The Saints trailed the Browns 13-9 with just 1:17 remaining and no timeouts. They had a 1st-and-10 on Cleveland’s 43-yard line.

They needed a touchdown.

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New Orleans came out in a 2x2 formation with Chris Olave to the left:

According to Olave, the play design called for him to run a deep 20-yard out:

But this ultimately wasn’t the best coverage for that route. The Browns would be doubling Olave.

Shough spotted it:

“He kind of [had] him in a trail technique.”

The “trail technique” meant Olave’s defender (cornerback Tyson Campbell) was deliberately playing underneath him since he knew he had help over the top from the safety cheating to his side:

So Olave adjusted his route. Instead of running the 20-yard out that was called and would have easily been taken away by his defender, he ran a corner route:

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One of those touchdowns came with a little more than a minute remaining in the 4th quarter and Cincinnati trailing 36-29.

The Bengals faced a 1st-and-10 from the Titans’ 18-yard line. Pre-snap, it looked like Tennessee would be playing some kind of split-safety coverage:

The Bengals seemed to know better, however. As head coach Zac Taylor said after the game, the Titans’ approach all afternoon was a bit different than what they’d done throughout the season:

“Really what they did was they were gonna tighten down the coverage, give us a lot more 1-high looks, not let us do some of the 2-high stuff we did last week. Which they had shown a lot on tape [the 2-high looks].”

So the Bengals were anticipating single-high on this play. And sure enough, that’s what they got:

Taylor had a “glance” route called for Tee Higgins to the right:

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On Sunday, the 49ers suffered their first loss of the 2026 season. Turnovers were the main culprit, as San Francisco committed 4.

After the game, Brock Purdy walked through his 4th-quarter interception that all but sealed the win for the Falcons.

The Niners faced a 3rd-and-9 from their own 48-yard line with 2:42 remaining and trailed Atlanta 26-20.

The Falcons were showing pressure pre-snap. As Purdy Said Afterwards:

“[The] linebacker was mugged up on the line of scrimmage.”

You can see below that Atlanta actually had two linebackers, Kendal Daniels (#53) and Harold Perkins Jr. (#56), mugged up to the same side of the center:

At the snap, Daniels appeared to blitz and Perkins dropped out underneath:

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Pittsburgh came out in a 3x1 formation with D.K. Metcalf to the back side:

As Aaron Rodgers said after the game:

“[The Colts] played a form of 2-man.”

That’s 2 deep…

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With just 43 seconds remaining, the Cowboys trailed 30-27 and faced a 2nd-and-10 from Houston’s 12-yard line.

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Dallas came out in a 3x1 formation, with George Pickens as the X receiver to the left, Jake Ferguson inside to the right, CeeDee Lamb in the slot, and wide receiver Ryan Flournoy on the outside:

The Texans’ coverage response was somewhat puzzling to say the least. Lamb, to that point, had 16 receptions. And yet Houston didn’t seem to be dedicating any extra attention to him.

Lamb broke it all down in a post-game interview from the locker room with Devin McCourty:

“I saw he (Jalen Pitre) was outside leverage.”

“I was watching how the safety was guarding the tight end […]. I was watching the mannerisms of the safety.”

Lamb was referring to safety Reed Blankenship here. His positioning and body language indicated that he was playing man coverage on tight end Jake Ferguson:

This was important because it told Lamb that if there was going to be any safety help, it wasn’t going to come from Blankenship on his side of the formation.

“And then I looked outside and saw the corner. And then I looked at my guy […]. And I saw the leverage and the mannerisms again. Saw it was man.”

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But the play that may have had the biggest impact on the game came on the other side of the ball.

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After a late hit out of bounds in the 2nd quarter, Jalen Hurts had to go to the blue tent to get checked out for a concussion. That meant back-up QB Andy Dalton had to come in until Hurts was cleared to return.

The drive didn’t stop, though, and the Eagles were knocking on the doorstep, threatening to tie the game at 7-7.

They faced a 3rd-and-goal from the Bears’ 2-yard line and came out in a trips bunch to the left:

Below is the route combo, with the motion and crossing route by receiver Makai Lemon designed to take the coverage with him and create an opening for Dontayvion Wicks’ in-breaker behind him:

Rookie safety Dillon Thieneman was all over it though. As he said after the game:

“I saw that first ‘over’ coming…”

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One of these teams would be walking off the field with an 0-3 record. On this play, Daniel Jones made sure it wouldn’t be the Colts.

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Pre-snap, the Texans were showing pressure:

But they ultimately “dropped out and played zone,” as Daniel Jones said after the game:

This was cover-3:

The Colts had a “Dagger” concept called, with Laquon Treadwell running the dig:

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Then Bo Nix connected with him for a 49-yard reception with 10 minutes left in the 2nd quarter, and that seemed to open up the floodgates.

Here’s the play that got it all started.

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Denver motioned to a 2x2 formation, which got the Jaguars to match up in quarters coverage:

As Bo Nix said after the game:

“We did a really good job of scheming up a deep shot. We got them in their quarters [coverage].

Translation: This was the coverage we wanted them to play.

The route concept they used to break down quarters called for two deep hooks from Pat Bryant and Courtland Sutton and a post from Waddle, who was aligned as the inside #2 receiver at the bottom of the numbers:

First, check out the releases of Sutton and Waddle at the top of the screen. Watch them stack on top of each other:

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Moore finished with 5 receptions for 100 yards and a 43-yard touchdown catch in the Bills’ season-opening win against a great Texans defense. But perhaps his biggest contribution was on a play where he didn’t even touch the ball.

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With the Bills trailing 31-30 and just 1:41 remaining, they faced a 3rd-and-11 at the Texans’ 34-yard line.

First, notice the formation and personnel. The Bills were in a 3x1 set with D.J. Moore to the back side, and the Texans appeared to be matched up in man coverage with just a single safety in the middle of the field (cover-1):

You can see the route concept illustrated below:

According to Josh Allen, the post route to Josh Palmer that he ultimately threw really was never supposed to be an option.

“You want the absolute truth? We call this a horseshoe. This is not where the ball is supposed to go. We have never once repped the ball going there.”

But post-snap, the deep-middle safety started drifting to D.J. Moore’s side:

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The Seahawks, playing with back-up quarterback Drew Lock after Sam Darnold left the game early in the first quarter, trailed 10-3 with 11:38 remaining in the 4th quarter. They faced a 4th-and-1 from the Patriots’ 45-yard line.

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Seattle had stolen some momentum after picking off Drake Maye on the previous drive, but none of that would have mattered if they couldn’t come away with any points on this possession.

The Patriots loaded up the line of scrimmage and squeezed inside to try and stop any run attempt. They also had 2 safeties deep pre-snap:

The Seahawks had what Lock described as “a classic football play” called. You can see it diagrammed below:

According to Lock:

“It looked kind of funny before the snap. Didn’t really seem like they had anybody ready to match Jax [Smith-Njigba] based on what I knew we were about to run.”

I can’t say for sure if Lock was aware of this, but perhaps he understood that the Patriots had no one to match JSN because of what he had seen on tape in preparing for New England.

In fact, the Seahawks called the same play that the Broncos did in last year’s AFC Championship Game against the Patriots in a near-identical situation, a 4th-and-1, albeit out of a slightly different look:

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Does that mean we have a QB controversy on our hands?

Haha, no. Stop it. It’s the preseason. And this was the second half of the first preseason game, to boot.

That said, the Steelers have to be happy with what they saw from their young QB in his first NFL action. And Allar broke down what he saw on his first pass attempt, a 3rd-and-7 that resulted in a 74-yard catch and run.

“I kind of recognized man coverage right away.”

“I really thought I was gonna have the tight end on a crosser, but the hole player sat inside and kind of took that away.”

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This was the type of game that the Steelers went out and got Aaron Rodgers for, and he delivered in a big way. Rodgers led the Steelers on …

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There were 11 seconds left in the first half, the Steelers trailed 10-3 and had 1 timeout remaining. They had the ball at the Lions’ 45-yard line and were seemingly trying to pick up just a few more yards to be able to kick a field goal.

They came out in a 3x1 formation with 3 receivers to the left and tight end Pat Freiermuth to the backside. The Lions were showing a 2 deep look and had linebacker Jack Campbell aligned over Freiermuth on the outside. That was a good indicator that this was man coverage:

You can see the route concept illustrated below:

Based on the play design and the situation, it seemed Rodgers was going to target the quick slant to Scotty Miller on the left to help create an easier field goal try:

As you could see in that NFL Films clip, Rodgers had initially told Kenneth Gainwell to “run a flat to the right” as they were breaking the huddle.

Gainwell’s route would be in the same area as Freiermuth’s, though, so it wasn’t a great combination to that side.

However, the point of that route was likely to remove linebacker Alex Anzalone from the middle since this was man coverage and the intent of the play was to hit Miller’s slant and pick up a few quick yards. Rodgers didn’t want any defenders lurking inside:

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On Sunday against the Lions, Puka Nacua hauled in 9 catches for 181 yards on the way to a 41-34 Rams win. But there were some key receptions early in the game, both before they had any points on the board and before the end of the half, that set the trajectory of the offense for the rest of the afternoon.

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The first key play came on the Rams’ second drive while trailing 7-0. L.A.’s first possession had ended in an interception, and this drive had stalled around midfield.

The Lions were poised to swing the momentum in their favor. The Rams faced a 4th-and-4 from Detroit’s 45-yard line, and Sean McVay decided to go for it.

L.A. came out in empty formation with tight end Terrance Ferguson aligned on the perimeter. Linebacker Alex Anzalone lined up over him, an indicator of man coverage. Then he followed Ferguson inside when he motioned towards the formation:

According to Matthew Stafford:

“They were trying to show me man coverage.”

At the snap, however, the Lions would reveal their hand.

“Then [they] popped out into […] Tampa-2.”

Not only did the Lions pop out into Tampa-2, they would only rush 3. Which meant they’d drop an extra defender out underneath (a “Pee Dropper”):

Nacua recognized the coverage, and instead of hauling ass out of his break, he saw the defender in front of him and settled just enough to catch the ball and get upfield:

As Stafford said:

“Puka did a nice job settling in the hole there, and I just tried to put it on him and he did a great job falling forward.”

Stafford wedged the ball into his physical and reliable receiver in a tight space, and Nacua did the rest:

Later on the same drive, the Rams ran into another 4th down. This time it was 4th-and-8. L.A. once again went with an empty formation, with Nacua aligned in the slot to the right:

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Lawrence’s first touchdown pass of the game gave Jacksonville a 14-7 lead, and they never looked back.

The Jaguars had a 1st-and-10 from Indy’s 14-yard line and came out in a 2x2 formation with the running back offset to the right. The Colts would play cover-3 in response:

Lawrence described what he saw after the game:

“It’s cover-3, and we had a play on that we use, kind of a 3-beater.”

The play Jacksonville had called was a post-wheel:

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Gibbs’ overtime touchdown was one of three runs he had on the afternoon that gained at least 49 yards. And it was a run that needed just about everyone on the field to make it work.

“It’s just Duo, the run play. […] everyone runs it, and he’s dang good at it.”

That was what Jared Goff had to say about the play after the game. Below, you can see it illustrated:

This one worked out a bit differently than your standard Duo play, though. As Gibbs pointed out:

“They brought pressure into the run.”

The Giants would bring a blitz to the right where the run was designed to go. Their D-line slanted right-to-left as a part of the pressure:

The Lions would have to adjust to the blitz on the fly. And they did so beautifully.

First, notice center Graham Glasgow. He was initially supposed to double the nose tackle to his left up to the linebacker:

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When the results are what they were on Sunday against the Buccaneers (357 total yards, 6 touchdowns), I’m sure Sean McDermott is more than happy to live with the roller coaster of emotions that Allen can elicit on any given snap.

Early in the 2nd quarter, Allen had one of those types of plays, and it seemed to set the tone for the rest of the afternoon.

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This was a 3rd-and-3 from the Buccaneers’ 43-yard line. The Bills were trying to get a pre-snap indicator of the coverage Tampa would play. So they aligned with tight end Keleki Latu on the perimeter to the right, running back Ty Johnson in the slot, and tight end Dawson Knox in the backfield.

The Buccaneers matched up with a cornerback over Latu on the outside, an indicator of zone coverage:

Then Allen motioned Knox out to the right. No one went with him or matched up. This was, indeed, zone:

You can see Allen putting his hands up to his head to indicate that he was “killing” the first play called in the huddle and going to the second. As Allen said afterwards:

“We [checked] out into a zone concept.”

To the right, the Bills had an arrow screen to running back Ty Johnson called. To the left, they had a curl-flat combo:

“I should’ve probably thrown it to the back or Gabe.”

As Allen admitted, the Bills probably had an easy first down if Allen targeted Johnson to his right or Gabe Davis to his left:

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Caleb Williams was tremendous on the Bears’ final two drives against New York. He completed 5 of 8 passes for 77 yards and a touchdown, and used his legs to pick up 53 more yards as well as the game-winning score.

That game-winner was set up brilliantly by Bears Head Coach Ben Johnson.

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Trailing 20-17 with 1:54 remaining, Chicago faced a 2nd-and-8 from the Giants’ 17-yard line. They were already well into field goal range.

The Giants had just used their first timeout because they wanted to ensure there was time left on the clock when they got the ball back. They were likely expecting the Bears to run the ball again to force them to use another timeout.

Considering Chicago also entered Week 10 as the #2 ranked rushing offense in the NFL and their running backs had carried the ball 20 times for over 5 yards per clip to that point in the game, there was a high probability that this would be a run play.

This is important for understanding how this play unfolded.

The Bears came out in 12 personnel (1 RB, 2 TE’s) and a 3x1 formation with 2 tight ends to one side:

Then, they shifted tight end Cole Kmet from one side of the formation to the other. Safety Tyler Nubin followed, an indicator of man coverage (not uncommon in the red zone):

Then, right before the snap, they used escort motion across the formation with tight end Durham Smythe. This is a type of motion used specifically to give the offense a numbers advantage in the run game. That’s because the ball is snapped before the motion man crosses the center, but he ends up on the opposite side of the formation once the blocking commences:

The Bears now had two tight ends to the right side and had used a motion indicating a run in that direction. That all helped sell the run to the Giants Defense.

You can see its effect on edge rusher Brian Burns. Watch him try to get down the line at the snap to chase the ball carrier from behind:

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But the NFL isn’t always about gaudy numbers. It’s often about a handful of plays in key situations that make the difference between winning and losing. And in that area, McCarthy made just enough plays in his return to the lineup to help the Vikings pull off a huge upset on the road against the Lions.

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This first play was a 3rd-and-9 on the Vikings’ second drive of the game with the score tied at 7. Minnesota came out in a trips bunch to the left with Justin Jefferson aligned in the middle of the bunch. The Lions responded by playing cover-1 (man) and doubling Jefferson:

With two defenders accounting for Jefferson and Jalen Nailor taking his route across the field (bringing the deep safety with him), there was a lot of space for Jordan Addison’s route back to the left:

According to Vikings Head Coach Kevin O’Connell, McCarthy did a good job navigating the rush. He made this throw “off some pocket movement, […] kept his base, and gave J.A. a chance to make that play.”

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On this play, the Browns faced a 3rd-and-7 from their own 33-yard line in the middle of the 3rd quarter. They came out in a 1x3 formation with a bunch to…

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