Hi all. I am back from spending the week at my parents. Took me a while to back in the flow of things at work so here is your Thursday version of Cool Play of the Week. I hope you enjoy this installment, its riddle with mistakes and the video wouldn’t render so I had to do some makeshift work to get it to work. I think this is a great encapsulation of the different things I’ve seen this season that combine new concepts, old concepts, and evolving meta game. So here it is:

TL;DR

• Run a basic play out of unique formation to see defense
• Come back to formation with new play
• Huge blocks one edge by WRs and Playside OL
• Get to the pylon and score a tuddy

• TV Copy Sideline Truck

Back again with the last cool play of the week of the 2017 regular season. My computer wasn’t working well so I couldn’t render the cut ups with the drawings so I did it this way. I hope it is still a helpful.

I WENT TO FAST TRYING TO GET THIS OUT EARLY AND SCREWED UP THE CALL OF THE PLAY! IT SHOULD GUN BUNCH AND NUMBER SHOULD BE 39 TRUCK INSTEAD OF 99 TRUCK….please forgive me

What made me think this play was cool is because it brings a lot of things I have talked about this season together. We see Fly motion, Cross Pin and Pull Blocking, Utilizing players to step up in their best abilities, asking a player to do something outside their normal realm of their job description, and lastly teams getting creative in the redzone. The most important aspect of this play is that it was set up by a play 2 plays prior. People hate the “run up the middle play” but it served a grander purpose, the team wanted to see if they would get the look for their big play later in the drive and game. See the below play as the example

• TV Copy Sideline Dive

Here you see a swap bunched formation with the Y to the boundary and the Bunch to the field. Unique formation that will call for the defense to line up a certain way. Here you see the defense go Cover 1 and man on the WRs. There is a guy following the F (golden tate) and makes the fly a bad play. Run it up the middle and try and influence block the DE (Matthews 52). Teams have been doing fly motion and arc releases instead of straight up blocking defenders because it gives you an opportunity to go 2 for 1 and pull other players eyes, it doesnt work here and 52 makes a play. Lions decide to adjust and are able to get a touchdown out of it.

• Sideline Gif

Here is the gif of the play from the sideline. Let’s break down the play call

Gun Bunch Left Swap Tight F Fly 39 Truck:

Gun: QB lines up in the shotgun

Bunch: 3 receivers tight to the line in triangle with middle receiver on Left: Where do you want the bunch to go

Swap: Normally the Y would be to the strength but you flip him to the other side with Swap Call

Tight: Y is inline instead of split out wide

F: Specific position is tagged to do something that will follow next…

Fly:F runs in a fly sweep motion in front of the QB

3: Player in the 3 position is getting the ball

9: The gap the ball is going to is the furthest most outside and left (0-9 Holes, Even right, Odd Left)

Truck: Toss play. Explanation of each position in the picture below

Again sorry for confusion on drawings vs in writing.

So we see the same weird formation as the dive play but we actually see a different defense. Defense was in man before but here we see more of a zone look. I believe they were more prepared for it and adjusted. They role the coverage strong and put the Nickel SAM to the TE. You could techincally flip the call of the MIKE and the SAM here depending on how the offense wants to say the defense is, but it doesnt really matter for this play. The defense just wants to get them out of Man and get numbers to the bunch side to go outside. (Technically it should be flipped because offense called strength left but because of who the defense typically plays with as BOX players I made the guy over the Y the Nickel SAM)

Will go into more in the pictures but the Key blocks here are the X, LT, and LG. Kenny Galladay had 1 receiving TD on the day with 2 catches and 80 yds but this TD should also be attributed to him for what he was asked to do and how well he did it.

Also most importantly watch golden tate (f) turn around and call the touchdown in the middle of the play…dude barely gets anyone to follow him but he still calls it…love it

• Sideline Pre-Snap Drawing

Ok so you see the blocking assingments and what they are called. I will dive deeper into the specificsx of the X, LT, and LG as they are most important.

X is being asked to go 1:1 with a DE. In this Nickel defense that is another rookie Reggie Gilbert 6’3 261. Galladay the X is 6’4 213, he’s giving up about 50lbs to Gilbert. But he is being asked by JB Cooter to block him 1:1 and hold the point of attack. He is told, just get his playside shoulder and stay in front as he tries to go over the top, and don’t let him penetrate upfield too fast. He is not being asked to drive him like you would ask a Lineman to do on a DBL team but this is an extremely hard job. Most WR not named Larry Fitzgerald just hang it up, but not Galladay. He gets a good initial shock and then keeps his feet moving upfield to get this play started. Great job.

LT is the lead blocker. He is 1:1 with the corner. Big guys in space is always and experiment and is a losing battle…UNLESS you use angles and the track of the back to your advantage. The defense is reacting to the back and his angle. With the wide angle, and the corners job of being the edge of the defense, the LT just needs to run towards the pylon at a flattish angle to get the corner to run himself out of the play. DO NOT try and get out there and dance with the guy because you will get your ass Milly Rocked into next week. Stay on your angle and sprint there and if he cuts underneath trust your back to have the speed that your 1 arm on the defender will be enough.

LG is huge here. From the EZ you will see how hard his angle will be to get the WILL. He is 2 yards outside of him and at depth, and the speed differential will kill you in space. So teams decide lets pull the LG and then have a similar concept as the LT and let the track of the back make the LG right. Here the backside runthrough is more important and you have to have your eyes on the backer to make sure you can wheel in case he tries to make a play.

• EZ Gif
• EZ Presnap Drawing
• EZ Mid Play Drawing

Here is the EZ view. Most important thing to note is the starting point of the backers and what the fly motion does to them. Some plays you can see them fly out of the box the wrong way but even getting these baby steps away from the play is beneficial. Its a 7 yard sprint to the EZ you don’t need to hit a home run so getting the MIKE and WILL to be 1 step behind is huge.

Watch the X and Z adjust to their blocks so well. Great feet and move with the blocks as the defenders try to fight for width and you eventually get them running backwards.

Tackle does such a great job covering up the Corner, he just makes full speed decisions and is able to be an athlete but leveraging his size.

LG does so good on this pivot. His track is the same as teh tackles but his eyes never leave backside runthrough. Huge mistake you will see is guys hearing the 9 hole play and will just sprint to the sideline. Here you have a guy who knows he needs to get his body in the right spot on the field but his eyes to never leave his man. Great job.

RB does an awesome job doing what he was drafted to do . Get the ball in space and run fast. Get to that corner don’t dance. Sometimes on these plays a RB will free lance, its ok in the field to find an alley and hit it home but on plays near the goal line just trust the process and get to that pylon. Everyone focused on the same thing is better than a guy freelancing. I love barry sanders and he was a treat to watch but if he had a better team he wouldnt have to freelance like he always did, if he trusted his guys he could play in the system and get to a super bowl Bad Takes, Coach Takes

I hope you all enjoyed this, i know this one is a little weird because of technical and mental difficulties but I wanted to get something to you guys this week.