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Defensive Breakdown: Skins vs Eagles
By Dillweed | November 15, 2007
Greg Williams finally went back to the 4-3 as his base defense…and it worked fairly well in stopping running Brian Westbrook (not the evil swing pass/screen Brian Westbrook, which is a different story all together)
The 4-3
In the following frame you’ll notice I’ve labeled our 3 linebackers as the “3 Headed Monster” because that is exactly how they play…as one. The front 2 LBs are usually deployed in manner that clogs gaps and eats up lead blockers. All to leave Fletch unblocked and free to make a play. Look at how deep Fletch plays off of the line on our 4-3 allignment…this is great for getting a jump start on his Cover 2 responsibilities (deep coverage in the passing game) and also it allows him to get a running start and therefore play aggressive and fast downhill versus the running game. On the Eagles side of the ball I’ve labeled the 2 lead blockers for Westbrook:
In the following frame you’ll see how the defensive line plays there part as well. No glory here, just sacrificing for the better of the team. In the next 3 frames Phillip Daniels “creates a pile” which, in this case, means he takes the lead blocker head on and shoves him into the middle of the field where a whole mess of other players are (i.e. creating a pile) and in doing so takes away any running lanes for Westbrook to run through up the middle:
As Daniels creates the pile, he takes out “lead blocker 2″ and that leaves “lead blocker 1″ still able to get a hat on somebody…Godfrey takes care of that (Westbrook is still out of the picture):
Daniels moved his guy into the pile and Godfrey prepares to engage with the last lead blocker. Enter Westbrook into the picture…
Finally you see Godfrey has taken out lead blocker 1, and Daniels has anihalated lead blocker 2. This leaves Westbrook with zero lead blocks to take care of Fletch…and Fletch takes care of buisness:
Anthony Montgomery
The previous play showed Daniels roughing up a couple of Eagles at the line of scrimmage, but in my opinion for the 4-3 to work to it’s maximum potential, Anthony Montgomery has to do what he was drafted to do…draw double teams. If he can take out a couple of blockers, that frees up more than just Fletch…it also allows Rocky and/or Godfrey the ability to roam free:
The above frame has the 3 Headed Monster boxed and Anthony Montgomery circled. The following frame focuses in on Montgomery and his double-team draw (i.e. taking on 2 blockers):
In the following frame, look at big #94 on his knees, still able to absorb 2 blockers. This leaves Rocky free to clog up the gap in the bottom of the picture and Godfrey is free to clog up the gap at the top of the picture. Fletch gets to roam sideline to sideline and literally “spy” Westbrook:
The following frame is just too cluttered to do any diagraming on, but basically: Rocky and Godfrey funnel Westbrook straight up the middle where Montgomery and Fletch are waiting and Westbrook is tackled for little to no gain:
Just Do Your Job
The following frame diagrams a perfect example of how Greg Williams gets this defense to play as a team:
Just above the words “Gap Sealed” is Rocky McIntosh…his job is simply to take on the lead blocker and clog up his gap. Daniels meanwhile is taking the inside shoulder of his one-on-one block and forces Westbrook to kick the run outside. There, Shawn Springs maintains contain and Fletch, per usual, is free to greet Westbrook at the sidelines:
Conclusion: No glory in any of those assignments, just guys doing their job. In all of these frames you see the 3 Headed Monster essentially comprised of two outside Linebackers (Godfrey and Rocky) whose primary job appears to be to keep guys off of Fletch and clog their respective gaps at the same time. That being said, even if the other team can get a blocker on Fletch, time and time again Fletch has shown the uncanny ability to shed blocks from offensive lineman twice his size and still make the tackle on the ball carrier.
Run Defense
| Run Left | Run Middle | Run Right |
|---|---|---|
| 5 carries for 25 yards (5.0 ypc) | 8 carries for 36 yards (4.5 ypc) | 6 carries for 28 yards (4.7 ypc) |
I’m not including the final TD run since we layed down in a strategic move (that I agree with FWIW) to get the ball back. That being said, the ypc’s are a bit misleading. One run left for 9 yards, one run up the middle for 13, and one run right for 12 yards are skewing what was actually a great day against one of the NFL’s best running backs. Westbrook was held to under 4 yards on 10 carries (over 50% of his total carries.) Actually I think we outplayed the Eagles on both sides of the ball for the first 57 minutes…it’s just the penalties that killed us. I addressed that in the charts and there really isn’t too much to say except dumb penalties at inopportune times destroyed us.
Defensive Line: The defensive line has overachieved in their 4 man pass rush…but even that isn’t good enough. I don’t understand Williams’ mindset. It’s almost as if he thinks he has Warren Sapp and Simeon Rice from 5 years ago out there playing on his team. While I showed you the upside of Montgomery, it’s not his normal level of play. Usually he gets taken out of games, and by one offensive lineman. If we want a consistent space eater (think Vince Wilfork), we’re going to have to upgrade and get a guy that is more consistent. With Montgomery it seems to be part lack of consistent effort and mainly part lack of talent. Montgomery is a 5th round talent that occasionaly plays at a 1st round level. Williams’ ego seems to be getting in the way on the defensive line (I can just rush 4…so what if my guys are D. Evans and a deteriorating Cornelius Griffin…I can make any group of players work their ass off.) Williams has done an excellent job getting the most out of his talent up front, but he has to either draft a top tier talent (preferably at DT) or start sending the blitz…specifically Landry and Rocky who I beleive are our top 2 blitzers. This rush 4, drop 7 scheme is not playing to the strengths of our talent and QBs like McNabb are getting all day to throw and are being allowed to look like all-stars out there.
*yawn* mmhhmm….yeah that’s great, hey how about them Char–
Oh yeah….Charts:
Drive I
| Yard Line | Down | Formation | Play Call | Coverage | Yards |
| Eagles 18 | 1st and 10 | 4-3 | Pass | Smoot | 6 |
| Good pressure by the front 4, McNabb gets it out to Curtis on a 3 step drop | |||||
| Eagles 24 | 2nd and 4 | 4-3 | Run Left | — | 6 |
| Westbrook squirts by Daniels who was ready and in position to make the tackle. O-line got to our trio of LB’s so they couldn’t make a play until after the 1st down marker. | |||||
| Eagles 30 | 1st and 10 | 4-3 | Penalty | — | -10 |
| Holding on the Iggles | |||||
| Eagles 20 | 1st and 20 | 4-2-5 (Normal) | Pass | Smoot | 7 |
| DT’s take a wide split, Montgomery gets a nice push and collapses the pocket up the middle. | |||||
| Eagles 27 | 2nd and 13 | 4-3 | Run Middle | — | 2 |
| OLB’s do a good job of taking on the lead blockers, and Daniels is the key to the play as he creates a pile and clogs up the middle. This frees up Fletch to make the tackle. | |||||
| Eagles 29 | 3rd and 11 | 4-2-5 (3 DEs) | Penalty | — | 5 |
| Illegal Contact on Smoot. Automatic 1st. Great job by Griffin to pressure McNabb into making the checkdown throw. Horrible call by the refs. | |||||
| Eagles 34 | 1st and 10 | 4-3 | Penalty | Fletch | 12 (PI) |
| PI on Fletch. Golston did a great job of taking the underneath routes away. | |||||
| Eagles 46 | 1st and 10 | 4-3 | Pass | Godfrey | 8 |
| We continue to rush 4 and not blitz. Good to see the 4-3 back btw. | |||||
| Skins 46 | 2nd and 2 | 4-3 | Pass | Taylor | 0 |
| TV shows a great angle that allows us to see the coverage. We’ll probably never see that again. (Pressure – Montgomery) | |||||
| Skins 46 | 3rd and 2 | 4-2-5 (Normal) | Run Right | — | 12 |
| D. Evans bit on the fake handoff to the FB and lost contain. Not that it mattered, I’m sure Westbrook would beat Evans one-on-one in space. | |||||
| Skins 34 | 1st and 10 | 4-3 | Pass | Smoot | 4 |
| Our DT combo of Montgomery and Griffin are playing lights out. | |||||
| Skins 30 | 2nd and 6 | 4-2-5 (Normal) | Run Left | — | 9 |
| Good blocking up front by the Iggles. | |||||
| Skins 21 | 1st and 10 | 4-2-5 (Normal) | Pass | Rocky | 12 |
| Dump off to Westbrook…he is starting to get real annoying. | |||||
| Skins 9 | 1st and Goal | 4-2-5 | Penalty | — | 5 |
| Neutral Zone Infraction by Golston. | |||||
| Skins 4 | 1st and Goal | 4-3 | Shovel Pass | — | 4 (TD) |
| Wow…this guy is all they have on offense. | |||||
| 8:16 remains in the 1st qtr. Drive: If Westbrook were to get hurt, this offense would be almost as bad as the Ravens. | |||||
Drive II
| Yard Line | Down | Formation | Play Call | Coverage | Yards |
| Eagles 14 | 1st and 10 | 4-3 | Run Right | — | 4 |
| Springs plays contain and funnels Westbrook into Daniels who makes the tackle. | |||||
| Eagles 18 | 2nd and 6 | 4-3 | Scramble | — | 10 |
| Griffin had a chance to take McNabb down at the line but couldn’t wrap his arms around McNabb (no homo.) | |||||
| Eagles 27 | 1st and 10 | 4-2-5 (Normal) | Run Right | — | 1 |
| Landry creeps up at the snap, shoots the gap, and barely makes the tackle. | |||||
| Eagles 28 | 2nd and 9 | 4-3 | Pass | Springs | Fumble! |
| LJ sucks! | |||||
| 2:27 remains in the 1st qtr. Drive: Nice hustle by Evans to chase down LJ Smith and strip him of the ball. | |||||
Drive III
| Yard Line | Down | Formation | Play Call | Coverage | Yards |
| Eagles 29 | 1st and 10 | 4-3 | Run Right | — | 4 |
| Fletch is free, with both OLB’s taking on lead blocks, to make the tackle | |||||
| Eagles 33 | 2nd and 6 | 4-3 | Run Right | — | 4 |
| Same scheme as last play on D. Eagles try to counter with 2 lead blockers ahead of Westbrook. I smell an topic to discuss on the Frame-by-Frame’s… | |||||
| Eagles 37 | 3rd and 2 | 4-2-5 (3 DE’s) | Scramble | — | 3 |
| Our D lineman forgot McNabb could run and didn’t stay in their rush lanes…I don’t blame them…I haven’t seen McNabb run around like this in a while. He’s desperate. (Pressure – Carter) | |||||
| Eagles 40 | 1st and 10 | 4-2-5 (Normal) | Pass | Torrence | 6 |
| Smoot’s hurt, Eagles go right after Torrence. | |||||
| Eagles 46 | 2nd and 4 | 4-3 | Run Middle | — | 3 |
| Godfrey does a good job of getting off of his block and making the tackle. | |||||
| Eagles 49 | 3rd and 1 | 4-3 | Run Right | — | 3 |
| There were three guys there to make the tackle behind the line of scrimmage. Westbrook is just that damn good. And fast. | |||||
| Skins 48 | 1st and 10 | 4-3 | Run Middle | — | 2 |
| Good job by Montgomery to draw the double team and free up Fletch and Rocky so they can clog up both gaps. | |||||
| Skins 46 | 2nd and 8 | 4-3 | PA Pass (Screen) | — | 6 |
| Great open field tackle by Godfrey | |||||
| Skins 40 | 3rd and 2 | 4-2-5 (Normal) | Pass | Taylor | 0 |
| Pass overthrown. (Blitz – Prioleau, Fletch) | |||||
| 7:45 remains in the half. Drive: Looks like we had a scheme to finally stop…or at least slow down…Westbrook. | |||||
Drive IV
| Yard Line | Down | Formation | Play Call | Coverage | Yards |
| Eagles 24 | 1st and 10 | 4-2-5 (normal) | Pass | Fletcher | 0 |
| Way underthrown. McNabb has got to be hurt. | |||||
| Eagles 24 | 2nd and 10 | 4-2-5 (Normal) | Run Middle | — | 3 |
| Rocky does a great job of clogging up the gap and allowing Westbrook to run nowhere.. | |||||
| Eagles 27 | 3rd and 7 | 4-2-5 (3DEs) | Pass | Fletch | 2 |
| There was blatant holding on G Shawn Andrews that wasn’t called. (Stunt – Carter) | |||||
| 2 minute warning. Drive: hey…3 and out, alright. | |||||
Drive V
| Yard Line | Down | Formation | Play Call | Coverage | Yards |
| Eagles 17 | 1st and 10 | Dime (!) | Run Middle | — | 7 |
| Our interior lineman line up in a wide split allowing for the Draw up the middle. | |||||
| Eagles 24 | 2nd and 3 | 4-2-5 (3DEs) | Pass | Springs | 9 |
| 4 man rush was ineffective there. | |||||
| Eagles 33 | 1st and 10 | Dime | Scramble | — | 9 |
| Can we please blitz now? (DL Coverage – Daniels) | |||||
| Eagles 42 | 2nd and 1 | 4-2-5 (3DEs) | Pass | Springs | 0 |
| Perfect coverage by Shawn. | |||||
| Eagles 42 | 3rd and 1 | 4-2-5 (3DEs) | Run Middle | — | 13 |
| We even put 2 guys over center to stop the run up the middle. The Oline blew Daniels and Griffin off of the line. Goodness. | |||||
| Skins 45 | 1st and 10 | Penalty | — | — | 5 |
| Offsides on Griffin. | |||||
| Skins 40 | 1st and 5 | 4-2-5 (3DEs) | Pass | Springs | 0 |
| Landry in the box. OOOF! Huge hit by Landry on McNabb. Finally we blitz…Landry is amazing at blitzing. (Blitz – Landry, Fletch, Rocky) (Pressure – Landry) | |||||
| Skins 40 | 2nd and 5 | 4-2-5 (3DEs) | Pass | Springs | 0 |
| Landry in the box. Faked the blitz…but it looks like it caused McNabb to hurry his throw and he threw it high b/c of the threat of the blitz. | |||||
| Skins 40 | 3rd and 5 | 4-2-5 (3DEs) | Pass | Smoot | 4 |
| Landry in the box. (Blitz – Landry, Fletch, Rocky) False sense of pressure causes McNabb to throw off of his back foot and the throw is wide to the point where Curtis can’t make a play after the catch. | |||||
| Halftime. Missed FG. 12-7 Skins. Drive: We did not blitz nearly enough. And when we did…it was on 1st and 5! | |||||
Drive VI
| Yard Line | Down | Formation | Play Call | Coverage | Yards |
| Eagles 30 | 1st and 10 | 4-3 | Run Left | — | 0 |
| Griffin penetrates through the line and makes the tackle…otherwise we’re looking at a 1st down run. | |||||
| Eagles 30 | 2nd and 10 | 4-3 | Pass | Sack | -11 |
| McNabb held onto the ball waaay too long there. (Pressure – Carter) (Sack – Griffin) | |||||
| Eagles 19 | 3rd and 21 | 4-2-5 (3DEs) | Pass | Taylor | 20 |
| Taylor got hurt on this play…we eventually lose him for 2 weeks…huge loss. How the hell do we give up 20 yards?? | |||||
| Eagles 39 | 4th and 1 | Goaline | QB Sneak | — | 1 |
| Got it. | |||||
| Eagles 40 | 1st and 10 | 4-3 | Run Left | — | 8 |
| Westbrook is killing us. | |||||
| Eagles 48 | 2nd and 2 | 4-3 | Scramble | — | 16 |
| We never would’ve stunted against McNabb before. I understand that he’s established himself as a pocket passer…but you can’t be running stunts against this guy with the lack of talent we have at the front 4. (Blitz – Godfrey) (Stunt – Montgomery)(Pressure – Carter) | |||||
| Skins 36 | 1st and 10 | 4-3 | Run Middle | — | 3 |
| Huge tackle by someone on that d-line…wanna say it was griffin. Other wise Westbrook would have been in space. | |||||
| Skins 33 | 2nd and 7 | 4-3 | Pass | Fletch/Godfrey | 4 |
| Good close in speed by our LBs | |||||
| Skins 29 | 3rd and 3 | 4-2-5 (3DEs) | Pass | Taylor | 8 + 11 |
| Facemask at the end of the play, marked off half the distance to the goal. (Blitz – Fletch, Rocky) (Pressure – Rocky) | |||||
| Skins 10 | 1st and 10 | 4-3 | Pass | Godfrey | 0 |
| Horrible throw by Donovan…almost picked off by Godfrey | |||||
| Skins 10 | 2nd and 10 | 4-2-5 (3DEs) | Run Middle | — | 3 |
| Great 2 gap control by Griffin. | |||||
| Skins 7 | 3rd and 7 | 4-2-5 (Normal) | Pass | Landry | 7 (TD) |
| We barely blitz in between the 20’s but in the redzone…at our own 7, we send the house?? Landry was all alone in the endzone. He can’t cover all that. Not even Champ Bailey can cover that. (Blitz – Rocky, Godfrey, Fletch) (Stunt – Montgomery) | |||||
| 2:56 remains in the 3rd. Failed 2pt conversion. 15-13 Skins. Drive: Bad timing with most of our blitzes…and lack thereof. | |||||
Drive VII
| Yard Line | Down | Formation | Play Call | Coverage | Yards |
| Eagles 28 | 1st and 10 | 4-3 | Pass | Godfrey | 6 |
| Reggie Brown covered by Godfrey? Balls. | |||||
| Eagles 34 | 2nd and 4 | 4-3 | Pass | Prioleau | 26 |
| There was a breakdown in coverage by the LBs. Prioleau throws his hands up like “what gives?” | |||||
| Skins 40 | 1st and 10 | 4-3 | Pass | Godfrey | 0 |
| Damn, Godfrey with 2 tight coverages on this drive. Almost came away with the INT there. | |||||
| Skins 40 | 2nd and 10 | 4-2-5 (Normal) | Penalty | — | -10 |
| Crack-back foul. | |||||
| Midfield | 2nd and 20 | 4-3 | Penalty | — | 5 |
| Illegal Contact on Springs. Automatic First…penalties killed us big time in this game. | |||||
| Skins 45 | 1st and 10 | 4-3 | Pass | Prioleau | 45(TD) |
| That was a better catch than Keenan’s on the previous TD Catch. (Stunt – Montgomery) | |||||
| 10:35 remains. 22-20 Skins. Drive: Amazing throw and catch. The Illegal Contact penalty was a “Pontiac game changing nominee” without a doubt. | |||||
Drive VIII
| Yard Line | Down | Formation | Play Call | Coverage | Yards |
| Eagles 25 | 1st and 10 | 4-2-5 (Normal) | Pass | Sack | — |
| Carter! (sack – Carter) Hat tip to McNabb for holding onto the ball for 20 minutes. | |||||
| 8:03 left in the game. Drive: Hey that Andre Carter outside speed rush will eventually get there if you hold onto the ball long enough. | |||||
Drive IX
| Yard Line | Down | Formation | Play Call | Coverage | Yards |
| Eagles 35 | 1st and 10 | 4-3 | Run Left | — | 2 |
| There’s that deep 4-3 set allowing Fletch to roam free. | |||||
| Eagles 37 | 2nd and 8 | 4-2-5 (3DEs) | Penalty | — | 5 |
| Illegal substitution | |||||
| Eagles 42 | 2nd and 3 | 4-3 | Pass (Screen) | — | 58 (TD) |
| They caught us on the blitz. Still…how the hell did that happen? No open field tackling whatsoever. (Godfrey – Blitz) | |||||
| 3:16 remains. 2 pt conversion is no good. 25-26 Eagles. Drive: There were multiple things that went wrong on that play, the main thing was that Landry took a bad angle. | |||||
| Yard Line | Down | Formation | Play Call | Coverage | Yards |
| TD, 25-33 Eagles. Drive: Redskins lay down a la Green Bay Packers in the Super Bowl and let the Eagles score so they can get the ball back. It was the right call IMO. | |||||
Topics: NFL, Redskins, Sports | 1 Comment »
November 16th, 2007 at 10:30 am
Dillweed,
Great job breaking down our O and D each week. We learn a lot from it. If you have a chance could you preview the upcoming game so we know what to look for and take advantage of. So much word now is how we wont be able to stop Dallas’ O and D.
Thanks
The Coaches