Cool Play of the Week (AFC Championship): Green Right West Pass 92 Lead F Pipe Tommy Bohanon 19yd TD
Cool Play of the Week: Green Right West Pass 92 Lead F Pipe Tommy Bohanon 19yd TD
Divisional Week brings out some of the best stuff. Love this whole gameplan and execution is even better.
TL;DR
- Run Iso 10 times in the game
- Run 2 plays in a row with the exact formation
- Fake the Iso and release FB past the MIKE
- Let the FB get a TD after fusing the C6 and C7 of his spine
Hi all back again with a breakdown of a cool play I saw from the Divisional Weekend, AKA best football weekend of the year. 3 games were so close, saw upsets, and saw probably the most exciting play in the history of football, the Whiff 6.
Although the Miracle in Minneapolis got the most attention this week, I wanted to breakdown the coolest play I saw after watching the entirety of the Jag’s beatdown of the Steelers. I really wanted the Steelers to win to get the Pats vs Steelers rematch but could not help but be impressed with the execution of the Jag’s offense. After digging through the coaches film of this game I have come to the conclusion that the Jag’s “Identity” (the mantra and approach to the game) is to “Body Blow, and Punch opponents in the Mouth”. This is why they drafted Fournette because they never want to be in 2nd and 11. On 61 plays of offense (Below the League average) they moved backwards ONCE. It may seem small but never going backwards is HUGE for an offense built around an identity of attacking the midsection to then get the KO by surprising the opponent up top.
This TD is a really cool design that is based off the 3 different Inside F Lead concepts that the Jags ran. Overall they ran 10 total Inside F Lead plays split between 3 concepts Mike, Weak Easy, Lead (all are in this post at the bottom). They started the game running the flavor of the month for the whole NFL 95 Mike (Lead with a planned cutback), Weak Easy (Weak Lead, with an “Easy” block by on off the ball TE to play side), and lasty 92 Lead (From 22 personnel…2 Tight Ends, 2 Backs).
I know this is a lot of set up but it is important to know how the Jags were setting up the killshot with plays that were going for 4,2,3,3,2,1 etc yards to ultimately score this touchdown.
Here is the play directly before the TD. If you look back at the TV copy you will see this is the EXACT same Defensive formation to the EXACT same offensive formation. This play is literally a throw away to do 2 things: gather information on defensive formation, how will the defense play once the ball is snapped.
More on the identity. You run these plays to set the tone, to get the defense tired so the end of the game they are making mistakes. The play may go for only a couple yards but you are priming and hurting the opponent. You can see the committment to this identity to WHEN they Jags ran these plays:
1st & 10 15:00 1st play of game 2nd & 6 11:32 4th & 1 10:44 1st & 10 9:00 2nd & 10 4:56 1st & 10 9:02 1st play of half 1st & 10 7:04 1st & 10 9:04 1st & 10 5:06 2nd & 8 4:24 Starting of each half with iso and starting of 6 new counts. They want you to expect it and feel it from the start.
You will see the Defenses answer to this big formation is to run their traditional under front, Nose guard (low shade/fattest guy on the field over the center) to the strength, and then bring a Strong safety down into the box. This is called a “SUP” (Strong Safety Up). Some teams will change their blocking structure to account for a SUP if he is playside, some teams just see if those guys really wanna tackle.
One of the more important things to notice is the Free Safety. He comes from ALL the way outside the frame on our right (offense left). Normally with a SUP, the F/S is in teh direct middle of the field. The Steelers said screw it and were focused on stopping the 1:1 matchup with the WRs and were daring the TEs or backs to get open.
So lets break down the play call first before diving deeper into it.
Green Right West Pass 92 Lead F Pipe
Green: F directly behind QB with RB directly behind F. 3.5 yards in between
Right: Y goes to the Right of the formation
West: U off the ball on the Y hip
Pass: Running a play action off of a Running play
9: Run is going to the player in the 9 spot
2: Running play is hitting in the 2 hole (yes please laugh at this as every player has)
Lead: Play specifics are Lead (Iso, Dbl teams Front side combination to WILL, F Leading to MIKE)
F: Specific player being tagged with a Route
Pipe: Go/Fly up the middle of the defense. As its a F play give the guy a head fake on your way
This is the exact formation as the play before. They gathered their intel and know exactly how the Steelers are choosing to play this big personnel formation. They also know that after 9 of these lead plays the Vincezo Williams (MIKE) is tired of getting Tommy Bohanon straight to the dome piece. He’s get new ideas and if he sees down hill action he’s gonna take his chance. Because MIKE sees the same formation again he is going to assume its the same play (4 minute offense to burn clock). The Body Blow identity gets the opponent tired of taking the big hits over and over again to finally let their guard down when you can hit them with the knock out up top. they spent 44 minutes setting up this play.
Another aspect of this formation is to spread out the defense to the weak side. You split the X so far out that the F/S needs to make a decision on either helping out the Corner 1:1 or playing the middle of the field like he normally does. He helps over the top which gives the green light to the F Pipe.
This really is a 1 read play to the F Pipe. Its closer to a trick play then it is a normal play you would run. If you listen to the TV copy you even hear Bortles change his snap count to “Green 80 Green 80 Hut” (Normally its “White 80” or “Red 80″…Green means there is a Green light to run the play, a key to trick plays). F has to run at the MIKE full speed on the Pipe route and stay straight to make sure he does draw eyes from either safety or nearside corner.
The line is blocking 92 Lead just like they normally would BUT with the knowledge its a pass. Come off the rock hard but still have the balance and eyes for your responsibilities. The U’s route is just a clear out. If the pipe was covered they would throw the Fade most likely.
Here is the midplay action. Right at the start you can see the MIKE literally dive around the F to try and get the back. He took the block on 9 times through out the game but was fed up and tried something out of his teaching. He chose the perfectly wrong time. F gives a head fake and is in the end zone uncovered.
You can see the Will take too many steps up as well on the play fake. He gets caught not doing anything, throwing a no hitter and not making contact with anyone the whole play. This is Sean Spence filling in for Shazier, a guy who has bounce around a lot (was the greatest high school football player i ever played aganst…but that doesnt help him here). He is lost on this play and could have been a safety valve but he is slow to react.
Watch 20 the F/S. He takes 2 false steps and then sprints downhill. I dont think he would even do a lot in the run game but he is clearly confused on what he wants to do. I am not a huge fan of bringing safeties into the box. Let them be at 9 yards and read the play instead of at 6 and having to use quick reactions.
Take a look at the footwork by the offensive line. They all take hard steps, bringing the fight to the defensive line. Normally in pass pro the line sets back to give them time to react to the defense. Also when you step forward you are often on your toes and can get shed easier by the D Line. Watch the RT here as he sets on the 4i 94. He gets tugged and swam outside…BUT THATS OK. Get beat outside if you need to and then you can react because QB getting the ball out quick.
Look at the WILL in the freeze frame. You can see where his eyes are. “God created the stripe on the helmet so you sack of shits can’t lie to me about where your eyes are”-Coach. The stripe is going from the QB and then gets locked in on the double team. The action gets him to hold for just a second so he cant react.
Normally on a pass play you have a man side and a slide side. If this were Hound 2 (a Lead play action pass protection. The center would just slide left and only provide a Hand to the Right Guard. But on Pass 92 Lead he wants to sell the “Ace” block (double team to the Will). He steps into the play and has his eyes on the WILL. A Saying coach used to have was “3 hands on the Nose, 4 eyes on the Will”. Be ready to come off if you have to.
Pocket is clean for Bortles to make an easy throw. He executes well and get the ball to the open man. Can’t ask for more.
A lot is positive but… If you EVER move backwards this all goes to shit. You need to be in 3rd and manageable and to allow the qb to dump it off or have a RBs fight for 3rd downs. They are going to need to for this same level of execution to stand a chance against the Pats. Another thing to note is that when a fullback is in its almost 90% chance they run the ball. It lead to 2 touchdowns (outside zone check by bortles, and this play) but its still way too high of a percentage for a team like the pats to not be ready. Should be fun.