Greg Knapp's Masterful Stretch Right, Cutback Left
Ray Willis sleepwalked through the first quarter. What more could he do? He wasn't challenged, protected or counted on. He was invisible -- in a good way.
That put me in a spot. I wanted to follow up on him after his perceived disastrous week in Indy, but if nothing's happening, nothing's happening.
Then something happened.
Seattle is set three wide, two tight ends. The right wide out is Justin Forsett. He motions to running back before the snap. The play starts like a stretch left, but it's not. It's an elegant cutback right that should have scored.

I highlighted the principle players. The wide receivers are important decoys. After Forsett motions in, cornerback Derek Cox moves into the tackle box, over but to the right of Forsett. At the snap, Seattle moves its line hard left. That action lures both inside linebackers into the pile. John Owens (86) runs past left outside linebacker Daryl Smith. Smith pursues Hasselbeck on Matt Hasselbeck's boot motion and takes himself out of the play. John Carlson is matched against right defensive end Derrick Harvey. That's a tough matchup, but one he must and does win.

The trap is sprung when Willis stops his pull right and circles back to block left defensive end John Henderson. All of a sudden, Forsett has a wide open cutback lane (the triangle beginning between 89 and 74 and extending towards the end zone), a cornerback to beat and Owens to block in front.
Forsett times his cut poorly and runs up on Carlson's legs. Carlson could have blocked Harvey better, but not much better. He eventually pancakes Harvey. Forsett's initial hole is not gaping, it's a cutback lane after all, but it's clear and large enough for any rusher to explode through with a head of steam. Instead he stumbles and the defense swarms around him. He gains two, but if he gets through that hole cleanly, he should have no problem taking it to the house. One only needs to see how empty the right side of the field is to see the brilliance of this play call and how close it was to a touchdown.
Greg Knapp constructed a beautiful play, but it was undone by Forsett. Seattle must find a way to use this again. Stumbles happen, and sometimes they cost you yardage, but any play design that can nearly clear out and entire half of the field deserves a prominent place in an NFL playbook.
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Not sure why the colors went squiggly on me.
by John Morgan on Oct 13, 2009 3:59 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs
Blue first down markers?
Maybe it’s a prostate cancer statement?
by Groundhog on Oct 13, 2009 4:03 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs
My computer must know my family history then.
by John Morgan on Oct 13, 2009 4:09 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs
Honestly, JM, your computer should be part of your family.
Haven’t you named it?
by Groundhog on Oct 13, 2009 4:15 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs
I had one named Khan
just so I could yell “KHAN!” when it screwed up, but my ThinkPad is so far nameless.
by John Morgan on Oct 13, 2009 4:21 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs
HA! That's funny.
Here’s hoping your ThinkPad never gets prostate cancer.
by Groundhog on Oct 13, 2009 4:43 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs
I remember thinking how silly it was
To have Forsett motion from wideout into the backfield. I thought it defeated the whole purpose of spreading the D by forcing CB and S to pay attention to a RB. Then they ran the ball unsuccessfully and I figured the play would be going into the trash. Good analysis, JM.
Knapp set this up over the previous four games by frequently running his Backs and TE’s wide. Now that it’s out there, it’s hard to see it fooling D’s too often.
I haven’t been too thrilled with the Seahawks base D, and hoped they wouldn’t be relying too much on gimmick plays, but this falls somewhere in between the two.
Savvy.
by Groundhog on Oct 13, 2009 4:02 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs
That's freaking genius!
Haven’t seen anything else like it!
And all the land was in ruin, and burnination had forsaken the countryside.
by Cheddar28 on Oct 13, 2009 9:08 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs
Love these breakdowns
I had my doubts about Knapp when he was named OC, but the more details I see of his playbook , the more I like.
"I'm tired of chasing after my dreams. I'll just find out where they're going, and catch up later." - Hedberg
by jteckmann on Oct 14, 2009 8:18 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs
Other than the motions
Is this any different from a regular stretch play?
by Brendan Scolari on Oct 14, 2009 10:39 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs
Willis pulling right, then stopping and blocking Henderson left?
Usually you cut on the backside. Which we still aren’t doing very effectively. What defensive personnel you call it against, and formation, helps too.
by jacobstevens on Oct 14, 2009 10:43 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs
I wasn't sure if that was any different than some stretch plays.
Ultimately the play failed, so I was skeptical of calling it masterful.
by Brendan Scolari on Oct 14, 2009 10:54 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs
Design vs. execution
The most brilliantly designed play will fail if a player trips.
by thebyron on Oct 14, 2009 12:29 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs
Very true
Sorry, just trying to understand better.
by Brendan Scolari on Oct 14, 2009 8:23 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs
You seem like a pretty reasonable guy in general
I even see you posting on FO and such. You’re not trolling, on FG, and the amount of time you spend on a rival blog shows the extent to which you make yourself a well-read guy.
But damn do you take contention with superlatives. Often, you scarcely even disagree except to describe in nuance the differences in your view. I like you, and like having a 49er view of our discussions, and like I said, I respect your reasonable opinion. But in case you weren’t aware of your own tendencies, it feels like nitpicking.
by jacobstevens on Oct 14, 2009 12:46 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs
I've gotta second this.
It’s not limited to the superlatives; any adjective seems to be a possible bone to pick. (See “consummate” and Daryl Tapp.) I know you’re not doing it just to bug fans of a rival team since you called out Fooch and other 49ers fans on gushing about Hill. I’m something of a grammar/language stickler myself (pretty inevitable if you work as an editor) but it can be a bit much.
by thebyron on Oct 14, 2009 2:15 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs
Alright
Sorry guys, I’m sure I do go overboard with it. I’ll try to reign my nitpicking in a bit.
by Brendan Scolari on Oct 14, 2009 8:25 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs
Thanks
you’re a cool reasonable guy.
by jacobstevens on Oct 15, 2009 10:16 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs
Nice play design
Jones would have probably bounced it outside and lost two yards…lol..Forsett’s stumble did cost us a big there. Good play design though. I’ve dogged Knapp on a few occassions but I give props where props is due and he’s due on this one.
by Mr. Blache III on Oct 14, 2009 10:41 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

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