The play that possibly turned Dallas' season

This week, there were plenty of game that were close on the scoreboard. But this week, I am looking at a Primetime match-up between Divisional rivals. At a glance, the NFC East looks like the division nobody want to win. All 4 Teams show flashes of why they might just claim the top spot, but nobody really shows any extended success. Looking both Washington and Dallas, they are both having the seam problem. Scoring points. Dallas currently sit 29^th in Scoring Offence, with Washington at 21th (assisted by the big outing against the Saints). This was evident in Monday Night’s game as the 1^st score didn’t come till around midway thought the 2^nd Quarter, and the Half Time Score sat at 3-3.

The Key Play we are going to take a gander at is a punt return. Its 4^th and 10 on the Dallas 43 with 1:47 on the Game Clock. Dallas have decided to punt the ball away.

As you can see from the picture above, the Redskins have 2 blockers aligned over the Cowboys gunners. This normally suggests they are full focused on setting up a good return. There won’t be too much of a rush from the main part of the Return formation, just enough to hold the Cowboys line in place during the process of the kick. Out of shot, Washington have Desean Jackson as there returner instead of their normal returner. Jackson was a full time returner during his tenure at the Eagles and had a reputation of being a good returner.

 

Special Team doesn’t always get a lot of love in the football world so I will give you some background info.

As a ST Coach on Punt Return, you want a few things. Clean Catch, Pick up your blocks, and Play safe with the Fair Catch etc. etc... But the Bold, Underlined RULES are, don’t lose Yards, and Don’t Lose the Ball. They don’t care if you don’t get any yards. You could Fair Catch all day and still do a good job on Punt Return. Just get the ball safely to the Offence while gaining as many yards as you can.

Having those rules in the back of your mind. You would think this would be the safest return lane. You have the chance to get a nice little return down the sideline. Pick-up around 10-20 yards, step out of bounds if you sense a bit hit coming and give Cousin’s and the Redskins Offence the ball around the 30 yard line.

Jackson stutters a bit on the return to try and open a bigger lane but it really just costs him a handful of yards. He has started the Return down the sideline. But 10 yards isn’t enough for Jackson. He’s looking for another lane to try and take this one all the way for 6 points.

So when I see Jackson starting to go backwards across the field I am thinking someone is going to get a right talking to when they get off the field. You best only have 1 man to beat if you’re going to give up ground. There is too much speed at the NFL Level and you are normally running away from your blocks. The moment you give a Coverage Team chance to recover, the half decent ones will make you pay.

 

Here we can see how far back Jackson goes before he starts going forward again. He is on his own 2 yard line. That’s a 20+yard loss compared to where he was when he started to reverse field. To prove my point about running away from blockers. Count the Redskins I have marked out. These are all the blockers that are out of the play. That’s 7 Redskins that can’t help Jackson right now! Now count the Cowboys I have marked out. These are the players that are in a position to make a play on Jackson. That’s 8, and all 8 have the pace to get the job done.

Just to prove that I am not lying about the speed on Punt Coverage. This shot is just before Jackson gets tackled. He has 6 Cowboys surrounding him

 

 

And the Tackle is just brutal. Soo brutal that...

Jackson loses the football. So going back to what a ST Coach wants, Jackson has not only lost his team yards, but he has also failed in keep hold of the ball! Double whammy. Dallas now have the ball deep in Redskins territory. They go on to score the 1^st TD of the Match, giving them a foothold they desperately needed to eventually go on and win the game.

What is happening to the Green Bay Packers?: Part 2 - Offense

The Offense… well, what can I say. If it wasn’t for Arron Rodgers, this team wouldn’t even be in with a shout of making the play-offs right now. But his play alone isn’t enough. The Panthers game is a great example of this. Rodgers seemed to be on the run the whole game. They still managed to keep up with really a mis-matched Panthers offence. Thought probably the game deciding play shows why you can’t live on the run as a QB in the NFL.

Green Bay have worked themselves all the way back from 7-27 at HT, to having a chance to take the game to OT. Its 4th and 4 at the Panthers Goaline.

Packers come out in a Gun look with 2 backs, a ‘Wingback’ and 2 wide-outs. To the Top of the Picture we have a normal slant, towards the bottom we have a Pick play with the Wide-outs slant working as a block for the motioning Wingback to come open on the Flat route. Both Running backs are in Pass Pro with the one having a middle release.

Rodgers makes his 1^st read to the Pick play. Panthers have sniffed it out pretty well. Now they are forcing Rodgers to make a second read behind an OLine that has struggled all game.

Just a second later, this is what we are seeing. Rodgers is on the move in the Pocket with nowhere to go with the ball and pressure on him.

Rodgers has backed off and bought himself enough time to spot one of the 2 open WRs after 2 Panthers fall down. Though because of the pressure coming from the Panthers, Rodgers is throwing off the back foot. This is a recipe for disaster.

The throw doesn’t even have enough on it to clear a straggling pass rusher. It ends up getting picked. No amount of arm strength will save Rodgers and Green Bay from this happening more often, just ask rivals Jay Cutler and the Bears.

They can’t even lead on the Run as they just can’t seem to get a consistent running game going either. Neither Lacy nor Starks are having much sustained success, though Stark has been having a better run of it compared to the hampered Lacy. This lack of production isn’t because of the talent in the backfield. And it’s the same reason why Rodgers is under duress on a regular basis. The Offensive Line is struggling, A LOT!

They played the Lions last week, who had the 4^th Worst Run Defence in the NFL. Yet Green Bay only managed 47 Yards collectively on the ground with only 18 rush attempts compared to 61 Pass attempts. You aren’t winning many games with that type of Run:Pass Ratio in the NFL.

 

 

I will now show you the opening 3 running plays by the Packers, as I believe early running plays should set the tone for your Offense.

Run 1: Firstly, It says something that your 1^st run play you call isn’t until the 5 play of your opening drive. But here we are 2^nd and 6 on the GB 43 (Note: ball is close to midfield, a very safe area of the field. Like Green Bay didn’t want to risk running the ball deep in their own half early).

 

 

Packers are lined up in the Gun with the RB to the Right and a TE to the Right as well. They find themselves facing a light box, the Lions have only 6 playing the run against the 6 blockers. This suggests the Packers are onto a winner.

 

This is the play they have drawing up. The blocking will go something like drawn above. Double Teaming at the LOS then trying to get quickly to any flowing LBs at the second level. Starks is trying to get to the outside here and force one of the Safeties to make a tackle.

All that above, like all draw-up blocking schemes, is if the OL wins every block. In this case the Lion in the middle of the picture has basically beaten the block of the RT. Making Starks have to make a choice, either stick with the play and try and beat him to the edge, or Cut back and let the RT run him out of the play.

Starks cuts back. However more missed blocks means, instead of running into just a Safety. There are 3 free Lions to make the tackle. This play ends as a nice 5 yard gain. Though looking at it from behind, focusing on the blockers, you can see this should have gone for at least a few more yards.

Run 2: The next play just so happens to be a Run as well. 3^rd and 1…

Packers start off showing an Empty set. Lions are is a pass rushing look. Widening their DL looking to get after Rodgers. Though you can see Rodgers calling for a motion.

Once Starks gets into the back field, and settles down to the left of Rodgers, this is how the blocking is supposed to look like. As you may have noticed, the Blocking is going the wrong way. But there is still a Lane for Starks to get the 1 Yard he needs for the 1^st down.

Again, the blocking turns into a bit of a mess. The 2 inside LBs bite hard to the right, opening up a huge cutback lane for Starks to get into the Secondary again.

Starks ends up running into his own man, #75 as he had been pushed into the running lane. This gives the DE to come all the way across and make the tackle. 2 Yard gain that once again, should have been more.

Run 3: We don’t see another run play until the second play of the second drive. Its 2^nd and 10 on the GB 39.

Packers are in the Gun again, with Starks to the left of Rodgers. Blocking upfront is pretty safe and not really asking too much. Double Team at the point of attack, with a blocker peeling off to get to the only LB in the box. This should be a run straight to the Secondary. To either the Left or Right of the Double Team.

As the play develops. Starks is led by the handoff towards the Inside hole. The Lane is right there, and a wide as any you’ll see, but unfortunately it doesn’t stay that way…

The RG loses his block after the Center peeled up towards the LB, even then the Center doesn’t drive the LB back. Add to that, the LG loses his block on the backside. This leaves Starks penned in. This end in just a 2 Yard gain.

All 3 plays were limited by missed blocks against one of the worst Run Defences in the league who weren’t exactly keying on the run.

When you’re not blocking well upfront. Life is never going to be easy. But it’s effecting Rodgers and the Packers more than some other teams because of the way Green Bay like to move the ball. For years we have been watching Rodgers dive the ball Deep or Push the ball vertically through the Seams to the Receivers that he trusts and has ‘Connections’ with. Now he doesn’t have the time to let these plays develop nor the chemistry with some of the younger players. Add that to Zero Running game, which limits the effectiveness of the Play Action. You are left with a short passing game. And that is how the Lions beat Green Bay on Sunday. Not by being the better team, but by taking advantage of reduced the play calling options. It became obvious that the Lions had keyed in on this as the Game went on. And teams will continue to do so until something changes.

What is happening to the Green Bay Packers?: Part 1 - Defense

The Green Bay Packers have been one of the premier franchises in the NFC for what seems like forever. They have also been one of the best teams offensively since Arron Rodgers settled into the Starting QB role. However, they are currently sat 2^nd in the NFC North with a 6-3 record following 3 Straight losses. This team has been struggling for a while, but Arron Rodgers has been keeping them alive, but this can’t last forever. So today, instead of looking at a key play from 1 game, I will look at some Key plays for the Green Bay over this last few weeks, picking out the plays that show why Rodgers COULD carry them into the play-offs and why they MIGHT eventually fall short without any improvements.

It would be easy to point to the Defence for the Packers problems. Sitting 23^rd in Yards, 21^st against the Pass and 24^th against the Run. But Points is how we score the games, and they are currently the 12^th best Defence in the NFL in Points per Game. These number don’t lie. Their Defence sucks in the open field. They rely on the shortening of the field to help them defend in the Redzone. We can see this Redzone Defence at its best in the Lions game this week.

The Lions are driving down the field with relative ease. Until the get close to the Redzone.

This is the 3^rd and 9 play on the Packers 23.

 

 

 

As you can see, The Lions are spread out in a 3x1 formation. Packers are in a Pass Rushing look. They have earnt themselves a passing down and are about to take full advantage. The Deep Pass just isn’t on for the Lions. The 2 High Shell takes away any chance of Fades outside. And there is not space over the top. The Only chance they have is a Post to split the Safeties…

The Offense has called a play that looks like there is only one option for the QB pre-snap. And it’s that Post route we were talking about earlier. It looks like those out breaking Routes by the Wide-Outs will be doubled up by the Corners and Safeties. Leaving the Slot 1 on 1 over the middle. Let’s see how this plays out.

 

What Green Bay actually do, is get real aggressive. Blitz hard and play some Man cover 1 in behind. That Post is now no longer on as you have the 1 Safety play man on the Slot receiver and the other playing the deep middle.

Stafford doesn’t work out the coverage quickly enough and tries to fit the ball into a tiny window. This never going to work with one defender cutting under the route and the other attacking from on High. This play ends with a Pick by the player in man coverage and the Lions walking away with Zero points after rolling down the field with ease.

This is all well and good, playing good Redzone Defence. But you keep giving teams opportunities to score and you asking for trouble. It only takes a game like that against the Panthers, and a team that you should be keeping in check can turn around and score 30+ points. The Panthers had 7 Offensive drives in the 1^st Half of that game. Only 1 ended outside of FG range and 2 Redzone TDs for the Panthers, who scored 27 points in that Half. This play from the Panthers game is what I mean about soft open field Defence.

We find the Panthers on 3^rd and 16 deep inside their own half of the field. This should be Christmas for a defence. You want to make the Offence make a quality play to even get close to a 1^st down.

As you can see, the Panthers are in a type of Empty set (no RB in the backfield) trying to spread the Packers out. Green Bay have 4 players looking like they are going to rush the passer. That leaves 7 Defenders to cover 5 Receivers. So the Packers aren’t exactly leaving themselves shorthanded on the backend.

Panthers, knowing they need a lot of yards have gone for a Vertical play call. A deep out at the 1^st Down marker (1^st Down line shown in Yellow) and a Switch combination with the Stack at the bottom of the picture. The 2 ‘wingback’ TEs are the dump down options. These are key for most 3^rd and long plays as most Offenses are looking to get at least some yards on the play, even if they can’t push the ball deep for the 1^st down.

Green Bay’s Defence is pretty much a Standard 3^rd and long call for the area of the field they are in. Don’t want to be too aggressive and risk a Blown Coverage. So you break out a more passive, containing play that respects that the O will look deep down field while also keeping an eye on a mobile QB and any check downs.

I feel they have gone a bit too soft upfront, dropping a DL man into a Spy/Rat style zone. But it shouldn’t affect the play too much. The Cover 3 they are running behind it is the perfect coverage. 3 Deep routes against 3 Deep Zones, and 4 underneath zones that are going to stretch all the way back to the 1^st down marker. Panthers shouldn’t have a chance.

So let’s see how the play develops.

Here we see where the play goes wrong. The players running the Hook/Curl Zones (the middle 2 underneath zones in a Cover 3) have rightly let the Vertical route working over the middle go, thinking their Safety in the Deep Middle Zone has them covered. And to be fair to them, he should. But his eyes are on the Receiver running deep against the Corner at the bottom of the picture.

This lets that opens up the whole middle of the field for Seam/Post route to exploit. Panthers QB, Cam Newton, takes a while to release the ball, which gives the Safety time to spot his mistake, but not enough time to recover…

Ending with a catch passed the 1^st marker and room to run. This play goes from being 3^rd and 19 on the Panthers 26, to 1^st and 10 on the Green Bay 15. 2 plays later, the drive ends in a Touchdown. Green Bay went from having a chance to get the ball back with OK field position, to conceding 7 points in 3 plays. You can’t afford to do that against the better teams and get away with it.

Lions big playmakers find a way to grab their first win in Week 6

This week, we will look at a game that you could argue was altered more by penalties than big plays. Yet there is one that helped settle the game. This wasn’t a great one on paper. The lions were the only winless team in the NFL coming into the week and had just self-destructed the week before against the Cardinals. The Bears were coming in with some momentum. They had won their last 2 games, scraping past the Raiders and Chiefs. Though injuries and a lack of talent on Defence limits the optimism around the Bears.

We find this week’s Key play in the Overtime Period. It had been a pretty close game all the way through with both teams having multiple chances to put the game away in their favour. The Lions find themselves with the ball just over 6 mins remaining in OT after failing on 2 previous drives. This drive wasn’t going great either. Just about getting two 1^st Downs and having a Run stuffed on 1^st and 10.

 

2^nd and 10, DET 37 with 3:55 on the clock.

Detroit are in a 2x2 formation with 2 WRs to the Right (Bottom of the screen) and a TE and WR to the Left (Top of the screen). Bears have moved into one of their Sub packages. With just 2 Down Linemen bringing in the Nickle Corner.

Lions run a bit of motion at the start of the play to help Stafford work out the coverage. No-one moves with the Motioning TE, giving the offence a hint that the coverage might be Zone.

 

The actual play is a Play Action Pass. Stafford is going to fake the handoff left to dangerous RB Abdullah, then boot to the right. The TE that was previously in motion is now in Pass Pro on the right side of the formation on a Sprint style block, dealing with any rush from that right hand side. The lone WR on the left is running a Dig route coming across the field. The Slot Receiver on the right of the offence is running a very loose Deep Out and the WR outside him is going deep on a Fade route.

At the start of the play, most of the Pass Rushers fall of the Play Action. However the coverage on the backend doesn’t. All of them get to their assignment. The exact coverage is hard to work out at this point but at the moment it looks like a ‘3 Over 5’ Zone coverage with the Safeties Rotating to their left.

As the play develops further, one of the ILBs joins in on the Pass Rush, leaving more of a Cover 3 Cloud look. Wille Young, the LOLB whose job it is to stop the QB escaping the pocket, gets blocked but the TE. This gives Stafford the opportunity to extend the play. This is the Key moment in the play. IF Young gets pressure on Stafford, the play is over. Everyone is covered. There is nowhere to go with the Ball!

Now the play has extended past the point the Defence really wants. The CB (Tracy Porter) at the bottom of the screen now has to break off from the WR (Calvin Johnson), who keeps going deep on the Fade, to pick up the Deep Out coming into his zone.

This is why that pressure was Key. Johnson was schematically Double Covered by Porter and the Safety (Harold Jones-Quartey) at the point Stafford should have been forced to throw. But now Porter has to drop off. This leaves one of the best WRs over the last 3-5 years, 1 on 1 against a Rookie who wouldn’t be on the field if it wasn’t for injuries. There is just one outcome…

Stafford puts it up for Johnson to do what Johnson does best. Locate and Attack the Football.

This play ends with the Lions safely inside FG range. 2 plays later they would knock over the FG to walk off with a win. If this play fails, Detroit would have been in a hole on 3^rd and 10 inside their own half. Giving Chicago another chance to take the game.

 

 

Week 5 saw another Eli comeback which left the 49ers floundering - The Winning Play

New York, making their second appearance on SNF, facing off against the struggling 49ers. The Giants find themselves coming off a 2 game winning streak, beating the Redskins and Bills in the last 2 weeks. San Francisco on the other hand have had a very rough start. After beating the Vikings in the season opener, they have gone 0-3 since. Only scoring 27 point over those 3 games. Really it the match-up of contrasting Offences, Giants just getting theirs firing while the 49ers can find anything.

The Play we are going to look at today just so happens to be the Game winner. The Giants have got into the 49ers Red zone, but are running out of time at the end of the 4^th. They need a TD to take the lead, a FG is useless as they are currently losing 27-24.

1^st and 10, SF 12 with 0:26 on the Clock.

 

Giants are in the Gun. TE Trips to the top of the screen with a lone Wideout to the bottom. SF are showing 4 rushers down on the line and 2 High Safeties

Giants have called a Pass. The lone WR is running a Fade. Running back, who had been destroying the 49ers on passing plays throughout the game, Releases to the Lefts on an Out. To the Trips side. The TE is running a Seam, Slots on what some would call a Smash or Slam route, and the Wideout is going deep with a Fade.

There is nothing special about the Coverage by the Defence. They in straight up, Man to Man with 2 Deep Safeties. Though the pass rush has a nice looking twist called on the left side.

The Giants Offensive Play call is pretty good when you take into account the structure of the Defence. The Fade/Stop and go on the outside stretch the field both vertically and horizontally. As the Safeties they will have either a responsibility to help the Corners defend the deep routes, leaving the middle of the field open for that Seam route. Or they will roll to the Trips side leaving the bottom WR, 1on1 on the Fade.

As we roll the play on. The Defence starts to show Eli Manning the Man coverage. However, Manning is doing some work of his own. Looking off the Backside Safety. To Manning, this seems like the only player that can jump the TE’s route…

 

 

 

 

But it’s the play side Safety that is in the dangerous position. Instead of working out toward the WR going deep. He sits and reads the eyes of Manning. Any sort of Reaction or flow to centerfield by that Safety and the play is broken up. But he just sits there not wanting to commit, ending up in no-man’s land. Not able to get to the Seam up the middle or in a position to get to the sideline to help on the Fade. Manning sees that the Seam is open and fires the ball in quick and with elevation.

 

Because of this, the LB in Man coverage has no chance to play the ball. All the Giants need is for Donnell to come down with the ball and complete the catch.

With barely any time left on the clock, the Giants give themselves a 3 point lead after the PAT. 49ers are doomed to another defeat.