Missed opportunity against MIN

[Laloosh]

First off the reality is no one really knows, could be a lot of things, the thing that I find really interesting is how some of you immediately said lets blame Wilson. I mean the guy played one off the best games of the season, against a top pass defense and some here want to find fault. Frankly it is pretty pathetic, that now you have nothing to complain about with Wilson you basically are making something up, since you really do not know. To make it clear I do not blame the OP he never mentioned Wilson. I blame the ones that came after, that just couldn't help but blame something on Wilson when they really have no clue.

Pull yourself together, man.

 

[Dizzlepdx]

Fred can't stay in to block because his job is to make the LB vacate for Willson. Russell is clearly looking at Willson, who wins his route enough to have a pretty easy TD if Russell throws the ball, but he just didn't trust Luke and ate it.

Russ might have done something wrong, but I don't see the Luke TD as the missed part. He looks very well covered and his break looks kinda bad honestly. To me it looks like Doug as first read or nothing with that free runner. Am I totally misreading it because I genuinely didn't see Luke really open or making a good target on that play. When you factor in the 28 point lead I am that much more fine with not forcing it to Luke.

I truly would love an explanation of what I'm maybe missing that makes Luke a good or even decent option here. To me it looks like he has a bit of inside position maybe enough to catch it, but seems to make a kinda non-decisive break at the top of his route. I see it as the pressure getting there too quick for it to be much of an option anyway. So to me it's either Doug or you have to be picking up that free rusher.

Well I think he's a great (and the best) option from a presnap, hypothetical standpoint. Taller, bigger TE 1v1 against the corner with the middle of the field cleared out. I'm having computer issues so I can't see where the corner is presnap (inside vs outside leverage), so there might be an argument Willson should have been running to the corner instead.

But make no mistake, RW has plenty of time to make the throw. Unfortunately as you said, LW's route/break isn't strong and the corner definitely looks to be sitting on the route.

Going back to your wondering if DB should have been the first read, you can only factor in presnap reads (this includes possible blitzes/coverages) and the route combinations we can see them run to make that determination, not what the defense actually ends up running. And based on all of that, I think RW probably went through things exactly as he was supposed to, LW wasn't as crisp as he should have been and the corner made a great play.

 

[Laloosh]

So it's not cut and dry.

My inexperienced eye thought Jackson should have either blocked or chipped the rusher (though a route to the flat would have drawn the LB away from Luke's route).

Either way, it's not a big deal but I do appreciate the responses because these are the things that I don't have a great handle on when I watch the all-22 and it's great to read how you guys see it happening.

 

[Scottemojo]

First off the reality is no one really knows, could be a lot of things, the thing that I find really interesting is how some of you immediately said lets blame Wilson. I mean the guy played one off the best games of the season, against a top pass defense and some here want to find fault. Frankly it is pretty pathetic, that now you have nothing to complain about with Wilson you basically are making something up, since you really do not know. To make it clear I do not blame the OP he never mentioned Wilson. I blame the ones that came after, that just couldn't help but blame something on Wilson when they really have no clue.

Same ol song and dance.

What do you think happened on the play? Yes he had a great game, what happened on the play?

Waiting...

Same old group got to find something to complain about. I am trying to not point fingers at anyone as I do not see a need to, when we played such a great game. You guys seem to have to find something to complain about and you seem to always want that to be Wilson. On this play there could have been a lot of things that went wrong, but nope you guys go right to Wilson. Pathetic

I didn't say shit about the play. i asked a simple question. So either be more specific about "you guys" or talk about the actual play. Complaining that other posters are not more like you adds nothing to discussion.

 

[Uncle Si]

So it's not cut and dry.

My inexperienced eye thought Jackson should have either blocked or chipped the rusher (though a route to the flat would have drawn the LB away from Luke's route).

Either way, it's not a big deal but I do appreciate the responses because these are the things that I don't have a great handle on when I watch the all-22 and it's great to read how you guys see it happening.

When I watch that play I don't see Willson as "open" (although he's 1v1 and inside his defender with Jackson drawing the LB out of the way to create a window) nor Baldwin available prior to the blitz getting to RW.

Seems maybe RW didn't like the window to Willson and the blitz forced him out of the pocket before he could get to his 2nd read?

Anyways, good post and good discussion.

 

[Tical21]

Ya know what, I think Jackson was the primary, not Willson. We scored on this play already this year.

 

[Uncle Si]

Ya know what, I think Jackson was the primary, not Willson. We scored on this play already this year.

Is that a poor read then, considering the blitzing LB was always going to take that pass away? Or should Jackson have gone to the pylon instead?

 

[jdemps]

Didn't we score a TD on the next play?

Seems to me that the play was designed to go to stretch the defense to the 3 receiver side putting 2-3 defenders against Willson and Jackson. In zone coverage, I think Willson's route is a clearout for Jackson. In man, the slant to Willson should be won be your 6'5" TE. Maybe they expected the LB to drop, but when he blitzed, there was zero chance this was a successful play. Either way, it was a poor play call for us and well executed D by Min. Credit where credit is due.

 

[Uncle Si]

Didn't we score a TD on the next play?

Kicked a field goal.. (that had no bearing on the outcome of the game. its nice to talk xs and os without a stinging loss as the motivation)

 

[Dizzlepdx]

Ya know what, I think Jackson was the primary, not Willson. We scored on this play already this year.

Is that a poor read then, considering the blitzing LB was always going to take that pass away? Or should Jackson have gone to the pylon instead?

I don't think there's any way Jackson is the primary on this. I can't find the youtube copy I was watching yesterday to verify this with a non-paused video, but pretty sure RW's footwork is timed to LW's break, not to mention he clearly doesn't recognize the LB free off the edge till late, which he definitely would have if he was tracking Jackson instead.

 

[KitsapGuy]

[tweet]https://twitter.com/FieldGulls/status/674669407465943040[/tweet]

[tweet]https://twitter.com/FieldGulls/status/674669550206488576[/tweet]

[tweet]https://twitter.com/FieldGulls/status/674669679533625344[/tweet]

 

[scutterhawk]

Compressed field of play defenders didn't bite so that play was DOA.
Vikings took advantage of what they thought was a wide open path to Wilson.
This is where a Running play might have been the wiser call.
Good defensive play.

 

[Tical21]

The first indicator that it is not designed to go to Willson is alignment. If they were trying to isolate him for a slant, he would have lined up wider and stayed clear of all the "junk" in the middle. The concept we ran is most commonly used against zone. Willson would run a post, the inside LB would either drop back and take it away or stay up and honor Fred. Fred starts outside first, which the LB could read as a route to the flats, and thus go back to cover Willson. In that scenario, when Jackson angles back inside, there is a nice void there and he walks in to the end zone. If the LB had stayed up to take away the angle to Jackson, it would create a void behind him for an easy TD for Willson. Common high-low zone beater.

I say that Jackson was the primary in this situation because you don't love Willson's matchup against man coverage there. Willson also quits on his route awfully early and heads back outside even though Russell rolls left, to make sure he doesn't stomp on Jackson's route. You do, however, like Jackson angling back inside against a LB, and given another second, we did have an easy TD there.

I just can't think Russell believed the OLB was coming. And I can't figure out what he didn't like about going to Baldwin. Maybe he just really liked the Fred Jackson matchup, but either way, I think it is incredibly unlikely that Luke Willson was his primary read.

 

[Uncle Si]

The Baldwin route is pretty... just don't think RW had the time to wait it out..

 

[LickMyNuts]

I wasn't "blaming" Wilson just giving my critique of the play. I'm guessing RW got fooled on this play. Happens to every QB every game. RW would tell you that himself.

RW is a big boy and he doesn't need you to protect him. He played a fantastic game.

First off the reality is no one really knows, could be a lot of things, the thing that I find really interesting is how some of you immediately said lets blame Wilson. I mean the guy played one off the best games of the season, against a top pass defense and some here want to find fault. Frankly it is pretty pathetic, that now you have nothing to complain about with Wilson you basically are making something up, since you really do not know. To make it clear I do not blame the OP he never mentioned Wilson. I blame the ones that came after, that just couldn't help but blame something on Wilson when they really have no clue.