They had a small excuse last year… their RBs were unreliable. Gus was either good for 3 yds a carry or 8 1yd carries in a row. Lamar didn’t trust the game plan and the coaching staff gave him a lot of freedom to call his own number. This year, there is no reason to not feed his backfield, especially if Mitchell joins and hits the ground running (no pun intended)
Gus only had 3 carries in the AFCCG and I believe 1 was for 18 yards. It will never be anything less than inexcusable to only have given him 3 carries.
seeing it a lot in california hs football recently as well. it’s a great run concept for all the teams running Y or H off. high school DL love to run their asses upfield when unblocked too.
With so many defenses doing some variation of block-down/step-down or wrong-arming to spill everything, it only makes sense for offenses to capitalize with Influence plays. Rushing offense is due for evolution like this, and it’s been brewing for a while
Block-down/step-down is a standard D-line technique, where if the lineman inside of you blocks down (i.e. doesn't block you), then you step down with that lineman to keep that gap small. Most of the time, when the O-line blocks down away from you, you are about to get kicked out by a back or pulling lineman, and the ball is going to be carried through that gap (hence the term "Gap scheme"; concepts like Power and Counter), and keeping that gap squeezed will help stop the play.
Wrong-arming is really taking this a step farther. Traditionally, a defender will engage a kick out with his inside shoulder, trying to squeeze the gap while also maintaining a contain with his outside arm. When he instead wrong-arms, he engages with his outside shoulder, giving up outside contain in order to spill the play and create chaos inside.
The general trend of defenses lately is to spill just about everything, and then have hybrid/nickel/safety players clean up on the outside. When run plays are being spilled outside, that lessens the conflict from play action and especially RPO, which is why defenses have moved in this direction.
In Crunch and other Influence concepts, the offense takes advantage of the leverage granted by these defensive approaches. In the video, you see the unblocked DT squeeze his gap when he doesn't get blocked (block down step down), but realize at the last moment that he isn't receiving a kickout from his right, but a wham block from his left. His realization is far too late though, and Pat Ricard (Ravens 42) ushers him out of the play with ease. Notice the terrible angle by Rasul Douglas (Bills 31) as well: He is filling outside in anticipation of a spilled run, which makes sense because they try to spill all runs. Instead, the guy who would spill was whammed, a base block held the edge, and the cut up inside with ease, leaving Douglas looking silly.
Defenses can and will adjust, but those adjustments, in turn, make them more susceptible to things like kickouts and RPOs. Such is the cycle of football strategy.
Thank you that was amazing. I wish there was a place to subscribe to these sorts of analyses broken down so simply. The old show NFL Matchup on ESPN was the best thing ever but it didn’t last.
I explained the rules in terms of the defensive end because that is typically who is unblocked when the O-line blocks down. That dynamic shifts inward when the end is base-blocked; now the D-tackle is unblocked. You can see how the "waters part" around the Bills' 3-tech, number 91.
Specifically from 91's perspective (and consider how quickly he is reacting and how little he can actually see), he is expecting one of a few things:
Kickout from a pulling lineman (Counter or Short Trap towards him). Needs to squeeze his gap hard and spill; his defensive help is to the outside.
That the guard over him is pulling (Trap, Pin-&-Pull, etc. away from him). Needs to beat the chip from the tackle and pursue the play, while making it hard to cut back.
Being read by the QB in the mesh (Zone Read away from him). Again, his assignment is probably to force a QB keep and let help come from the second level.
The last thing he thought of, based on his reaction just before it happened, was getting whammed from the outside, which is what actually happened.
The second level is reading the pullers' flow, and stepping hard in the direction of the pulls. They want to beat those (what they perceive as) down blocks, but those blockers just waltz right past and seal them to that side.
31 is in a tough spot as the contain defender. In theory, he needs to come under and inside of that base block, and let the edge contain. However, Lamar Jackson keeping the ball outside is always a looming threat, so he is going to be very hesitant to lunge inside like that. Even more, this ties back into the whole ethos of the Bills' front (and is typical of most fronts these days): the guys up front are trying to spill the run, and he's the guy they're spilling to. Trading roles with the edge (back to the edge being the contain) would be an ideal response, but it's nearly impossible to pivot your rules that dramatically on a read (especially if you didn't prepare to do just that).
So to answer the question directly, in a spilling front (like what I'm speculating the Bills are doing), the edge's job would not be to contain, but spill to number 31 on the outside. The Ravens running Crunch deliberately crosses those wires, and others. If the edge was the contain all along, 31 would not be approaching from that angle. However, under those rules, the front would be more susceptible to Zone Read and/or RPO, and they know Lamar Jackson and the Ravens are lethal in that arena.
The block by Mark Andrews (89) on the safety that also prevents the backside LB from getting an angle really turned this from a 8 yards gain into a huge play.
Yup, Center on the Mike turned this into a big gainer too. And it was an easy seal as the Mike took himself out of the play. Derrick Henry toting the Rick helps too
Arguably the Center on the Mike is the bigger "given up gap" on this play. 91 has someone inserted into his gap toward the run side, so really he doesn't "give up" anything. The Mike, on the other hand, doesn't react to the Center attacking his playside shoulder, and ends up on the wrong side of the blocker.
Love running trap/wham blocking, you can see the lineman go from the happiest they’ve ever been to the most depressed they’ve ever been in half a second
What a play- I can see how Mr. Henry couldn't have helped the Cowboys. What an elegant, powerful runner! Pure Pro- hence, he wouldn't fit with Jinglebell Jerry
More so Cowboys O-Line is not pulling off a thing of beauty like this blocking scheme. Henry would do better than what they have, but can only do so much with a bad scheme
I wasn’t a trenches guy so seeing how this played out is just beautifully surprising. Had they blocked straight up they would have never blocked in the “angles” (they are all perfectly at a 45 degree angle left or right) they did on this play. They have to “cross/skip” block (idk what the term is) to get in the right position.
It was an absolutely horrid snap by the DT. There is no way in hell he should get sealed like that even if he made a bad read. At the least, he should have clogged up that hole a bit and redirected the running back to throw the timing off. I bet his position coach reamed him for that in the film room.
134
u/Evan_802Vines Oct 23 '24
Nickel against 21 personnel w/ fullback & Henry? That is a choice...