Playbook - 4th and 5 vs Houston
This article is inspired by redditor swantonsoup from /r/patriots. If you don't read reddit.com/r/patriots, then you are missing out. I am a big fan of the community because it plugs me in to the general opinions of Pats Nation. Anyway, swantonsoup asked me to look for some zone blitzes, and I happened to find one in the December 10th Texans game.
Its a pretty simple concept, but the disguise takes Matt Schaub's first option away. The situation is a 4th and 5, late in the second quarter. The result is an incomplete pass forced by pressure from Jerod Mayo. For a thorough analysis of the coverage from The Texans game, see: Dave's Blog. For now, lets just take a look at the tape:
As you can see, the outside WRs, #80 Andre Johnson and #28 Lestar Jean run wheel routes on the outside, which occupies CBs #37 Dennard and #24 Arrington as well as Safeties #32 McCourty and #28 Gregory. As a result, everyone else is left in man-to-man. Initially, it looks like The Patriots are playing it straight-up, with #51 Mayo covering #23 Arian Foster. However, at the snap, we see that Mayo is blitzing the A-gap.
Knowing that the CB and Safety to the right are too far downfield, Schaub looks to dish it out to Foster on the swing pattern. Nevertheless, as he looks to throw, Ninkovich falls off his rush and into coverage. This takes away the easiest play, and disrupts Schaub's timing with a blitz inside from Mayo. He looks inside at #81 Daniels and #83 Walter the whole way, but he has to read the edge: is Ninkovich going to chip him? rush past him? inside/outside? Oh, he's covering him. That thought process makes the decision easy, but delayed.
For the most part, #23 Cole and #27 Wilson do a good job in coverage. Still, with that inside-out route, sometimes a perfect throw is impossible to defend. This is certainly the case with #83 Kevin Walter, who gets a step on Cole. However, Schaub needs to contend with Mayo on the delivery, and he releases off his back foot, missing wide.
Schaub may have been able to hit TE #81 Owen Daniels on his first (inside) move, but he would have liked to have hit Foster uncovered in the flat (which is what he thought when he saw Mayo's blitz). Schaub doesn't have to look right to see Foster, but Mayo and Ninkovich confused Schaub on the play, with the switch. He was clearly a step behind mentally, and he didn't play his best physical game either.
He may or may not be better this time around, but I do think that he can be confused with subtle things like this zone/switch blitz. To beat Matt Schaub you don't necessarily have to pull out all the stops, but you need to be able to mix it up at certain times, while still appearing to be playing straight-up. The versatility of our front-7 is our biggest strength here, and I expect us to utilize that advantage when the situation calls for it. Once again, this all goes back to my Theory of Selective Aggression.
*side note* Rob Ninkovich is a big key to our versatility, and hopefully he can play at least a portion of the game on Sunday. He has been practicing in a limited capacity with "strained hip muscles."
Its a pretty simple concept, but the disguise takes Matt Schaub's first option away. The situation is a 4th and 5, late in the second quarter. The result is an incomplete pass forced by pressure from Jerod Mayo. For a thorough analysis of the coverage from The Texans game, see: Dave's Blog. For now, lets just take a look at the tape:
Knowing that the CB and Safety to the right are too far downfield, Schaub looks to dish it out to Foster on the swing pattern. Nevertheless, as he looks to throw, Ninkovich falls off his rush and into coverage. This takes away the easiest play, and disrupts Schaub's timing with a blitz inside from Mayo. He looks inside at #81 Daniels and #83 Walter the whole way, but he has to read the edge: is Ninkovich going to chip him? rush past him? inside/outside? Oh, he's covering him. That thought process makes the decision easy, but delayed.
For the most part, #23 Cole and #27 Wilson do a good job in coverage. Still, with that inside-out route, sometimes a perfect throw is impossible to defend. This is certainly the case with #83 Kevin Walter, who gets a step on Cole. However, Schaub needs to contend with Mayo on the delivery, and he releases off his back foot, missing wide.
Schaub may have been able to hit TE #81 Owen Daniels on his first (inside) move, but he would have liked to have hit Foster uncovered in the flat (which is what he thought when he saw Mayo's blitz). Schaub doesn't have to look right to see Foster, but Mayo and Ninkovich confused Schaub on the play, with the switch. He was clearly a step behind mentally, and he didn't play his best physical game either.
He may or may not be better this time around, but I do think that he can be confused with subtle things like this zone/switch blitz. To beat Matt Schaub you don't necessarily have to pull out all the stops, but you need to be able to mix it up at certain times, while still appearing to be playing straight-up. The versatility of our front-7 is our biggest strength here, and I expect us to utilize that advantage when the situation calls for it. Once again, this all goes back to my Theory of Selective Aggression.
*side note* Rob Ninkovich is a big key to our versatility, and hopefully he can play at least a portion of the game on Sunday. He has been practicing in a limited capacity with "strained hip muscles."
I re-watched this play and made a few edits because I think the Matt Schaub italic thought-process is better for illustrating the play.
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