Film Breakdown: A Few Offensive Line Notes and How Cut Back Runs Are Killing Our Defense
by UkRedskin on Oct 25, 2011 10:23 AM EDT
in Redskins Analysis
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PrintI couldn't really think of a main topic to go for for a main theme breakdown, so I just watched the game back, and picked out a few things that I noticed. Apology in advance if this seems a bit jumbled, but as I said, I couldn't come up with a main theme for it (maybe you could give me ideas on Twitter, @UkRedskin1, I'm always looking for suggestions).
First thing I noticed was the revamped Oline did a pretty good job in my opinion (former Redskins blogger Matt Terl pointed out on Twitter that they could have gone in his "Winners" column due to the expectation of them going into the game. If you haven't checked out that blog, I urge you to as Matt does some terrific stuff) , especially in the run game early on. Both of these two examples occur early on in the game (in the first quarter to be exact) and I thought it was going to set the tone for they day (I was wrong...). Lets have a look:
Our trademark stretch run to the right. Jammal Brown and Chris Chester are going to take care of the DE and the DT, allowing Fred Davis and new Center Erik Cook to get to the second level and get blocks on LBs. Darrel Young is going to get far outside and get a tremendous hit on the safety the Panthers brought into the box.
Just to point out, look at the amazing jump Young gets! *Sarcasm*. Seriously though, I couldn't believe that he got away with this. He gets two steps in before the ball is snapped.
Some will say Tim Hightower could have cut back along the black line here, as the inside edge is sealed off. But look at the red circle, Brown has sealed the outside. Hightower reads this and follows the stretch run outside.
Hightower attempts to cut back at this point, but as you'll see in the next picture, he isn't able to because the defenders manage to disengage with their blockers and get to him.
Hightower is eventually bundled out of bounds for a nice 10 yard gain. The revamped Oline prove they can block. But this was a run to the right, where the two mainstays of the Oline, Brown and Chester, have been there since week 1. So here's a better run, this time to the left.
John Beck appeared to audible to this play. He saw the safety in the box to the right again and he noticed the LB to the left was out wider than usual, giving us an opportunity to create a nice hole on the left side.
Logan Paulsen gets outside onto the LB, while new LT Sean Locklear gets inside leverage on the DE and pushes him outside. Will Montgomery (now at LG) and Center Cook get good angles on their blocks to give them the ability to push them back inside, sealing the inside edge and creating a big hole for Hightower to run into.
The Panthers defenders actually appear to get themselves caught up amongst each other, leaving Cook to seal the edge, and Montgomery to get to the second level. As soon as Hightower secures the ball, he can see the obvious hole.
Look at that, that is probably the cleanest hole Hightower has run through in his whole Redskins career. Montgomery kicks back inside to just secure the seal, and Hightower ends up getting 17 yards on the play.
I didn't think the pass protection of the Oline was that bad either. One play that did hurt us though was the sack/fumble on Beck. Jammal Brown was blocking, and as you'll see, he never gets his hands properly on the DE.
Brown starts off in a good position to make the block, at least you wouldn't say the DE has an advantage.
But as Brown goes to engage the DE, his hands are too easily batted away by the defender.
Which allows the defender to get past Brown without losing much momentum. Beck hardly has a chance to step up and throw before he's hit from behind and the ball falls lose.
One last Oline note, anyone else notice on the Beck TD run, Chester and Brown cut block (or at least attempted to) to give Beck a throwing lane? He had struggled with passes being batted down at the line, so I just thought I'd point this out.
We have the 3 receivers on the far side, and just 4 Dlineman.
Chester's cut block, as you can see, is easier than Browns. The DT is trying to run the quickest route to the QB, while the DE is trying to go around the outside, making it harder for Brown to cut block him.
You can see the throwing lane for Beck now. But the coverage is solid, and he could perhaps try and force a throw (possibly like a certain other QB on our roster might have done) but he thinks better of it as he doesn't have a lot of time to set and get an accurate throw off.
So Beck is forced to tuck and run, scrambling for a TD.
The other big thing I noticed from this game, and has been a recurring thought from other games, is the Cut-back run is killing the defense.
On this play, LaRon Landry has a free run at the RB, but over-shoots him taking a weird angle. The Oline all moves to the right like it's going to be a stretch run to the right, and the Dline and LB's all bite on it.
As I said, Landry takes an odd route to the ball, when he could have come up inside and stuffed this whole play before it got anywhere. Also not the two inside LBs, starting to follow the Oline and are dragged slightly out of the play.
Landry has to turn back on himself, and the LB's that previously had bitten on the run to the otherside, are struggling to make up the ground. The RB is left with a big hole to run into, and picks up an easy first down and more.
This next play, I think the main thing that fails is that Brian Orakpo is drawn inside thinking the play is going to the right again, only for it to go back outside him to the left.
All three of the players to the top of that picture all attack the same gap.
It would appear the design of the play was for the RB to run to the LT, but as you can see, our defense has blown up that part of the Oline. The RB reads that Orakpo has the inside shoulder on his block, so he flips back outside.
As the RB bounces outside, Orakpo is sealed off, leaving acres of space to run into.
At which point, it is just a foot race. It ends up being a 40 yard gain before Josh Wilson can catch him and push him out of bounds.
I said earlier, I've noticed this in other games. The one that sticks out to me is the Cowboys game. Jon Gruden pointed it out on Monday Night Football a couple of times, so lets look at one of those.
Cowboys line up with a FB, and two TE's. Just as before, they start off running to the right, before cutting back to the left.
Just like the other runs we've seen, the Oline slides to the right, but this time the leave a TE to help block the "back side".
We have a two on one here, and really the play should be busted. But Rob Jackson goes head on into to the FB, allowing Felix Jones to get outside.
And then Jones is left with a HUGE gap to run into, making a big gain before he's brought down.
This is just something I've noticed, maybe I'm wrong and I've picked out the only three plays it has occurred. Again, I apologise for this not being my best work, but I was struggling for topics that I could try and balance optimism with the doom and gloom that comes with a loss.
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I have said
A few times that I didn’t even really notice a drop-off between this line and our “starters”. Less false starts out of the LT position, maybe a few struggles at center. But, overall, I think they were about status quo.
Where do they teach you to talk like this? In some Panama City "Sailor wanna hump-hump" bar, or is it getaway day and your last shot at his whiskey? Sell crazy someplace else, we're all stocked up here.
Against literally the worst defense in the NFL
"By far the worst performers on the (Redskins) are in the front office." – Sally Jenkins
Rams ain't much better
Where do they teach you to talk like this? In some Panama City "Sailor wanna hump-hump" bar, or is it getaway day and your last shot at his whiskey? Sell crazy someplace else, we're all stocked up here.
Enjoyed your analysis, would be nice if we had something like this at CSR. Pretty involved and impressive.
There’s one play in that list where there’s simply no chance to defend based on defensive alignment though, the handoff from the shotgun. Its actually the triple option and there are three runners in the backfield, and no one has been able to stop it. Landry was left on an island against the Stewart handoff, Cam’s keeper option, and the pitch option to DWill who is trailing Cam. I would say your defender did all he could do given the alignment and circumstance.
I suppose that's the problem Newton provides.
He forces you to set an edge on both sides, which means there will be gaps up the middle. You have to blitz to fill those gaps, and that gives Newton more 1-on-1’s outside with his WR’s. If nobody else beats 1-on-1, Steve Smith will.
Follow me on Twitter: @UkRedskin1 feel free to give suggestions on what you'd like to see broken down each week.
Always annoys me that I can't see the pictures while i'm in work
then often don’t have time to have a look through after, but still a good write up regardless.
good write up
lots of guys on defense not doing their jobs lately or failing in their reads.
The Beat Box aka skins secondary.
Noted in the daily slop and shown here
Could the lack of playing time and trusting others to do the job be the issue with Laundry misses and poor angles? Just a thought!
Something about Landry doesn't seem right to me
It’s something about his mentality, or maybe it’s his confidence. He’s definitely got the physique and talent, but not the attitude. I never see him flaunting confidence to any opponents. Every time he makes a tackle he walks away with his arms stuck out wide.
Compare that to Taylor or some other physical defensive player. I don’t think Landry has that same beast/intimidator mentality.
Now comes the shitstorm. Maybe Parks Smith will throw a “weak” at me.
by DCtoAustralia on Oct 25, 2011 11:10 AM EDT up reply actions
Landry is who he is
He’s been like that since he’s been a ‘Skin. He’s awful at open field tackles because despite his incredible physique, he doesn’t form tackle. He takes terrible angles and is worse than Doughty in coverage. He doesn’t play very smart and expects his skills to make up for it, for the most part it works but when it doesn’t it’s a huge play against us. Even when he is involved in a sack or a backfield stuff it seems like he overshoots the play and only manages to slow down the offense with a whiffed arm tackle.
I might sound too dire here but there isn’t very much he’ll have to clean up to be what we expect him to be. Form tackle in space and some angle work.
Taylor was a free safety and probably could have been the best safety ever. He allowed us to play a one deep zone where he covered any deep pass. He could play in the middle of the field and had the speed to get to almost any deep pass laterally. To have one guy take away the deep ball allows the defense to do all sorts of things. I remember against the cowboys where he was closer to the right sideline helping one side way deep and the QB went to the left a little shorter than where he was in terms of north-south and Taylor made a pick on the play.
I noticed the play with Dallas also
The Fullback had engaged his man and the running back had started cutting back before Jackson tried to blow up the fullback. One of the biggest bonehead plays I’d seen. Jackson attacked the fullback for absolutely no reason allowing a free run for the running back.
Excellent write up. Keep them coming!
These are my favorite posts of the week.
Perhaps a topic for next week is looking at some of BECKingham Palace’s throws, where they went/who was open?
Notice how every big run you showed
was to the left
something i’ve been seeing in games is that side of our defense getting abused badly for a variety of reasons.
The Beat Box aka skins secondary.
nice X and Os
"By far the worst performers on the (Redskins) are in the front office." – Sally Jenkins
Pittsburgh
lines Polamalu right next to the DE. With Landry, they are trying to disguise a stunt where Landry is going after Newton because they are guessing pass. Maybe the Skins should not always try to disguise s blitz. Put Landry up on the line staring at the QB.
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