This first example from a game between the Ravens and Bengals during the 2023 season gives a pretty clear-cut view of the play. Baltimore came out in “21” personnel and tight splits on 1st down. You can see the route combo illustrated below:

The personnel, formation, and down (combined with the fact that the Ravens were a high-frequency running team) got the Bengals into a Cover-3 look:

This is an ideal coverage to run this concept against. The quarterback reads the deep safety. If he bites on the over-route, throw the post. If he stays deep to take away the post, throw the over.

Here, the safety bit on the over-route:

Read more

In the example below, I’ll walk you through a 4-man simulated pick pressure used by Jaguars Defensive Coordinator Anthony Campanile to get a sack against the Texans last season.

Campanile did a great job of dictating the protection with his front, attacking where it was vulnerable, and using a coverage behind it that prevented any quick throws.

Let’s take a look at this from the end zone angle first. Jacksonville initially aligned in a 5-1 front with linebacker Foye Oluokun down over the right tackle:

The 3 defenders to the right of the center forced the Texans to slide in their direction. That left the back side in man protection. The running back would be responsible for linebacker Devin Lloyd (#0):

Read more

Well, it kind of says it in the name. The defense simulates pressure or simulates a blitz (5 or more pass rushers) by giving a pre-snap presentation to the offense that makes it look like pressure is coming.

Ultimately, however, the defense will only rush 4. At least one of those 4 pass rushers will be a non-traditional rusher (e.g. a linebacker or defensive back).

Generally, the defense will try to bring 4 pass rushers in a way that is either difficult for the offense to pick up or creates advantageous 1-on-1’s (or leaves the offense vulnerable to stunts). And because only 4 are rushing, the defense is not sacrificing defenders in coverage. So just about anything can be played behind the pressure.

Sounds like the perfect defense, no? Often times, it is.

The examples below come courtesy of Packers Defensive Coordinator Jeff Hafley from Green Bay’s Week 7 win over the Texans during the 2024 season.

On this first play, Houston faced a 3rd-and-6. First, check out the Packers’ alignment. They had 7 men on the line of scrimmage (note safety Xavier McKinney off the edge) and a single-high coverage look behind it:

Read more

It allows the play-caller to communicate with the quarterback via headset up until the snap if they can get the play off before 15 seconds remain on the play clock. It can catch the defense in the wrong personnel grouping. It can also lead to busted coverages if the defense isn’t communicating effectively and getting everyone on the same page quickly.

Because of this risk, an up-tempo pace can force a defense to be simple, stationary, and predictable with its coverage choices in order to ensure no missed assignments.

It’s that last point that I’ll focus on in this breakdown.

Below is a sequence of plays from the Jaguars’ come-from-behind Wild Card Playoff win against the Chargers during the 2022 postseason.

After picking up a first down to start this particular third-quarter drive, the Jaguars went no-huddle. They aligned in a 3x1 closed formation (3 receivers to one side and a tight end inline to the other). The Chargers would respond by playing cover-2 to the 3-receiver side and quarters to the closed side. Notice safety Derwin James sitting low to the quarters side:

The Jaguars would run it for 8 yards:

They stayed in the no-huddle and came out in another 3x1 closed formation on the next play. The only difference here was that the 3 receivers were aligned in a bunch. The Chargers responded with the same defense, and the Jaguars ran it again:

After picking up a first down, Jacksonville stayed in the no-huddle and used the same formation. Only this time, they flipped it. The Chargers responded with what appeared to be the exact same look. Trevor Lawrence recognized this and started communicating with his receivers, changing the play at the line:

The play Lawrence audibled to was designed specifically to break down this coverage.

Tight end Evan Engram ran an out-route, occupying the cornerback playing quarters to that side:

Read more

Receivers can have different options based on the coverage, or the play can be called in the huddle with different tags, changing a specific route or two for different situations.

This makes it a versatile play that can be called against just about any coverage.

Most would probably argue that the ideal coverages to call it against are cover-3 and cover-2 since there aren’t 4 deep defenders to account for the 4 verticals. That doesn’t mean it can’t be effective against cover-4 though (more on that in a bit).

At the end of the day, the play attempts to target a deep safety in the middle of the field and put him into conflict by creating a 2-on-1 (2 verticals for one defender).

But, of course, if the quarterback loves a matchup on the outside, he always has the option to target it.

Let’s take a look at four verts vs. cover-3 first.

In cover-3, there are just 3 deep defenders for the 4 vertical routes. The safety in the middle of the field is the defender to target since he is put into that 2-on-1 conflict by the inside vertical routes:

Most teams don’t love to play cover-3 if they see a formation that can clearly threaten four verts. So offenses sometimes try to get defenses into cover-3 by aligning with big personnel and running formations before attacking vertically.

In a game between the Chargers and Bengals in Week 11 of the 2024 season, the Chargers did that brilliantly.

L.A. came out on first down in “13” personnel (1 RB, 3 TEs) and a condensed formation. It was a run look, which induced Cincinnati into cover-3:

L.A. then motioned to a 2x2 formation and called four verts, which the Bengals were likely not anticipating out of this personnel grouping and formation.

Against cover-3, the quarterback can either read that deep safety, or if he has a particular receiver inside that he prefers to target, he can move the safety with his eyes.

Here, Herbert did a great job of getting his head around quickly off of the play-action and then looking left to move the safety. That created just enough of a window for him to deliver this ball to tight end Will Dissly down the right seam:

Below is another version of the same idea.

This was from a 2019 game between Bruce Arians’ Buccaneers and the Colts. This was a 2nd-and-1 and the Bucs were in “12” personnel (1 RB, 2 TEs). They aligned in a 2x2 formation with 2 wide receivers to the right and 2 tight ends to the back side.

The defense was once again induced into a cover-3 look. The deep safety cheated to the 2 wide-receiver side since they were the more likely vertical threat. So quarterback Jameis Winston targeted his tight end to the left for a big gain:

Read more

Subscribe now

Feel free to read the transcript on it’s own or use it (and the plays I included) to follow along with the podcast to get more context for what I’m talking about.

In this episode, I discuss the following:

• Rams trade for Myles Garrett

• Aaron Donald coming out of retirement?

• The Patriots trade for A.J. Brown

• Cam Ward’s rookie season review

• The Titans’ 2026 outlook

Here is a direct link to the podcast, and below that you can find the transcript and plays:

The Football Film Room Show - Episode #30 Transcript

Welcome to the Football Film Room Show. I’m Nick Kehoe and we’ve got another great episode for you today. We finally have some action for the first time since the NFL Draft.

We’ve got trades galore! A.J. Brown going to the Patriots. Myles Garrett going to the Rams. Aaron Donald is now thinking about coming out of retirement and rejoining the Rams because he sees how good they look on paper.

So we’ll get into all that. We’re going to do a bit of a deep dive on Cam Ward, his rookie season, what the Titans’ outlook is for the 2026 season.

But before we do any of that, I want to go into the biggest news of the week, and that is certainly that Myles Garrett trade.

Rams Trade for Myles Garrett

Now we thought it was going to be A.J. Brown going to the Patriots, even though that was somewhat of a foregone conclusion and had been really for, what, three months, four months, five months or so.

So we thought that was going to be the biggest news of the day, but man, the Rams trading for Myles Garrett, that that is the biggest move this offseason, hands down.

And I’ll be honest, Les Snead, this Rams club, they’ve got me on a bit of a roller coaster this offseason. Back in March, I was singing their praises, talking about how I love the fact that they were going all in.

They recognized they were in a Super Bowl window, and instead of being a bunch of idiots like the Packers were in 2020 and drafting for the future instead of pounding down the door to get into the Super Bowl, they went out and made a trade, a big trade for Trent McDuffie to address the number one hole in their team, the cornerback position.

Then they immediately signed Jaylen Watson. So instantly they went from their biggest weakness on defense becoming a strength.

And then we got into the draft and we thought, okay, man, they’ve got that 13th overall pick. What cool stuff are they going to do with that? They’re going to go draft a receiver? Maybe a freak talent like Kenyon Sadiq, tight end out of Oregon. The question was, what else are they going to do to knock down this door and get back to the Super Bowl?

And then what did they do? They drafted their quarterback of the future, Ty Simpson. And we all saw it. No matter what the Rams say, it seemed like Sean McVay wasn’t exactly thrilled. He came out and gave an explanation for why he was looking so glum after they made that pick. Who knows what the real reason was, but I can imagine he was sitting there thinking, I’m not worried about three years from now, I’m worried about right now. Let’s go and get a piece that can help us win the Super Bowl right now.

So it seemed like the Rams were back into, well, we don’t want to go quite all in, we want to hedge our bets and maybe start thinking about the future.

But it turned out they’ve been trying to make this trade for Myles Garrett for a while, and in case there was any doubt, they are absolutely 100% all in on this season and getting back to the Super Bowl.

And right now on paper, they absolutely should be the Super Bowl favorites. Doesn’t mean it will happen. You need a lot of luck, a lot of things bouncing your way, need to stay healthy. But if you were a betting man, you’d have to say the Rams, with the reigning MVP in Matthew Stafford and the best defensive player in football, they’ve got the best shot at getting to Super Bowl LXI.

Now, you don’t need to be a football expert to understand that Myles Garrett is good. So I’m not going to insult your intelligence. You know he’s a game-wrecker. He’s the most dynamic pass rusher in the game. His combination of speed, power, bend, moves, use of his hands, everything you need as a pass rusher, he is one of one in the league right now:

He broke the NFL sack record while playing for a bad Browns team that rarely held the lead late in games, which meant he didn’t have as many opportunities as other pass rushers did to pin his ears back, knowing that the offense is one dimensional, knowing that the offense has to catch up, they have to throw every down. He didn’t have many opportunities like that, and he still broke the record.

On top of that, he’s one of the most chipped, double-team defenders, and you can go check out my breakdown on footballfilmroom.com. He has a lot of sacks where he’s fighting through double teams, just going through the gauntlet and getting to the quarterback quickly:

But aside from his talent, I think the biggest thing to point out about Garrett is what he does to opposing teams, what he does to their game plans. Protections have to be aware of him at all times. Quarterbacks have to be aware of him at all times.

Very often teams have to keep in a tight end or running back or they have to chip, and that reduces the amount of receivers who can go out into routes. And that makes the secondary’s job easier. That makes the entire coverage scheme’s job easier in terms of defending route concepts.

So that’s one area where he’s impactful. The other area is, of course, the offensive line, the protection. Myles Garrett is lined up outside over the left tackle. You can leave your left tackle on an island, but you do so at your own risk. Most teams are going to end up sliding his way, having their guard be a little bit more aware of him than any other defender in the area.

And if you aren’t just doing a conventional four-man rush as a defense, you can use that to your advantage, knowing that Myles Garrett is to one side of the protection. You can anticipate that they’re going to slide his way, and then bring blitzes from the other side.

So Garrett isn’t just going to be a game wrecker on his own in terms of his ability to get to the quarterback. He’s going to open things up for the rest of the Rams defensive line and for the rest of the Rams pass rush.

And Chris Shula, defensive coordinator, he already does a lot with this scheme. He’s a very diverse defensive coordinator in terms of what he throws at an offense, the combination of coverage, blitz, personnel, etc.:

The Rams last year were number one in stunt percentage and number five in simulated pressure percentage. So they didn’t send more than four very often, but the way that they sent four was not via the traditional four-man rush.

But he does a lot of imaginative things. Popping on the Rams tape every single week is always fun. Looking at that all 22, seeing how Shula decided to deploy his defense:

And we’ll see how he plays this. Who knows if he dials it back and says, hey, I’ve got Myles Garrett. Let’s not take a risk on, you know, stunting out of a running lane or giving the quarterback an escape lane. Let’s not run the risk of simulated pressure and somebody missing an assignment and dropping a guy into coverage who’s probably better as a pass rusher.

Maybe they just say, hey, we’re going to play a little more straightforward, go with a four-man rush, keep everything in front of us, and make the offense drive the length of the field, knowing that hey, eventually they’re going to make a mistake, eventually Myles Garrett’s going to get to somebody and force them into a second and long, third and long situation.

Or perhaps he’s going to use Garrett to his advantage and throw intricate blitzes to the other side of the defensive line, knowing that the offense is going to be giving Garrett extra attention.

So they’re going to have a ton of options, and you pair that with the fact that he’s also going to have a lot more options than he did a year ago in his secondary, because of the presence of McDuffie and Jaylen Watson, and this Rams defense, they’re going to be like a chameleon, or they’re going to have the ability anyway to be like a chameleon.

They can adjust to any opponent week to week, situation to situation, and they’re going to have a lot of different ways on defense to shut down the opponent.

And that’s an important thing, because the Rams last year, look, they of course had talent, and Jared Verse was a really good pass rusher, he’s a really good young player. But a little bit of what made the Rams successful on defense was the fact that they used smoke and mirrors to a certain extent, and they leaned on the offense to do its thing every single week.

Eventually a team like the Seahawks that saw them three times last year, they were able to figure them out. They really broke through at the end of that second game when they had that comeback win in Seattle on a Thursday night. And then the NFC Championship game, Sam Darnold picked them apart:

So scheme, smoke and mirrors, that can only get you so far. To win a championship, at some point it can’t just be about the X’s and O’s. It’s got to be about the Jimmys and the Joes, the players on the field. They need to be able to make plays (and this is true on both sides of the ball) when the other team kind of knows what’s coming.

But as I said, the Rams now have talent out the, you know what. They’ve got good scheme. So I don’t think the talent’s going to be held back by poor scheme, obviously.

What a lot of people, I think, aren’t focusing that much on is that Garrett is a really good run defender as well. He’s an upgrade over Verse in that area, and that was another place where the Rams defense did struggle. That was one of the soft spots of their team. That’s where offenses could attack, could have some consistent success. So he helps them everywhere.

And here’s the last part of all this. The way teams beat the Rams last year, the way the Seahawks beat them, was by standing toe-to-toe with them offensively and throwing haymakers. No one went into a game against the Rams and Matthew Stafford and Sean McVay and that offense and said, we need to hold them to 10 or 14 points and win a low-scoring game. That just wasn’t in the cards.

When you play the Rams, you’ve got to hope to contain them, maybe keep them in the 21 to 24, 27-point range, and then your offense has to do their job.

Well, that approach of trying to beat the Rams by out-dueling them offensively, that just got a lot harder. Because I don’t know how many teams are going to be looking forward to the prospect of throwing on down after down with Myles Garrett pinning his ears back and getting after the quarterback.

And Garrett, like I said, he hasn’t really had that opportunity throughout most of his career. He hasn’t been on teams that have taken early leads and made offenses one-dimensional for a large portion of the game. He hasn’t had that chance, and he still set the NFL record for sacks last year.

So just as a football fan, I’m not a Rams fan, I’m excited to see what this looks like. Because we’ve seen franchises try to put together super teams in the past and they’ve fallen flat on their face.

This doesn’t appear to be that type of thing. This doesn’t appear to be that type of organization, from the coach in Sean McVay to the quarterback in Matthew Stafford, where expectations are just going to be so ridiculous and sky high the team’s not going to be able to meet them. I’m not saying they definitely will go to the Super Bowl, but this has the making of a super team that is going to be able to live up to the hype.

Aaron Donald Coming Out of Retirement?

Read more

The other big trade that happened this week, A.J. Brown going from the Eagles to the Patriots. Again, we all knew this was going to happen. This had been talked about for a while. A.J. Brown clearly wanted out of Philly. Philly clearly wanted to move on from Brown.

Subscribe now

Mike Vrabel was the head coach who drafted A.J. Brown. Brown grew up in the NFL with Vrabel as his coach, I guess you could say. They had some good success in Tennessee. They made it to the AFC Championship game in 2019, shocked a lot of people. And I know he said that he loved playing for Vrabel.

So off the field, that seemed like a match made in heaven, certainly from a coach-player relationship standpoint.

Now on the field, Brown obviously makes the Patriots a lot better. Last season he had a bit of a down year. That was due to, I don’t know if you’d say he necessarily lost a step, I’m not sure I would go that far. I think it had more to do with the circumstances, the offense that the Eagles ran, the quarterback he played with. He did have some uncharacteristic drops and moments, but he is still every bit a go-to, bona fide number one receiver, and that’s the type of player that the Patriots really didn’t have last year.

Stefon Diggs had a good year, some of their young receivers came on, Mack Hollins had a good season. But they didn’t have a guy like A.J. Brown who you can line up outside the numbers and anytime you see him in a one-on-one, you get him the ball, because that’s the type of player he still is:

He’s physical, has really good hands, will pluck the ball out of the air, can win at the line of scrimmage:

Read more

• Aaron Donald coming out of retirement?

• The Patriots trading for A.J. Brown

• Cam Ward’s rookie season

• The Titans 2026 outlook

I hope you enjoy!

Subscribe now

There are few in the game that do this better than Packers Head Coach Matt LaFleur.

On this first example from a Week 6 game against the Cardinals during the 2024 season, LaFleur did this brilliantly, using what he saw from Arizona’s defense early in the game to dial up a 44-yard touchdown pass that gave Green Bay a commanding 24-0 lead.

First, let’s take at the plays that set up the score. This was a 1st-and-10 about 9 minutes into the game. Green Bay came out in 12 personnel (1 RB, 2 TE) and motioned tight end Tucker Kraft to a 1x3 closed formation with reduced splits to the strong side:

The Cardinals matched up in base personnel and would end up playing quarters coverage with the backside corner locking onto tight end Ben Sims (#89):

The Packers would have a Dagger route concept called off of play-action, but there are a few key points to note here. The inside #3 receiver (Kraft) would run a deep-over route. Christian Watson, the #2 receiver, would run a deep-corner route instead of the traditional thru/vertical that you normally see with dagger:

The back-side safety would lock onto Kraft’s over-route, leaving the deep half of the field behind him open:

Jordan Love would ultimately complete this pass to Romeo Doubs late in the play for 19 yards, but LaFleur made a mental note of how the Cardinals defended this:

A few plays later, the Packers would come out in the same personnel grouping and motion to the same formation on first down. This time, they would run a “Sail” concept out of it, with Kraft taking his route to the sideline and Watson running a deep post:

The Cardinals would play the same coverage with the back-side corner locking onto the lone tight end to his side and the back-side safety again turning his attention to Kraft as the #3 receiver:

Because Kraft’s route would break away from the safety, there was nothing to hold him. So he was able to drop deep and get on top of Christian Watson’s post. The result of the play would ultimately be an incompletion:

However, LaFleur now had a pretty good idea of how the Cardinals would respond to that formation, as he said after the game:

“We were just looking at the pictures and seeing how they responded […]. We tried to hit Tucker on what we call a sail route earlier and just noticed how the backside safety was playing it.”

It’s interesting that LaFleur said the sail route was the one that let him know how the safety would play it when the dagger concept they ran earlier in the game was the better indicator. Maybe the sail was confirmation of it? Maybe LaFleur didn’t want to give away state secrets in the press conference?

Either way, LaFleur knew he could get the Cardinals into the desired coverage and then take advantage of it with a small tweak. As Jordan Love said after the game, LaFleur “dialed it up on the sideline” and called it two possessions later on the very first play after a 39-yard punt return into Cardinals territory.

He showed all of the pre-snap elements we saw on the previous two plays. It was the same down and distance. The Packers were in 12 personnel again (the Cardinals would match up in base like they did on the first possession). Tucker Kraft would motion across the formation to create a closed 1x3 formation. And Christian Watson was the #2 receiver to the strong side:

Read more

They appeared to be in win-now mode in March when they addressed the biggest hole on their roster by trading a late first-round pick for cornerback Trent McDuffie and then signing Jaylen Watson.

That mindset seemed to shift as they used their 13th overall pick on a quarterback of the future despite having the reigning MVP in Matthew Stafford.

But now, it seems like they’re right back to pushing all of their chips into the middle.

The Rams made the most significant move of the offseason on Monday, trading three draft picks and edge rusher Jared Verse for the biggest game-wrecker in football, Myles Garrett.

Subscribe now

You don’t need me to tell you how good Garrett is. He set the NFL single-season sack record last year on a team that generally didn’t have the lead late in games. His combination of speed, power, and bend are ridiculous. He’s the most dynamic pass rusher in the game:

He’s also a very good run defender, an area of his game that doesn’t get as much attention:

It’s also an area where he is a significant upgrade over Verse.

O-lines, protection schemes, and quarterbacks have to be aware of Garrett at all times, which can be very disruptive to any offense’s gameplan.

Just think back to the below play from the 2023 season. The Titans had two tight ends follow Garrett on a 3rd-and-12 as he moved back and forth from one side of the formation to the other, which eventually forced them to waste a time out:

He’s regularly one of the most chipped or double-teamed pass rushers in the game, and that still didn’t stop him from setting the NFL sack record last season:

Aside from how good Garrett is, this move is so impactful for a variety of reasons. First, opponents don’t go into a matchup against the Rams saying to themselves, “We need to hold them to 14 points and try to win a low-scoring game.” Their offense is too good to be completely shut down.

The way to beat them has been to stand toe-to-toe and throw haymakers offensively in more of a high-scoring game like the Seahawks did in the NFC Championship, winning 31-27.

That task just got far more difficult, though. I’m not sure how many offenses are looking forward to the prospect of getting into a shootout and throwing the ball on down after down with Garrett lurking.

On top of that, defensive coordinator Chris Shula now has more options for how he can deploy his defense.

Shula has done a great job over the last couple of seasons of covering the defense’s holes, winning with scheme and disguise. It’s always fun to pop on the Rams’ defensive tape to see the different tactics he’s utilizing.

Last year, for instance, the Rams stunted more than any other defense in the NFL and were 5th in sim pressure % according to of MatchQuarters. Those are great ways to generate pressure and create confusion across the offensive line.

But now protections will have to worry about that as well as stopping one of the best pass rushers in the history of the NFL. Damned if you do, damned if you don’t.

The bottom line is that Garrett won’t be left on an island very often, though. Offenses will continue to give him extra attention by keeping more receivers in to block (making the secondary’s job easier) or sliding the protection to him, leaving them susceptible to 1-on-1’s, stunts, and pressure schemes targeting the other side of the D-line.

Combine the addition of Garrett with the additions of McDuffie and Watson, and the Rams now have more options for how they can play coverage. They can play zone and keep the passing game in front of them behind what should be a fierce 4-man rush. Or they can play more man coverage than they did last year if they want (23rd in frequency). They can choose to jam at the line, re-route receivers and disrupt the timing of the passing game, forcing the quarterback to hold the ball with Garrett bearing down on them.

With the upgrades the Rams made across the defense, Shula can be a chameleon and attack differently each week based on the opponent and the situation.

To win a championship, though, teams cannot solely rely on smoke and mirrors. Opponents eventually pick up on scheme and figure out how to counter it. Seattle was certainly able to do so against the Rams on their way to a Super Bowl title.

So defenses have to be able to get a stop or generate pressure when the offense knows what they’re going to do. They need to lean on the Jimmy’s and the Joe’s, not just the X’s and O’s.

The Rams had some ability to do that with Verse last year. Garrett is a different animal, though. And he’ll be able to help them close out games when the protection has seen every stunt and pressure and knows what’s coming.

Either way, L.A. now has multiple ways to win on both sides of the ball. They are the best team in the NFL on paper. 2026 is officially Super Bowl or bust.

Share

Subscribe now

Share Football Film Room

Leave a comment

Stopping the run obviously becomes easier when these tendencies are deciphered. So the key for any offense is to add wrinkles that keep the defense guessing. Creating confusion and hesitation can allow the run game to function consistently for 60 minutes. But mixing things up and playing off of tendencies can also lead to some big game-changing plays.

One concept that is great for keeping defenders doubting their keys is the Influence Wham, which comes from the trap family of runs.

This type of play is designed to take advantage of a D-line trying to get penetration to stop the run or rush the quarterback. It’s also designed to get linebackers moving away from the direction of the run. It creates great angles for multiple blockers who are able to get up to the second level almost immediately because of the trapping element.

This example by the Lions offense from the 2022 season illustrates the concept beautifully. First, you can see the mechanics of the play below. Notice the tight end and both guards pulling and trapping along the line of scrimmage away from the direction of the run:

To the side of the play, you can see the Wham concept. The left guard let the defensive tackle over him go and immediately got up to the second level. The tight end then blocked the defensive tackle:

The pulling and trapping action by three blockers influenced three second level defenders and got them to move left:

The right tackle, center, and slot receiver were able to quickly get up to the second level and then pin those influenced defenders inside:

That gave running back D’Andre Swift plenty of space to turn this into a big play:

It’s pretty amazing that this run was clearly going to the offense’s left at the snap just based on the backfield action. And yet those second-level defenders, keying on the guards and tight end, were influenced completely out of the play:

The Lions ran this play on their second offensive snap of this particular game. That’s a great way to keep linebackers from trusting what they’re seeing for the rest of the day, especially if they’re keying on the guards. The Lions would go on to rush for 181 yards and 3 touchdowns on 28 carries in this game against the eventual NFC Champion Eagles. They had Philly’s run defense on the ropes all afternoon.

Here’s another great example from the Colts offense during the 2021 season. Focus on the tight end and two guards trapping and pulling away from the play:

Read more

Therefore, it’s critical for OC’s to be able to dress up the same plays differently with a variety of formations, alignments, and motions to keep the defense from anticipating the right concept. We’ve written about this before (Post-Wheel, Spin-Dig). It’s also important to be able to do the opposite and run various plays out of the same formations.

Subscribe now

Another essential tactic for any playcaller is the ability to understand his team’s tendencies and find the right moments to break them. This can be done as a result of great self-scouting or from deliberately setting up certain tendencies just to pull the rug out from under the defense at the right moment.

Below are just a few of the great tendency-breaking routes and concepts I’ve seen in the NFL over the last several seasons.

On this first example from the Packers’ 2019 Divisional Round Playoff win over the Seahawks, focus on wide receivers Davante Adams and Geronimo Allison. At the snap, they appeared to be utilizing a switch-release:

This isn’t an uncommon tactic, particularly in the red zone or man-coverage situations.

Both of Seattle’s defenders were in man coverage, recognized the releases, and started to fight through the anticipated traffic:

But Adams and Allison wouldn’t actually cross paths. Instead, they took their routes back toward their initial alignment:

Both DBs took their eyes off of their receivers for a brief moment to try and fight through the switch release. By the time they realized what was happening, it was too late, and neither ended up covering anyone. The result was an easy touchdown:

This wasn’t the only tendency-breaker Packers head coach Matt LaFleur would use that night to get the win.

On this next play, he took advantage of his own tendency to run deep-over routes off of play-action. Since this was Green Bay’s 17th game of the season, he knew that Seattle was also likely aware of this tendency.

So watch how LaFleur set up the defense. First, he motioned Davante Adams toward the formation. That was a strong indicator of some kind of crossing route:

Seattle was ready for it. At the snap, Adams’ defender got depth and raced to get over top of him. The deep safety in the middle of the field dropped toward the other side of the formation in the direction Adams appeared to be headed:

Then Adams hit the breaks and turned back to the outside, leaving both defenders in the dust for another touchdown:

Adams is a pretty exceptional route-runner if you weren’t already aware.

So is Justin Jefferson. And the deep-over route is also one of his most effective routes to run for big plays. If I know this, NFL defenses certainly do too.

Below, you can see him run a similar tendency-breaker for a huge gain:

Read more

“He’s going to be a great quarterback in this league. He’s kind of, I ain’t gonna lie, [he’s] got a Mahomes feel to him when [he’s] out there. Being able to extend plays while still having his eyes down the field. [He’s] a phenomenal young quarterback, and he went #1 for a reason.”

That’s what Saints defensive end Chase Young had to say about Ward after playing against him in Week 17 last season. Pretty high praise to compare him to Patrick Mahomes, to say the least.

Subscribe now

The invoking of Mahomes’ name for the sake of comparison probably happens a bit too frequently in the NFL QB analysis world. I’m certainly guilty of it. In fact, I shared a similar sentiment in my Pre-Draft breakdown of Ward last year:

“He’s got a lot of Patrick Mahomes in him in terms of the way he scrambles. And by that I mean he’s patient. He’s willing to hold the ball until the last possible moment, which forces defenders to cover for longer periods of time. And he’s got the evasion skills to successfully keep plays going for a long time.”

However, in this case, I do think it’s a legitimate comparison due to Ward’s combination of physical ability and patience as a scrambler:

The play below gives you a good sense for why Chase Young (#99) saw a little bit of Mahomes in Ward:

Physical talent isn’t everything for a quarterback, but the ability to make throws that few others can (whether scrambling or in the pocket) gives you a distinct advantage. And Ward is near the top of the league in this department:

My word.

Imprecise in Too Many Areas

Tremendous highlights like the ones shown above are not enough at the NFL level, though. Ward learned that the hard way during his rookie season.

He completed less than 60% of his passes for an astonishingly low 5.9 yards per attempt, good for 33rd in the NFL.

He also threw just 15 touchdown passes. And while it was encouraging that he finished the year with only 7 interceptions, he did turn the ball over 14 times (Tied for 7th-most in the NFL).

Ward also tied Geno Smith as the most sacked quarterback in the NFL. Sacks are always tricky in terms of assigning blame. The protection obviously plays a large role, and the Titans did finish 30th in the NFL in pressure percentage allowed. But the quarterback also shares substantial responsibility for sacks, whether that’s in the form of not making decisions quickly enough, holding onto the ball too long, or not understanding where a free rusher might be coming from:

So what was the key reason for the underwhelming rookie season? You can certainly blame some of it on the situation. The Titans went 3-14 for a reason.

Ward didn’t have a ton of help around him. The Titans finished 30th in rushing yards per game and no wide receiver on the roster had more than 48 receptions. Not to mention, he had to deal with a head coach firing just 6 games in.

It wasn’t an ideal scenario for a rookie by any means.

But many of the issues Ward had were due to his inability to play the position with enough precision.

Read more

There were also times, more so early in the season, where the undisciplined nature of Ward’s game and his desire to make big plays got him in trouble.

Subscribe now

Just look at this play from his very first start. Ward was sprinting left and his progression was the flat to the corner:

Ward had a lot of space to the pylon to hit the corner route. He should have recognized at this point in the play that there was a throw to be made:

Read more

Teams study their opponents for countless hours to try and understand their tendencies as best as possible so they can either take away the things they do best or attack their weaknesses. But when a team unexpectedly breaks that tendency, it can lead to chaos and big plays.

Subscribe now

In the New York Giants’ Super Bowl XLII upset win over the Patriots, their defense held New England’s record-setting offense to just 14 points. How did they do it? By getting constant pressure on Tom Brady. They did this with a front-4 that dominated New England’s offensive line and an assortment of creative blitzes designed by defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo.

The blitz that led to New York’s first sack set the tone for the game and left the Patriots confused and searching for answers all night. Given the circumstances of the game, this may have been the greatest tendency-breaking blitz of all time. Let’s dive in below.

This was a 2nd-and-10 on New England’s third possession. First, here’s the play in full:

Now let’s take a look at this from the end zone angle. Pre-snap, you can see that the Giants were threatening to blitz with Antonio Pierce in the B-gap to the right and Kawika Mitchell in the A-gap to the left:

New York would end up bringing cornerback Aaron Ross from the slot to the right, with Pierce and Mitchell appearing to drop out at the snap:

I’ll pause right here to say that the best offenses don’t just get stuck throwing hot against blitzes all the time. They don’t allow the defense to dictate their throws. Instead, they try to set the protection at the line to pick up the blitz and eliminate free rushers, allowing the normal timing, rhythm, and routes of the play to happen.

To do this, it takes a smart and savvy quarterback at the line of scrimmage. Tom Brady is the epitome of this type of quarterback, with one of his many calling cards being his ability to recognize the defense and set the protection in a way that negates even the best pressure schemes.

Here, he was not looking to throw hot. He wanted to take a shot with Randy Moss streaking down the right sideline.

This is all important to note because according to linebacker Kawika Mitchell during an interview with The Giants Guys, the Giants ran this very blitz throughout the 2007 season and he dropped out into coverage 100% of the time.

It appeared that Brady and the Patriots were aware of that as well.

Read more

They can be great plays for picking up easy yards against the right look, particularly on early downs. Or, as was the case on this play below, they can be used as good answers for certain blitzes in obvious passing situations:

You can read about the sequence that led to the above completion and see how masterful Tom Brady was at the line of scrimmage here.

Subscribe now

I’m not going to lie to you, though, the arrow screen itself is not all that exciting. What is exciting, however, is how it can be used with bluffs or fakes to catch the defense with its pants down.

You can see an example of this below courtesy of Aaron Rodgers during the Packers’ 2022 Week 10 overtime win against the Cowboys.

Green Bay had an arrow screen set up. But Rodgers saw the Cowboys playing press-man and felt he had a better way to take advantage of it. So he gave Allen Lazard a hand signal pre-snap.

Read more

This makes the threat of pass rushers attacking both sides of the center such a problem. It forces the offense’s hand, makes the protection more predictable, and creates opportunities for the defense.

Subscribe now

Mike Zimmer is considered by some to be the “Godfather” of double-A-gap pressure schemes. Below are a couple of great examples from his final season in Minnesota showing how these schemes can generate pressure.

On this first play, notice the linebackers aligned in the gaps on both sides of the center (the double-A-gap pressure look):

In response, the Bengals set their protection as illustrated below:

This was a five-man slide, allowing the offensive line to protect inside against the two linebackers in the A-gaps and prevent pressure up the middle (a common protection to combat this look). The problem was that this left Minnesota’s best pass rusher, defensive end Danielle Hunter, isolated on a tight end:

Read more

• It’s not a big deal at all that he waited until May to sign

• The Steelers have more talent than last year, particularly on offense

• The O-line is key

• Mike McCarthy has had effective passing games and QB play everywhere he’s been

• The AFC is wide open

I hope you enjoy!

Subscribe now

Effectively, it’s either a sweep for the running back with the edge open, or it’s a quarterback counter to the other side with the second level of the defense often hesitating or taking false steps, which creates better blocking angles for the offense. It has big-play possibilities regardless of who ends up with the ball.

It’s especially effective if Lamar Jackson is your quarterback.

Below, you can see the design:

The guard and tackle pull to one side and the running back goes to the other. He goes AWAY from the direction that the line is blocking, which is where the term “Bash” comes from (Back Away).

The quarterback’s read is the end man on the line of scrimmage away from the pullers. Here, that was to Lamar Jackson’s right:

If that defender crashes inside, Jackson’s read would be to give the ball to the running back on the sweep. If he kicks out with the running back, the read is to keep the ball and follow the pulling action to the other side.

And that’s what ended up happening here, with Jackson pulling it and running for an easy 17 yards:

Read more