Patrick Graham Giants Defense, Giants 3rd down efficiency the last 3 games

 Patrick Graham is an excellent defensive coordinator and has the Giants playing at a high level.

The Giants defense preserved a massive upset victory over the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday. 

Part of the reason for the winning streak is the tremendous job of 3rd down defense over the last 3 games.They are playing unbelievable in 3rd down situations and teams were 0 for 16 on 3rd downs of 7 or more yards. 

Let's look at the stats defensively

The Seahawks    4/13 efficiency  for 75 yards, 2 sacks and 1 fumble recovery. 

The Bengals      3/10 efficiency for 53 yards. 

The Bengals  were 2/3 on 3rd and 1 , and 1/7 efficient on every other snap. They also got a penalty late that gave them the last touchdown, but overall a great job by the defense. 

The Eagles        0/9   for zero yards 

Thats an opponent success rate of 21 percent. Very impressive by the defense of the Giants. 

A 3 game synopsis breakdown
 Lets look at the total for the Seahawks, Bengals and Eagles statistically from a first down efficiency standpoint.

3rd and 1-3
4 of 10 efficiency in getting the first down          Defense: Giants went cover 1 10/10 times 

3rd and 4-6  3 of 7 efficiency in getting the first down          Defense: Cover 0 1 snap, cover 1 2 snaps,   

                                                                                              cover 3 2 snaps 1/4,1/2 2 snaps , cover 2 1 snap

3rd and 7-10  0 of 5                                                    D:cover 2 1snap , cover 2 man 3 snap , cover 3 1snap

3rd and 10+. 0 for 11 1 penalty                                         cover 3 9 snaps, 2 man, man free, bracket

Lets look at the coverages by down and distance by individual team.

vs. The Seahawks

3rd and 1-3. 

The Hawks were 2/4 on these downs. Giants went man free on every down. 
1/1 throwing hit metcalf for 21 yards
 1/3 rushing with a fumble a run -2,  and 1 carry for  +5 yards

3rd and 4 -6     2/4 efficiency on these downs 

Hawks vs man free. o/1 sacked. (clip below)
vs man 6 man pressure 1/1 for 12 yards completion to metcalf (clip below)
vs cover 3 3 yard gain o/1 
vs 1/4/1/4 ,1/2  1/1 for 21 yards 

Heres a clip of the sack, the giants go wacky and move around pre snap.

They run an inside game with the lb and the ng after the nickel engages the left guard. Rb gets open late but Wilson doesn't see him.

2nd clip 3rd and 6

The Giants go cover 0 with 2 rat defenders. They do a nice job almost getting home but the edge rusher is a little too wide and doesn't get home. Nice design, should have gotten home Wilson makes a nice throw.

3rd 7- and 10.    0/2 on these downs 

 2 man coverage on both

Heres 2 man with a game up top with the de and the dt. The dt does a great job freeing up the defensive end on this with great penetration. Guard turns and the DE gets inside of him. 

3rd and 10 +.  0 for 3 no first downs  all cover 3  

  1/2 completions and 1 rush for 1 yard

Vs The Eagles All passes

3rd and 1-3

0/3 Giants went man free on all snaps

Heres a snap of them playing it vs the Eagles on 3rd and 1 .Bradberry makes a great play on the pick route.

3rd and 4-6   

0/1 giants played man free with 2 rat defenders. 

3rd and 7-9 

0/2 giants went cover 2/cover 2 man

3rd and 10+

0/4 cover 3 2 times, 2man , man free with a 5 man pressure.

Heres a clip of the 3rd and 10 2man, they run a game with the rush lb ,de and dt to get home for the sack.

Vs The Bengals                                                                                                                                       

What I liked about this game is they didn't blitz on 3rd down and went 3 and 4 man rushes on every situation. They ran a couple sim pressures but only sent at most a 4 man pressure.  They didn't allow average qb to beat them. They were disciplined and really did a good job. 

3rd and 1-3

3 snaps, all cover 1 

the Bengals were 2/3 for 3 yards. The giants played cover 1. They ran it twice for 1 yard gains and  threw an incomplete on the other. 

3rd and 4-6

The giants went 2 snaps and were 1 of 2 for 18 yards.

 On both snaps they played zone, They disguised but went cover 3 and cover 2

3rd-7-9

0/1 for 4 yards  On the 1, 3rd and 8 the giants rushed 3 and played cover 3. They forced the checkdown and tackled the qb for a 4 yard gain.

Here is the clip of the 3rd and 8. Could be considered a 2 hole variation with the 3 man rush. The giants force the scramble and get off the field.

3rd and 10+

The Bengals were o for 4 efficiency on these downs although they completed 3 passes for 28 yards. It doesn't matter as the giants went zone and kept everything in front of them. They played all cover 3 except in the red zone on the last play below. 

 late in the game when they got bailed out on a questionable pass interference call. It ended up being a 17 yard game as the Giants played combo coverage on this snap with bracket on the Tight end.  

Conclusion,

Coach Graham is a great coach and great teacher. I enjoyed watching the 3rd down efficiency of the Giants and how they play teams on third down.

football defending 3x1 formations part 3 zone coverage

 Part 3-NFL Zone Coverages vs 3x1 

Zone Coverages is another way that NFL Teams handle 3x1. You will see cover 2, cover 3, 1/4 to trips with half field safety coverage and some other crossing concepts where the safety looks for 2/3 on the crossing route with cover 3 principles. There are many variations but here are some of the zone coverages you see in the NFL. 

New: 

Baylor's zone concept: Quarters to 3x1 and cone to the single side. Cone is where you  play a read technique to the 1 wr side with the CB and safety. 

Weak CB- IF #1 releases inside you will get help from the safety. #1 releases outside, he's yours expect no help. 

Weak Safety- #1 releases in side help on him. #1 releases outside, look to help the other way on a #3 vertical route. 

Cover 2 hole the Buffalo Bills Vs The Jets

The Bills are in nickel and they use the weak safety as a middle hole defender. They play cover 2 with everyone else but have the safety play the hole at 18 yards. 

Cover 2 hole

Cover 3 variations

3rd and 8 

The Texans go cover 3,

They switch the sam and nickel on the snap. One playing the hook and the nickel aligned over #3 buzzes the flat. Presnap looks like a cover 1 look.

Another cover 3 variation

Colts go cover 3 bring the safety weak down to play the curl flat against the Texans.

Traditional Cover 2 

Cover 2 example #1 

5 man pressure

The Bucs bring 5 and play cover 2 after showing single high presnap.

Cover 2 example #2

Tampa 2

Seahawks run a cb fire. DT drops to play the curl and they roll to a cover 2 look. Nice pressure concept, forces the check down and the Seahawks hold them to 1 yard on the reception.

 

Mike is walling #3 to #2

cover 4 variations

 1/4, 1,4 ,1/2 

Here the Steelers play the coverage.

Down and distance 3rd and 4  1/4 coverage to the trips side with cover 2 to the 1 wr side. The qb throws the swing even though it isn't man and the cb makes the tackle for no gain. He should have worked the mesh.

Nice job by the Steelers with the quarters coverage RG 3 reads the coverage as man and goes to the back .(poor read)

Steelers do a nice job and get off the field on a 3rd and 4. 

Here’s another example, chiefs get 4 over 3 to the 3x1 vs the saints.

Flat defender, Sam as curl defender and cb  and safety have 1/4

These are just some of the zone concepts you will see from NFL teams. I will add more as the year goes on.