Cool Play of the Week (8): Gun Double “Pass Play” Kill 96 Cross Melvin Gordon 87yd TD
I put together a cool play of the week for plays I find interesting while watching the Redzone on Sundays. The Chargers ran an awesome play that is pretty basic but against one of the weirder defenses and to great success. The Chargers out schemed and outperformed the Pats on this play and that is definitely something to hang their hat on. Lots of people see the defense of the Pats being last and thinking its just the players but here your coaches won the battle against Patricia…thats something to look forward to. If you have any questions or complaints please let me know! I really like this concept of a defense to trick the other team because it looks so funky, reminds me of these drastic shifts we saw in the world series. It hinges on the health of Hightower and we have seen the Marsh experiment fail before (see Kareem Hunt TD week 1). I used a new program to do these diagrams and I am still a novice so it may be worse than before. Let me know if you have any questions or suggestions and I will consider everything, just want to make good content for you all.
If you want the answers before the test here is the
TL;DR
Pats line up in unique 4-2-5 with MIKE on the Ball VICED on TE
Chargers change to a play to exploit both LB spacing and DL spacing
Blocking up front is near perfect and the TE does an awesome job from start to finish
Pats are missing Hightower who they built this unique defense around
Gun Double Right “Pass Play” Kill 96 Cross
Phil Kills/Checks to a new play Gif
So this is probably my favorite play i have diagrammed so far this season strictly because it involves one of my favorite aspects of offense: Audible/Kill. The difference between the 2 is in an audible its a wholly unique play you are checking to and in a Kill it was already in the play call. What Phil is doing here is he is identifying the unique look they are getting doing one of the following to get to a new play:
1 “Black Bears Cross” (Black was teams term to change the play/audible, special term to signify direction, and then the unique play call)
2 “Cronut, Cronut, Cronut!” One word code word for the new play (C to signify cross, an R to signify right…as you can tell I am hungry making this).
3 “Kill Kill Kill!” which means to go to the second play in the play call
The other aspect that makes me love this play is getting to breakdown the weird Nickel defense that Mike Patricia is running.
If you want the answers before the test here is the TL;DR:Pats line up in unique 4-2-5 with MIKE on the Ball VICED on TE Chargers change to a play to exploit both LB spacing and DL spacing Blocking up front is near perfect and the TE does an awesome job from start to finish Pats are missing Hightower who they built this unique defense around
Lets go over the defense first. I hope you can see in the diagram the 4 down lineman, the LB over the center, the LB on the Y, and the LB over the F. This is a Nickel defense and they have subbed a DL or LB body out for a DB body. As an offense it is your job to identify the 4 down and the 3 lbs / 3 down and 4 lbs and let everyone else fall into place. What Patricia does that is so cool is he puts a former DL in at what I called “MIKE”. The first time I saw this defense was opening night against the Chiefs and it was Hightower, which tipped me off this is supposed to be their MIKE. But he plays on the ball as if he were an outside LB. This will screw up a novice offense who just assumes by placements he is an outside LB (the SAM).
This does not screw up the Chargers and also exposes how important Hightower is to running this defense. IMO it can only be run with him because it puts him in such a unique position. The chargers identify its the unique look and check to a run play they believe will work against it. They get to 96 Cross. Cross is an old school concept that is now coming back due to updated outside zone rules. “Pin and Pull” is the en vogue way to refer to the unique blocking concept and you may have heard that floating around before.
Look specifically at the DL. There are 2 DL in side by side gaps, this rarely happens unless they are planning on running some sort of pass stunt. This is funky look and is great for Cross because you get the great angle on the 3 tech for the pin block and the guard to pull around. I think this could have been the unique defensive indicator to make Phil switch the play.
The other way to make this a 4 down front instead of what looks like a 3 down is because there are only 2 men past the center on the left. A true 3 man front has 3 men away from the center on both sides of the center. It always goes DT,DE,LB, so in this case we only have DT, DE even though he is standing he becomes a DE.
The hardest block is the Backside guard, but there is insurance on the front side for him by the TE. Backside guard has to track up to the backer and cut him down, since it is an outside aiming point play the guard only wants to cut down teh backer because his job is to slow him down and not make it to the play. It is easier then to try and face him up.
If he doesnt get him the TE is checking for it. Want to make sure the play gets at least 7 before trying to go get the TD block. Because the F is blocking the Nickel SAM the TE can get up for the extra man at the Safety
Backside guard takes a great track to the WILL. He is aiming an extra LB spot to then cut him down.
Center is able to jump the snap (beauty of being the center) and gets over a whole man to get the perfect angle on his man for outside zone.
Tackle has a great pin block so the playside guard can pull around for the Mike. Often you take what is given to you, if he really wants to maintain outside leverage, let him but just keep running him to the sideline. If the MIKE decides to take it on just “Log” the block and flip your hips to give the RB outside.
TE still has eyes on the backside block to insure it, he then will flip back out to get to the safety
RB presses the hole and has to take a flat angle. Normally out of under center the RB take a harder angle to the outside TE aiming point but its harder out of the gun. Some teams in college do ball handling behind the QB to get a better angle. Works out here because Gordon is a stud.
This is the perfect picture for Gordon. Both WR get great blocks…(pats fans cant be happy about the “giving him the business”/”Putting your bag on em” that the outside receiver is doing….It looks better in the gif cause its only a second)
The pull gets around and puts the MIKE Marsh in a really bad spot. He is now on his heels with a lineman squared up on him pushing him back. Marsh ducks inside too much on the backs track but the guard does a great job square him up and drive his feet.
TE does a great job in space and gets multiple guys. On 1 play he gets 3 people…all while making sure he the WILL doesnt scrape over the top.
And now I also see in the gif that he actually gives the MIKE some sugar to hold him for a second to give the guard time. Hunter Henry gained a big fan on this play. Does so much to make the play go.
I hope you really liked this breakdown, i tried a new software to make it better but I am still a novice at it.