Browns Offense Vs The Steelers defense Route Concepts out of Empty

The Steelers and Browns met in week 17 then in the Playoffs. One of the reasons the Browns won was their effective use of empty formations agains the Steelers. The Browns took advantage of favorable matchups and threw the ball all over the field in empty. 18 snaps of it over 2 games and they were 15/18 or 161 yards. They also did it out of 12 personnel which made it difficult with Lb trying to play zone agains a top wr Jarvis Landry in the middle of the field. 

In the divisional playoffs, the Browns were vs 6/7 for 67 yards vs the Steelers. They took advantage of the mismatch at linebacker over the middle and gave their #3 wide receiver an option route in those matchups. In all truthfulness they would have been 7/7 if Hopper ran a normal route vs the lb instead of the out and up route he ran. But here are some examples in the game. 

Example #1

It's 3rd and 2 and the Browns are in 12 personnel. The Steelers go base coverage which puts Watt out on #2 and #3 is covered by the Mike. Whether it's zone or man its a mismatch. The WR can still work the middle of the field. The Browns run an option route by the #3 WR Landry and he runs the out cut against the LB who tries to wall him off. 

Later in the game, he breaks the route inside against the same LB. Last time he ran the whip route. this times he runs the in route. 

Example #2

Ok Here's the situation

Down and Distance 2nd and 5

Steelers are showing 2 high, with the mismatch of the mike linebacker against Landry again Landry has an option route. He can run an in route or work back outside depending on what the LB does and plays it.  This time the Steelers are in Nickel but the bad matchup still applies. 

Protection call is fairly easy (4 man pressure shown, pre snap) Steelers only ever show 4/5 man pressure vs empty so they just make a right or left call for the center. They don't have to check or do anything special because the Steelers don't show 6 man pressure. Just look at the safeties in the picture. 2 high, Pre snap thinking 

In Week 17 the Steelers were 9/11 for 94 yards in empty.

In week 17 The Steelers went 12 personnel and went 11 snaps of empty. They were 9/11 in this situation for 93 yards. This set the stage for doing it in the playoffs  vs the Steelers in the wild card game where they had great success with it.  Of the 2 plays in week 17 that they weren't successful, one was a drop in the hands of Hopper, the other was a sack on a missed read by Mayfield. Pretty successful day for them throwing it out of 12 personnel. 

IN WEEK 17 , Defensively the Steelers played base personnel the 1st 2 times vs 12, then got out of it and went Nickel on 7 of the snaps and dime on the other 2 which were 3rd and 5 situations. 

Here's one of the routes they ran on 2 occasions

This is a great execution of a cover 2 beater as the LB tries to wall of the hitch route which opens the window for Hopper behind it. 

Later in the game the get a 2nd down and again are in their 3-4 defense. The Browns exploit it by running Landry on an in route with the Clear out by #3. Great route concept as they work Landry to the middle of the field. It s cover 2 pre snap and post snap stays 2 and Mayfield makes the right read for the 17 yard gain.

Here is more analysis of the week 17 game and how the Browns used Empty vs the Steelers. 

I hope you enjoyed my coverage of the Browns offense vs the Steelers and how they took advantage of the