Play action and deep first reads

[Laloosh]

Alright, I am not qualified to evaluate an offense or defense on any level but I do enjoy regurgitating some of the things I read here and there. Though I didn't play beyond 10th grade, I find myself more interested in learning about the x's and o's since having stumbled upon .NET.

Want to pose a question or two regarding Bevell's offensive playcalling and I'm hoping that someone can enlighten me a bit (good luck).

With all of the play action and deep routes that we see, is Bevell trying to create space in that 10-15 yards behind the defensive front in order to help the run or are they literally just trying to throw the deep ball a lot?

Is our pass blocking the biggest reason for our struggles on that front or is it more of a failure in scheme?

Please note that I am not looking for criticism of Bevell, the o-line or anybody for that matter. Simply trying to understand how the offense is *supposed* to be working for us.

Thanks in advance.

 

[FlyingGreg]

I think the base philosophy is soften them with that run and take some shots downfield. Wilson has a prett high ypa which supports that.

Also, I think the short passing game doesn't suit Wilson's skill set as good. One of the reasons we don't see a lot of short or quick slants is Wilson's limited angular vision. He needy the route to develop so he has an easier time finding receivers and routes. Just the reality.

Yes...the O line is the vast majority of our issue on offense right now. Wilson has had no time in the pocket. Our line has been bad, clearly. We have got to get stability there. Harvin will certainly help both the passing game and running game.

And I maintain we miss Mike Rob more than we think.

 

[seedhawk]

My opinion only but, play action, which means it's a pass anyway but you fake the handoff, is supposed to "freeze" at least 1 LB limiting their drop, thus opening a hole for a reciever to run into.

Our problem with that is, either we freeze the wrong LB or we run to a hole that Wilson can't see too many times. It is documented that RW throws the ball better from either the gun or the pistol formation, BUT, mainly when we have 1 Rb for that threat.

Realize that the way it is now, the passing game is basically a lesson in applied Geometry.

 

[TwistedHusky]

I am curious about this too.

One thing I noticed is that to compensate for the height issue it looks like we used to have Russell set up deeper behind the line. I believe it let him scan the field effectively and deliver the ball well. Also, it might have let him read the blocking so that if he had to run he could see his path better (the same way that some runningbacks like to line up deeper).

I also notice that this year with the offensive line problems we have, the offensive lineman often isn't able to recover since the technique of pushing the defensive player into a wider circle just pushes the defensive player back closer to where the QB is set up. Since the way to deal with pushing the defender wide is for the QB to step up into the pocket, we now have our QB in a position where he either has to take a sack, run, or try to set up behind a line where he cannot see the field effectively because of the height issue.

I am hopeful that fixing the issue with teh line by getting guys healthy means that Russell has a better shot at reasonable protection when setting up deep since I think that is key to him being able to see his targets. We will see.

All I know is that right now we are able to move between the 30s well but we settled for too many FGs in the last game. And we all know that Field Goals Are The Devil.

 

[mikeak]

I haven't seen the deeper behind the line. I have seen him in the pistol which is an in-between the under center and shotgun approach as he is lined up 4ft behind.

Anyone see the Saints on MNF last week against Miami. They showed how Brees was looking to see people. Pretty funny angle on head etc

 

[Tical21]

I don't think they run the deep route to setup the intermediate route. I think they run the deep route to hit the deep route. Run, run, run, run, fake the run and pop it over their heads. Also, if you have a mobile QB, deep routes should give him more room for jailbreak style, big runs.

I personally don't think they've been running the ball enough, especially out of more 2 conventional running formations.

They've tried to give the keys of the car to Russell, and allow him to make more reads and decisions, and in more conventional passing looks. I don't personally think it has been very successful. With the combination of our pass blocking, our WR's failing to get open, and Russell not getting rid of the ball quickly for some reason, which I think will have to become my next problem to try and solve, I believe we have become a little bit lost as an offense. We aren't doing anything particularly well. I am usually not usually one to use cliches like "we are a team without an identity", but it kind of holds water right now. I personally think we need to get back to running the bejeezus out of the ball 800 times a game, give Golden some screens, and go deep to Kearse/Rice in the play-action naked game, where Russell has an option to run. Back to basics.

 

[DavidSeven]

I think they run the deep route to hit the deep route. Run, run, run, run, fake the run and pop it over their heads.

Pretty much this.

 

[firebee]

I like this play...

 

[jlwaters1]

I like this play...

It's agood one on Madden.

 

[AbsolutNET]

If we're running play action in order to take shots deep down field, then we have a pretty serious problem with that package. You don't run PA to get behind CB's, you run it to get the LB's and maybe a S to commit to run defense or at least to freeze them and find a window in their zone. I am at the point where I am worried about our passing game because so much is developing down field and outside the hashes - we hardly ever seem to attack the LB's and our PA game definitely doesn't take advantage of Lynch's threat. We have a decent bootleg package, but we lean on it so damn much it's almost like the boot game is opening up our run game