Dr. Phin
Scout Team
- Joined
- Aug 30, 2008
- Messages
- 8,346
- Reaction score
- 66
First, I will lay out the fundamental aspects that I believe contributed to our success. Then I will show how each of these aspects contributed on every running play of the game. Last, I will examine what this means for the future of the running game going forward.
POINTS OF EMPHASIS:
1. Pats linebacker scheme - The Pat linebackers played a "reactive" scheme, playing off the ball and only attacking once the runner committed; instead of attacking the gaps proactively. The did attack actively on occasion, usually only on short yardage.
2. Second level blocking - Our OL was actively getting to the second level. This a core of zone blocking, but we really didn't do it at all last year. This game, I saw blockers at the second level on ALMOST EVERY running play.
3. Blocking in space - This has been a problem for years...guys leading plays in space and not hitting anything. That changed. Even Colledge was doing well when pulling. He didn't do so well in preseason, but did when it counted.
4. Unbalance line - only used on a couple of plays, but worked nicely
5. Poor tackling - The Pats had us in the backfield a number of times and flat out missed the tackles. This became a real issue in the 2nd half.
6. Reading blocks (or MORENO!) - Moreno was great at reading his blocks; Miller not so much. Knowshon had a great game! Welcome to the team.
RUNNING PLAYS
13:07 1st (2nd 2) Wilfork beats Satele to his left. Miller makes poor read and gets nailed for little gain. (If he had gone left, Wilfork was committed the other way, you had Colledge at the second level on the LG and Albert had enough of a block that he would have easily had the first. #6 Bad read.)
12:28 1st (3rd 1) Mayo comes up on this play (as I said they normally only did it on short plays). Miller is hit in the hole but falls forward for the first. Not much to see here...short yardage play that we won.
5:04 1st (1st 10) LB's play reactive. Line blocks down to left leaving James to get to Mayo at second level. #2 - Good second-level block. Nice gain of 5. (Clay was coming backside from play-side and we would have had an even bigger play if Moreno had followed him...)
4:32 1st (2nd 5) LB's play reactive. LG, RG, and RT all pull right. Sims blocks down taking the RT's man. All three pulling players may blocks in space (#3). James gets Ninkovitch, Colledge peels back to protect backside and gets Wilfork, and Knowshon follows Smith who buries Collins. Gain of 6. In addition, C gets Hightower at second level. (#2) (I am so used to guys just whiffing on plays like this, it is really nice to see someone actually hit who they are supposed to.)
14:27 2nd(2nd 7) LB's play reactive. Smith with a good 2nd-level block (#2) on Collins. Miller follows Collins for 6. Good run by Miller. May coming over in support misses the tackle (#5). Good block by Sims on this play also.
13:51 2nd (3rd 1) LB's play reactive. I just don't get this one with their LB's. It was pretty much a scrum, that our guys moved. Our OL just flat our wanted this more. Also, they had 27 coming off the back side who got Miller in the backfield but couldn't get him down. Gain of 2 and a 1st.
8:37 2nd (1st 10) LB's play reactive. We line up with 2 TE's left. Looks like an inside zone left. Watch Smith, he gets a really nice second-level block (#2) on Collins making this a big play. And Satele actually buries Wilfork on the play. Hell of a job by Moreno picking the hole also. (#6) Gain of 15.
7:50 2nd (2nd 1) LB's play reactive. Satele misses at the second level, but its enough to keep the LB from filling. We get the first. Good job by Sims on this play again. Gain 3, but a 1st down.
7:22 2nd (2nd 10) One LB played more aggressive this play, but runner cut backside and so he took himself out of the play. What makes this play is the fact that they have an LB lined up on the slot. We simply have the numbers to the strong side. Blocking collapses down and leaves a huge hole for the cutback. The LB on the slot can't get back into the play in time and we get a huge gain on this. I would like to say this was something we did, but this was simply the case of the wrong defense being called for this play. They played right into our hand on this one. But....Miller fumbles after a gain 13; however, that doesn't change the way the play unfolded.
6:24 2nd (1st 10) LB comes on run blitz. Satele picks up the LB though, the the hole is pretty much clogged at that point. Gain of 3. In this case, #1 works against us. They didn't play passive and they stuffed the run pretty well.
5:10 2nd (2nd 7) LB is starting to fill faster now. Colledge does a poor job on Jones, Jones sheds the block and makes the stop for a short gain. Not much to see here...
3:51 2nd (2nd 10) LB's play reactive. This is an interesting play. They have Sims block down on James' man, allowing James and Smith to both pull right on a sweep. James takes Ninkovich and Smith takes Collins. Ninkovich makes the play, but only after a gain of 7. Good job by both in space (#3)
2:54 2nd (1st 10) LB's play reactive. We get blockers to the second level on both ILB's. (#2) Problem...Colledge flat out misses Wilfork who makes the tackle for a 1yd gain. This is really too bad because we had a nice hole opening on this play if Colledge would have felt the backside pressure better and just got in his way.
14:17 3rd (1st 10) LB's playing a little more aggressive. Colledge gets to the second level, but Satele misses Mayo who comes up and makes the stop. Gain of 3.
13:34 3rd(1st 10) LB's play reactive. This play shows a lot of good things. Albert takes his man out of the play. Colledge help Satele with a chip on the NT and then gets to the second level on Mayo. (#2) Hartline has a nice block here also. Gain of 9.
12:56 3rd(2nd 6) LB's play AGGRESSIVE, but Moreno makes a great read and cuts back off of Albert. (#6) Mayo had the right hole, but Moreno does a great job of reading the block and gets a big gain of 12. Jones also had a shot at Moreno and flat out missed the tackle (#5). What makes this such a big play is Satele gets a good 2nd-level block on Collins and Smith get a block 10 yards downfield (#2).
12:15 3rd(1st 10) LB's play AGGRESSIVE. Collins reads the play, shoots the gap, but flat out misses the tackle in the backfield...really bad. This is something that got noticeable in the second half. (#5) Collins got there also because Smith didn't get to him in time because he was playing more aggressive. Gains 5, but should have been for a loss.
8:59 3rd(1st 10) LB's play reactive. This was just good vision by Moreno and a double by Clay and Albert on the end moving the end out. Sims does just enough on this play to let Moreno slide through the hole. The passive play by the LB's mean they don't get into it until Moreno is 6yds down field. gain of 8.
8:24 3rd(2nd 2) LB comes on run blitz. Satele picks it up just enough to let Moreno have an opening. Two Pats hit Moreno in the backfield and the come up empty. (#5) Gain of 5 and a 1st
7:46 3rd(1st 10) LB's play reactive. I really like this play. Smith pulls left and make a nice block in the hole on Collins (#2). Colledge also has a second level block on Mayo. Gain of 7.
5:47 3rd(2nd 10) LB's play reactive. This is a funny play. The OL must have been licking their chops when they saw the defensive alignment. We had an unbalanced left (both tackles on the left side), and they line up with a 3-player gap between NT and DE. This was a 10 yd gain before the ball was even snapped. Poor defense here folks. The left us with James and Colledge to just go free to the second level. Gain of 12
5:26 3rd(1st 10) LB's play more aggressive. Collins comes up fast to fill the gap...flat out misses the tackle AGAIN! He must be their version of Phillip Wheeler. We had Albert at the second level this time (#2) with Clay on Jones. Gain of 7
4:39 3rd(1st 10) LB's play reactive. This is another play were they had Hightower covering in the slot. This leaves us once again with numbers, and the angle, on the right side. Blocking simply collapses down on the Pats and Miller cuts it back for a big gain. Poor defense vs. the play. Gain 15. We had guys at second level on this one two.
4:21 3rd(1s goal) LB's play aggressive. LB fills the hole quickly and gets held. Miller goes in for score, but is called back. It was a good call. They would have nailed Miller (although the way the tackled...can't be sure.)
4:14 3rd (1st goal) LB's play reactive. We get both Colledge and Smith on LB's at second level. Miller blows it here. Satele is on NTand NT is committed to his right. Miller should have cut to the right off of Satele's backside. If you look, there is a really nice hole if he went right....he doesn't...and NT makes the play. Short gain
14:48 4th(1st 10) Bad exchange...won't go into blocking
12:35 4th(1st 10) LB's play reactive. Wilfork blows Smith into the backfield, but Moreno gets around him to the outside. This was all Moreno. There wasn't much there. There was a nice block by Sims, or I should say two, down-field that probably got the play an extra 4 yards.
9:27 4th(1st 10) LB's play reactive. Sweep left. Satele does a great job of fist sealing off the NT and then getting to the second level for another block. Sims makes a nice block, not really over-powering, but rides his guy out of the play. Nobody even blocks Collins but he overplays the play and can't get in position. Gain of 9. At this point, I am starting to see their team slowing down.
8:52 4th(2nd 1) LB's play reactive. Their end breaks into our backfield and hits him but can't get him down...another missed tackle. First down
7:37 4th(1st 10) LB's play reactive. We slant right and bring Sims backside to get the free DE...he fails... but the DE is frozen by Sims on the play for some reason and Miller goes right by him. Albert gets out to the second level since he didn't have the DE. Good play design. Gain of 6.
7:03 4th(2nd 4) LB's play reactive. I'm not sure what they were doing on this play (I don't think they do either), but the DE ends up unblocked in the backfield...but misses the tackle...it actually re-directs Miller up-field for a decent gain. Nothing we did on thsi play got us that...just bad defense.
5:43 4th(2nd 10) LB's play reactive. Clay is coming for a block on the backside and runs into the RB...didn't affect the play too much though. Moreno somehow bounces back and picks his way down the field for a 7 yard gain. That was all Moreno.
4:19 4th (1st goal) LB's play reactive. We try to get Albert to the second level, hoping that Jones would not collapse (just a guess...can't see a better reason for not blocking the guy), it doesn't work and Jones makes the stop. Short gain.
3:34 4th (3rd goal) LB's play aggressive. MORENO BEAST MODE! Let's face it...the line did nothing here. Two guys end up in the backfield and hit Moreno and both missed the tackle and then he just slammed it into the endzone through two more tacklers!!! This was ALL Moreno!!! TD MOFOs and THE PATS GO DOWN!!! THIS PRETTY MUCH ENDED IT.
No point in going anything after this...We are just doing straight-ahead blocking and running the clock...not much to see here.
SUMMARY:
We are finally getting blockers to the second level and not just talking about it. This is huge for spacing. We used to just try to push a guy out of the hole, often with two guys. But even if you got movement, the runner still had to get around two of his own "big uglies". In that scheme you might get a hole that was obvious for the runner, but mostly we ended up with a big pile of nothing.
Now, there is a big burden placed on the running back. It is up to him now to read his blocks better. The runner may now have a choice of holes with this spacing and blocking at the second level, but the first-level guys are left with a 1-on-1. They can't always win it, but they don't have to. If the runner goes off the backside of the blocker, he probably won't have much contact until the second level. Moreno did a great job of this. This is probably from working with zone blocking in Denver. Miller was not so good at it and benefited from some really nice holes.
Here is where I get into the not so good part of this. THE PATS DEFENSE PLAYED RIGHT INTO OUR HANDS. DON'T EXPECT THAT EVERY WEEK. Their LB's played very re-actively; instead of proactively. They let the OL get to LB's 3-4 yards down-field all day long. The DL didn't "keep the LB's clean". The DL was not getting enough penetration to keep us from just blocking with one or doing a double and then hand-off to get to the second level.
The passive way the LB's played may have been part of the game plan to prevent passing over the middle and to not get beat by Clay again. That, and I think they just didn't respect our run game...THEY WILL NEXT TIME. I expect to see their LB's play us very differently next time.
Aside from the blocking at the second level, Lazor had some really nice plays that took advantage of what the Pats were doing. For instance, the kept playing Hightower on our slot. Instead of trying to take advantage of the match-up in the passing game, he took advantage of it by running to that side. We also did about 3 plays that were unbalanced with the tackles moved or multiple TEs that just gave us the numbers.
Also, our guys DID GREAT IN SPACE! The guys were actually hitting people in space, instead of whiffing like we are used to seeing.
By the way...Sims had some really nice blocks too.
Overall, this is a really nice change...so, where will we have issues??? If we see a team with more aggressive LB's, we won't be getting the same production. However, it they do that, then it will open up the passing game over the middle and we can kill them with Clay. If the safeties come up to help..."Say hello to my little friend...Wallace"...who Tannehill will overthrow...but that's another discussion.
POINTS OF EMPHASIS:
1. Pats linebacker scheme - The Pat linebackers played a "reactive" scheme, playing off the ball and only attacking once the runner committed; instead of attacking the gaps proactively. The did attack actively on occasion, usually only on short yardage.
2. Second level blocking - Our OL was actively getting to the second level. This a core of zone blocking, but we really didn't do it at all last year. This game, I saw blockers at the second level on ALMOST EVERY running play.
3. Blocking in space - This has been a problem for years...guys leading plays in space and not hitting anything. That changed. Even Colledge was doing well when pulling. He didn't do so well in preseason, but did when it counted.
4. Unbalance line - only used on a couple of plays, but worked nicely
5. Poor tackling - The Pats had us in the backfield a number of times and flat out missed the tackles. This became a real issue in the 2nd half.
6. Reading blocks (or MORENO!) - Moreno was great at reading his blocks; Miller not so much. Knowshon had a great game! Welcome to the team.
RUNNING PLAYS
13:07 1st (2nd 2) Wilfork beats Satele to his left. Miller makes poor read and gets nailed for little gain. (If he had gone left, Wilfork was committed the other way, you had Colledge at the second level on the LG and Albert had enough of a block that he would have easily had the first. #6 Bad read.)
12:28 1st (3rd 1) Mayo comes up on this play (as I said they normally only did it on short plays). Miller is hit in the hole but falls forward for the first. Not much to see here...short yardage play that we won.
5:04 1st (1st 10) LB's play reactive. Line blocks down to left leaving James to get to Mayo at second level. #2 - Good second-level block. Nice gain of 5. (Clay was coming backside from play-side and we would have had an even bigger play if Moreno had followed him...)
4:32 1st (2nd 5) LB's play reactive. LG, RG, and RT all pull right. Sims blocks down taking the RT's man. All three pulling players may blocks in space (#3). James gets Ninkovitch, Colledge peels back to protect backside and gets Wilfork, and Knowshon follows Smith who buries Collins. Gain of 6. In addition, C gets Hightower at second level. (#2) (I am so used to guys just whiffing on plays like this, it is really nice to see someone actually hit who they are supposed to.)
14:27 2nd(2nd 7) LB's play reactive. Smith with a good 2nd-level block (#2) on Collins. Miller follows Collins for 6. Good run by Miller. May coming over in support misses the tackle (#5). Good block by Sims on this play also.
13:51 2nd (3rd 1) LB's play reactive. I just don't get this one with their LB's. It was pretty much a scrum, that our guys moved. Our OL just flat our wanted this more. Also, they had 27 coming off the back side who got Miller in the backfield but couldn't get him down. Gain of 2 and a 1st.
8:37 2nd (1st 10) LB's play reactive. We line up with 2 TE's left. Looks like an inside zone left. Watch Smith, he gets a really nice second-level block (#2) on Collins making this a big play. And Satele actually buries Wilfork on the play. Hell of a job by Moreno picking the hole also. (#6) Gain of 15.
7:50 2nd (2nd 1) LB's play reactive. Satele misses at the second level, but its enough to keep the LB from filling. We get the first. Good job by Sims on this play again. Gain 3, but a 1st down.
7:22 2nd (2nd 10) One LB played more aggressive this play, but runner cut backside and so he took himself out of the play. What makes this play is the fact that they have an LB lined up on the slot. We simply have the numbers to the strong side. Blocking collapses down and leaves a huge hole for the cutback. The LB on the slot can't get back into the play in time and we get a huge gain on this. I would like to say this was something we did, but this was simply the case of the wrong defense being called for this play. They played right into our hand on this one. But....Miller fumbles after a gain 13; however, that doesn't change the way the play unfolded.
6:24 2nd (1st 10) LB comes on run blitz. Satele picks up the LB though, the the hole is pretty much clogged at that point. Gain of 3. In this case, #1 works against us. They didn't play passive and they stuffed the run pretty well.
5:10 2nd (2nd 7) LB is starting to fill faster now. Colledge does a poor job on Jones, Jones sheds the block and makes the stop for a short gain. Not much to see here...
3:51 2nd (2nd 10) LB's play reactive. This is an interesting play. They have Sims block down on James' man, allowing James and Smith to both pull right on a sweep. James takes Ninkovich and Smith takes Collins. Ninkovich makes the play, but only after a gain of 7. Good job by both in space (#3)
2:54 2nd (1st 10) LB's play reactive. We get blockers to the second level on both ILB's. (#2) Problem...Colledge flat out misses Wilfork who makes the tackle for a 1yd gain. This is really too bad because we had a nice hole opening on this play if Colledge would have felt the backside pressure better and just got in his way.
14:17 3rd (1st 10) LB's playing a little more aggressive. Colledge gets to the second level, but Satele misses Mayo who comes up and makes the stop. Gain of 3.
13:34 3rd(1st 10) LB's play reactive. This play shows a lot of good things. Albert takes his man out of the play. Colledge help Satele with a chip on the NT and then gets to the second level on Mayo. (#2) Hartline has a nice block here also. Gain of 9.
12:56 3rd(2nd 6) LB's play AGGRESSIVE, but Moreno makes a great read and cuts back off of Albert. (#6) Mayo had the right hole, but Moreno does a great job of reading the block and gets a big gain of 12. Jones also had a shot at Moreno and flat out missed the tackle (#5). What makes this such a big play is Satele gets a good 2nd-level block on Collins and Smith get a block 10 yards downfield (#2).
12:15 3rd(1st 10) LB's play AGGRESSIVE. Collins reads the play, shoots the gap, but flat out misses the tackle in the backfield...really bad. This is something that got noticeable in the second half. (#5) Collins got there also because Smith didn't get to him in time because he was playing more aggressive. Gains 5, but should have been for a loss.
8:59 3rd(1st 10) LB's play reactive. This was just good vision by Moreno and a double by Clay and Albert on the end moving the end out. Sims does just enough on this play to let Moreno slide through the hole. The passive play by the LB's mean they don't get into it until Moreno is 6yds down field. gain of 8.
8:24 3rd(2nd 2) LB comes on run blitz. Satele picks it up just enough to let Moreno have an opening. Two Pats hit Moreno in the backfield and the come up empty. (#5) Gain of 5 and a 1st
7:46 3rd(1st 10) LB's play reactive. I really like this play. Smith pulls left and make a nice block in the hole on Collins (#2). Colledge also has a second level block on Mayo. Gain of 7.
5:47 3rd(2nd 10) LB's play reactive. This is a funny play. The OL must have been licking their chops when they saw the defensive alignment. We had an unbalanced left (both tackles on the left side), and they line up with a 3-player gap between NT and DE. This was a 10 yd gain before the ball was even snapped. Poor defense here folks. The left us with James and Colledge to just go free to the second level. Gain of 12
5:26 3rd(1st 10) LB's play more aggressive. Collins comes up fast to fill the gap...flat out misses the tackle AGAIN! He must be their version of Phillip Wheeler. We had Albert at the second level this time (#2) with Clay on Jones. Gain of 7
4:39 3rd(1st 10) LB's play reactive. This is another play were they had Hightower covering in the slot. This leaves us once again with numbers, and the angle, on the right side. Blocking simply collapses down on the Pats and Miller cuts it back for a big gain. Poor defense vs. the play. Gain 15. We had guys at second level on this one two.
4:21 3rd(1s goal) LB's play aggressive. LB fills the hole quickly and gets held. Miller goes in for score, but is called back. It was a good call. They would have nailed Miller (although the way the tackled...can't be sure.)
4:14 3rd (1st goal) LB's play reactive. We get both Colledge and Smith on LB's at second level. Miller blows it here. Satele is on NTand NT is committed to his right. Miller should have cut to the right off of Satele's backside. If you look, there is a really nice hole if he went right....he doesn't...and NT makes the play. Short gain
14:48 4th(1st 10) Bad exchange...won't go into blocking
12:35 4th(1st 10) LB's play reactive. Wilfork blows Smith into the backfield, but Moreno gets around him to the outside. This was all Moreno. There wasn't much there. There was a nice block by Sims, or I should say two, down-field that probably got the play an extra 4 yards.
9:27 4th(1st 10) LB's play reactive. Sweep left. Satele does a great job of fist sealing off the NT and then getting to the second level for another block. Sims makes a nice block, not really over-powering, but rides his guy out of the play. Nobody even blocks Collins but he overplays the play and can't get in position. Gain of 9. At this point, I am starting to see their team slowing down.
8:52 4th(2nd 1) LB's play reactive. Their end breaks into our backfield and hits him but can't get him down...another missed tackle. First down
7:37 4th(1st 10) LB's play reactive. We slant right and bring Sims backside to get the free DE...he fails... but the DE is frozen by Sims on the play for some reason and Miller goes right by him. Albert gets out to the second level since he didn't have the DE. Good play design. Gain of 6.
7:03 4th(2nd 4) LB's play reactive. I'm not sure what they were doing on this play (I don't think they do either), but the DE ends up unblocked in the backfield...but misses the tackle...it actually re-directs Miller up-field for a decent gain. Nothing we did on thsi play got us that...just bad defense.
5:43 4th(2nd 10) LB's play reactive. Clay is coming for a block on the backside and runs into the RB...didn't affect the play too much though. Moreno somehow bounces back and picks his way down the field for a 7 yard gain. That was all Moreno.
4:19 4th (1st goal) LB's play reactive. We try to get Albert to the second level, hoping that Jones would not collapse (just a guess...can't see a better reason for not blocking the guy), it doesn't work and Jones makes the stop. Short gain.
3:34 4th (3rd goal) LB's play aggressive. MORENO BEAST MODE! Let's face it...the line did nothing here. Two guys end up in the backfield and hit Moreno and both missed the tackle and then he just slammed it into the endzone through two more tacklers!!! This was ALL Moreno!!! TD MOFOs and THE PATS GO DOWN!!! THIS PRETTY MUCH ENDED IT.
No point in going anything after this...We are just doing straight-ahead blocking and running the clock...not much to see here.
SUMMARY:
We are finally getting blockers to the second level and not just talking about it. This is huge for spacing. We used to just try to push a guy out of the hole, often with two guys. But even if you got movement, the runner still had to get around two of his own "big uglies". In that scheme you might get a hole that was obvious for the runner, but mostly we ended up with a big pile of nothing.
Now, there is a big burden placed on the running back. It is up to him now to read his blocks better. The runner may now have a choice of holes with this spacing and blocking at the second level, but the first-level guys are left with a 1-on-1. They can't always win it, but they don't have to. If the runner goes off the backside of the blocker, he probably won't have much contact until the second level. Moreno did a great job of this. This is probably from working with zone blocking in Denver. Miller was not so good at it and benefited from some really nice holes.
Here is where I get into the not so good part of this. THE PATS DEFENSE PLAYED RIGHT INTO OUR HANDS. DON'T EXPECT THAT EVERY WEEK. Their LB's played very re-actively; instead of proactively. They let the OL get to LB's 3-4 yards down-field all day long. The DL didn't "keep the LB's clean". The DL was not getting enough penetration to keep us from just blocking with one or doing a double and then hand-off to get to the second level.
The passive way the LB's played may have been part of the game plan to prevent passing over the middle and to not get beat by Clay again. That, and I think they just didn't respect our run game...THEY WILL NEXT TIME. I expect to see their LB's play us very differently next time.
Aside from the blocking at the second level, Lazor had some really nice plays that took advantage of what the Pats were doing. For instance, the kept playing Hightower on our slot. Instead of trying to take advantage of the match-up in the passing game, he took advantage of it by running to that side. We also did about 3 plays that were unbalanced with the tackles moved or multiple TEs that just gave us the numbers.
Also, our guys DID GREAT IN SPACE! The guys were actually hitting people in space, instead of whiffing like we are used to seeing.
By the way...Sims had some really nice blocks too.
Overall, this is a really nice change...so, where will we have issues??? If we see a team with more aggressive LB's, we won't be getting the same production. However, it they do that, then it will open up the passing game over the middle and we can kill them with Clay. If the safeties come up to help..."Say hello to my little friend...Wallace"...who Tannehill will overthrow...but that's another discussion.
