NFL Breakdown Week Two - Here's Johnny!! Twice!!

In this game between 2 Heisman winning QBs, We are going to look at 2 Deep TDs from the more polarising of the Two. Johnny Manziel.

If you have been living under a rock for the last few years, let me quickly catch you up on Johnny Football. He was drafted with the #22 overall pick of the 2014 NFL Draft by Cleveland. The Team was in desperate need for a playmaking QB after struggling at the position since Bernie Kosar (Pre Injuries). They believed they picked that with the Texas A&M Star, but Manziel struggled to adapt to the ‘Pro Game’ and failed to beat out long time back-up Brain Hoyer for the starting gig. He’s play was so bad that Kyle Shanahan, OC at the time, reportedly quit is position because the Browns front office wanted Manziel as starter for the 2015 season. Fast forward to the start of the 2015 season and Manziel once again failed to win the job, this time from journeyman QB Josh McCown. Though his play had improved under the new OC John DePhilippo impressing some during the pre-season.

Now in Week 2, Manziel is forced into the Starting role after an injury to McCown. Making only the 3^rd start of his Career. His opposite number, Marcus Mariota, has had a great start to his Pro Career. Beating fellow rookie QB and #1 pick Jameis Winston easily.

Enough of the intro. Let’s get into the 1^st of our 2 plays.

This is only the Second offensive play for the Browns. It’s a clever play call that reminds me of something the Eagle used to do with Michael Vick, another mobile QB that had a ‘live’ arm. Let’s throw it Deep early. The Idea is very simple, Take a shot deep and hope you score or give yourself good field position. And in the Browns case, they aren’t expecting much from Manziel. They are going to be leaning on their Defence most of the game any way. So why not take a low risk shot, if he fails its 3rd down with decent field position if they are forced to punt. If he hits it, there is a great chance of points.

2^nd and 8 on the Browns 40.

 

 

After a motion we get a slight adjustment by the LB’s. This action gives us a clue to the coverage. With the LB’s shifting so far to the left, we can safely assume that neither one of them will be in Man coverage on the TE on the right of the formation. Add that to the rolled down SS (8 Yards off the LOS) and a CB in press. We can guess at Man coverage. The only question mark is the FS. He’s got a wide alignment which is going to make any Deep Middle zone difficult to get into. Plus a Play Action to hold his depth early in the play. Manziel is onto a winner.

 

 

These shots show Manziel knows it. There is no look off, no pump fake. His eyes go straight from faking the hand-off to looking Benjamin on the Skinny Post.

 

 

The location of the football wasn’t great, but he puts enough on it to clear the trailing Corner and give the WR time to adjust.

 

 

And just like that, the Browns are 6-0 up on a play that would have been much harder for the weaker armed McCown.

Now we look at the more spectacular of the 2 TDs. This play shows at times, Coaching is overrated. You can design a play to work whatever way you want, but when you have a QB like Manziel, you can guarantee that he will show you a different way of running it. And here he is, at is unconventional best.

Its 3^rd and 6

 

We have Trips Right (Bottom), an Eligible Tackle playing TE to the Left (Top) and a RB to the left of the QB. Plus a motion from #2 receiver on the trips receiver.

 

 

The Motion gives us the coverage. Defender follows the Receiver showing us Man coverage. 1 high Deep safety gives us Cover 1 Man. What we don’t know what’s happening in terms of blitzes or QB Spys/Extra zones (1 over 1 Robber/Rat).

 

The have a Flood concept called to the trips side. The play is drawn up so Manziel just has to read half the field, picking either of the 2 Receivers running towards the sideline or running himself to the right side. Extending the play. There is nothing on the Left for Manziel. Odds are there was a Naked Boot to the right to help the QB. However…

We will never know because the Defence have called a blitz to go with their man coverage and it’s a big one. Let’s see it from the other angle

 

Count them… 7 Guys are coming after Manziel. The angle #91 Morgan on the Right gets, shuts down any option of running that way. The ILBs just mistime their Crossing blitz that could have blown this play up more. Even the DTs were Stunting. The titans were determined to get to Manziel on this play and get the ball back. Maybe too much as they got in their own way trying to get pressure. However, #98 Orakpo gets a clean run but takes too shallow an angle to Manziel. Giving him the chance to spin out of the pocket to the left.

 

If you’re a Titans fan, you’re happy right now right? Manziel is trapped on the wrong side of the field. There are no Routes running to the Left and there are no running lanes thanks to the hustle of 305lb DT, #99 Jurrell Casey. All Manziel can do is throw the ball away…

 

Manziel does throw the ball away… Deep down the field to Travis Benjamin who had started coming back across the field to help his QB out.

 

TD Browns and a 2 score lead with only 2:52 remaining. Yep, there is a time when coaching is overrated Ladies and Gents.

NFL Breakdown Week Two - Jaguars D comes up big to help upset Miami

I can honestly say this Game was a surprise. I knew that the Jags were improving but I expected Miami to come in and walk it. So I was happy to still be watching a close game going into the 4^th quarter.

So going into the 4^th Q, we have 2 stalled Offenses giving each other every chance to run away with the game. Jags were struggling with drops, poor route running and questionable playcalling. However, on Defence they had finally started getting pressure on Tannehill. This was making life difficult for Bill Lazor (Miami’s OC) as he had lost all faith in his team’s ability to run the football, heavily leaning on his QB’s mobility.

What we are going to look at is 2 Key Sacks that helped Jacksonville’s Defence get off the field during the key a 4^th Q. Without them, I have little doubt that Miami would have found a way to score the points required to win this game.

The first Sack comes on a 1^st and 10 with 11:31 on the clock on the ‘Phins 35. It’s the second play of the drive after an 11 yard pick-up on the pervious play.

Tannehill is looking at the entire Defence, in a hope of working out the coverage. What we see here is a 1 high Defence with a Down Safety walking down to the LOS. The DL aren’t lined in anything 2 exotic, just a basic Over front. The Coverage is important on a sack. It’s not all about getting someone to the QB quickly. If there is a player uncovered, the QB can get rid of the ball before the Blitz/rushers can get there. There is a little motion on the trips side to help the QB.

 

The Defensive players swap receivers, which normally means a Zone. Add that to a Safety being down on the LOS. Tannehill can make a safe bet that this is a Zone. The only thing that could lead any QB to question this is the Press at the bottom of the screen.

 

What we actually get is a Safety blitz with Man coverage. Now there are a couple of rules you can follow to beat a Blitz as a QB. The safest one it to throw as the Blitz quickly. Hoping to get the ball to a receiver in that area before the coverage can either, fill the gap in a zone blitz or for another player to pick-up the free Receiver in Man coverage.

 

But because of the Play Action playcall, Tannehill can’t get the ball out that quickly. And because of where the Blitz comes from, there is no ‘free’ receiver.

So we have a perfect storm. Disguised blitz/coverage and an Offensive playcall that isn’t helping the QB. Now all the Defence needs is for the Blitz/Pass Rush to get there.

 

There are many beautiful things that can happen on a Football Field. One of them is a perfectly executed Blitz. And this is one. We have a Loop from the DE on the Right as we are seeing it, with the Down Safety coming hard off the edge. That’s 5 guys rushing against 5 Blockers as the RB releases to a route after the Play Action. Should stand up right?

 

But the Loop from the Defence causes communication problems on the O Line. The C and RG end up blocking the same guy, giving the DE a free run at the QB. Add to that a Good Rush from the rest of DL and Blitzing Safety…

 

And we get a Party in the Backfield, and everyone was invited.

This Play puts Miami into a hole on 2^nd down, which would be made worse by a penalty. 2 plays later and the Dolphins are punting the ball away.

 

 

The Second Sack comes after a Good punt from Jacksonville. Miami are 1^st and 10 on their own 8 Yard line, with only 3:02 on the ticker. With So little time left in the game, the last thing you want to do is punt the ball away inside your own 20. More than likely giving the opposition good field positon at the end of the game.

 

Jacksonville showing 1 High again. Getting the extra man in box to help defend any run Miami might try to give themselves room to work with.

 

Tannehill is working with another Pass play and making his pre-snap reads. The obvious 1 High Safety cuts the downs the possible Zone calls to C3 or a Zone blitz. But there is little else shown by the Defence to give away what they are running. Until the Cadence, when the Corners start bailing out, tipping Cover 3.

 

And that’s what the Defence turns out to be, a standard looking cover 3 with no extra Rush. This is what makes a DC so happy. Getting to the QB sending just 4.

 

All the routes are running into covered zones, nothing that is attacking any seams quickly or working through zones. Giving Tannehill no Quick outlet.

 

 

Jags DE Odrick Beats LT Fox so quickly that Tannehill can’t work through a progression or take off to run.

 

 

This Sack buried the Dolphins, leaving them on their own 1 Yard line. It could have been so much worse as Tannehill fumbles the ball into the Endzone. LT Fox cleverly scoops the ball back into the field of play, saving a Safety.

2 plays later, Miami are punting the ball away again. Giving the Jags the field positon they desperately needed to win the game.

 

NFL Breakdown- Week One - The very time-ly pass play

The Late game Sunday saw the Giants travel to Dallas for a divisional match-up. New York struggling on Defence coming into this game with new faces in multiple positions were underdogs coming in. While Dallas, looking strong from last year’s play-off run, only had to deal with the loss of Feature Running back Demarco Murray and a lack of Pre-season playing time for Star Wideout Dez Bryant.

This game looked, on paper, to be a cake walk for Dallas. But it was very much the opposite. The Cowboys wasted two sustained 1^st half drives that made it into the Red zone. Coming away with only a FG on both occasions. While New York hung on, managing to score a FG of their own before taking advantage of 2 late 1^st half turnovers to take a 7 point lead into the half. The Second half flows a similar script to the 1^st. Giants not doing much on Offence, taking advantage of Defensive plays. While the Cowboys finally learn how to get the ball into the End zone.

We find ourselves late in the 4^th Quarter. The Cowboys have just driven the length of the field for a TD. Cutting the Giants lead down to 3. With 5:08 left on the clock, New York are desperate to see the game out. They get what they were after. 11 plays into a drive taking 3:23 off the clock forcing Dallas to use all 3 timeouts. we get the following play…

The Giants are 3^rd and Goal on the Cowboys 1. The Clock has been stopped by Dallas, burning their last timeout.

New York start off with the TE on the left of the formation and a WR to the right, but with a pre-snap shift and motion they end up with Twins to the Left and just a TE to the Right. Keeping 2 Backs in.

Now this is important as it helps Eli Manning work out the coverage. With no major communication between the Defence and the Corner following Beckham (NYG #13) across the formation. We can deduce that it’s Man Coverage.

The Offence’s play call is a Play-Action pass. This makes life difficult for Dallas and is a pretty good call for the situation. They have just failed to run the ball in on 2 plays inside the Cowboys 5 yard line and a TD kills the game. The hope here is that the Fake to the Running back will hold one of the Defenders that could be assigned to the Donnell the TE (Giants obviously don’t know the full play call, they have only deciphered the type of coverage). Giving him an easy release while Manning pulls the ball out and either rolls out the pocket on a Bootleg to complete the pass, or quickly dump the ball off. The Receivers on the backside are Decoys with Beckham eventually making his way back to the playside as a possible throw back at the back of the End zone. Either way, Easy 6 points.

However, Barry Church (Dallas #42) doesn’t fall for the fake and does a great job of limiting the release of the TE. Using his outside leverage, he stops Donnell form getting out on to the flats. This forces Manning to hold onto the ball.

Now the advantage of running a Bootleg around the Goal line is you make you QB a threat to run it in for a score if the pass isn’t on, even if he not that mobile. On these Goal line throws, the QB is told to only pull the trigger if it’s a certain TD. Otherwise he is to run for the score or throw it away. As the last thing you want to do is throw an INT and come away with nothing. Now you can see, Donnell is still tied up with Church and there is no running this in.

But now we get a lack of situational awareness from Manning. Dallas are out of timeouts and there is nothing on. If Manning takes the Sack, he keeps the clock moving and still give his team a shot at a FG. Instead he throws it away, stopping the Clock, still ending with a FG attempt.

   

The Game Clock shows 1:37 at the end of the play, but if Manning had taken the Sack, and the Giants waste the maximum amount of time, there would only have been 0:57 left. Then take off the 3 seconds it takes to kick the FG. Dallas would have been left with just 0:54 to work with. Taking into account that Dallas had struggled on 2 consecutive 2 minute drills at the end of the 1^st half and had to use 1 minute and 16 seconds to score the eventual winner. This game could have easily finished in New York’s favour with less time left for Romo and the Cowboys to use.

 

NFL Breakdown - Week One - Packers set a Bear Trap

Play Breakdown by Ian Hughes

 

One week of football is in the books. This give us 16 games to catch up with before the start of week 2 on Thursday. Here is our look on a few key plays from around the league.

We shall start with the Packers@Bears game that was 1^st of 3 televised on Sky Sports this past Sunday. This game didn’t have much going for it according to the previews. Bears in ‘Rebuilding Mode’ with a lacklustre Defence and an unsettled O-Line. Green Bay expected to roll their main Rivals even without Rodger’s main man, Jordy Nelson. Neutrals after a game would have been pleasantly surprised as Chicago managed to keep up with the Packers Offence. Green Bay’s Defence struggling to contain Chicago’s persistent running attack that was draining the clock as well as helping them out with some silly penalties. With the Bears down 16-23, they fail on a 4^th and short on the GB 2 yard line. However, a rare quick stop a few plays later, the Bears find themselves with the ball again.

4^th play of the drive, Chicago are 1^st and 10 on the GB 29

Bears have a Pass called on 1^st Down. 

 

The Trips on the field side, containing Royal, Wilson and Jeffery, is running a combination of Flats, Slants and a Fade respectfully. With Bennett running a Seam route from the TE position and Forte releasing to the Flats out of the backfield. Leaving just a 5 man protection.

Cutler points out the possible blitzers to the left, and he seems to have it right as Matthews (GB #52) sneaks towards the Line. This gives him what he thinks is an easy post snap read on Micah Hyde (GB #33). If he stay on Bennett, it’s an easy dump off to Forte in the flats. If he clears out to cover Forte, Cutlers drilling the ball into Bennett for easy yards.

Nice and easy right. GB #33 has cleared out, Bennett in the seam. But what Cutler doesn’t see is that Matthews is rotating towards Bennett because of a zone call.

What Cutler though was one of many Zone Blitzes Dom Capers has in his back pocket, was really a Simple Cover 3 with an underneath rotation. With the Deep middle being covered by a player out of shot. We get a bit of broke coverage at the bottom of the screen as the play develops, with 2 Packers covering Eddie Royal (#19) the Flats. Leaving Wilson wide open in the middle of the field.

It now comes down to timing. Can Cutler get the ball to the TE before Matthews gets there?

 

NOPE. And to add insult to injury, Wilson pops into view to settles down in between the zones for what would have been an easy completion due to that early noticed broken coverage.

This play leads to a scoring drive from Green Bay, putting the game beyond the reach of the Bears.