Falcons offense Run Game 12 formation 2x2 Wide Zone Toss Windback

 In 2016, the Falcons offense was #1 in scoring with 540 points. It was one of the best offenses of all time. They did it with a very sound run game as well as a vertical passing game with Julio Jones at wr and Matt Ryan at QB.

Some of the stats were incredible that year. 6.7 yards per play! That is more than some teams yards passing per play in today's NFL. They averaged 418 yards per game and 33 points per game. They had a very heavy playaction approach which was accomplished with a strong under center wide zone run game

It all started with the coaching staff. The staff was led by Kyle Shanahan, Mike Lafleur, Mike Mc Daniel , Raheim Morris  at wide receiver and long time offensive coach Chris Morgan. They also had one of the best Running Back coaches in Bobby Turner, who went wherever Shanahan went in his career. It was a tremendous staff.

The nice thing was they had a very good fullback that they lined up as a tight end and they can run many different formations with him. It gave them the versatility to move him around and get numbers In the run game. They could go 21 or 12 personnel as a result. 

Let's break it down and look at some of the pieces.

12 personnel 2x2

Wide Zone

It all started with the wide zone. They did a tremendous job running wide zone and either cutting on the backside or fanning it at times. Here they fan the backside and look at the land the running back has to run thru.

Look at the hole the left guard and left tackle create by fanning the back side. What a job they do.

In the 2nd example they come out balanced in 12 and run wide zone again. They run it left as the 49ers come out in a 3-4 scheme. The 49ers play a 4i on the left and 5 tech with the dt on the right. 

It all starts with a reach block by the Left Tackle on the defensive end which allows the TE to get to the LB. The LG also is able to get to the  next level as the center and right guard handle the nose and RT

The TE is on the 2nd level the tackle has the DE reached and you can see the excellent blocking starting to develop. Great angles as the front side is sealed. On the 5th step the RB makes a decision and his is to keep it outside. 

THE wr is important as he executes a find block. Find the run support and that is the Safety. He makes his block and the TE washes the LB to the sideline. The RB sees it and makes his cut up the alley for a nice touchdown run.

Look at the seem created. The great execution by the LT and excellent seem created.

Here is wide zone vs the Rams. They run it at the 4i as the Rams are in an even front. They are in 12 but with 2 wr to the left of the formation. Here/s the front. 

They do a nice job with the edge and angles.

Again, the best thing about this is they fan the backside and try to cut a run lane. The other thing teams will do on the backside which is another effective way of doing it.

These are a few examples of the wide zone. Another 12 run is toss windback.

Toss Windback is similar to split zone up front with the toss action to get the defense moving.

The 49ers come out in an under front as the Falcons are in 12 balanced again. This is a tough front to run against as they have one more blocker than the offense can block. They toss it left with the te coming across to block the OLB on the edge. 

They block it like split zone but toss the ball to try to get more movement horizontally from the defense to create run lanes.

#20 the safety will be unblocked on this play.

You can see the blocking develop.. With #20 being unblocked. Center land left guard do a nice job

Nice lane develops and Coleman sees it. Nice job on the cutback and solo blocks on the backside.

The mike is able to get off the block or this was an even bigger play. 

Here is just one post on the falcons wide zone and toss windback. More posts coming on the Falcons 2016 top ranked offense.

2021 Coastal Carolina Football Offense Overview

Tiffany Henry, Coastal Football

• BOX SCORE

Coastal Carolina does a great job offensively. I will look at some of their concepts and why they are effective. For this series, I broke down 5 games from their 2021 season. They were 11-2 and had one of the best years in school history. Jamey Chadwell has been excellent as a head coach and Willy Korn and Newland Isaac did a great job that season. 

They were 4th in the country in points scoring 40 points per game. That is impressive numbers on the year and a credit to the coaching staff.

Lets break it down into 4 parts:

Let's start with the option game. They have so many different pieces and complementary plays off it that make it very difficult to defend. 

Part 1: T Option Package: They run triple option which is hard enough in itself to defend but have other elements they attach to it. You will see them run trap with option movement, a swing pass off the dive fake and a vertical play action passing game. You will also see some counter option, lead option and speed option. Lastly, they will run  dive option off wide zone movement in the other direction. Lastly, the playaction passing game makes it really hard to defend. 

Part 2: RPO/Play Action/ Crack Screen:They are very creative with their rpo and crack screen game. They are efficient on early downs. You will see crack screens, 3x1 rpo power schemes  with stick routes at the 3x1 side that freezes the lb. You will see rpo's off several run actions which creates tough reads for the LB's 

Part 3. Creative run schemes: You will see different variations of gap schemes, with man,  power, inside and outside trap, counter, wrap schemes  and some wide zone schemes thrown in. Ran a few boss plays out of 2 back with counter blocking in the other direction.  They  also run  jet sweep out of 12 personnel to the tight end wing side.  A very solid and creative run game. 

Part 4 Quick and sprint game: You will see some sprint concepts, some 3 step if you give it to them with 2 man snag, basic hitches, smash concepts and easy pass concepts on early downs to gain simple yardage.

These are the 4 parts I will discuss in my series and I hope you enjoy reading them. 

Coach Wink Giants & Ravens defense 3rd Down efficiency Pressures and coverage concepts

 The Ravens were the 2nd best team in the NFL on 3rd down efficiency in 2020. They were also #3 in 2021. Now the Giants are excelling with some of Wink's exotic pressures and blitzes on 3rd down. He loves to run plenty of mug and show looks which has been a staple of his. The Giants are 2nd in the league after week 10 in 3rd down efficiency, holding teams to a whopping 28%. 

This is a credit to their great coordinator, Don " Wink" Martindale. The Ravens mix it up on 3rd down but coach the crap out of route recognition and concepts. They bait you into some throws and then rally to the football. They also force slides and protection calls in one direction and 

Giants 2022

Vs the Texans, 2022, The Giants held the Texans to 3/10 and caused issues with their mug pressure looks.

Here are some clips and coverages they ran this year.

Below the Giants are showing pressure:

They get a free rusher in this situation because the look causes a major protection issue:

1. They get the free rusher

2. The  other big thing here is they force a protection call that puts the rb on the DT. 

3. They force the tight end to check release which takes one more man out of the pattern.

4. It looks like a 6 man pressure as my guess it the rb is covered by the LB, but with the rb blocking he just adds in. 

The coverage with this pressure is man free.

You see the mug look 

All out pressure forces the free rusher. The back is accounted for with 1 of the LB.

Heres the clip!

Giants-Texans 2022

3rd and 10 

Penny front: Here comes the overload zone pressure(4 to a side). Great scheme and design as the Texans throw hot away from the pressure. 

Nice 3 deep look and design. Wink had Mills on his toes all game.  Bringing pressure early forced some quick decisions. They bring the slot safety and the mike and drop to a 3 under 3 deep scheme. 

You see the slot come on the left with the Mike LB 

They bail a DT and a LB to the right.

You can see the 3 under deep and even though the Giants look like they messed up the coverage. Loose  the left side the pressure forces a quick decision

Nice design and here is the clip.

3rd and 5 vs the Chargers in 2021. 

They bring the safety off the edge in a nice 5 man mug pressure. The Sam comes clean as the nice cover 2 coverage gives the Chargers problems. They get the sack.

You can see the coverage structure below.

Its a 5 man cover 2 concept that works out well with the free rusher! 

On another key 3rd and 3 vs the Chargers they play man free hole. This time Wink doesn't blitz. They are so well coached. 

They bring the safety down to the middle of the field to help on crossing routes. The safety is a hole defender. Now the ILB and CB are passing off any inside routes . The ILB passes his man off to the CB and vice versa. The ILB sees the shallow and causes issues with the throw as there is a very tight window and he is there to knock it away. 

The hole defender takes away the middle of the field.

Nice design and disguise on 3rd and 3. 

FS robs the hole, have some combo coverage underneath. No place to. go with the football.

Nice execution.

vs Steelers 2021

Wink runs a couple mug odd looks vs the Steelers. The first is a 3 under 3 deep fire zone. 

The 2nd stunt  from the double mug look is a basic 4 man pressure with the LB adding in. By going mug look the Steelers go 1/2 man and keep the RB in. The Ravens play 2 man and run a great scheme.

VS TEXANS 2020

Here are some highlights from some of their games. In a 33-16 win vs the Texans week 2, they beat the Texans and held them to 3/9 on 3rd down. 

The texans were sacked 2 times and of the 4 completed passes, 3 were for 6 yards or less. They pressured Desean on 2 other occasions and forced him to run.

Here's a few pressures. 

On 3rd and 5, The Texans are 3x1 to their right side. The Ravens are in an odd look.

The Ravens overload the left defensive side and bring a sim pressure away from the slide.

First the pressure:

They force the protection and the pressure gets home. 

Coverage: It looks like presnap man but it becomes a cover 3 coverage with the CB bailing.

In the playoffs vs the Titans were 4/11 for 72 yards and a sack. The interesting stat was the Titans were 3/4 early but Wink made some good adjustments and they did a great job the rest of the game. The last 8 snaps, the Titans had 1 successful 3rd down completion. 

LETS LOOK AT 2 BIG PLAYS:

The Ravens are up 17-10, the Titans are driving

3rd and 5 on the 5 yard line, big play n the game.

On a big 3rd and 5 they go man on the outside with outside leverage and play the 2 lb as rat underneath defenders. The db's know they have help inside. They blitz engage Henry but Henry misses the block and the LB adds in. Tannehill dumpts it to henry for a 2 yard loss and force a big field goal.

On 3rd and 2 they run a great sim pressure. Tannehill actually misses the #1 wr up top on his read and just goes to the back. Looks like the Ravens were in man to the single side with zone to the trips side.

The Ravens show a double b gap mug look.

They run a  4 man sim pressure brings the weak lb b gap but they bail the de and mike lb to the 3wr side

DE short drop, look for shallow crosser. Mike plays hook and the Sam plays curl. Great design, and the Ravens make the big hit. The Titans punt on 4th and 2 

3rd down packages vs the Colts 

3rd and 1-3  

Its 3rd and 3

Ravens go man to man with 2 rat defenders, (underneath help), result inc pass

Everything covered no place to go with the ball. They wanted to hit the rb off the mesh concept,

Coaching points: pick routes but the  Ravens are smart and just put the lb way outside. 

Look at the underneath rat defenders playing the crossing mesh routes on both sides. Great defense 

3rd- 4-6    

vs. The Patriots

Here's a 3rd and 4 vs the Patriots.

The pats get 3 yards on the play 

They go cover 2 but lock on the 1 wr. 

The patriots run a screen and the de makes nice play retracing and holds them 1 yard short.

The Ravens disguise man presnap but go to a cover 2 look on the snap but lock in the 1 wr. DE make a great play or 15 yard gain. Hold them to to and get off the field

 

Defense was  6/7 efficient against the colts. 

Colts tried to check to some wr screens early when they saw pressure but wink mixed it up. Some man free, some combo and cover 2. 

Here is a 3rd and 5

The Ravens run a fire zone man free concept. They make a nice play on the cb, and the drop de who was a rat player cleans it up. 3 yard gain and off the field. 

#2 Here on 3rd and 6

vs trips they play a combo coverage.

Peters has all of #1, everyone else is in zone. Incomplete pass

Balls thrown a little behind so Ravens are able to get off the field. Would have been close

#3 On the next 3rd and 5 they go cover 2.

They mix it up. Went man free , combo and now cover 2. Giving different looks

They get late pressure which causes the bad throw and off the field. 

On the next 3rd and 5 they go cover 0 with a 6 man pressure. Lb and safety up the middle out of their nickel personnel. with the de as a lb #99 Judon rushing. excellent coverage downfield

vs. The Patriots

3rd and 6

They bring pressure and they go man free and a key 3rd and 6. They get great pressure and the dbs do a nice job in coverage and #99 Judos gets the sack.

3rd and 7-10

Here on 3rd and 9 the Ravens run a 5 man pressure,  3 under 3 deep look. Ravens do a good job disguising the coverage.( cover 2 look pre snap)

 Get good pressure and force Rivers to leave the pocket and he throws an incomplete pass.

3rd and 11+

vs The Patriots 3rd and 13

The Ravens go fire zone to a 3 look and lock on the 1 wr. 

The Ravens do this often vs 3x1

Lets look at a few situations vs. the Titans in week 11.

The Ravens went man free with different looks and different rat defenders

3rd and 4

The Ravens show an odd look with 3 lb and 3 def lineman. They show pressure with the olb but drop them into coverage as rat defenders while playing man free.

The Titans center works to the 3 man side and usually the rb would take the lb. That doesn't happen and the pressure forces the interception. Nice design as the mike comes clean and Tannehill never sees the lb dropping.

A few plays later they bring pressure attacking the left side of the Titans line on 3rd and 7. Left guard does a bad job and the 4 man sim pressure gets home. #90 gets home and the coverage is excellent down field. Man free from a  4 man look with 2 really wide 9's

#90 gets home as guard helps too much inside
The ravens do a great job on 3rd down. I hope you enjoyed this article and analysis.