Break It Down: The Packers' first two "explosive" runs of 2013

As many people will tell you, football games are won on explosive plays. What this means is turnovers, rushes of 15+ yards, or passes of 20+ yards (at least that's what I was always told.) Up until the second quarter of the Washington match, Green Bay had no such run attempts. With Eddie Lacy out with a concussion (thanks, Meriweather), James Starks came in for the Pack, and with the help of two explosive runs, tallied up 100+ yards, a single-game milestone a Green Bay running back hasn't achieved in almost three seasons.

Play 1: James Starks rushes for 20 yards

[1] Green Bay came out in 11 personnel, and Washington came out in nickel, with only six men in the box. Both of the safeties were around 10-13 yards off the line of scrimmage, and the play-side corner was on the line, creating a perfect situation for Starks to run in space.

[2] Here's the end zone view of the tackle box. As you can see, everyone's accounted for, and only T.J. Lang (#71 LG) and Evan Dietrich-Smith (#62 C) were doing something other than a straight block.

[3] At the time of the hand-off, T.J. Lang and EDS were heading to the second level, and #24 from Washington was running to close in on Starks.

[4] Unfortunately for him, Jordy Nelson's leaf the corner to make the tackle and took the safety. On the backside, Evan Dietrich-Smith wasn't able to secure his man.

[5] Out of position, the corner made a run for Starks, who make it to the edge before leaving the corner behind him.

[6] Instead, Starks was tackled (helmet-to-helmet) by Meriweather, who concussed himself on the play.

Play 2: James Starks rushes for a 32-yard touchdown

[1] Unlike the first explosive run, there's no pulling guard, but again it involves Green Bay with 11 personnel and Washington out in nickel. This time, though, Andrew Quarless (the tight end) was in the backfield.

[2] Evan Dietrich-Smith was going to chip the defensive tackle to the right of him before taking on the linebacker, but besides that, everyone was assigned just one man to account for.

[3] At the hand-0ff, Quarless and EDS moved to second level, with all the other offensive linemen engaged in their blocks. What's interesting here is that #24 (highlighted) was running towards the ball, but was paying no attention to the backfield. Instead, he's looking at Jordy Nelson, who would be blocking him on the play.

[4] Nelson secured his block. Quarless secured his block. EDS secured his block. James Starks had nearly twenty yards of space ahead of him.

[5] Then he managed to survive two "tackle attempts" by Washington defensive backs.

[6] And finally a third as he was approaching the end zone.