The Packers play action passing game

 The Packers are one of the best in the league in their play action passing game. They love to run it out of bigger personnel groupings like 12, 21 and 22 and are very effective with the schemes. Also, notice the condensed formations and motions  that often accompany their play action game. 

They do so many things with it which they have great route concepts vs cover 2 and cover 3.

The first one is a great 2 man route concept vs cover 2. They run Adams on a post corner route off the split zone play action.

Personnel:12

D and D: 1st and 10 vs the Vikings

They hit Adams on the nice route vs cover 2.

Later in the same game, they go play action off zone but hit Adams on the crossing route. This time they boot with Rodgers and run a crossing route

Notice the same blocking with the Te and H back but the difference being they release the h back and drag Adams trying to get that high low on the curl/flat  defender.

He hits Adams for a nice 18 yard gain

Week 2 2020 vs the Detroit Lions

2nd and 6, they get man free coverage

The Jet motion away from Adams opens the window underneath. Man free(outside leverage) give him leverage and with the play action, no help or rat defenders underneath. 

A nice 12 yard gain.

A nice 17 yard gain and design.

Next play,

They go 22 personnel which they get a cover1 look. Nice design by Lafleur

as they run a similar jet sweep concept but roll Rodgers. Easy catch and throw and if adams avoided the collision may have been bigger yards

Heres the film to go with it. 

The last example is vs the Bears. Again they fake zone and roll Rodgers. Toryan fakes the post cb and runs the deep route to the post. Im not sure if this is an adjustment or just the route they call in this situation. You can see the cb take away the outside and he goes back to the middle of the field. The one safety and 3 other players jumps Adams which opens it up deep.

Here are just 5 examples of the play action game that is a big part of their offense. More to come!

 

NY Jets Cover 2 variations

 In the NFL there are 2 versions of cover 2. The first one is a 2 read concept which you will see a lot vs 2 x2 formations. Both the cb and safety will read the route of #2 and it will dictate how they play the coverage. The mike defender will play the hook at 8-10 yards. This is a good coverage vs 2x2 but teams like to check out of it vs 3x1 or have the mike carry #3 vertical in that situation if they want to keep cover 2 as the coverage. 

The other version is to play a true Tampa 2 where the mike defender will run vertically with any route down the middle of the field. You will see the Mike linebacker get great depth and not allow a player to run down the field vertically. This coverage is used vs 2x2 or 3x1 formations in the NFL. 

Now, lets look at the 2 coaches of the Jets who were both coordinators last year. Saleh likes to play some variations of cover 3 as his base but will run some cover 2 at times. He doesn't run a ton of it but here's how he plays it. 

First, Robert Saleh plays more of a 2 read style with cover 2.  In the first example the WFT comes out in 2x2 and runs jet motion, fakes it and tries to throw the ball over the middle. They take the check down route for 6 yards. Defensively you can see the 2 read as the mike plays it at around 8 yards.

Heres the 2nd example of 2 read.  They play it vs WFT who comes out in 12 personnel. The WFT goes max protection and runs a 2 man pattern to the twins side. You can see the 2 read element as the 

Vs 3x1 or empty 3x2 Saleh will have the Mike linebacker run with #3 vertical. Here you see it vs empty as Fred Warner, a great cover linebacker makes a nice play on the Cardinals Dan Arnold running vertical down the seem. You can see that the coverage is Tampa 2. Tampa just means the mike will run with any vertical route by #3. This is the adjustment he will make to 3x1 empty. 

Jeff Ulbrich, the new Jets defensive coordinator likes to play true Tampa cover 2 with the Mike running vertical on #3. He also likes to play this coverage quite a bit and went more with it as the year progressed. Here's an example vs the Falcons. The down and distance is 1st and 10. They show cover 3 to the bunch but then drop and play Tampa 2 from it. Look at the depth the mike linebacker gets as the middle hook defender.

On 3rd and 5 they give a cover 3 look pre-snap and shift to a cover 2 coverage vs the Panthers who come out in empty. 

Excellent disguise by the Falcons as they go cover 2 with a middle hook and shallow cross defender in the middle of the field. The mike does a nice job with #3 going vertical and the underneath linebackers do a good job passing off the underneath shallow cross route.

You can see the excellent job the linebackers do passing off the underneath routes conceptually.

The Chiefs come out in condensed set with 2 wr to each side. We consider this 2x2 and the Falcons check to cover 2 vs it. The down and distance is 2nd and 8 and the Chiefs go play action and hit Hill coming across to the flat. 

As you can see, there are some similarities and differences between Ulbrich and Saleh but how they like to play cover 2 is different.Im curious to see how much cover 2 they play or if they utilize more cover 3 principles and 1/4, 1/4 half as the base zone coverage.  Moving forward, I'm sure they will put together a great defense that will be exciting to watch.

NY Jets DC Jeff Ulbrich Fire Zone Concepts

 Jeff Ulbrich took over the Atlanta Falcons Defense last year after their week 5 loss to the Carolina Panthers. At that time, they let up 161 over 5 games which was a 32.2 average per game.

They let up 30 points in 4/5 games. 

Under Ulbrich their was major improvements.

He was the only Defensive Coordinator to hold Kansas City under 20 points in 2020,

 Atlanta’s defense improved from 30th in dVOA to 8th in the league when he took over.

Over the next 10 games they gave up 202 points which is only 20.2 ppg. That is a substantial improvement of 12.2 points per game over that span.

In weeks 11-14, the defense played exceptionally well, holding the Saints, Chargers and Raiders to under 250 yards passing in each game and  71 points, an average of 17.25 points again.

Once again one of the reasons is they became more zone pressure orientated and ran some excellent pressure concepts.

vs 2x2 they ran some 3 under 3 deep pressures 

Here on 3rd and 9 they run a fire zone pressure with the sam coming off the edge. They show with both ilb in the a gaps. The Panthers run some crossing routes but the pressure comes clean and they get the sack. 

3rd and 9 Falcons Defense vs the Panthers offense. 

The Falcons go double mug and bring the safety off the edge.

Here is the video with the clip above.

The Falcons did a great job vs the Chiefs.

Here on 3rd and 7 they run a fire zone and play 3 carry. The Seem/curl defender will take #2 vertical on any seem route. They bring 5 from the field and force Mahomes out of the pocket to his left.

Nice job, nice pressure and they force the quick throw. He throws an incomplete and they get the incompletion.

Mahomes tries to hit Kelce on the left but rushes the throw because of the pressure from the sam linebacker.

Here the Chiefs motion to 3x1. The Falcons show mug drop the lb and dt on the right but get what they want with the rb on the other lb. The mug look causes confusion and it gives the matchup the falcons want. Nice scheme and design.

The cb and drop dt make a great play and get out and hold them to 4 yards setting up a key 4th and 1.

Vs. 3x1 they played some combo coverage at times. 

Offense The Falcons run a shallow cross with a sit route over the middle. vs zone they are trying to stretch the curl flat defender or vs man get the ball out to #1. The back is the first read so they get him the ball.

Defense: Sam pressure combo man to the top zone to the passing strength.

Here the Falcons run a  5 man pressure with a zone combo coverage. Another aspect that Ulbrich started to do towards the 2nd half of the year.

Vs The Broncos,

they send 5 and play cover 3 or man on the outside with zone over the tight ends and rb. Interesting coverage as it appears the cb up top man turns and the cb on the bottom bails. But could be some type of combo to deal with fant inside and play man on the perimeter.

These are some of the pressures Ulbrich instituted when he took over as the Falcons DC. He is an excellent coach and an asset to the jets.

What to expect from the NY Jets offense in 2021

 The NY Jets offense will be quite different in 2021. They will be more under center on early downs, more jet sweep and wide run plays  and will run various motions to get numbers and keep defenses off balance. 

The Jets staff realizes how important it is to run the ball against some of the most aggressive defensive coaches in the division. You have Josh Boyer- Flores with the Dolphins, McDermott and Frazier with the Bills and Belichick with the Patriots. They are excellent at what they do and you can expect major pressure packages from them that will test Zach Wilson. You better run the ball and stay out of those 3rd and long situations to give your young qb a chance. 

That is why the Jets drafter great pieces to help  the run game. Elijah Moore will help the jet sweep perimeter run game. Expect to see him in the backfield at times, motioning out and running some rpos and bubble screens to him. Michael Carter is a great perimeter runner who will push the toss and wide zone to another level. Tucker was a great pickup at guard who will make the wide zone run and give them some needed help in protection on the interior. . Corey Davis will be a factor in the intermediate passing game and give Wilson some weapons. The pieces are in place to make this offense really exciting. 

The Jets new staff does a great job running different plays from different formations. They run toss and run it out of a few formations. They will run rpo game from various sets but really are running the same play. They really utilize formations and motions to dictate coverage, get the looks they want and run plays accordingly. 

Here are some of the concepts: 

#1 concept RPO Game. (Run pass options)

The qb will read the defense presnap and decide whether to give it to the rb or pull it and hit the wr on the pass play.

The Jets will use various RPO's this year. Here are a few the 49ers ran. Here is a couple they loved to run.

#1 Outside zone te drag rpo.

49ers outside zone ,Y cross rpo

They often run this play out of 21 personnel because teams often go 4-3 vs them with a cover 3 look. The defense brings the safety down in the box, usually strong, leaving the backside curl vulnerable.

The 49ers love to run this on 1st down. Outside zone , qb reads the mike and they hit the te dragging the other way.

outside zone slant rpo, Again, another rpo off the outside zone run play. The qb reads the curl flat defender, sees the window and hits the slant for 11 yards. 

#2  3 over 2 rpo

The 49ers ran the following RPO against the Rams. They did a great job getting the ball on the perimeter.You can see the 2 clips below. Either run the swing or give it on the outside zone.

 

#3 The Jets will create match up problems with Tevin Coleman in empty formations.

They will do this out of 12, 21 and 11 personnel. Imagine how tough to cover him when they go empty from 12 or 21.

In the first example, its 3rd and 12 and they go empty. They run the double slant vs cover 2 for 14 yards. The mike works off the and they attack the alley player to the top side. 

Here they go empty from 21 personnel and the Bucs are in a 3-4 base package. They have a lb on him and it is no match as they get 31 yards on the mesh concept 

#4 The Jets will Stretch the perimeter

The hardest thing to play on defense is fast action perimeter runs like toss. boss, outside zone  and jet sweep. 

The 49ers were one of the best in the league at pushing the ball on the edge. They do this 3 ways. They run Jet sweep, toss and wide zone as 3 staple plays.

Jet sweep & plays off it

The Jets drafted a great player Elijah Moore who should run a few jet sweeps in 2021. He is a great weapon and can be a major asset in the jet sweep package. 

Expect the Jets to run a major jet sweep package with wide zone, screens and play actions off it on early downs. 

Lets get to the film on the concepts and plays mentioned above.

The 49ers ran jet sweep 4 times for 65 yards vs the Rams last year. They also ran a great. tight end screen off it. Again, they set plays up better than anyone and if you run jet sweep and wide zone well, it opens other aspects of the offense up. Here is an image of the Jet sweep and 5 video  clips are below. 

Here are the 5 clips:

• 4 jet sweeps and the tight end screen to Kittle

                                                    

Off the Jet sweep expect play action. Here they fake the Jet, the inside run and hit reed the tight end as the lbs react to the run fakes.

The Jets will be sequential and set plays up more than in the past.

49ERS VS THE GIANTS

In the picture below: Mullens is at qb and Reed is the tight end. 

Watch the great play action with Mullens and reed, faking the jet to the right , then the wide zone left and hitting the tight end on the crossing route for a 15 yard gain.

The Jets run a nice screen off the jet motion. They set it up with the fake jet fake zone and action the other way and hit the jet man for a nice 38 yard gain on the screen.

Toss Play 

The Jets drafted Carter out of NC for this reason. He can really stretch defenses and get on the perimeter. This will be a major asset.

Here is the toss last year.

Jet fans remember this play.

Ran it for 80 yards against us. stretch the perimeter, all blocks are made downfield. The tackle handles the sparking de and off they go.

The 49ers ran toss 3 times for 200 yards against the Jets(that's not a misprint), 1 was called back on a very touchy holding call. The 49ers (now the Jets can run the ball on the perimeter) 

Here are the 3 toss plays

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.

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. 

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.

But here they run toss out of gun with the tight end in the backfield as a lead blocker.

I really like the design out of gun with Kittle being the lead blocker.

They ran this play for 15 yards. Again, its toss but they run it with a different wrinkle and formation.

They also ran toss traditionally. 

Wide Zone

The Jets ran wide zone last year so it's nothing new. It's an NFL staple play and the 49ers ran it as well as anyone over the years. Just expect to see much more of it off jet motion.

The OL had been physical all season, and they play with great technique specifically in their wide zone play. This article will focus on some of the great individual efforts displaying talent/coaching/scheme. NYJ have some really good and young talented players on the OL. We look forward to watching them develop.

Play 1: Week 11 NYJ vs LA Chargers 8 yard gain on Wide Zone. They run behind Mekhi Becton and Connor McGovern. 

Play 2: Week 7 NYJ vs BUF Bills is a 7 yard gain on another wide zone. This is an elite play by the Center Connor McGovern. Great technique, great strength, and great finish. 

Play 3: Week 7 NYJ vs BUF and another 9 yard gain on wide zone. This is a great example of elite and physical play by #68 Josh Andrews who is in his 5th season.

Play 4: Week 13 NYJ vs LV Raiders. The result is a 25 yard gain on another wide zone play. The LT stretch block is detailed here.

The play action off the wide zone will be a key component as well. Expect to see a ton of boots with the tight end being a major beneficiary of the boot package. 

The Boss/ outside zone run play

The outside zone is a little different because it is designed to get the ball on the perimeter.

 These are just some of the changes I expect to see from the Jets offense in 2021. It will be exciting and keep teams off balance. They added some nice pieces in Wilson, Moore, Tucker and Carter and have some nice returning pieces in Crowder, Herndon and Mims. 

The NYJ are not as far off as people think! This young OL is technically sound and just needs to play with more consistency and they should take the next step in 2021.