Sturm: Xs and Os Week 2 - 3 Plays to Examine

[Sturm1310]

Late in the week, we finally get a chance to "look at the tape" as Jason Garrett likes to say and examine some plays that we cannot fully digest on TV. I can't promise that every week we will be able to do this, but honestly, this is my favorite exercise of the week because only here can you fully appreciate how advanced and complex the NFL game can be sometimes.

Here, we are not looking to call anyone out, and we surely want to leave open the possibility of our eyes deceiving us and more than anything, I want to admit that I don't have the benefit of the coaches telling me what coverage they were in. So, sometimes, this diagnosis will be "pretty sure" rather than "100% sure" even though I am trying to get it right. I will make calls and try to hunt down the right answer, but I will just admit right here that we will try our best to be accurate but invariably, I will see something wrong.

Read it all
http://sturminator.blogspot.com/2014/09/xs-and-os-3-things-from-week-2-to.html

Thanks!

Bob

 

[MichaelWinicki]

Thanks for the great breakdown Bob!


Especially the Walker TD.

 

[xwalker]

http://sturminator.blogspot.com/2014/09/xs-and-os-3-things-from-week-2-to.html

Thanks!

Bob

Good work, but I still don't know the answer to: Play #1 - 3Q/7:56 - 3/3/39 - Locker to Delanie Walker, Touchdown

It seems that if Church knows the other 2 guys will stay shallow, then he has to go with the 1st guy that gets deep (Walker). Church might have hesitated because he probably didn't expect Walker to run his route that close to the WR.

If it's not on Church, then 1 of the other 2 were supposed to drop deep with Walker.

I would really like to know the answer to this one. Bob, please use some of your big radio money and take a defensive coach out to a fancy restaurant and get some answers.

 

[TX_Yid]

As Bill Oddie said, and I quote... "Lovely Stuff"

 

[Sturm1310]

Good work, but I still don't know the answer to: Play #1 - 3Q/7:56 - 3/3/39 - Locker to Delanie Walker, Touchdown

It seems that if Church knows the other 2 guys will stay shallow, then he has to go with the 1st guy that gets deep (Walker). Church might have hesitated because he probably didn't expect Walker to run his route that close to the WR.

If it's not on Church, then 1 of the other 2 were supposed to drop deep with Walker.

I would really like to know the answer to this one. Bob, please use some of your big radio money and take a defensive coach out to a fancy restaurant and get some answers.

In those who I have asked, it seems that more than anything, it is the hole in the coverage that you say "if they are going to beat us with that difficult throw, we will force them to beat us that way." - As I said, every coverage has a weakness. The Titans ran the play that beats this coverage even if everyone is doing their job. Moore can't leave the slot on 3rd and 3, and McClain can't run with him on a deep corner. That leaves Church to try to get from the middle of the field to the boundary. That is tough, too. I think their is no real bust here. If anyone has a different conclusion, I am willing to hear it, but my peeps on the inside didn't seem to think there was a real victim.

 

[big dog cowboy]

Awesome job. Really love reading this kind of stuff. But on the Walker TD, the last time I checked defensive coaches teach defenders to wrap up the offensive player to make a tackle. All Mo did was basically body slam him resulting in...nothing really. Seeing that specific play again I am really disapppointed because at the time I felt Mo could have wrapped up Walker and brought him down and this only reinforces it.

 

[xvendettax914]

Not gonna lie, never noticed it during the game, but watching again i LOL'd at the corner running AWAY from tyron. Good stuff there.

 

[Sturm1310]

Awesome job. Really love reading this kind of stuff. But on the Walker TD, the last time I checked defensive coaches teach defenders to wrap up the offensive player to make a tackle. All Mo did was basically body slam him resulting in...nothing really. Seeing that specific play again I am really disapppointed because at the time I felt Mo could have wrapped up Walker and brought him down and this only reinforces it.

I apologize for not making Claiborne's poor work more clear. I have edited that to pound the point home. Thanks.

 

[xwalker]

In those who I have asked, it seems that more than anything, it is the hole in the coverage that you say "if they are going to beat us with that difficult throw, we will force them to beat us that way." - As I said, every coverage has a weakness. The Titans ran the play that beats this coverage even if everyone is doing their job. Moore can't leave the slot on 3rd and 3, and McClain can't run with him on a deep corner. That leaves Church to try to get from the middle of the field to the boundary. That is tough, too. I think their is no real bust here. If anyone has a different conclusion, I am willing to hear it, but my peeps on the inside didn't seem to think there was a real victim.

Thanks Sturm.

I agree there is probably not a single victim, but I wonder what the coaches would do differently or what they would have the players do differently in the future.

 

[Dodger12]

http://sturminator.blogspot.com/2014/09/xs-and-os-3-things-from-week-2-to.html

"Here, we should note that Locker to this point in the game gave almost no sign that he was capable of making this throw to the red arrow above. It looks like a dangerous throw, and frankly, Walker is headed right into the sector of the field already occupied by the far-sideline WR."

When I first saw the play I thought that Walker ran the wrong route. Part of me still believes that he did. That's a dangerous route to have two receivers, along with their defenders, so close together and often times it ends up bad....

 

[noshame]

thanks for your efforts Bob

 

[Gaede]

Not gonna lie, never noticed it during the game, but watching again i LOL'd at the corner running AWAY from tyron. Good stuff there.

Hilarious how his route changes to go gently out of bounds

 

[Seven]

thanks for your efforts Bob

Ditto that.

How fortunate are WE?

Thanks again, Bob.

 

[MichaelWinicki]

Thanks Sturm.

I agree there is probably not a single victim, but I wonder what the coaches would do differently or what they would have the players do differently in the future.

That's a good point xwalker.

But like Bob pointed out any pass defense is going to have a hole or holes in it that can be exploited. If the defensive staff comes up with something to stop this sort of thing (using the same coverage) then there will no doubt be an opportunity somewhere else in the secondary for an offensive player to exploit. It's just how things go.

Locker had to make one heck of a throw to pull it off.

 

[Sturm1310]

Yes, the only idea for next time would be to cheat Church over a bit, but if you choose to use that coverage - which they might opt out of using again if they burn you on it - then that throw is available. But, that means the offense knows what you are doing. So, hopefully, that is rare.

 

[pancakeman]

In those who I have asked, it seems that more than anything, it is the hole in the coverage that you say "if they are going to beat us with that difficult throw, we will force them to beat us that way." - As I said, every coverage has a weakness. The Titans ran the play that beats this coverage even if everyone is doing their job. Moore can't leave the slot on 3rd and 3, and McClain can't run with him on a deep corner. That leaves Church to try to get from the middle of the field to the boundary. That is tough, too. I think their is no real bust here.

I view it, in a way, as a play that balanced the karma of the game a bit: there were many well-planned, open plays that Locker plum missed with off-target throws. So there were throws the Titans should have made and just didn't; this may have been a play that they shouldn't have made and did.

I really enjoyed the post Bob, thanks for sharing it. The fleeing CB is classic!

 

[Outlaw Heroes]

Feel like Mo is getting a bit of a free pass (even from you Bob, though you do point out that he has to get Walker down).

At the end of the day that pass is there for a long completion on Bob's analysis. But it doesn't have to be a touchdown. Even if the guy is 50 pounds bigger than you, even if you have no realistic shot at getting him down, at least wrap up and wait for the nearby cavalry to arrive.

If there's a player to pin this on, in my view it has to be Mo.

 

[Hoofbite]

Bob, you ever think about a YouTube channel? Create a little video for each of your articles? Be a pretty cool addition, IMO.

 

[Hoofbite]

Feel like Mo is getting a bit of a free pass (even from you Bob, though you do point out that he has to get Walker down).

At the end of the day that pass is there for a long completion on Bob's analysis. But it doesn't have to be a touchdown. Even if the guy is 50 pounds bigger than you, even if you have no realistic shot at getting him down, at least wrap up and wait for the nearby cavalry to arrive.

If there's a player to pin this on, in my view it has to be Mo.

I agree.

The safeties are very pedestrian (likely a but generous) in coverage so they will get beat by good TEs.

As a result, nobody in the secondary can afford to be a poor tackler.

Jimmy Graham will likely have plenty of chances so it's like the old saying, "you can't stop him, you can only hope to contain him". You aren't going to stop Jimmy from getting the ball but you can prevent any play - even big ones - from becoming scores if you have sound tackling and a guy in position to stop the play.

The offense should get some credit for making the play, but Mo should get blame for failing to stop it after that.

 

[xwalker]

Feel like Mo is getting a bit of a free pass (even from you Bob, though you do point out that he has to get Walker down).

At the end of the day that pass is there for a long completion on Bob's analysis. But it doesn't have to be a touchdown. Even if the guy is 50 pounds bigger than you, even if you have no realistic shot at getting him down, at least wrap up and wait for the nearby cavalry to arrive.

If there's a player to pin this on, in my view it has to be Mo.

Claiborne did slow him down enough that Church "could" have cleaned up the tackle, but Church overran it. I think Church will get more grief from the coaches than Claiborne on Walker not being tackled.