Hi everyone!
The beauty about living in Europe is that you can subscribe to NFL Gamepass and watch every game live or watch it later as often as you feel like. You basically have three choices how to watch a game that has already taken place: Full game (without TV breaks), condensed game (just the plays, not cut scenes) or coaches film.
So I decided to have a look at the coaches film and compare it to last year. Thought you might be interested. I am not looking at defense plays as I’m more an offense type of guy.
Without further ado, let’s step right in.
Run Game 2014 vs 2013
Let’s have a look at how different the run game looks this year as opposed to last. In both plays, Lamar Miller is the running back and you will see the difference is night and day.
Week 1 2014, New England at Miami
Let's start with 2014. We are in a 3-wide set, shotgun: Mathews to the left, Landry and Wallace to the right. The TE is Charles Clay who is lined up next to RT James on the right.
The Patriots are lined up in their dime package. Apparently it’s a zone defense: 3 down linemen, with the CB, who doesn't have a slot receiver on his side, at the line of scrimmage threatening to blitz. The LBs are 5 yards away from the line of scrimmage.
View attachment 13003
Right after the snap it becomes apparent what the offensive line’s job is: sell the run to the left. All linemen including TE Clay go to the left as soon as the ball is snapped. Notice Wallace on the far right and Mathews on the near sideline also trying to sell a quick pass. Landry is going outside to fake a block for Wallace. We'll get to that when we're looking at the passing game.
View attachment 13004
The next screen shows basically the same thing, from a different perspective. Notice the RT James is blocking #72 and #91 looks like he’s having a clear path to the ball carrier. The misdirection play works to perfection as #51 is also going to his right.
View attachment 13005
On the next picture you see that the RG helps out C Satele with Wilfork (#75) and RT James moves a little more to the left to close the gap for #91.
View attachment 13006
Miller cuts to the right side after the handoff, RT James now blocks #91 while handing his original defender over to TE Charles Clay. The whole right side of the defense including #51 is out of the play already.
View attachment 13007
Only #32 is not blocked and takes a perfect angle to get to Miller.
View attachment 13008
The CB who was lined up across Landry hesitates just a little to long and is outrun by Miller, who gets tackled by #32. And unfortunately fumbles the ball after a 13 yard gain. However, this is text book zone-blocking and zone-running.
View attachment 13009
View attachment 13010
Week 2 2013, Miami at Indianapolis
Now that we’ve seen how it is supposed to work, let’s have a look at what you better not do on a running play. This is a play from the week 2 Indianapolis game but we ran the same play in week 1 against Cleveland with the exact same result: 3 yards.
When looking at the formation, it looks the same as in 2014: 3-wide with the TE lined up next to the RT. However, there’s two major differences:
1) TE Charles Clay motions behind the RG prior to the snap.
2) The WRs are not as spread out over the field as this year
The defense is in man coverage with two safeties over the top. The TE in motion indicates to the defense that a rush is coming. Hence, the two LBs move closer to the line of scrimmage: they are only 3 yards away as opposed to 5 yards in the 2014 play.
Everything is much more crowded and not ideal for a run game to develop, much less for a zone running play.
View attachment 13011
Right after the snap the O-line moves to the right, faking a run to the right. The (first) problem is: the TE moves to the left, basically rendering all the O-line’s attempts to fake the run to the right useless.
View attachment 13012
The LB on the near side doesn’t fall for the fake to the right and the RE is totally unblocked.
View attachment 13013
But here comes the TE Clay, taking the RE out of the play. Is what I thought...
View attachment 13014
Clay runs right by him exposing the RB Miller to the RE. Don’t know why Clay doesn’t even attempt to block. In the next screen he’s standing in space all alone while Miller gets taken down.
View attachment 13015
Another look from a different perspective. Clay runs to the left telling the defense that this run goes to the left. All linemen execute their blocks to the right.
View attachment 13016
...and if Clay blocks the RE, Miller runs right through...
View attachment 13017
...but Clay runs by the defender and Miller has both defenders crashing in from the left and the right...
View attachment 13018
View attachment 13019
Conclusion
As you can see, the 2013 play was broken up because of two things:
1) Flawed play design (formation not using the whole width of the field, TE motion indicating a run play and the TE telling the defense the direction of the play right after the snap)
2) Flawed execution (the TE not blocking the defender, who closes the hole to run through and tackles the ball carrier)
The 2014 run play does so many things better: using the entire field, the WRs faking a screen pass, ALL blockers faking to one side while the run goes to the other and execution (blockers handing over defenders to other players, which is a staple of a zone blocking scheme).
What a difference an offensive coordinator makes.
The beauty about living in Europe is that you can subscribe to NFL Gamepass and watch every game live or watch it later as often as you feel like. You basically have three choices how to watch a game that has already taken place: Full game (without TV breaks), condensed game (just the plays, not cut scenes) or coaches film.
So I decided to have a look at the coaches film and compare it to last year. Thought you might be interested. I am not looking at defense plays as I’m more an offense type of guy.
Without further ado, let’s step right in.
Run Game 2014 vs 2013
Let’s have a look at how different the run game looks this year as opposed to last. In both plays, Lamar Miller is the running back and you will see the difference is night and day.
Week 1 2014, New England at Miami
Let's start with 2014. We are in a 3-wide set, shotgun: Mathews to the left, Landry and Wallace to the right. The TE is Charles Clay who is lined up next to RT James on the right.
The Patriots are lined up in their dime package. Apparently it’s a zone defense: 3 down linemen, with the CB, who doesn't have a slot receiver on his side, at the line of scrimmage threatening to blitz. The LBs are 5 yards away from the line of scrimmage.
View attachment 13003
Right after the snap it becomes apparent what the offensive line’s job is: sell the run to the left. All linemen including TE Clay go to the left as soon as the ball is snapped. Notice Wallace on the far right and Mathews on the near sideline also trying to sell a quick pass. Landry is going outside to fake a block for Wallace. We'll get to that when we're looking at the passing game.
View attachment 13004
The next screen shows basically the same thing, from a different perspective. Notice the RT James is blocking #72 and #91 looks like he’s having a clear path to the ball carrier. The misdirection play works to perfection as #51 is also going to his right.
View attachment 13005
On the next picture you see that the RG helps out C Satele with Wilfork (#75) and RT James moves a little more to the left to close the gap for #91.
View attachment 13006
Miller cuts to the right side after the handoff, RT James now blocks #91 while handing his original defender over to TE Charles Clay. The whole right side of the defense including #51 is out of the play already.
View attachment 13007
Only #32 is not blocked and takes a perfect angle to get to Miller.
View attachment 13008
The CB who was lined up across Landry hesitates just a little to long and is outrun by Miller, who gets tackled by #32. And unfortunately fumbles the ball after a 13 yard gain. However, this is text book zone-blocking and zone-running.
View attachment 13009
View attachment 13010
Week 2 2013, Miami at Indianapolis
Now that we’ve seen how it is supposed to work, let’s have a look at what you better not do on a running play. This is a play from the week 2 Indianapolis game but we ran the same play in week 1 against Cleveland with the exact same result: 3 yards.
When looking at the formation, it looks the same as in 2014: 3-wide with the TE lined up next to the RT. However, there’s two major differences:
1) TE Charles Clay motions behind the RG prior to the snap.
2) The WRs are not as spread out over the field as this year
The defense is in man coverage with two safeties over the top. The TE in motion indicates to the defense that a rush is coming. Hence, the two LBs move closer to the line of scrimmage: they are only 3 yards away as opposed to 5 yards in the 2014 play.
Everything is much more crowded and not ideal for a run game to develop, much less for a zone running play.
View attachment 13011
Right after the snap the O-line moves to the right, faking a run to the right. The (first) problem is: the TE moves to the left, basically rendering all the O-line’s attempts to fake the run to the right useless.
View attachment 13012
The LB on the near side doesn’t fall for the fake to the right and the RE is totally unblocked.
View attachment 13013
But here comes the TE Clay, taking the RE out of the play. Is what I thought...
View attachment 13014
Clay runs right by him exposing the RB Miller to the RE. Don’t know why Clay doesn’t even attempt to block. In the next screen he’s standing in space all alone while Miller gets taken down.
View attachment 13015
Another look from a different perspective. Clay runs to the left telling the defense that this run goes to the left. All linemen execute their blocks to the right.
View attachment 13016
...and if Clay blocks the RE, Miller runs right through...
View attachment 13017
...but Clay runs by the defender and Miller has both defenders crashing in from the left and the right...
View attachment 13018
View attachment 13019
Conclusion
As you can see, the 2013 play was broken up because of two things:
1) Flawed play design (formation not using the whole width of the field, TE motion indicating a run play and the TE telling the defense the direction of the play right after the snap)
2) Flawed execution (the TE not blocking the defender, who closes the hole to run through and tackles the ball carrier)
The 2014 run play does so many things better: using the entire field, the WRs faking a screen pass, ALL blockers faking to one side while the run goes to the other and execution (blockers handing over defenders to other players, which is a staple of a zone blocking scheme).
What a difference an offensive coordinator makes.
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