastie Boys - Paul's Boutique; The Smashing Pumpkins - Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness