Time to talk about the AJ Green play

Maybe we shouldn’t be going after AJ Green so hard for not turning around

To the Cardinals fanbase, this infamous play is what sparked the beginning of the 2nd half slide of the Cardinals 2nd half woes.  After this game, the Cardinals dropped the 1st game of the season and Kyler was injured and out an entire month joined by his teammate DeAndre Hopkins.  After this primetime game, 2 pictures were made famous; one funny and one heartbreaking.

AJ Green was blamed for not turning around thus while many fans moved on some fans held this against AJ even when rumors surrounded that there was interest in bringing him back, many fans would’ve preferred moving on.

I supported the signing, to be perfectly honest AJ was Kyler’s best deep threat, not because he’s a burner cause I think it’s obvious he’s not, because he possesses a great combination of height, great hands and even some strength.  When the ball is in the air AJ becomes a basketball player on the field using his 6″4 frame to box out smaller defenders as you will see below.

AJ Green’s stat line in 2021:

54 Catches 848 Yards 3 TD’s 15.7 Ave. That places AJ Green 8th in Ave. 1st on the Cardinals.  Even so, most fans can’t mention AJ without bringing up the play against the Packers.

Looking back on this play there was obvious miscommunication but other things factored in let’s take a deep dive into the play.

The Cardinals are in a 3 by 1 formation with Chase Edmonds as the line back lined up on the boundary side.  They have trips to the field side with Christian Kirk, Rondale Moore, DeAndre Hopkins and AJ Green as the ALERT.

There was no motion by the Cardinals but pre-snap we can tell the Packers are in a 4-2-5 Defense, 5 DB’s, 2 ILB’s,  4 down linemen.  Right before the ball is snapped you can see both ILB’s and the Safety lurking indicating a blitz.  The Packers’ plan was to send 7 to the Cardinals 6, one more than the Cardinals can block in order to rush or disrupt the play.

On the boundary side, you have Rasul Douglas on an island playing 4 yards off the line of scrimmage.  Given the chemistry between Kyler and AJ thus far since Rasul Douglas is playing off AJ Green will probably try to box out the long lengthy CB which, given AJ Green’s lack of speed, would be a smart play.

I replayed the portion of the play when Kyler releases the ball, with Chase picking up the Mike it gives urgency to release the ball and even though Kyler knew where he was going pre-snap he releases the ball without setting his feet, leading to inaccuracy on the throw.

Let me clarify: this play isn’t a fade to the outside.  A fade would be floating the ball to the back of the pylon which means AJ would have to run his route inside then slant his route back outside and hope to get the leverage to be ahead of the defender while hoping the defender makes a play on the ball.  If Rasul was playing press then that would be a good route to run but since he’s playing off you would want inside leverage off a quick throw.

Now, this is where the bad luck comes into play.  Rasul Douglas did a fantastic job keeping his eye on the ball throughout the entire play, never losing concentration and catching the ball behind AJ Green.  That doesn’t happen very often if you have to look behind a defender. CB’s aren’t alert enough to reach while concentrating on the ball.  There’s a huge possibility that Rasul lost sight of the ball during the play as shown below.

Though it’s a split second, in the NFL a split second makes the difference between an interception or catching the ball.  In the infamous picture you notice AJ Green turned inward, of course, that means he did turn around but looking at the play again you see the confusion when he raises his arms turning around to look at Rasul once again.

I think AJ was expecting the ball inside and Kyler rushed the throw, even so, this ball 9 times out of 10 is a throw out of bounds.  Both players are at fault for the miscommunication but to fault this play on AJ alone has been unfair. It really really comes down to bad luck. The play itself was probably a throw away since it was 2nd down with 15 seconds to go down by 3.  It would be smart to throw the ball away as quickly as possible giving your WR a chance at it if it’s off target. Worst case, the Cardinals get another chance on 3rd down or kick the field goal to send it to OT.

I’m proud of what AJ Green has done.  I’m on the record of not being excited when the Cardinals first signed him but I think he’s gonna be a crucial part of the first 6 games of the season while Hop is out.

I would argue AJ will probably be the best deep threat (and I’ll explain in my next article what role Hollywood Brown is most likely going to take). Looking forward to this stacked offense!

For more on Arizona Cardinals wide receivers read Andy Isabella: The Odd Man Out and Greg Dortch: A Hidden Gem