Eagles

The Eagles used running back motion, the wheel route, and the mesh concept repeatedly to take advantage of the Patriots decision to predominantly play man to man coverage. The Patriots were weak against pass catching running backs all year, particularly wheel routes. In the AFC Championship, Jacksonville missed their opportunity multiple times to hit an open running back against a linebacker or peeling defensive end; but the Eagles cashed in.

2nd Quarter, 1:46, 3rd & 3 on Phi 37 (Phi 15 NE 12)

Late in the first half, the Eagles make a huge play using both the mesh concept and the wheel route. Defensively, the Patriots are in Cover 1:

The Patriots have it covered well, but Jordan Richards (#37) takes a bad angle on the wheel route, leading to an easy throw for a huge gain. The angle below shows Richards could have gone over the sit route and been in position to make a tackle before the first down marker, instead of shooting underneath. Of course, if Malcolm Butler was on the field, Richards probably wouldn’t have been:

This won’t be the first time the Eagles use these concepts to beat the Patriots D. In fact, this particular play ends up being key for a fourth down conversion late in the game.

3rd Quarter, 7:25, 3rd & 6 on NE 22 (Phi 22 NE 19)

In the middle of the third, the Eagles use return motion as a coverage indicator; once #59 linebacker Marquis Flowers motions in with running back Corey Clement, Nick Foles knows its man to man coverage. The Eagles are running a drive concept with Clement’s wheel route behind it from the backfield. The Patriots are playing man to man with a free safety in centerfield. They are also doubling Zach Ertz; (#37) Jordan Richards has any in breaking routes, while (#32) Devin McCourty has any out breaking routes:

The Eagles end up getting a speedy running back on a linebacker. Foles has plenty of time  and delivers perhaps his best throw of the day for a touchdown. Meanwhile, the free safety is too far to make an impact on the wheel, and McCourty hesitates ever so slightly, flips his hips the wrong way, and is unable to make a play on the ball:

4th Quarter, 6:10, 4th & 1 on Phi 45 (NE 33 Phi 32)

The Eagles wouldn’t have had the opportunity for the go-ahead touchdown had it not been for a fourth down conversion in their own territory earlier in the drive. Earlier in the game, the Eagles gashed the Patriots with two huge passes to running back Corey Clement, analyzed above. The Eagles come back to the mesh concept on this critical fourth down. The Patriots are in man to man coverage, middle linebacker Kyle Van Noy blitzes, safety Duron Harmon is a “robber” in the box, and outside linebacker James Harrison has peel responsibility if the running back has a route. The Eagles mesh works perfectly, and Ertz is able to get free:

However, Patriots safety Duron Harmon is still in great position to make a play on Ertz. This is where the Eagles previous success on wheel routes to Clement comes into play; Harmon hesitates ever so slightly to the wheel, leaving enough space for Foles to complete the ball to Ertz for a crucial first down.

4th Quarter, 2:25, 3rd & 7 on NE 11 (NE 33 Phi 32)

On perhaps the most important play of Super Bowl 52, Pederson used motion to out-formation the Patriots and get exactly the matchup he was looking for: tight end Zack Ertz in 1 on 1 coverage. Pre-snap, the Eagles come out in bunch trips right, running back Corey Clement offset left, and Ertz wide left. The Patriots are playing man-to-man on the trips, but importantly, safety Duron Harmon can help Devin McCourty, currently lined up on Ertz, and take away any in breaking route. The Patriots would handle Clement out of the backfield with James Harrison peeling off to the flat:

However, when Clement fast motions from the backfield to the trips, the Patriots are completely outflanked and Harmon is forced to match him. This leaves McCourty on an island with Ertz at the very last second, and the rest is history:

While Pederson called a near perfect game, Josh McDaniels was just as good. The Patriots, more than any other team, use movement before the snap as coverage indicators. Super Bowl 52 was no exception:

Patriots

1st Quarter, 1:41, 3rd & 7 on NE 21

Before the snap, the Patriots motion in James White to the backfield. By this time, the Patriots know the Eagles are matching up safety Malcolm Jenkins (#27) with White. Jenkins follows White, but the Eagles could still plausibly be in a variety of coverages. The Patriots go one step further and have receivers Danny Amendola and Brandin Cooks switch places. When the Eagles defenders don’t move, Tom Brady knows its zone coverage:

A side note, most analysts expected Malcolm Jenkins to match up with Gronk. Given that James White had 14 catches in Super Bowl 51 and Shane Vereen had 11 catches in Super Bowl 49, it made sense that the Eagles decided they’d try to limit James White. The move was effective; after the first drive White didn’t have a single catch.

2nd Quarter, 2:55, 2nd & 10 on NE 31

Down 15-6 with just under 3 minutes in the first half, the Patriots get a one on one matchup they unquestionably circled before the game; Eagles cornerback #31 Jalen Mills in man to man off coverage. Mills has struggled with double moves in this scenario throughout the year, (top of screen in first clip, bottom of screen in second clip):

This time is no different. Chris Hogan is matched up with Jalen Mills at the bottom of the screen, in off coverage, with no deep half help. He runs a curl and go for a huge gain:

3rd Quarter, 3:29, 1st & 10 on Phi 26

Down 10, the Patriots began the second half by attacking with seam routes. They also took advantage of a bit of confusion in alignment; in the NFC Championship game, when a non-pass catching back (Latavius Murray) split out wide, the Eagles were confused and gave up a wide open touchdown:

Below, Patriots fullback James Develin is highlighted at the top of the screen. When he lines up out wide, the Eagles are confused on coverage assignments. Meanwhile, the play call is double seams with Gronkowski and Hogan:

This becomes a big play because of three factors: First, the Eagles pre-snap confusion causes Malcolm Jenkins (free safety, highlighted above) to keep his eyes solely on Gronkowski as opposed to playing deep middle. Next, Tom Brady’s eyes hold Jenkins toward Gronkowski’s side. Watch Brady’s eyes flip to Hogan just before the throw. Third, Chris Hogan expands his seam route to the wide side of the field, creating more room for the throw:

Finally, it’s impossible to do a full review of Super Bowl 52 without mentioning “Philly Special,” the throwback pass the Eagles used to score right before the end of the first half:

Shot 13 – “Philly Special” … one of the most legendary moments in Philly Sports History. So much to love about this play….the design, the call, the timing, the execution. Foles reels in the TD from Trey Burton #FlyEaglesFly #SBLII pic.twitter.com/VU0zg76dKV

— Fran Duffy (@fduffy3) February 7, 2018

It was a great play call and design, but there’s more: the Patriots ran the same play the last time they played the Eagles in 2015:

“Philly Special” 2015 Pats vs Eagles. We’ve seen this before. pic.twitter.com/KRmhYG55ld

— Michael Giardi (@MikeGiardi) February 8, 2018

It may have been in the playbook already, but it’s also possible Philly added it specifically for this game after reviewing that film. For those looking to add this play to the playbook, make sure you know the rules; in the NFL, the quarterback must be in the shotgun, or he is not eligible to catch a pass. There is no such rule in college:

Now Baker Mayfield is out here catching TDs too pic.twitter.com/S3esgz4L9s

— 2018 NFL Draft (@DraftRT) January 1, 2018

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Eagles Hi-Lo Concept with RB Wheel

The Eagles got there first win of the season on Sunday with some help from the Hi-Lo concept. The Hi-Lo concept is a man coverage beater which involves an underneath “mesh” (crossers), with a curl route over the mesh. Chip Kelly adds a wheel route from the Running Back for two reasons: to clear out Linebackers from the middle of the field, and to potentially hit a big play if the Linebacker can’t cover the RB up the sideline. Below, the Jets are in a Cover 1 scheme with Man-to-Man across the board except for a “Centerfield” Safety in the middle of the field:

The Jets do a fairly good job of covering the crossing routes by jamming Tight End Zack Ertz as well as passing off the Wide Receiver crosser from the top of the formation. However, the Linebacker takes a poor angle covering Ryan Matthews, who is wide open for a Touchdown:

As seen below, the Eagles had run the exact same play just 5 minutes earlier in the game; the play was also wide open, but the Eagles couldn’t capitalize due to a poorly thrown ball. Look for the Eagles to continue to run Hi-Lo with an RB wheel against heavy man coverage teams. The Jets will almost certainly see this type of play against their defense in the coming weeks.

Bengals Ace Personnel Four Verticals

In a back and forth game between the Bengals and Ravens, Cincinnati hit on an 80-yard Touchdown to A.J. Green on Four Verticals. A deeper look shows what happens when a great play call meets perfect execution. The Bengals are in Ace personnel, which means there are 2 Tight Ends, 2 Wide Receivers and 1 Running Back. The Bengals shift to a Closed Tight End Trips formation, and the Ravens are in Cover 1 (Man-to-Man coverage with Safety Will Hill in the middle of the field):

Note the spacing of the vertical routes on the top of the formation by the Bengals Receivers; the outside WR (Marvin Jones) is almost at the sideline while the slot WR (A.J. Green) is outside of the numbers. This would be poor spacing against zone coverage. Outside Wide Receivers are generally taught to “stack” defenders instead of fading toward the sideline to give QB’s a bigger throwing window. However, against the Ravens Cover 1 it is the perfect call.  Marvin Jones is almost at the sideline; this is ideal because the defender man turns toward him and is prevented from breaking on A.J. Green’s vertical route. Meanwhile, you can see below how hard A.J. Green works to get outside of his defender and outside of the numbers to stay away from the Safety Will Hill and give QB Andy Dalton a throwing window. Hill is shading towards Green pre-snap, but cannot get over fast enough because of the spacing Jones and Green created. The ball is delivered accurately, and A.J. Green does the rest.

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Credit: Smart Football’s “Does anyone still use Lombardi’s Packer’s Sweep”

Kelly’s Eagles also pull multiple lineman, but primarily use the Center and play side Guard instead of both guards. Kelly’s read sweep leaves an unblocked defender as a read man and is often accompanied by arc motion going away from the play (like Lombardi’s Sweep). The play side Tackle blocks down, and the pullers work through to the second level:

The unblocked read man is the 1-technique Defensive Tackle. He’s completely unblocked, but hesitates just enough to make himself a non-factor in the play. This is the beauty of the read element; it can block interior defensive lineman even with no QB run threat. The center and play side guard pull wide, attempting to stretch the defensive front 7 horizontally, while the play side Tackle blocks down. The frontside defenders over pursue the play, (#57 and #30) allowing the Running Back (#25 LeSean McCoy) to cut up field for a solid gain. Meanwhile, the backside guard and tackle execute an X-block (or cross block) which is helped by the arc motion from the Wide Receiver:

Kelly’s Read Sweep is versatile and changes the read man depending on the front. Below,  Dallas plays a 0-technique along with a 3 technique weak side and a 4i play side. The read man is the weak side 3-technique. The Eagles still pull the Center and play side Guard; the play goes for a huge gain because the play side Tackle crashes down hard and washes both the play side 3-technique and the 0-tech:

The read man is signified by the circled defender. Once again, leaving him unblocked allows the weak side Guard to climb to the second level and block a linebacker. The beauty of this scheme is that it is executed without any real run threat from the Quarterback:

Finally, the Read Sweep is executed below twice with the end man on the line of scrimmage “EMLOS” being the read man. Here, the Eagles don’t pull the Center and Guard when faced with a 0-technique. Instead, the play side Tackle pulls along with the play side Guard:

Again, the Eagles execute the Read Sweep with the EMLOS as the unblocked defender, this time with arc motion. They face a more traditional front from the Rams with man to man coverage (as opposed to against Washington or Dallas above) The Eagles are able to have the pulling Guard kick out the Defensive End and the pulling Center works through and up to the second level.

While the play can be quite effective without a true run threat at the Quarterback position, a dual threat QB can elevate the scheme to the next level and stretch a defense extremely thin horizontally. Below, the Eagles run the read sweep Week 1 of the 2013 season with the Center and play side Tackle pulling:

Overall, the Read Sweep is a variation on Buck Sweep that adjusts on the fly against different fronts. It allows lineman to get to second level, even without a true running threat from the QB. It also sets up other running plays by keeping unblocked defensive lineman slightly hesitant instead of attacking. The arc motion can also be incorporated to help the offensive line and hold either linebackers or LOS.

2015 SEASON UPDATE***

The Eagles had success in Week 1 with a variation of Buck/Read Sweep, or “Jab” sweep.  Jab sweep is similar in blocking scheme, but gives a mixed flow read to the Linebackers because the Running Back is on the same side as the direction of the play. This time, the QB doesn’t have a read, while the Running back takes a drop step to time up with the pulling lineman. Here, the pulling lineman are the play side Tackle and the Center:

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The Cardinals had blitzed all game, and were ultra-aggressive on the final play of the game. Arizona played Cover 0, straight man to man with no help, and blitzed 7 defenders:

The Cardinals get immediate pressure with their 7-man blitz, but Eagles QB Nick Foles back pedals quickly enough to let the routes develop:

Chip Kelly designed the perfect play against a Cover 0 defense in this situation: the Deep Crosses cause a lot of traffic for the Cardinals DB’s. Meanwhile, Zach Ertz turns up the field from the flat toward the End Zone:

The Deep Crosses work to perfection: so much traffic is created that Eagles and Cardinals players run into each other in the End Zone, one Cardinals defender is knocked down, and the other cannot stay with his man. Jordan Matthews is able to break free and seems to be wide open for an Eagles TD to win the game. Here is where the Eagles run into a problem, and the awareness of Arizona DB Rashad Johnson is critical. Philly TE Zach Ertz carrying up the field toward the end zone actually hurts the Eagles, because a man to man also brings an Arizona defender. If Zach Ertz stayed in the flat, Jordan Matthews may have been wide open for a TD.

Even so, Rashad Johnson has the awareness to not just stay on his man, but realize the ball is in the air, to locate the ball, to peel off his man, swivel his hips and hit the Eagles WR (Jordan Matthews) before he is able to make the catch with 2 feet in bounds. Below is the video in slow motion, and then standard speed, showing how the Deep Crosses work and how Rashad Johnson peels off and makes the play:

The Eagles were incredibly close to pulling a last play miracle. Chip Kelly called a near perfect play in anticipation of Arizona’s all out blitz and Cover 0. However, even though the Eagles got the cross and route traffic they wanted, Zach Ertz continuing up the field along with Rashad Johnson’s awareness sealed the win for Arizona. Ertz probably should have continued up the field against zone coverage, but in a pure man to man (Cover 0) scenario, he may have been better off staying in the flat and letting the play develop down the field. (Cowboys must be aware of the Cover 0 blitz after last week’s troubles)

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