Cool Play of the Week (14): Big Green Left West Tight Spider 2 Y Release
Cool Play of the Week: Big Green Left West Tight Spider 2 Y Release
Back again and we get to breakdown the greatest play/result in all of sports history. THE FAT GUY TUDDY. Lets jump into the play.
TL;DR
-Tackle Eligible
-Spider 2 is great GL play action
-Tackle fade into endzone creating space
-Soft hands of the Lineman makes for easy Tuddy
Disclaimer: I was a center and a fat so this one means a lot to me. My girlfriend also thought it would be a good idea to make this clear so to know I am not shaming but loving the people in this play With that said….
Starting off a little different this week as we need to celebrate the greatest result in sports….when one of the Fats AKA Hogs AKA HogMollies AKA Cows AKA Chubby Boy Swag AKA Husky boys AKA Husqvarna Finest scores a touchdown. Every Lineman dreams of this day. Every fat gets overly excited when the offense even dares to install this play for a week. Every subsequent week you think about it actually happening in the gameplan. Everytime you are in the down and distance you might run it you think its coming….only to get disappointed.
BUT NOT TODAY! This is one for the whole line up front. It’s to be shared. But when Leonard Wester thinks back to this day, and all the times he visualized the TD it will be his.
Lets look at how they did this formationally and were able to take advantage of the situation and rely on some key issues from the Detroit defense.
Here is the TV copy. Lets you see what I saw. On the broadcast you will here “#66 has reported eligible”. They announcers were talking about this a lot as well, it should have been no surprise to anyone in the building or watching that 66 was an eligible receiver. For beginners to watching NFL football due to roster restrictions and jersey sales there are rules that indicate you can’t switch numbers of a player and you can put an ineligible number in at any position you just have to indicate to the ref that you are an eligible player.
Personally I think this is a dumb rule and rather have what the college team has (only 11 more eligible players) the players change numbers during the game to an eligible one. having ineligible and eligible numbers are important to make teh game easier to understand on who needs to be covered and who doesnt, i dont want to watch A-11 punt formation offense ever again after watching 1 game of Freemont High School
It should be Tight in the play call to tell the V to be attached to the formation. sorry for confusion
So lets start with coaches film. Its first and Goal. All 8 GL plays you typically have are available and you can play it safe. There is not a time issue you can do whatever you feel you will find the most succes.
First thing that jumps off the page to me is that the Bucs set up the offense FSL (Formation into the Side Line). It is not the college game but FSL is still a weird thing to to do in the NFL. The Extra lineman, Wester 66, is set as the Y. Typically you put the extra lineman in and you run at him, you want the matchup of your lineman on an smaller player, typically LB, in the run game.
The defense lines up in a GL Bear 5-3. For a refresher, Bear signifies that all 3 interior offensive lineman are covered up by the defense. Something interesting here is the extra LB (who i called the S/S in these Drawings) is Viced on the Y. The V is also viced by the corner on the opposite side. A Vice is when a defensive player lines up on the ball directly over the man attached to the LOS. The defense does this to make sure there are no easy releases off the ball and get a man unaccounted for in the box. This Vice look should indicate its actually a bad idea to run this play, there should be a guy just staring straight at the Y when the offense is trying to hide him, but hes been found. They run it anyway and its why you play the game out.
Big: Extra Lineman in the game
Green: RB and FB in line of QB
Left: Y goes to the left
West: U goes to the west position off the ball play side
Tight: V is attached backside
Spider: OL slide gap opposite of strength OF PLAY | V in flat, F fake block into Flat, RB block Edge
2: Direction of play is right OL slide Left
Y Release: (poetic license taken) Y runs specific route, called a Release here. U knows to do opposite and run an over to clear out
Wester does a great job selling the Pass. Takes 2 Kicks to get the DE upfield and then sells the S/S on it being pass…But him bot being a target. He slips out of the play and gets loose and creates width. He doesnt just pivot but he fades to the endzone to go away from possible threats.
Something I want to point out that I only see now after watching for the 100th time is the way they drop the center out of the slide to cover Winston’s Left side. In case the DE doesnt hesitate the Center is there to block the left tackle. This is normally a huge rule breaker as you want the line to always just own the gap over and not slide behind the rest of the line. This is unique and i think solvable in a classical way but they clearly are doing something else to make sure DE doesnt get a clean shot.
All of the flat routes create a clear out of the backside. Every LB bites on either run or trying to keep up with their man.
The MIKE “Green dogs” the RB. He sees him commit to blocking and that gives him the “green” light to go after the QB. Best way to beat Spider 2 or other full slide protections. DE also loops outside, they put 3 in 1 gap but on this protection its not the worst thing in the world, its the only way to actually stop it formationally (without wining a 1:1 matchup inside).
Here you can see the formation better. The vice on the Y is more apparent. When he sees teh initial kick he becomes a pass rusher. he shouldn’t. that guy is still eligible. Its not like hes actually a tackle. The Vice needs to trust his eyes. SO many times we see players get too locked on in man coverage but Id rather that here.
You can also see the flow of the LBs better off the snap. The reverse out from the QB the RB+FB flow make the LBs look like they are shot out of a cannon. Had this been run they would have been great. But thanks T-Roosevelt for the forward pass so we can slow down LBs with play action. I also don’t fully like how the SAM and MIKE have eyes in teh same spot. I think the SAM could be playing his gap better and may have been able to help more on the Y. He gets locked on when he probably shouldnt where the vice needs to be locked on more.
You can also wsee the green dog better here too. 3 Tech goes backside as well and the RT is in a bind. He needs to say with him because it’s bear. In bear the tackle and LG cant let anyone cross their face. Bear changes teh game in so many ways because gaps are filled off the bat.
I don’t normally ridicule Qbs but this bothered me. Winston has to know that his danger zone is to the right. He uses his eyes great to look to the flats to get guys moving but he takes and extra couple hop steps and puts himself closer to the danger. He is 2 yards off his spot where he should be (right down the hash) from his launch point. Its little things like this that make the Oline look bad and take unnecessary hits. Instead of running into the EZ and throwing daps to his teammates hes getting up off the ground and rubbing his knee. He needs to be more conscious of these things if he wants to have a long career.
End of the play. Fat and Go pregame got Wester warmed up fro the day. Hands off the line great, and gets width and looks teh ball in. Worst thing to happen could be the drop. in front of everyone. No fats the rest of the season would get an opportunity. He doesnt only represent himself, his unit, or his team… he represents something bigger…Fats as a whole.
Hope you enjoyed this and hope to produce more content for you soon.