GREEN BAY, Wis. -- He'll bark out the strangest things; remember "New York Bozo"? He'll change his voice and the pace with which he delivers his words. He's a ventriloquist in full pads.
Teams know it's coming, yet Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers continues to bait them into jumping offside. Oh, and if you're not careful, he'll also catch you with too many players on the field.
Either way, Rodgers has become the king of the free play.
San Francisco 49ers coach Jim Tomsula will remind his players of that in advance of Sunday's game at Levi’s Stadium. But do you think Chicago Bears coach John Fox, Seattle Seahawks coach Pete Carroll and Kansas City Chiefs coach Andy Reid didn't prepare their teams for it?
"I've got a tape that's probably close to a game-tape long of him getting people offside and whipping that ball down the field," Tomsula said this week.
Eight of those calls have come from the first three weeks of this season alone. According to NFLPenalties.com, Rodgers has drawn more offside calls (eight) and caught teams with too many defenders on the field (three) more than any other team or quarterback has this season.
"His ability to process information is as good as I've ever been around, and I've been blessed to be around great quarterbacks," Packers coach Mike McCarthy said. "His ability to see not only what's going on their sideline, watching their communication, their non-verbal communication and their verbal communication, picking up tendencies throughout the game, and being able to apply it to future plays and future situations is very unique."
But free plays are not because of only Rodgers, as McCarthy reminds.
"I think it's a real credit to the whole offense because he's not doing it always with the same people," McCarthy said.
With that in mind, here's a look at what happens on a free play from the perspective of the key personnel involved.
The quarterback
Rodgers' voice starts it all. In Monday night's 38-28 win over the Chiefs, on the 27-yard touchdown pass to James Jones, Rodgers started with his normal cadence: "Green 18. Green 18."
Then, as if the "eight" in 18 was still on the tip of his tongue, he blurted out "hut-hut" as fast as he could. Sure enough, Chiefs right outside linebacker Tamba Hali fired across the line of scrimmage.
"He's very multiple, very good with his voice inflection," Packers backup quarterback Scott Tolzien said.
Tolzien then watched and listened to a replay of it, and even he was in awe.
"Oh, that's good," Tolzien said as Rodgers drew Hali offside. "Like I said, he's multiple. He does a great job of never making it sound the same. There's times even when we're standing behind him [in practice], and we flinch because he does such a good job of it."
It's one thing to pick up 5 free yards. But that's not enough for Rodgers. Six times in those eight offside penalties, he has made the defense pay a much steeper price.
Against the Bears in the opener, he hit Jones for a 34-yard completion. In Week 2 against the Seahawks, he turned it into a 22-yard pass to Randall Cobb, a 29-yard touchdown to Jones and a 52-yard pass-interference penalty on Richard Sherman. Against the Chiefs, there was the touchdown to Jones and another 52-yard completion to him.
"We like to think we can get somebody every single game," Rodgers said.
The receivers
When Cobb sees the line judge or the head linesman throw his flag, one thing crosses his mind: "Get open and catch the ball."
As simple as that?
"As simple as it needs to be," he said.
Said Jones: "If they jump, go. As fast as you possibly can. You go as fast as you can down the field, and he's going to pick where he wants to go with the ball."
But it's not always just a straight go route. Receivers have the option to stick with the route that was called or to freelance.
"It's street ball at that point," said Alex Van Pelt, the Packers' quarterbacks/receivers coach.
The offensive line
None of this happens unless the center snaps the ball before the defensive player gets back on his side of the line of scrimmage. That puts the pressure on Corey Linsley, who often is in the middle of his protection calls when Rodgers is ready to go.
"It took me a little bit of time [to learn it]," the second-year center said. "It's kind of an awareness thing that you've got to develop. The game's kind of got to slow down for you."
He said his job is simple compared to what the rest of the offensive line, especially the tackles, have to do on a free play. In the case of Monday night's touchdown to Jones, it was right tackle Don Barclay, who's filling in for the injured Bryan Bulaga, and left tackle David Bakhtiari.
"They have to deal with Justin Houston and Tamba Hali coming, and they didn't even know the ball wasn't supposed to be snapped," Linsley said, looking at the clip of Jones' touchdown. "Right there, obviously Dave jumped with him and pointed at [Hali]. But Donnie's got the best pass-rusher in the league [Houston], and now he's got to block him when he wasn't ready for him."
Because Rodgers almost always looks deep on the free plays, there's pressure on the line to protect even longer.
"We just know that it's going to be an extended play," right guard T.J. Lang said. "And we know we're probably going to have to protect for four, five, six seconds because he's going to give receivers time to get open."