(Rich Barnes-USA Today Sports)
We started this piece with the legendary Mike Tyson quote, about how everyone has a plan to get punched in the mouth.
Well, what if it was the Patriots who got punched on Saturday night? What if the ponies accomplish what they’re looking to do, which is slow the running game in New England.
You might then see that the running game is still a factor, but more than just a little eye candy to setting up an action scrolling game.
As you might expect, Josh McDaniels likes to give Jones chances to quickly attack crossing roads, hoping to pull the second-tier defenders and give the rookie passerby some big lanes.
Back in Week 8 against the Los Angeles Chargers, Jones related the end of Hunter Henry’s court on this concept of theatrical movement:
Here, a 21-man Patriot, with Johnson in the game as a recoil element in the I Offset formation. But instead of running behind him with Harris, New England is looking to throw in. Targeting Hunter Henry on the crossing path, you’ll see how the second level defenders operate on the slopes, creating space for easy reading and throwing:
In this play against the Titans, McDaniels calls 11 individual attackers, and puts three wide receivers into the game. He’ll show the Titans plenty of eye candy, pointing wide receiver Kendrick Bourne in the background and then sending him down a swinging path to the right, while Jones makes a mock run for Stevenson, who shoots left:
As with the previous example, eye candy (Bourne’s swinging road, fake Stevenson) catches the attention of Level Two defenders, and this time the tight end Juno Smith is the benefactor on his cross path:
The rookie passerby, for his part, does a good job selling the swinging road to Bourne, putting his eyes and feet out before hitting the middle and targeting the narrow end.
Against the Titans, McDaniels turned to another run design to launch Smith on a crossover road. In this play, the Patriots faked his left-sided throw and moved the offensive line in that direction in front of Harris, in the match at right-back RB. After showing the fake, Jones rolls to the right and picks up Smith, who opens again on an intersection:
This play is a good example of how offensive game designers can connect the look of running with gameplay and movement designs. This play looks like a New England “crack-toss” design, as we described earlier. Here, Henry moves into the formation and executes a crack block, all of the line pulled out to help sell the range.
When you hear analysts talk about not needing a great running game to be efficient at playing, this is what they’re referring to: connecting the concepts of running game and elements of prohibition to what you do while playing. Blocking looks like running, so Level 2 Defenders react accordingly.
In fact, one of Jones’s three pass attempts against the Bills was in one of these designs:
Turning now to the Colts’ defense against play designs, much of the success crime against them this year in the action game has come on boot concepts, where the quarterback rolls to one side of the field or the other. For example, Josh Johnson was able to hit Elijah Moore on this crossing path in a boot motion design, with Moore working across the field:
There was also this one from the Titans, with Ryan Tannehill and finding Geoff Swaim in the apartment:
Teams have also succeeded in using a match-specific “flow” against the Colts defense. Take this design from the 49ers, where Jimmy Garoppolo rolls to one side but then returns across the field to Deebo Samuel:
Now, it wouldn’t surprise me to see the Patriots incorporate similar designs into the game’s scenario on Saturday night. However, due to where they like to stage an action scrolling game, you may see more plays similar to this one, attacking the second level of defense away from the run:
In response to the running procedure, the second tier defenders slide down the hill a bit, and this creates an opportunity for Samuel to work behind the linebackers to make good gains.
Saturday night will be a great chess match, which will be played in a confrontational style between two teams that take pride in physical play. New England and Indianapolis would enter the game with a plan, someone – or several people – would be punched in the mouth, and at the end of the night someone would be left standing.
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