Bengals Play Action Yankee Concept TD vs. Jets Cover 3

Week 1 resulted in quite a bit of buzz around Darrelle Revis and his subpar performance against the Bengals. One particular play was a 54-yard touchdown to A.J. Green. Let’s take a further look and break down exactly what happened.

Below, the Bengals are running a play action Yankee Concept with a wide receiver running orbit motion behind the quarterback and running back. A.J. Green is at the top of the screen running a deep over, while Brandon LaFell is at the bottom of the screen running a deep crosser. Revis is lined up outside of the motion man and Green:

The Jets are playing Cover 3, which means the safety and both cornerbacks will cover a deep third of the field (seen in green), while underneath defenders (boxed in white) will cover underneath:

As the play develops, the coverage must adjust responsibilities according to the routes; the deep middle of field safety comes up to cover LaFell’s crosser and passes A.J. Green’s deep over route and middle third coverage to Revis. The basic assignments can be seen in a similar version of the Yankee concept below the Jets vs. Bengals diagram:

However, the design of the Bengals play and motion makes the Jets coverage adjustment more difficult. Because of the orbit motion, Revis starts the play nearly a full 5 yards outside of A.J. Green. In a race to the middle of the field, A.J. Green will beat just about anybody with a 5-yard head start:

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Also note that as the play develops, the underneath defenders get sucked into the play action, creating space underneath for LaFell’s crosser. If this play is run in a different situation, the underneath zone defenders may not come up hard for the play action. Instead, they may sink into their zone and cover LaFell, which may keep the single high safety in his deep third as opposed to coming up to play the crosser.

Overall, while Revis had his struggles Sunday, this touchdown was an example of good play design putting the Jets defense in a bind.

The post Week 1 X’s & O’s Review: A.J. Green vs. Revis appeared first on Syed Schemes.

Here, the Cowboys have an 8 man box and are playing Cover 1 against Washington’s 12 personnel (2 Tight Ends 1 RB). Note that the receivers are both aligned inside the numbers; Yankee is often run with at least one receiver in a “nasty” or reduced split. Washington is running a play action fake to the right with the Yankee pass concept. The Cowboys linebackers flow hard downhill and bite on the Play Action fake, causing a huge void to open up behind them for Pierre Garçon’s over route.

The single high safety is responsible for deep middle, but comes up to play the over route when the void opens. This allows DeSean Jackson to get behind the deep safety and inside the cornerback, who is expecting help to the middle of the field. The ripple effect of the linebackers biting up leads to a big gain, despite a severely under-thrown ball:

Below, the Yankee concept attacks Cover 3. This time, Washington has a fullback in the backfield that leaks out to the left as a checkdown. The Eagles have two Safeties on the field and the linebackers do a good job of getting depth in their drops after the play action. The deep middle safety doesn’t bite up hard to the over route, but even the slightest hesitation allows DeSean Jackson to get inside and behind everybody. Note how Jackson sets up his route via a “Dino” stem; he breaks to the corner to keep the deep third cornerback off, before breaking back to the post:

While Jackson does an excellent job selling the Dino stem, the Yankee combo can work without it against zone as well. The key is getting behind safeties and inside of cornerbacks, as Brian Tyms does below without a Dino stem. Although he faces double coverage, he gives Tom Brady tons of space to throw to because he beats the entire defense to the middle of the field:

Sammy Watkins is a receiver with elite speed who runs both routes in the Yankee combo. Below, Safety Harrison Smith defends the Yankee combo correctly by staying inside and on top of the route:

As for the deep over route, note that both Washington and Buffalo occasionally slip out a checkdown to the flat. While play action certainly creates downhill flow and a huge void in the zone, the checkdown can also attract the eyes of a defender who is supposed to sink to the over route. Note how the flat defenders dilemma, as well as the void left by the play action:

Miami does a good job staying with the dino stem post, but with the cornerback, safety and linebackers all vacated, Watkins is wide open on the deep over route:

Overall, the Yankee combo is a great concept for teams with a speed receiver and a credible running game. Offenses can dictate an 8-man box by coming out in heavy personnel, and try to attract Safeties eyes to the over route via a reduced “nasty” split. When the secondary doesn’t bite up for the home run throw, a flat checkdown and play action can open up the deep over route as well.

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