Two of PFF’s top analysts return for another week of the Analysis Notebook as Ben Stockwell and Sam Monson show you three plays that caught their eye this week. Only one of the plays was a touchdown, but all three showed some excellent execution by the offense and some tough situations for the defense.
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Let’s take a look at what they saw.
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Green Bay @ Atlanta | 1st Q, 11:13 | 1st & 10
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Outcome:
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Julio Jones gains 17 yards to push the Falcons into the Green Bay red zone on their opening scoring drive.
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Why it worked:
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Well-executed misdirection plays are a sight to behold and when they click they usually lead to big gains, just like this one. End-arounds are designed to get outside and when combined with a fake to the opposite side of the field against an aggressive defense, they are a very powerful tool for an offense. You will often see an end-around work because the backside defender, in this case Erik Walden, crashes hard to the inside opening up the backside of the play. Walden only takes a couple of false steps on this play, but the Falcons are still able to make him pay and get to the edge.
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Atlanta runs this play very cleverly, incorporating a fake into the pitch to Jones who runs his end around straight from the trips bunch to the right side of the formation with fullback Ovie Mughelli leading him from the inside of the bunch. Rookie running back Jacquizz Rodgers appears to be headed on a pitch off right end but Jones cuts in front and takes the pitch out to the left instead.
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With only those two false steps from Walden as he looks to step down and pursue the play right, the left side has opened up and with Roddy White running Tramon Williams off down the field from his left wideout spot, Jones has half the field to himself. From there it’s simply a case of running to space and picking up the yardage that the Packers have surrendered. Much-troubled left tackle Sam Baker doesn’t make a block on Desmond Bishop but his positioning prevents Bishop from taking an angle to have any chance of stopping Jones short of the first down. This play was well-executed and only excellent pursuit in the secondary cut it off from getting in to the endzone.
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Seattle @ New York Giants | 1st Q, 12:34 | 2nd and 10
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Outcome:
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Seattle caps their opening drive with an 11-yard touchdown pass to open the scoring against the Giants.
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Why it worked:
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The idea behind the spread offense is simple, not to mention in the title. Spreading a defense out and forcing them to honor as much of the field as possible automatically makes their job tougher in coverage. In this case, Seattle lined up with a true 5-wide formation – five wide receivers – with enough distance from the end zone for almost any route combinations they chose to run. This is already putting pressure on the D.
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The Giants made life difficult for themselves by choosing to counter this personnel package and formation from the Seahawks only with their nickel defense rather than go to dime or any other variant with more defensive backs. Scanning the field, Tarvaris Jackson knows that at least one Seahawks wide receiver would be covered by a linebacker or safety. Given that their slot corner was Antrel Rolle, the Seahawks had to love the matchups that gave them.
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The Seahawks have the perfect play call for the defense they’re faced with. The Giants blitz their linebackers, sending six rushers at Tarvaris Jackson, and leaving their remaining five defensive backs in coverage. Had Seattle been running something more elaborate, or a longer developing route, that bold blitz might have blown up the play, but not in this case; it’s a bubble screen. On the play side of the field the Giants are in man-coverage, leaving Deon Grant 10 yards away from his responsibility at the time of the throw.
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Sidney Rice releases to the outside and takes Corey Webster out of the play, and Golden Tate throws a nice block on Antrel Rolle in the slot to allow Ben Obomanu to take the pass and outrun Grant to the end zone for an easy touchdown. This play is a great example of the chess match of play-calling. Had Seattle been running something else out of this formation, the overload blitz may have been the great call. As it was it, it left them exposed for an easy score.
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New York Jets @ New England | 3rd Q, 15:00 | 1st and 10
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Outcome:
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The Patriots complete a 73-yard pass on first down to start the 3rd quarter, setting themselves up for another score.
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Why it worked:
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This play has been talked about a lot since the game. The first thing to note is that Revis was not in man coverage on Wes Welker on this play. Revis was in man-coverage on Welker for 21 passing plays in this game, and Welker caught one pass for four yards on those snaps. That’s not to say Revis was blameless in this instance, but the Jets were in zone coverage on the play.
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The Patriots line up in a formation they’ve used a lot this season, and run a play-action fake from it, selling the run off right guard. The Jets recognize the formation and stack the box with eight defenders as Jim Leonard sneaks down before the snap. The play fake swallows up the front seven Jets defenders leaving Eric Smith and Darrelle Revis splitting their half of the field between them in quarters coverage. There is one more fake in this play though and that’s the fake that blows it wide open for the Patriots.
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Welker kills teams all day long with quick, shallow, crossing patterns across the formation allowing him to run for yards after the catch. As he releases from the line, Welker runs a couple of steps inside, faking that shallow crossing pattern and causing Smith to jump up to get in front of that pass. If Brady throws the crossing pattern to Welker, Smith would be standing right in the way. Unfortunately for Smith and the Jets, that’s not what the Patriots were running, and Smith’s mis-read has just taken him out of the play.
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Revis sees the same thing and switches off, believing the play is going away from him across the field. If Revis had played over the top with Smith biting up underneath, the coverage would have been fine, but Revis doesn’t see Welker straighten his route and accelerate past him until it is too late. The throw hits Welker 30 yards downfield and only the raw pace of Revis prevents him from scoring as a 2-yard head-start gets pegged back and the tackle made at the 7-yard line.
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Two mistakes in zone coverage cost the Jets on this play. Welker is too quick and too clever to be covered in zone, and given the success the Jets had in sticking Revis on him in man-coverage – something no other player in the league has been able to do – it makes you wonder why the Jets ever did anything else in this game.
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Follow Sam on Twitter: @SamMonson … and give our main Twitter feed a follow too: @ProFootbalFocus
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