Running backs Jahmyr Gibbs and David Montgomery have been a dynamic duo for the Lions, and Monday night against the Ravens was no exception. The two combined for 218 rushing yards and 4 touchdowns on 34 carries (6.4 yards per rush), helping pave the way for a key early-season victory.
But that’s not the dynamic duo I’m referring to in the headline of this post. Instead, I’m talking about “Duo” the run play. The Lions leaned on it heavily against Baltimore, and it led to some of their biggest plays of the night.
First, what is Duo? It’s a gap-scheme run (down blocks to the play-side) without pullers like you have on power and counter. It generally gets multiple double-teams, although the number of doubles will vary based on the formation and defensive front. You can read more about it here:
Duo
Want to knock the defense off the ball and play a more physical brand of football? Call Duo. Want to provide a change of pace from your zone-running schemes? Call Duo. Want an answer for aggressive linebackers and blitzes inside? Better call Duo.
It’s a great play because it’s versatile. It can be run effectively out of different personnel packages and formations (as the Lions did on Monday) and works against a multitude of fronts.
One thing it does is allow the offense to knock the defense off the ball and play a more physical downhill brand of football. Detroit was clearly aiming to do this against a short-handed Ravens defensive line that was missing Kyle Van Noy and Justin Madubuike.
It worked to near perfection on Monday night. The Lions had 4 runs gaining 10 yards or more. All came on some version of Duo.
The biggest play of the night came in the 3rd quarter with just under 3 minutes remaining and the score tied at 21.
The Lions had just used Duo to pick up 11 yards two plays earlier and get them out from the shadow of their own goalpost. On this next play, a 2nd-and-10, they would use it to change the game.
Detroit came out in “11” personnel (1 RB, 1 TE, 3 WR) and would motion to a trips-bunch formation:
2nd-and-10 is a high-probability passing situation. The Ravens appeared to be anticipating this. I can’t get in their heads but it seems like they were using an under front to create 1-on-1 matchups for their pass rushers to the backside:
The front left a huge bubble to the right. That was either a mistake or Baltimore planned to address this by having safety Kyle Hamilton come down after the snap to fill against the run:
The Lions would, of course, run Duo right into that bubble:
The first block to note is the double-team by center Graham Glasgow and right guard Tate Ratledge. Watch them both make contact at the same time on nose tackle Travis Jones:
Getting there at the same time is key to the double-teams in Duo. Here, it helped provide a jarring hit on Jones that drove him back and got him off balanced just enough (notice he put his hand on the ground to catch himself), and that prevented him from making a play.
Glasgow came off the double almost immediately and got up to the second level after seeing the linebacker over him attack the line of scrimmage. He was able to block and turn him, cutting off the backside: