Monthly Archives: February 2015

The Zone Read / Read Option Chess Match: How Belichick and the Versatile Pats D handled Russell Wilson & Marshawn Lynch

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The Zone Read (or Read Option) played an integral part of Super Bowl 49. It is undoubtedly a staple in the Seahawk offense, and as I wrote in my SB XLIX preview, how the Patriots defended the Zone Read from an X’s and O’s standpoint would be crucial to the outcome of the game. The Patriots used their strength (the secondary) and almost exclusively played Cover 1. This allowed the Front 7 to play uncommon fronts and do a variety of things including feather, crash, loop, and squeeze the Read. By my count, not including the last Seattle drive, the Seahawks ran 12 Zone Read type plays out of 46 offensive plays, over a quarter of all their plays. Let’s take a further look at each Zone Read:

1st Quarter, 10:52, 0-0, 2nd and 7: Ball to Seattle 24 for Gain of 5

The Pre-Snap look with blocking assignments:

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Analyzing how the Patriots Offense Manipulated Matchups in SB49

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Shane Vereen Sets Up Rob Gronkowski’s 2nd Quarter TD

The Patriots Super Bowl 49 game plan began as expected, with New England lining up Tight End Rob Gronkowski extremely far out wide in order to see how Seattle would respond. The Patriots then motioned Julian Edelman across to the slot. This first play would give New England a ton of coverage information for a Touchdown later in the game:

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Seattle occasionally moved Richard Sherman into the slot when they felt the Offense’s biggest threat was there, or when either a Tight End or Running back was the furthest outside Receiver. By lining up Gronk out extra wide and motioning Edelman, the Patriots were able to gather information even before running a play. Continue reading →

How Malcolm Butler knew what Play was Coming on the Interception that Changed NFL History

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By now everyone knows the story: With under 30 seconds to go and the Patriots about to lose in heartbreaking fashion, Malcolm Butler jumped the 2nd & Goal route, and made an impressive interception to win the Super Bowl for the Patriots. The Seahawks were in a Stack formation and ran a pick play with a slant route coming underneath the pick. The Patriots were in man-to-man coverage and had Brandon Browner jam front Seahawk Wideout Jermaine Kearse:

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Butler attacked and drove hard downhill to make the interception. After the game, he eluded to the fact that his decisiveness in going for the interception was based on him anticipating the route combination/pick play from film study. He also said he had been beaten by the route in practice during that week.

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Super Bowl XLIX: Previewing the X’s and O’s of the Big Game

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Super Bowl 49 features the New England Patriots and the Seattle Seahawks, two teams with very contrasting styles from an X’s and O’s perspective: one team is very simple, and the other is constantly changing. Seattle’s defense plays a 4-3 under and either Cover 1 or Cover 3 for over 90% of its snaps. The Seahawks have a fierce pass rush and the best secondary in recent memory. On the other side, New England could become the first team to win the Super Bowl without recording a sack in the playoffs. The Patriots use their athleticism, position versatility, and lockdown man to man corner Darrelle Revis to change their defensive scheme nearly every game. On the offensive side of the ball, Seattle loves to run inside and outsize zone with bruising Marshawn Lynch, play action off of it, and some Zone Read with ultra mobile Quarterback Russell Wilson. As for New England, they may throw the ball 50+ times and not run the ball at all (Divisional Round), or run the ball 30+ times for 3 TD’s (AFC Championship) depending on the defense. Let’s take a further look at the X’s and O’s of Super Bowl 49: Continue reading →