Attacking the safety for fun & profit

DK note: I've reposted this from the Fanpost section because, well, it's awesome.

My favorite segment of all time on NFL network was Greg Cosell's Anatomy of a Play. It was my first introduction to the awesomeosity(tm) that is the All-22. It is what brought me to seek initiation at the Door of the Millenite Brotherhood. It is why I hate playing AFC teams at home. Really CBS? This is the best shot you can give me of the play that ended Jersey B's season?

I hate you CBS. You are the cantankerous wart on the underbelly of the NFL.

Ok...enough complaining, let's get to the fun part.

Here you see the design of the play and the pre-snap read. There are 3 routes attacking deep with Miller pressing the intermediate middle. This play is designed to shatter a Cover 1 shell, but it needs time to develop

The alignment suggests man coverage with either Cover 1 or 2 depending on the assignments of the Mike and the rolled Safety. Who is covering Miller is the only source of uncertainty. The Jets may use a lot of exotic looks in their defense, but your pre-snap read is still your pre-snap read. No matter how crazy a defense is you still have to trust your initial keys and then react to play as it develops.

Note: Also, the first rule of tautology club is the first rule of tautology club.

As I broke down this play I saw it to be a perfect example of Danny's post about play-action. This fake leaves the defense (#37 in particular) completely vulnerable downfield.

As you can see, the interior twist creates a big gap responsibility for the Middle backer and he bites. He bites hard completely losing himself in the wash.

Since the deep safety doesn't immediately drift to the center of the field on the snap I figure that the call was initially Cover 2. This is why the above diagram shows the low safety doing an impersonation of Solid Snake. The middle backer was supposed to have Miller in man, but takes himself out of the play because of the fake. Miller, now running free, becomes the responsibility of the low safety. A sane scheme would then require the deep safety to read and adapt to single high responsibility.

The high safety (37) is now on an island and Russell Wilson does his job. This is the definition of "looking-off-safety". Wilson's entire upper body, head-to-hips, is pointed directly at 37. His lower body, conveniently hidden from view, is setup to throw to the intended target.

Note: I am sure his legs being hidden is directly related to Wilson being short. This now fulfills the legal requirement for all forms of prose regarding #3 to include that fact.

All that remained was to wait for Miller to clear, turn, and throw. Once Wilson snapped his head to the right he saw that Sydney had won over-the-top and made another of those Daaaayyyuuuummm kind-of-throws. Wilson released the ball when Rice was at the 20, and Rice caught it in stride at the 5.

Man, he throws a pretty ball.