DarkVictory23
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...and what Grubb's doing to fix it.
I want to start this thread off with this here, from Ben Solak of ESPN:
Ok, so we've done a lot of straight dropback passing and we've actually been really good at it. At this point, you might be thinking "If we're good at thing, and our offense = mostly thing, then logically our offense should be good, right?" Unfortunately, it's not that simple as you've noticed from our offense being nothing more than 'middling' most of the year.
For an offense to be really good, you need to not only be good at your one thing but be able to build on that one thing to enable you to do other things when you need to.
So, what is the wrinkle, the next level thing you can add on straight dropback passing to keep a defense guessing? Well, the most obvious one is Draw plays up the middle. Unfortunately, we suck at that. We know it but more importantly the defense knows it. So, defenses can sell out on the dropback being a pass and know that the (few) times we plan to run out of that play, they will stop it. And defenses were for a while, quite correct about that.
This brings us to our play action game... or lack thereof. Where Geno has typically been a top of the league performer in the play action game the last two seasons, he has fallen off dramatically this season. So, the question has been... why?
The last two games are very informative. To understand, the first thing you need to know about a good play action game is that you don't actually need a good running game to run effective play action. (See: Us, last year). The defense doesn't need to think you'll get yards on the run play, they just need to believe you are actually going to run.
This has been a problem for us this year and the Jets game is very useful for us because in that game, we ran our most play action of the season and were mostly... bad at it. The Jets, you see, almost never bit on the run fake, which leads us to the second thing you need to know about play action game, which is how it beats defenses, which it does in two ways: First, it moves the pocket and buys the QB time. This is the key for producing the really gorgeous deep PA shots that everyone knows and loves because the natural additional time is what gives your speedy WRs that chance to get over the top.
But a consistently good PA game isn't just focused on those dagger shots you produce on third and shorts when a defense is trying to stop the run. They also want to produce those mid range blows in the center of the field created when that second level of the defense bites on the run fake and creates that hole in the middle layer of the field as those LBs try to recover. This is what we didn't have against the Jets. But why couldn't we get the Jets to bite on those run fakes?
Well, this is (was?) a two part problem. First, it comes down to Grubb probably underestimating just how good NFL level LBs are at sniffing out pass vs. run if you give them too many clues. We often change our alignment in a PA play vs. a run play. Our TEs play slightly further from the OL as they try to create space for their routes which in Grubb's scheme are typically longer developing. The most effective PA play that game was the TD pass to Barner as he blocked and then leaked out, which created an individual hole that we weren't creating with the wider scheme.
The second issue you can't completely blame Grubb for, which is we do the run fake differently than we do on a real run as well. Why do we do that? Simple. Because our OL is so bad, we want to bring the RB into the spot where he can help block for the pass rush which leads to us bringing him essentially the opposite of where a natural run play would go. LBs can see where he's going (and because we've been so pass heavy anyway), they just guess it's going to be pass and immediately start playing the receivers.
Now, if you are doing a play action and nobody bites on the run fake, the thing you wish most as an OC is that you could go back in time and just hand it off. Of course, you can't by that point (run option stuff is a different thing that works on it's own rhythms and I'm not discussing here). So, what's the next best option?
Well, that would be what Grubb did against the Cards which was design routes that sit underneath the LBs who aren't buying the run fake, which the Cardinals (like the Jets) did not.
On our first PA, Charbs runs a route basically right up the middle of the field and sits down on it just underneath the LBs who have dropped back.
The second PA is actually a designed screen to Charbs, taking advantage of the same concept.
The next play AJ Barner engages a block momentarily, creating that image that he's engaged similar to the Jets game and then leaks up field.
The fourth one is the same only this time it's Pharaoh Brown who doesn't even have a defender come down to fake block. Hilariously, there is another route being run by Kenny McIntosh off that same play fake who mirrors Brown and also has similar cushion from any defender. The Cards second level are sending so many players back on the deep shot that they basically gave Geno two free 6 yards choices on 1st and 10.
This leads us to the fifth and final play action pass. Once again, the Cards do not bite on the run fake but what happens is nearly just as good for the Seahawks. The Seahawks run this play with two running backs and the Cards so used to being gashed on the underneath route, don't react well when Noah Fant goes straight up field. If only Geno had been able to take just a little air out from under this ball, this is a 30-plus yard completion. Look where the defenders are both looking when Fant gets to that level.
This was a case of Grubb getting creative to turn what had been a huge weakness of his play calling into a strength for this game. The Cardinals were often desperately trying to keep bracket coverage on guys down field. All 5 of these play actions were run on 1st and 10 and yet the Cards never sacrificed less than 6 yards on any of these plays. Seahawks chewed them up and then, when they finally adjusted, we dialed up what would have been a pure dagger.
It's been exciting to see Grubb the last few weeks show some of these variations that I think some hoped would come earlier this year and I look forward to seeing what he dials up vs. Green Bay.
I want to start this thread off with this here, from Ben Solak of ESPN:
Ok, so we've done a lot of straight dropback passing and we've actually been really good at it. At this point, you might be thinking "If we're good at thing, and our offense = mostly thing, then logically our offense should be good, right?" Unfortunately, it's not that simple as you've noticed from our offense being nothing more than 'middling' most of the year.
For an offense to be really good, you need to not only be good at your one thing but be able to build on that one thing to enable you to do other things when you need to.
So, what is the wrinkle, the next level thing you can add on straight dropback passing to keep a defense guessing? Well, the most obvious one is Draw plays up the middle. Unfortunately, we suck at that. We know it but more importantly the defense knows it. So, defenses can sell out on the dropback being a pass and know that the (few) times we plan to run out of that play, they will stop it. And defenses were for a while, quite correct about that.
This brings us to our play action game... or lack thereof. Where Geno has typically been a top of the league performer in the play action game the last two seasons, he has fallen off dramatically this season. So, the question has been... why?
The last two games are very informative. To understand, the first thing you need to know about a good play action game is that you don't actually need a good running game to run effective play action. (See: Us, last year). The defense doesn't need to think you'll get yards on the run play, they just need to believe you are actually going to run.
This has been a problem for us this year and the Jets game is very useful for us because in that game, we ran our most play action of the season and were mostly... bad at it. The Jets, you see, almost never bit on the run fake, which leads us to the second thing you need to know about play action game, which is how it beats defenses, which it does in two ways: First, it moves the pocket and buys the QB time. This is the key for producing the really gorgeous deep PA shots that everyone knows and loves because the natural additional time is what gives your speedy WRs that chance to get over the top.
But a consistently good PA game isn't just focused on those dagger shots you produce on third and shorts when a defense is trying to stop the run. They also want to produce those mid range blows in the center of the field created when that second level of the defense bites on the run fake and creates that hole in the middle layer of the field as those LBs try to recover. This is what we didn't have against the Jets. But why couldn't we get the Jets to bite on those run fakes?
Well, this is (was?) a two part problem. First, it comes down to Grubb probably underestimating just how good NFL level LBs are at sniffing out pass vs. run if you give them too many clues. We often change our alignment in a PA play vs. a run play. Our TEs play slightly further from the OL as they try to create space for their routes which in Grubb's scheme are typically longer developing. The most effective PA play that game was the TD pass to Barner as he blocked and then leaked out, which created an individual hole that we weren't creating with the wider scheme.
The second issue you can't completely blame Grubb for, which is we do the run fake differently than we do on a real run as well. Why do we do that? Simple. Because our OL is so bad, we want to bring the RB into the spot where he can help block for the pass rush which leads to us bringing him essentially the opposite of where a natural run play would go. LBs can see where he's going (and because we've been so pass heavy anyway), they just guess it's going to be pass and immediately start playing the receivers.
Now, if you are doing a play action and nobody bites on the run fake, the thing you wish most as an OC is that you could go back in time and just hand it off. Of course, you can't by that point (run option stuff is a different thing that works on it's own rhythms and I'm not discussing here). So, what's the next best option?
Well, that would be what Grubb did against the Cards which was design routes that sit underneath the LBs who aren't buying the run fake, which the Cardinals (like the Jets) did not.
On our first PA, Charbs runs a route basically right up the middle of the field and sits down on it just underneath the LBs who have dropped back.
The second PA is actually a designed screen to Charbs, taking advantage of the same concept.
The next play AJ Barner engages a block momentarily, creating that image that he's engaged similar to the Jets game and then leaks up field.
The fourth one is the same only this time it's Pharaoh Brown who doesn't even have a defender come down to fake block. Hilariously, there is another route being run by Kenny McIntosh off that same play fake who mirrors Brown and also has similar cushion from any defender. The Cards second level are sending so many players back on the deep shot that they basically gave Geno two free 6 yards choices on 1st and 10.
This leads us to the fifth and final play action pass. Once again, the Cards do not bite on the run fake but what happens is nearly just as good for the Seahawks. The Seahawks run this play with two running backs and the Cards so used to being gashed on the underneath route, don't react well when Noah Fant goes straight up field. If only Geno had been able to take just a little air out from under this ball, this is a 30-plus yard completion. Look where the defenders are both looking when Fant gets to that level.
This was a case of Grubb getting creative to turn what had been a huge weakness of his play calling into a strength for this game. The Cardinals were often desperately trying to keep bracket coverage on guys down field. All 5 of these play actions were run on 1st and 10 and yet the Cards never sacrificed less than 6 yards on any of these plays. Seahawks chewed them up and then, when they finally adjusted, we dialed up what would have been a pure dagger.
It's been exciting to see Grubb the last few weeks show some of these variations that I think some hoped would come earlier this year and I look forward to seeing what he dials up vs. Green Bay.
