Xs and Os talk: Carr's first TD pass

[Recon_Hawk]

The situation: Its 4th and goal and the Raiders are at the 1. The Raiders play action with a fake WR fly sweep and Carr finds his tight end in the back of the end zone. There's an obvious coverage breakdown as 4 (!) Seahawks players (Sherman, Shead, Wright, and Avril) cover the running back running in the flat.

Video of the play





My question to anyone willing to take a guess is what coverage are they playing and who is actually responsible for covering the tight end and running back in that situation?

My guess is that they are playing cover 1 defense and that with the receiver motioning across the field that Sherman was supposed to shift coverage to the tight end and let Shead take the running back, but I mentioned this play to Bob Condotta on twitter and he thought it was a zone coverage and either Wright or Shead misplayed it. I wanted some other opinions so I'm reaching out to the football minds of .Net.

 

[AbsolutNET]

Probably Shermans guy. Theres obviously not a safety behind him, and the SS buzz up to take away the flat, which is standard for a 3 deep zone.

 

[Recon_Hawk]

Probably Shermans guy. Theres obviously not a safety behind him, and the SS buzz up to take away the flat, which is standard for a 3 deep zone.

Thanks for the response Abs. I did a quick read on the Cover 3 "buzz" coverage and I think you could be right on the pre-snap coverage cause it does look like that is what they are playing.

You mentioned the SS (Shead) is playing the buzz/robber role so he's responsible for the flat, but with the fly sweep motion of the receiver wouldn't Earl Thomas switch into that buzz role player, moving Shead over the top in coverage?

 

[AbsolutNET]

They had a what looks like essentially a split coverage since the DB's on the bunch side played inside-out with their respective zones. Earl came flying up when the receiver started the motion, since until that point they had that side of the field covered (2 on 2). Looks like some kind of formation/motion based adjustment and a split coverage due to the bunch on the near side. They flooded away from the 3 receiver side and got us caught in a tough spot since Richard stepped up at first. No need to roll it since Earl came up and they had a DB covering the middle coming from the right, and a LB covering if anyone came from the TE side.

 

[Recon_Hawk]

Ok, but no one was covering the middle. If the tight end runs a post instead of a corner route, he's even more wide open. The two DBs on the left side of the field are responsible for the their 1/3rd of the field deep and short, right? So was it KJ's responsibility to drop back and play the middle zone coverage? He played the RB in the flat so quick that was one of the reasons I thought it was man coverage.

And thanks for the replies Abs. You're a man worthy of your title :th2thumbs:

 

[AbsolutNET]

I'm assuming KJ wright booted that by coming up on the play action. It looks like he would have been responsible for the TE on a post route. Its not the same kind of coverage you'll see outside of this situation.

The argument that it was man could be made though, I suppose. The two DB's on the bunch side have those two once the receivers declare their routes, and Earl has the #3 which would have been the motion man. Sherm would have been responsible for the #1 on his side, which ended up being the TE, and Shead the RB, with Wright floating. Hard to tell since the last thing Sherm looks like he is doing is playing man coverage.

 

[Tical21]

I see man. Sherman basically has which ever guy breaks out first, Shead has the #2. Shead blew the coverage. Sherman looks at him for a second after the play but doesn't air him out until they get to the sidelines. At the snap, the TE is the outside player, but when the RB quickly goes to the flat, Shead needs to pass him off to Sherman.

 

[AbsolutNET]

I see man. Sherman basically has which ever guy breaks out first, Shead has the #2. Shead blew the coverage. Sherman looks at him for a second after the play but doesn't air him out until they get to the sidelines. At the snap, the TE is the outside player, but when the RB quickly goes to the flat, Shead needs to pass him off to Sherman.

Doesn't that pretty much make it zone?

 

[Tical21]

I see man. Sherman basically has which ever guy breaks out first, Shead has the #2. Shead blew the coverage. Sherman looks at him for a second after the play but doesn't air him out until they get to the sidelines. At the snap, the TE is the outside player, but when the RB quickly goes to the flat, Shead needs to pass him off to Sherman.

Doesn't that pretty much make it zone?

Sure, that's a pretty fair statement. There is a lot of man coverage that somewhat has zone concepts, especially in the way modern defenses deal with bunch formations. I think it is more akin to switching basketball screens than anything else.

They very well may have adjusted to cover-3 after the motion, but I think Shead would have gotten to the flat more quickly, and Burley sure looks like he is playing man.

 

[HawkFan72]

From those screen shots, it looks like KJ messed up.

 

[Recon_Hawk]

I see man. Sherman basically has which ever guy breaks out first, Shead has the #2. Shead blew the coverage. Sherman looks at him for a second after the play but doesn't air him out until they get to the sidelines. At the snap, the TE is the outside player, but when the RB quickly goes to the flat, Shead needs to pass him off to Sherman.

Doesn't that pretty much make it zone?

Sure, that's a pretty fair statement. There is a lot of man coverage that somewhat has zone concepts, especially in the way modern defenses deal with bunch formations. I think it is more akin to switching basketball screens than anything else.

They very well may have adjusted to cover-3 after the motion, but I think Shead would have gotten to the flat more quickly, and Burley sure looks like he is playing man.

I forgot about this defense actually. I played this form of coverage in high school from the safety position in 4 wide receiver sets with two receivers on each side. If the inside receiver released outside, the CB and I switched to keep from trailing or running into each other. We didn't use it much at the goal line though because it opens things up for receivers in that moment of switching.

I wonder how common it is for defense to switch from man to man coverage to zone based on the motion of the outside receiver, though. I'm not saying it doesn't happen (It's the pros after all) but it would seem that if they were in cover 1 they would stick to cover 1 and if in cover 3 they stick to that.

 

[Recon_Hawk]

From those screen shots, it looks like KJ messed up.

You could be right..of course unless Shead is responsible for the "deep" middle in which KJ takes the flat (a tough assignment but it'd be made possible with Sherman playing both the flat and "deep" 1/3rd of his side of the field.

EDIT: Taking a 2nd look, I'm probably wrong on KJ's assignment covering the RB out of the flat. That really is to far for him to cover.

 

[EmDiggy]

That's on KJ Wright. Sherman still has the flat, EMOL (who was responsible for squeezing the backside) now has the QB, #2 rotates over to the TE and that leaves Write responsible for the RB

 

[Recon_Hawk]

Thanks for the reply Em! I'm a little confused though. So is KJ wright responsible for the RB or the tight end? Who is the #2? Also what coverage is Seattle in then? Thanks again!

 

[EmDiggy]

Thanks for the reply Em! I'm a little confused though. So is KJ wright responsible for the RB or the tight end? Who is the #2? Also what coverage is Seattle in then? Thanks again!

I got confused on the drawings…but Wright is responsible for the TE. The RB went to the flat, TE went to the corner, that's where Wright was supposed to be. Sherman was already in the flat to handle the RB.

#2 is the second guy after the guy closest to the sideline to that side. That would've made him responsible for the TE…but you see his eyes were locked in the backfield.

It looks like a match up zone

 

[Recon_Hawk]

Thanks for the reply Em! I'm a little confused though. So is KJ wright responsible for the RB or the tight end? Who is the #2? Also what coverage is Seattle in then? Thanks again!

I got confused on the drawings…but Wright is responsible for the TE. The RB went to the flat, TE went to the corner, that's where Wright was supposed to be. Sherman was already in the flat to handle the RB.

#2 is the second guy after the guy closest to the sideline to that side. That would've made him responsible for the TE…but you see his eyes were locked in the backfield.

It looks like a match up zone

Thanks again Em. I apologize, but I'm still a little bit confused. If you or anyone else could answer I'd appreciate it.

It makes sense that Wright should have covered the tight end, I understand that now, but you also say that the #2 - "second guy after the guy closest to the sideline to that side" - is responsible for the TE, too?

Correct me if I'm wrong, but the #2 is the safety, DeShawn Shead, right?

So are both Shead and the Safety responsible for the tight end or just Wright and that the safety was correct to cover the running back in the flat?

 

[seedhawk]

If you really look at the last screen shot, we have 4 guys chasing the RB, and no one on the TE, as he sold his chip block and we forgot about him. At least 2 of our guys are at fault.

 

[Dizzlepdx]

First off, I think it's man/match-up zone the whole way. Notice how both corners are playing their respective receivers straight up pre-motion. Also notice the difference in the depth of Sherman with respect to the LOS vs the depth of Simon and Burley. Those two are playing farther off to be able to handle any rub-routes that are killers for man defenses. If it was a true zone scheme, Simon would probably be shading to the outside so he doesn't lose outside leverage.

In terms of where all the action happens, it looks to me like this in on Snead. 1)He's the new guy, and you can always blame the new guy and be right 98% of the time and 2)Sherman should have first out, Snead 2nd, KJ 3rd. Bennet has pressure on Carr quickly which Avril recognizes so he peals off his normal assignment (which would be to pressure Carr since the tackle tries to block down) and instead tries to help in coverage. There's no way that KJ would have the TE on this as he's way too far inside for a man assignment and he's already stepping up right behind Bennett pre-snap. Now with the rollout, KJ would have Carr as the #3 should he have decided to run but with Bennet already applying pressure, he's trying take up space in coverage as well. Sherman is in perfect position to take the RB in the flat. He looks like he's trying to bait Carr to throw it there and go for the pick (a standard out of the Sherman playbook); he's squared up perfectly to drive on the ball once Carr commits to the throw. And finally, if you look at Snead's alignment pre-snap, he's just outside the TE initially (for run defense purposes so he can't be easily reach blocked). Once the WR goes in motion, he takes more of a heads up alignment since Sherman now has outside contain on the run.

That's what I see but I'm open to other thoughts.

 

[Recon_Hawk]

That's an excellent view on the play DizzlePdx. Thanks for sharing and post more often!

"it looks to me like this in on Snead. 1)He's the new guy, and you can always blame the new guy and be right 98% of the time"

That's pretty funny and probably true. At first I thought being man coverage that Sherman would have taken the #1 (TE), which meant his misplayed this but if it is a matchup zone then it would fall on Shead to cover the TE..but I think also Wright. I'll explain.

The pictures don't show it well, but when viewing this on the All-22 tape, KJ Wright is actually standing over the center, so he's not so far away he can't shade coverage to the tightend to protect the middle zone.

As Emdiggy said above, I think Avril actually has assignment of Carr on the backside (but plays coverage with Bennett closing down) and Wright has the running back for any plays the RB comes up the middle, but since the RB is running the flat, he should be passing off coverage to Sherman and shifting focus to his next responsibility..the tight end. That would have had Shead covering the TE on any out routes and KJ covering the TE on the middle against slants/hook routes. Essentially they should have been bracketing him.

 

[Dizzlepdx]

I was thinking all of that as well, just didn't feel like typing out more scenarios and potential defensive responses. I do still think with this backfield action KJ has Carr (Admittedly, not really a crucial aspect to what's happening on this play but fun to discuss). The reason I say that is that there's no reason, with everything else happening the same, that the RT couldn't go out and block Avril. Especially with an inside release by the TE, Avril is going to close down a little bit. So if that happens, someone's gotta have Carr. Both options are possible blocking schemes. Oakland just tried (unsuccessfully) to pull the backside in with the blocks the other way. I think you're spot-on with everything else though.