Tale of the Tape for NFL Week 14
Throughout the 2014 regular season, former NFL defensive back Matt Bowen will bring you an X's-and-O's look at the pro game. Here are his five key plays from the Week 14 Sunday schedule.
Russell Wilson, Doug Baldwin Target Eagles’ Zero-Pressure
In a game where the Seattle Seahawks defense limited the explosive plays of Chip Kelly’s team and shut down LeSean McCoy (17 carries, 50 yards), Wilson had an opportunity to push the Seattle lead to 10 in the third quarter with the ball in the strike zone (20- to 35-yard line).
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Let’s break down the route from Baldwin and talk about the technique in the Philadelphia secondary on a play that allowed Wilson to take a shot at the end zone in the Seahawks’ 24-14 win.
Personnel: Posse/11 (3WR-1TE-1RB)
Formation: Doubles Slot Gun Far
Offensive Concept: Shake/X Shallow
Defensive Scheme: Cover 0
The Eagles will “add’ to the blitz front at the second level, but the Seahawks have the numbers here (seven-man protection) to block up this zero-pressure (blitz-man). That puts the stress on the secondary to play with an inside shade and protect the middle of the field (no safety help) from an off-man alignment.
Seattle sends the “X” receiver on the shallow drive route (reduced split is an automatic alert), but the ball is going inside to the matchup of Baldwin versus safety Malcolm Jenkins on the “shake” route.
The “shake” route is a quick double-move inside the numbers with the receiver selling the in-cut (or "dig" route) at eight to 10 yards. The idea is to force the defensive back in coverage to settle his feet at the break point before stemming the route back up the field.
Jenkins pedals at the snap, maintains his inside leverage and has enough cushion to stay square over the top of Baldwin. However, the Eagles safety bites on the double-move when he stops his feet and sticks his eyes inside to the quarterback.
That’s trouble—every time.
That forces Jenkins to use a closed-angle (or baseball-turn) technique as he works to recover versus the vertical stem. But with no help over the top, and the cornerback occupied outside versus the 9-route, he is now stuck in a trail position.
A quick look at the finish from Baldwin as Wilson drops this ball over the outside shoulder of the receiver (away from the defender’s leverage) for six points.
Excellent route from Baldwin on a play that essentially closed this game out given the ability of Carroll’s defense. That’s three weeks in a row where the Seahawks have played top-tier defense, and it shows with their speed, technique and ability to tackle.
Patriots Produce on the Play-Action Scheme vs. Chargers
The New England Patriots and Tom Brady have used the quick play-action passing game all season to create throwing windows by removing the second-level defenders and targeting the inside-breaking slant route.
That’s what we saw on Sunday night during the Patriots’ 23-14 win over the San Diego Chargers with Brady waiting for wide receiver Julian Edelman to clear the strong safety off the closed-side run action.
Let’s break this down and discuss why Edelman was able to take this three-step route concept to the end zone for a 69-yard score.
Personnel: Ace/12 (2WR-2TE-1RB)
Formation: Unit Wing
Offensive Concept: Play-Action Slant
Defensive Scheme: Cover 1
With Brady showing the ball to LeGarrette Blount on the run action, the Patriots can force the linebackers to attack the line of scrimmage. That creates the inside throwing lane for Brady to target the slant route with the Patriots using eight-man protection.
Brady is excellent at working off the run action, setting his feet and delivering the ball on time to the upfield shoulder of the receiver on the slant.
However, with the Chargers playing Cover 1, safety Eric Weddle reads through his run/pass keys (tight end block), identifies the play and drops underneath the slant as a “rover.”
Because of the eight-man protection, Brady has time to wait for Edelman to clear Weddle as the receiver takes this route up the field and then breaks inside versus cornerback Brandon Flowers.
This is where Edelman separates (break point) versus the outside leverage of the Chargers cornerback and runs to the inside with Brady putting this ball over the top of Weddle.
Free safety Marcus Gilchrist rolls to the middle of the field at the snap and isn’t in the proper position to drive downhill on the throw. That allows Edelman to take advantage of the angle, cut back and pull away from Flowers as the cornerback attempts to bring him down.
T.Y. Hilton Beats Joe Haden Over the Top
I was impressed with the Cleveland Browns defense on Sunday as they used a variety of coverages, pressures and pre-snap alignments to throw multiple looks at Andrew Luck.
Go back to the Justin Gilbert interception off the trap scheme (cornerback reads inside to No. 2, drops No. 1 to the safety), the blitzes that allowed the Browns to get home or the tight coverage that Joe Haden played versus Hilton in the first half.
However, Hilton created an opportunity versus Haden in the third quarter on a key third-down situation by winning on the release. Let’s take a look at the technique from Haden and talk about why Hilton was able to beat the cornerback on the back-shoulder throw from Luck.
Personnel: Posse/11 (3WR-1TE-1RB)
Formation: Doubles Slot Gun Far
Offensive Concept: “999” Route
Defensive Scheme: Cover 1 Pressure
With Haden playing press-man, Hilton has to force the cornerback to open his hips to gain the edge on the outside release (9-route). That’s what you see here off the stutter move at the line of scrimmage that allows Hilton to use his lateral quickness at the snap.
This forces Haden back onto his heels and prevents the cornerback from mirroring the release and getting a jam on Hilton to re-route the receiver.
Haden’s technique breaks down, and he now has to chase with Hilton pressing the route outside and up the field. That puts Haden in a trail position with no immediate help over the top as the free safety is occupied in the middle of the field.
We see the back-shoulder throw every Sunday, but it works best when thrown versus a defensive back trailing the play. Why? Defensive backs are taught to get back in-phase (on the hip) with the receiver when they are beat (instead of looking for the ball).
This allows the wide receiver to adjust to the throw and come back to the football, while the defensive back is trying to recover versus the 9-route.
With Haden in that trail position we just talked about, Hilton can play the back-shoulder throw here and make the catch before the cornerback has an opportunity to get on the hip of the receiver.
Because of the “999” route (four verticals from a 3x1 formation), the free safety is late getting over the top of the outside 9-route and takes a poor angle to Hilton. This creates a cutback lane for the wide receiver off the catch to put the ball in the end zone.
Luck’s game-winning drive was excellent as Hilton beat Haden again on the quick out cut (pick play) for the score, but this was a big play in the Colts' comeback on the road.
Le’Veon Bell Continues to Roll Up Numbers
I think Bell is the best overall back in the league this season given his all-around skill set at the position plus his versatility to produce in both the run and the pass game.
That was on display again in the Pittsburgh Steelers’ 42-21 win over the Cincinnati Bengals with Bell recording over 200-plus total yards for the third straight week while adding three touchdowns in the game.
Here’s a look at the "Counter OF" on Bell’s third touchdown that closed out the Bengals in a critical AFC North win for Pittsburgh on the road.
Personnel: Heavy/13 (1WR-3TE-1RB)
Formation: Big Wing
Offensive Concept: Counter OF
Defensive Scheme: Cover 1
The Counter OF is one of the core power schemes in the NFL with the backside guard and H-Back (or fullback) pulling to the play side of the formation to kick out the edge support and lead up through the hole.
Here, the Steelers block down on the edge with cornerback Adam Jones as the primary support player. This allows guard David DeCastro to pull to the playside and kick-out Jones (cornerback gives up one-for-one on the edge) with Heath Miller (H-Back) working to the pick up the first defender at the point of attack.
Bell can press this ball up the field or look to bounce the run based off the flow/pursuit from the second-level linebackers.
This is a good example of the patience from Bell as he cuts inside DeCastro while allowing his blocks to develop. That creates an opportunity for the Steelers running back to read the block of Miller at the point of attack.
With Miller sealing the edge of the formation, Bell can bounce this run to the outside and push the ball down the field.
We just talked about the patience from Bell, but don’t forget about the acceleration or burst from the running back once he squares his shoulders to the line of scrimmage. He cuts the angle of the linebackers and accelerates up the sideline to take this ball into the end zone for another touchdown on the Counter OF scheme.
A complete skill set. That’s how I look at Bell when breaking down his patience, vision, acceleration through the hole and the ability to finish with speed or power. And he has the numbers to back it up.
Panthers Expose the Saints Defense on the Triple-Option
The New Orleans Saints have been a poor tackling team all season long on the defensive side of the ball, but I was amazed at how they failed to stop basic concepts that show up every week in the NFL during a 41-10 loss to the Carolina Panthers at home.
Here’s an example on Jonathan Stewart’s 69-yard touchdown run on the zone-read scheme (triple-option) that produced a clean running lane and open field to work with.
Personnel: Ace/12 (2WR-2TE-1RB)
Formation: 2-Back Pistol (Strong I Tight)
Offensive Concept: Triple-Option
Defensive Scheme: Cover 1
This is a triple-option scheme for the Panthers with a wide receiver motioning into the backfield to create a two-back "Pistol" alignment. That allows Cam Newton to hand off to Stewart (dive), pull the ball (keep) or option the cornerback on the edge (pitch).
With the Saints playing Cover 1, the cornerback in coverage (Patrick Robinson) has to travel (match to coverage) to account for the pitch with the edge defender working up the field to play Newton off the mesh-point action (quarterback-running back exchange).
Newton reads the path of the edge defender and hands this ball to Stewart. But with the linebackers failing to scrape (or redirect) versus the cutback and safety Kenny Vaccaro slow to fill off the down block from the tight end, there is a open lane for Stewart.
As you can see here, Vaccaro is slow with his read. The Saints safety has to identify the down block from the tight end (run/pass key) and fill this hole. Instead, he flows too far inside at the snap and is late on his run fit (cutback).
With the edge defender staying up the field (and the cornerback removed versus the pitch), there is no immediate support to close down the cutback lane as Stewart reads the initial flow of the linebackers to find daylight.
Once this run breaks, it’s on the free safety (Pierre Warren) to get the ball-carrier on the ground.
However, with the free safety shaded in his pre-snap alignment to the one-receiver side of the formation (after the motion), Warren takes a shallow entry point into the run front (gets caught up in the wash) instead of playing with depth and creating an inside-out angle to the ball.
That opens the door for Stewart to get into the secondary on his way to the end zone.
Lack of discipline. Poor technique. Bad eyes. That was the story of Rob Ryan’s defense in the game. And this is just one example with Stewart producing a touchdown on a basic scheme.
Seven-year NFL veteran Matt Bowen is an NFL National Lead Writer for Bleacher Report.
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