NFL Kyler Murray Cardinals analysis- Running and passing, how teams defend him

 The Cardinals Kyler Murray is an exciting qb who is creating nightmares for defensive coordinators. .

At 5ft 9 he was a great college qb who was utilized in various ways. They rolled him, moved the pocket and did some great things in the run game that made him successful.

He is the best running back on the Cardinals roster. Kenyon Drake had a great game against the Cowboys but has been inconsistent. 

Murray is a threat on any play with his legs and you have to account for him as a defensive coordinator in everything you do.

Then you have Hopkins, Kirk and Fitzgerald to worry about in the passing attack and Edmonds out of the backfield. He can throw the deep ball and is very accurate and can make the sideline throws.

 They have many weapons and the way they use him in straight run designs and the qb draw game makes it very difficult to defend. 

First lets look at the run game and how the Cardinals use him.

2020 Stats:

Rushing: 9 rushes a game. 62 yards per game    6.7 yards per carry

1. NAKED BOOTS

 especially in short yardage situations. 

Against the Cowboys on 4th and 1, they run a boot and end up turning the corner and getting a 12 yard gain. 

                                 

Here's another boot vs the Cowboys.They seal the edge to put him in space. He can throw it or run it with space to run.

2.  QB DRAWS

2nd and 8 vs the Seahawks. They go 12 personnel and run qb draw. Both tight ends block right away. Murray gives a weak fake to the running back and follows him for qb draw.

They run qb draw for 8 yards. 

QB Draw Against the Jets

Jets show a cover 2 look and are in cover 2 man. The rb occupies the mike and their is no one in centerfield making it an easy 15 yard gain.

 cover 2 man is a very tough coverage to play against Murray because no one is on the qb.

 If you go man free, at least you could have one of the Ilb in the 4-2 spy underneath.

a few qb draws vs the Jets  are below:

3. ZONE READ 

You cant defend him with a defensive end so you are forced to bring someone off the edge/scrape exchange it  or live with 12-15 yard gains by playing it with the defensive end. 

Here the Cowboys try to defend him with a defensive end and he ends up getting 16 yards.

Hes a nightmare to play with a defensive end. 

                                     

                                     

Some teams try blitzing him like The Jets try  and he makes them pay for an 11 yard gain. The Jets had the safety on him and he does a good job with his fakes that he sells him on the run.

                                       

Here's a zone read on 4th and 1 vs the Dolphins,

The Dolphins stunt go cover 0 and the lb on the cross dog is unblocked. Murray makes him miss and he gets 28 yards. It was the perfect call and it didn't matter.

4. Designed runs 

vs Dolphins 

Here they run a qb toss crack scheme for him on 3rd and 3. The DE blows up the play, they lose the puller and it doesn't matter. He makes the de miss and its another big 16 yard gain.

 

5.   SCRAMBLE FACTOR

3rd and 8 vs the Seahawks, he's sacked but eludes it and gets 9 yards for the first down.

He's sacked first by the lb, and then by the de and he just uses his athleticism to create plays.

2ND AND 5

CARDINALS RUN A BEAR LOOK RUN A GAME WITH THE NOSE AND DE AND IT SHOULD BE AN EASY SAFETY. 

HE ELUDES IT AND GETS 5 OUT OF IT. AGAIN 2 PLAYS IN WHICH HE'S SACKED AND HE ESCAPES FOR A POSITIVE GAIN THEY END UP DRIVING 90 YARDS FOR A TD.

Below the nose 97 went right and the dt looped. The center drops his head and the looper comes clean.

How do you defend him.

3 important aspects of defending Kyler Murray.

Theres a few things NFL teams are doing to take away the run element.

1. In the zone read game, make your decision and play it. I wouldn't put a de on him and shove, squeeze, sit technique it because he's too damn fast. I would scrape exchange it all the time or bring pressure to the side of the back and make him hand the ball off. 

2. Bring pressure up the middle. 

Bring 5 by blitz engaging the back and play the other lb as a spy on Murray. The coverage would be man  free. 

Example #1 Here the Lions bring the pressure right up the gut.

      

Here's another inside pressure with man free vs 20 personnel

Both clips of the inside pressure are below:

The Seahawks ran an inside pressure and should have had a sack last game. (see the picture above) but he makes plays. 

2. Another way to handle him is to play some type of zone  coverage  with a 3 or 4 man rush, where you have the lb spy him and then rush late. Play cover 2/3/6/8 etc  and have a lb  spy him with a 3 or 4 man rush. you can play other coverages and have the lb or preferably a nickel spy him. 

If you go 3-2 dime you can spy him with a drop down safety

See example the Lions did. This is the preferred method 3rd and long because you can bring the 4th rusher but use the safety as the spy.

The other advantage to doing this is if they free release the back and you are in a pressure look you may have an issue.

You'll see this strategy against the Texans, Chiefs, Bills and qbs are scramblers.

Below the rams do it to try to slow him down in the run game.

The Rams do a good job here, playing the qb 

                                     

The Passing game

MURRAY is a nightmare in the passing game because he can throw both the de

ep out and hit the deep out routes. He is extremely accurate and don't let his size fool you.

One way you can try to handle athletic qbs is to send pressure and not allow them a running lane. The Dolphins went cover o over the top with rat defenders often vs the Cardinals. 

The Dolphins had some success early with this strategy but they were 1 for 4 early for 10 yards against it and had him sacked but he scrambled for 12 yards and set up a big td.

The next time they ran it  Murray made them pay with  a big 56 yard td vs cover 0. 

Here are the first 5 plays the Cards ran vs the Dolphins cover 0 on the first drive. Some plays are highlighted below. The concept was solid but he can make plays with his mobility.

Here the Dolphins bring 6 in a read it type stunt with cover o. Meaning if someone steps to the linebacker you drop into coverage. Watch the lbs on this.

 

c

After the sack and some more 6 man pressures with cover 0 ,the Cardinals get smart and go 12 personnel.

The Dolphins don't go double mug vs 12 and play their bear look

Better set to throw against and they go play action and hit the #2 wr in the hole for 18 yards.

3rd and 9 they Dolphins go man again Right call and the pressure gets home but Murray gets away and gets 12 yards. 1 play later he scores a td. Instead of a sack, field goal , the Cards get a td on the drive.

The Dolphins go back to the well again but this time it doesn't pay off.

The Dolphins learn that Murray is a little better and has more weapons than the Rams the week before   . They run a 6 man pressure and play man and Murray makes him pay with a 56 yard td strike to Kirk. With Hopkins, Kirk, Fitzgerald and Edmunds, he has some good weapons in the passing game. 

The tight end up top chips on the de which gives Murray a little more time and allows the center to get out and pick up the de.

Kirk gets behind the corner and Murray hits him in stride for the TD

After this 56 yard bomb, the Dolphins stopped playing straight man the rest of the half , and used it sparingly the rest of the game, go back to their man free, cover 1 some cover 2 and other base coverages.

Here they run the traditional 3 man rush cover 2 with the spy on the qb on 3rd and 10. They force the incomplete and the field goal,

Anyone who questions Murrays touch watch this 21 yard pass with someone on his heels. Perfect throw and touch with this ball.

This tied the score at 24-24

The Seahawks did some good things vs Murray.

Three things.

On early downs they took away the rpo and quick passes.

They get 3 on the check down

They also were smart and always had an athletic lb on Murray in the zone read game. Not putting the de on the qb, and often forcing the give.

On a key 3rd and 1 The Seahawks blitz to the side of the back and scrape exchange it with the lb. They do a great job and force a 2 yard loss on the play.

They mixed in some combo coverages, going man on Hopkins and zone with everyone else.

Here you see the coverage on 3rd and 7

Here they try to hit Hopkins on a deep out. They go man on Hopkins and play zone underneath.

On a 3rd and 12 they play the coverage again.

The hawks stay disciplined send 4, spy Murray and react nicely to the screen.

Nice play by the safety 28 and great pursuit by the def line and lb.

Cardinals vs Patriots week 12

3rd and 12

The Patriots go cover o and bring 6, dropping the nose.

They force Murray to throw it away.

on another 2nd and 12 they go cover 0. They force the slide and the right def end comes clean.

Murray scrambles for no gain.

On the next play 3rd and 10.

The Patriots confuse Murray, they show cover 2 and jump to a cover 3 look with the safety robbing #3.

They get inside pressure from #50 and they force the check down for no gain and get off the field.

Updated:NFL Cowboys run defense issues vs Washington, the Browns and Cardinals

 In this blog I will discuss some of the run issues that happened in the Cowboys game vs WASHINGTON, The Browns and Cardinals. 

They played Washington twice. The 2nd game was worse than the first. They ran 33 times for 182 yards.

THE WFT Runs duo but blocks the de one time and blocks him with the qb and jet motion another, as the jet fake freezes the de and he's worried about Alex Smith running the ball.

 They seemed confused with some of the jet motions and shifts Washington used and it seemed to give them an advantage in numbers and creating cutback lanes. Here is a perfect example on 2nd and 19. Who is the cutback player. WFT gets 13 yards on the play. 

The LB Dips inside #50 so the back reads it and cuts it back nicely

Heres the touchdown run same duo scheme. The RB makes another good cut as the lb dives inside rather than playing his b gap and its 23 yard td run. The Cowboys are rolling to a cover 3 look to the front side and the WFT does a great job on the double team. Washington flips the back to get it run to the 1 tech side.

2 plays for 35 yards using the duo scheme. Clips below.

They run more  of it to seal the game late. Similar double scheme(Duo)

They re up and its a 3rd and 6. The Cowboys give a dime look and walk the lb up. The WFT makes a solo call on the right side, everyone blocks man on. The left guard and center easily handle Smith#58 who gives no effort, for a 37 yard td. The Jet motion action  and no ilb/safety for cutback  on the back side helps makes the play. The Duo scheme becomes a single block on the front side because of the walked up lb.

GAME 1 vs WASHINGTON

In game 1 In this game the Cowboys got their mike back. Vander Esch #55. It didn't help much as the WFT ran the ball 39 times for 208 yards.

In the first series, Washington ran 6 carries for 62 yards with a long 40 yarder. 

here's three plays from the first series. 3 clips are down below.

vs 12 personnel 4-2 nickel the Cowboys go on 1st and 10. They get 5 yards on the zone play to the right side. 

On 2nd and 1 the Cowboys get 12 personnel but go 3-4 to their big package. They are in an under front. There left def tackle gets planted. The nose guard goes off a and aldon smith is nowhere to be found to the off a gap. He shouldn't get cut off by the guard. Another 5 yard gain.

1st and 10.

I really don't know what 54 is doing. Does he really have #2 man for man. Really doesn't add up to me. You are a lb play run and be there for cut back. Why is the right def tackle swimming, play your gap. 8 yard gain, very bad defense.

The next play is a big blow.

1st the running back is in the tight slot position. Should be an alert to something is up. The WFT runs a good inside handoff with a lead blocker. 

The SS doesn't set the edge and the play side lb tries to go underneath and doesn't get there. 

The free safety does an awful job and cant use the sideline to make a tackle. 

4 clips discussed above

COWBOYS VS BROWNS

Lets look at it in detail. A couple things stand out. The lack of interior defense with the Nose and D Tackle really stood out and the Cowboys are really not getting much production out of their 2 inside linebackers. That coupled with lousy run support from their safeties lead to some major issues on the defensive side. 

I am putting together some clips and finished the 1st  quarter. I will finish this up tomorrow but wanted to give some insight to what I saw. 

Clip # 1-21 yard gain

The Browns are in 11 personnel vs the Cowboys are in a 4-2 base front setting the 3 technique to their left.

The Browns run wide zone to the left and get a great push on the 2i and the 3 technique with their combos.  Look at the push the right guard and right tackle get to the linebacker.  

Notes: The Cowboys are in man free so they lose the safety support as the strong safety is in coverage and thinks it's pass originally and gets driven 10 years down field. 

The free safety wiffs and turns it into a 21 yard gain. 

Clip #2- 9 yard gain

The Browns line up in 21 personnel with the tight end shifting from the left side to the right side.

It looks as if the Browns defense doesn't reset the front because the left defensive end is moving into the same gap as the nose tackle. This is a communication miscue. The left defensive end ends up getting reached by the guard, I don't think their playing half man behind based on the nose tackle slant to the near a gap. and the linebacker flows too fast over the gap so the C gap is exposed. 

Do they check cover 3 to the boundary. ss has to read it quicker and come up and support the run. It seems like an easy run read. 

Clip #3 10 yard gain

The Browns are in 11 personnel condensed 3x1 formation and motion the wr across. The Cowboys are in a 4-2 front have made a tight left call. They set the 3 technique to the tight end side. 

It looks like wide zone again as they run the same play as play #1. The slot wr does a great job on the safety, the center and left guard do a nice job on the combo to the mike and the left tackle does a good job widening the defensive end. The Browns rb does a nice job staying on track to his aiming point which creates a little more space for the cutback. 

I have no idea what the will lb # 48 is doing. Where are his eyes. Its zone and fast flow. He doesn't move at all and is responsible for the b gap. That is not good football and what is he keying.

Clip #4 - 8 yard gain

Browns are in 12 personnel and give you a wing tight set on the left with a flanker outside.They shift and move both tight ends to the other side. The Cowboys seem confused. They went from an under front but never seem to get into an under front to the new tight end. They are on a 3 technique backside.  They seem confused and have many different moving parts as they reset the front.

The problem is they over run it as 54 Smith and Griffen really gets upfield and then tries to fold back inside to play the cutback. Good run for 8 yards

The Cowboys stay 2 deep which really doesn't give much help to the front 7 in the run game.

Clip 5 and 6 are  on the video below:

clip 5 -10 yard gain

The Browns line up in 12 personnel. They bring the tight end in motion and run a counter scheme. The left guard actually misses his block when the defensive end jumps inside. Hunt makes a great cut and gets a great block from the right tackle who manhandles the inside linebacker. The h back does a nice job climbing to the 2nd level lb. Due to the bounce and being in cover 2 the safety is too deep to be a factor and give any run support.

clip 6-12 yard gain

The Browns come out in 12 personnel again and use the h back to wham back on the nose guard. The center actually blocks back on the defensive end as the Cowboys run an eagle front to the back side.

With the guard tackle and tight end they run wide zone and look at the shoulder turn of the rb in conjunction with his offensive line. The Rt does a great job on the 5 technique and the guard does a good job climbing to the 2nd level. The Cowboys bring the safety down but he misses the tackle. This play comes down to tackling as the safety could have held it to 1-2 yards but instead turns into a 12 yard gain.

The left guard and left tackle do a nice job sealing the backside as the cowboys lb has his eyes in the backfield again and ends up chasing the false influence block by the center. 

See below for clips 7 and 8

Clip #7- 28 yard gain

The Browns come out in 13 personnel and bring the h back across to get into pro flank formation.

Now the Cowboys  blitz into it but the corner back doesn't play it very tough. He has every opportunity to blow this play up. Also, the playside linebacker has to assume the play is going to spill to him because the def end is slanting down into the b gap with the corner fire. He has to scrape wider on this to give his backside lb a chance. The backside lb has to see the guard pull a little quicker and scrape over the top. The playside lb scrapes and attacks it with his inside shoulder he gives the defense a better shot.

Clip #8- 11 yards.

The Browns come out with 11 personnel, ace formation and the Cowboys go bear. The right tackle actually reaches the 9 technique which allows this play to bounce outside. The right guard reaches the the 3 technique and they do a good job sealing the perimeter with the flanker and tight end. The cb should be crack replacing but it looks they are in man again and he takes a few steps inside with the wr cracking. Turns out to be a 2 for 1 blocking wise.

The Cowboys have issues inside at defensive tackle, inside linebacker and safety. They need to get it fixed to get deeper into the playoffs.

COWBOYS VS CARDINALS.

Early in the game, I thought the Cowboys did a better job defending the run.

The first 7 carries on traditional runs, the Cardinals were 7 for 23 yards. The Cowboys brought the weak safety down and rolled to a cover 3 look. Seemed sound and they had success. This was a 0-0 game at the end of quarter 1 and  the Cowboys defense was not playing bad. 
Here are a couple clips.

Then their players lack of discipline gets them in trouble on a key 4th and 1.

Watch the defensive end peak inside and the safety not be disciplined and stay home on a pivotal 4th and 1. 

Everyone wants to blame the coaches but that's not a bad call and should be off the field if everyone 

DOES THEIR JOB!

The score is 7-0 Cardinals because after the play above they score on a walk in jet sweep down on the goalline.

But, here we go again with the inconsistencies defensively. After Elliot's 2nd fumble, they run 2 designed qb runs. The 1st is a draw/lead play in which they defend it well. The 2nd one they botch defensively and the defensive end loses outside leverage.  Watch the difference in the 2.

Cardinals 1st play 

D & D:  1st and 10 on the Dallas 28. Dallas runs the lead draw

Offense: 11 personnel  twins left open with fb offset away from the strength

Defense 4-2,  3 tech to the run strength  sam blitz b  gap 

Play:  Dallas runs the lead draw

Cowboys play it well. de  stays home.  #90 makes a great play 

They get a 1st down on an 1l yard completion 

1st and 10 

Offense : 12 personnel tight wing with a flanker to the same side.

Defense: 4-2 cover 4 look 

Play:  Inside Zone Read

Defensive end loses contain causes a major gap.