New England Patriots Run game and play action game

 The New England Patriots are 3rd in the NFL in rushing averaging 159 yards per game and have always been one of the best rushing teams in the NFL.

They have rushed for an average of 5.1 yards per carry this year and have done it a few different ways. 

Some of its old school under center, power, counter, iso, toss schemes and then they mix in some zone read concepts with Newton out of the gun which makes them difficult to defend. The Boss read play weak is a real difficult concept to defend. 

The most impressive is that they constantly get 8 man boxes because teams don't respect their downfield passing game. Regardless, the Patriots still can rush the football and hit teams with their playaction concepts.

Here's some of the plays and plays off it

Play                               Play off it

Toss                               fake toss slant

jet                                  wing counter

iso/power                       play action dover concept (deep over)

boss   read                       play action to the tight end drag

Vs. The Bills in 2020

They do a great job running play action off their run schemes which I will show you later in the clips.

They really hurt the Bills running the ball then running a sequential counter, play action scheme. 

This is all being done with limited tight end and wr play in the passing game. 

Lets take a look at some of the concepts vs. the Bills.

They ran 29 carries for 183 yards  =. 6.31 yard

Toss.   7, 2,5,6,6,1. = 6/27 yards                                    4.5 ypc

qb sweep with toss blocking 2,19,5 = 3/26 yards            8.6 ypc

counter 22 td,    (309 3rd). 18, 7        2, 3 = 5/52            10.4 ypc

iso 2,2 ,13, 1=4/18 yards                                                 4.5 ypc 

power 4, 2=2/6 yards                                                       3 ypc

zone read 4. 1/4                                                                4 ypc 

boss read .  2/14                                                                7ypc.   play action  133 2nd 

qb draw for 3, 2                                         2/5                  2.5ypc

wide/ inside zone -2, -2 10=4/9 yards                             2.25ypc

wham 2                                                    1/2                    2 ypc

jet sweep 6                                                1/6                   6ypc

wing trap 6 off jet 3rd 10:15                     1/6                  6ypc

speed option 8                                            1/8.                8 ypc

The Patriots ran a toss crack concept against the Bills

1st and 10 for 7 yards 

TE cracks on de.        Wr cracks on SS       Tackle pulls for the cb

Whether its toss or qb sweep, that's the scheme they ran 9 times for 53 yards. 

1st and 10 in the 3rd quarter

They run the toss crack for 5 yards out of 21 personnel.

Only difference is fullback runs the alley.

Next they run the toss out of 22 personnel

Same scheme similar result-7 yard gain. You'll love the double pancake from the right tackle on the film!!

Later in the 4th quarter after great success, they hit the slant off the play action because they Bills were playing a lose cover 3. Had it in the hip pocket all game. They gave the same look and the Bills defense had no answer to it.

Heres some toss clips and play action ff it 

They also ran the qb sweep with toss blocking scheme. big 19 yard gain.

In the 2nd quarter the Pats start running counter.

The counter to the 1 technique side was another big play for the Patriots. Seemed to like running this to their left attacking the right side of the Bills Defense. Bills were rolling to the tight end side to take away the power /toss concepts.

counter blocking #1 22 yard td.

Counter blocking scheme 2 : 20 yard gain

3 counter clips are below:

Another sequence was the boss same side zone read 2 times. 

They ran it 2 times for 14 yards before running a nice play action off it.

Look at the hole from the boss fake, Cam reads the end 9 yard gain

After running boss read on 2 occasions, they run the play action pass for a 10 yard gain.

Hits te off the action for 10 yards

Here are 3 clips,

First the boss read then the play action off it.

The Patriots run jet earlier in the game, then they run the jet counter off it.

Again so much of what the pats do is sequential. fake the jet give the wing the ball.

Heres the wing counter for 6 yards 

3rd and 10 on the Bills 37

The pats run a zone read and give it  Burkett vs cover 1.

Great call figure go for it on 4th or get into field goal range.

Here's the toss play vs the Bills in 2021.

Offense 22 personnel with Tackle at tight end spot

Defense:4-3 cover 3 with SS down over the  tight end.

I hope you enjoyed some of the concepts the Patriots run game.

49ers run game analysis-Toss Play variations

 I wanted to take a closer look at the 49ers schemes and run game.

The one play that intrigues me is their toss play. They get great mileage out of this play and ran it 6 times for 47 yards against the rams. Under center and in the gun. 

They seem to love to run it to the 3 technique side but can run it either way and against different looks and fronts. The Rams do a great job scheming things up in their run games and creating great angles at the point of attack. 

Here they run the play against the Rams which are in a 6-1 look with a shade. The interesting thing is how the 49ers block back on the backside and run a zone scheme to the front side. 

fan the backside

In the next diagram the Rams are in a bear front but play it with the 4i to both sides. The Rams spark the DE to the tight end side and the right guard handles it and they get 9 yards. 

Rams spark as the toss is developing

Here are a few  clips of the plays below.

VS PATRIOTS 

Here they run Toss against the patriots for 15 yards out of 21 personnel.

They get a great block by the left side, great crack by the wr.

Fullback does a great job on the safety and the guard reaches the 4i.

A nice run lane is created with good angles on the perimeter.

They get the nice cracks on the perimeter with 

In the clips below these 2 slides you will see some great cut backs by their running backs vs the rams. Watch the 49ers back and his shoulders in conjunction with the offensive lineman like traditional wide zone. 

great execution with nice running lanes.

2nd clip vs rams look at the gap created by the tackle fan blocking on the olb. Great job by the back staying in phase with his rg , rt and te. Again, they block back to create that cutback lane on the backside.

Clips to go with the above.

GUN TOSS VS RAMS

They also run the toss out of different actions and motions.

Vs the Rams they ran it with Kittle in the backfield and motioned him as a lead blocker. 

They create angles for the tight end below and time things up perfectly

Here they run it out of t back 21 wit h the motion creating a great angle. 

49ers vs Patriots

49ers 12 personnel

Patriots 3-4 defense with 21 playing the backside lb roll

They double the edge with the wing and tight end get good combo blocks up front, and the tackle gets a good lateral movement on the dt which allows the running back to cut it back for a 5 yard gain. 

video below

12 personnel 

Get the edge doubled and the guard gets to the linebacker.

1st and goal on the 7

49ers in 21 personnel and they run toss to the twins side.

They get a great block from the fullback and do a nice job on the perimeter with their 2 wr blocking on the 2nd level.

video below

21 personnel. They lead with the fullback on the olb.

2 clips of the 2 toss plays above.

There you have some of the different ways the 49ers run toss both under center and out of gun. Look at some of the variations on how they cut off the backside. I hope you enjoyed this presentation.