SUPER BOWL!
Well to no one's surprise, Todd Bowles adjusted in the super bowl and played it very smart.
#1. He had a clear plan on how he wanted to play the 5 components of the Chiefs offense:
a. 2x2 on early downs(1st and 2nd) They played 14 snaps of zone and 6 of 2 man. That was it. They played 12/14 of 2/4 split safety coverage and 2 snaps of what looked like cover 3. On 1 2nd and 10 they ran a fire zone. But the plan was simple ,zone on early downs, with some 2 man sprinkled in.
b. 3x1 on early downs: He played combo 16/17 snaps and the only time they didn't play it was when the Chiefs were on their goal line. The other thing they did was they had a good plan when Kelce was #1 wr. They had #35 who had nice size and that gave Kelce trouble.
c. orbit motion- Played mostly zone vs Orbit motion, didn't get caught up with all the window dressing. Kept everything in front of you. Orbit motion is nice but when you play zone, as an offense, you usually lose that orbit motion wr in routes.
d. jet motion- The Chiefs didn't run as much jet as I thought but they blitzed behind it(see below) and almost had a pick 6
e. 3rd down- He had a great plan on 3rd down. Really executed his plan. The Chiefs were o for 10 and an interception on 3rd and 3 or more.
f. 2nd and 10 and 3rd and long: Thats when Bowles ran his fire zones. He ran 5, all were on 2nd and 10 or 3rd and 7+. He played 3 under and 3 deep. He didn't run 1 fire zone on a down and distance less than 3rd and 7. He also ran 1 snap on 2nd and 10.
#2 As noted above he played 2 high quite a bit and took away Hill when he was in the slot as #3 wr. They ran with him and had 2 guys keying him at most times. He dared the Chiefs to run the ball and they chose not to. That's the biggest mystery.
#3 He let his 4 man pressure work against the Chiefs beat up offensive line. When you move guys around on offense it definitely disrupts your unit. They played with a backup right guard when they moved their guard to tackle to replace Fisher. JPP had a field day and was a disruptive force all game.
#4 As noted above ,Bowles blitzed 5 times which was expected, but only on 2nd and long and 3rd and long. Did the Chiefs really expect a pressure filled game based on what happened last time? He's no fool and they were diced with the quick game and hot reads last time and he wised up. As you recall, the 4th quarter, was their best in the first meeting and they ran basically 3 coverages, and were all 2 high in the 4th quarter in the 1st meeting.
#5 Bowles didn't play any traditional single high which caused Reid for whatever reason to get away from his mesh, crossing route concepts. How many of his basic routes did we not see. I don't recall many mesh , shallow concepts in this game. He didn't run many stack principles which he runs except for the 17 yard gain to Kelce. Then again, not one snap of man free.
4 things that really hurt the Chiefs:
1. Andy Reid not running the football vs 2 high. They were getting 5-6 yards between the tackles but they didn't take it.
2. They didn't take advantage of the underneath routes enough. They didn't stack formations enough and Im surprised they didn't go with Hill in motion from 3x1 to 2x2 because when they did it forced a match up issue.
3. Pat Mahomes trying to play backyard football too much and not stay in the pocket and throw the football. He really was trying to upstage Brady rather than win a football game.
4. Andy Reid's sons situation definitely impacted his play calling in this game. You hate to bring it up because it's a horrible situation but as a parent, you realize he is human and it's an awful situation to be in.
Lets look at the game plan. Here's how the Bucs game planned for the Chiefs.
The game plan was very clear on 3x1 , They played combo on every snap on early downs. (1st and 2nd) On 16/17 snaps.
The only time they didn't run it was when the Chiefs were on their own goal line coming out
Here's 2nd and 7 with the Bucs playing combo with solo man coverage again to the single side. This time they play the top side 3x1 cb as a flat defender. Sometimes they played 2 read to the 3x1 side and other times they played 1/4, 1/4. The Bucs play 4 over 2 on Kelce and Hill.
The great thing was the Bucs route recognition. The Chiefs love running a shallow with a 15 yard sit down with Kelce. It is a great 2 beater that they love. But look at how the Bucs take it away, playing special on 2/3 with the safety taking away the deep crosser and the lb taking away the shallow crosser.
Here it is on 1st and 20. They try to hit Kelce on the 1 wr side and he's in man vs the corner.
condensed formations and calls:
12/21 personnel. They only saw a few snaps but the Chiefs played their normal defense.
Vs the Chiefs special situations
How do you play orbit motion. vs orbit the Bucs played a ton of zone coverage. They kept everything in front of them and really caused some issues.
How to you handle jet motion
The Chiefs blitzed behind the jet motion with an auto call. That's my guess but it looks like it. They go cover 2 fire zone.
3rd down The Bucs had a great plan on 3rd down.
The Chiefs were o for 10 on 3rd down and 3+ with 1 interception. Here are the coverage concepts that the Bucs used.
3rd &1-3 2 snaps. Chiefs get the 1st on both
3rd & 4-6. They got 2 snaps, they played 2 man and combo coverage on the 2 snaps.
Here is 2man on 3rd and 4. They disguise it as zone but go to 2man. Really good call as the Chiefs try to run a screen vs it. The Chiefs motion from 3x1 to 2x2 and the Chiefs don't run with it. They bounce the cb out and give a zone look. On the snap they go 2 man
3rd & 7-9. They went 2 man on 2 snaps, fire zone 3 under 3 deep and combo late in the game.
3rd and 8, Bowles runs a fire zone concept, 3 under 3 deep from a 3 safety high look. He runs it with dime personnel.
On 3rd and 13 they run the same concept with a 3 man game inside. Bucs get a huge interception.
3 under 3 deep with 3 curl defenders and 3 deep 1/3 defenders
Here's 2 man on 3rd and 7 and Mahomes avoids the sack.
3rd & 10 +. They ran 2 firezones 3 under 3 deep and 1 snap of 4 on 3rd and 33.
Here is week 12.
Week 12 was a tough one for the Bucs defense when they played the Chiefs. They were severely outplayed for the 1st 3 quarters before settling in during the 4th and making the game somewhat competitive. They really got burned quite a bit early and really struggled with their single high coverage.
The struggles were mostly when they went man free and brought some zone pressures. They were also very confused with their matchups with motion and struggled 1x1 with the Davis Tyreek Hill matchup. Hill ran by him a few times both in zone and man. Hill had a crazy 1st half and really took over the game early.
Here's a few coverages and concepts the Bucs used vs the Chiefs.
1st play of the game 34 yard gain,. They just run Hill on a go route as the cb tries to press bail on the snap. Hill just runs by the corner. Good route vs Cover 3.
On 2nd & 9 they run inside split zone rpo. They just run Hill on a go route. Easy man free read for Mahomes and with the condensed route gives Hill room to operate with no safety help. 23 yard gain.
On 2nd and 2 looks like wide zone and Mahomes reads it and throws hot to Hill. He actually had both Hill and Hardman open as the Bucs run fire zone but don't rotate. Easy 19 yard gain, Should be a cover 3 fire zone but safety messes up. Or with the cb coming off the edge to the top, it could be some type of 2 under 3 deep. Tough to run on 2nd and 2 but if he handed it off would have worked out well.
On 3rd and 8 the Chiefs are driving, The Bucs go 5 man pressure man free, they drop the free safety to cover the back that allows Hill to get open across the field with ZERO Help. Mahomes hits Hill for 44 yard touchdown. The Chiefs go up 17-0
In the 2nd quarter on 1st and 10, they run 2 inside seem routes, possibly 4 verts with various adjustments. Kelce sits it down and Mahomes hits him in the seem.
A nice 20 yard gain as the coverage is cover 3.
In the 3rd quarter, the Bucs go cover 2 vs Empty with Hill and Kelce on the same side.
Mahomes reads it and hits Hill in the void for 25 yards. Easy read as the safety is too deep to help on Hill with the vertical route as the #1 wr.
On 2nd and 4 the Bucs go man free with a 5 man rush, They just run Hill on a go route and he beats Davis. The problem with Davis is he doesn't like to play with his hands, he doesn't reroute Hill and he beats him for an easy 20 yard completion. Again man /free with no safety help.
Then the Bucs decide to roll later in the game to Hill and they leave the seem wide open. Should have been an 80 yard touchdown but Mahomes misses him.
The score was 27-10 at this point and the completion would have put them up 34-10.
After this play they went mostly cover 2 man and mostly 2 high stuff with some double concepts on Hill and shut the Chiefs out in the 4th quarter.
3rd and 10
Here Hill and Kelce are on the same side and they double both of them. Force Mahomes to go away from them and he throws incomplete.
Here's another 3x1 check, play combo, zone to the trips side and man to the single side.
On 2nd and 10 on the next series they play combo, man to the single side and zone with a read 3 crosser concept on Hill.
Worked fine but they didn't make the tackle and Bell gets 8 yards . sets up a 3rd and 2 and they stop them.
They ran 3 snaps of the above coverage and played a tremendous amount of 2 /4 deep coverages late in the game vs 2x2 and combo vs 3x1.
On the final play after making it 27-24. The Chiefs run a switch out concept vs 2 man and Hill runs a great route on 3rd and 7. The safety can't really help and the Chiefs hold on to win 27-24.
We shall see the adjustments in the super bowl and game plan today.
Overall not a great day for the Bucs defense
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