Anatomy of A Play

[Earl34]

I was planning on doing a defensive play this time around but tshirtfan wanted an example of an audible. I don't know if Colt audibled to this on his own or if it was pre-planned with Daboll. Either way it was really smart and it made the Patriots look less than smart. Here you go!

 

Score: Browns 10, Pats 0

Situation: 1st Quarter; Hillis has just gained one yard on 3rd and 2.

Down/Distance: 4th & 1 on -36

 

1. Presnap

 

 

The Browns come out in 22 personnel (2 backs, 2 TE). Cribbs is to the left, both TEs to the right. Backfield is offset I. The strength of the formation is to the right. The defense is showing a 3-4 front with Ninkovich and Cunningham on the line. The front appears undershifted with Ninkovich over the TE. What we don't know is what Colt's presnap instructions were and how much of what he does next is on his own. While it's technically seven men in the box, there are soon to be 10 men within five yards of the ball. This doesn't look to be good odds for running but there is a bubble (that space you see in front of the right guard) and I'm not sure why that wasn't good enough. Perhaps there was another play called here besides the end result (like a handoff) that might not have made the one yard.

 

2. Audible

 

 

#1 shows Brandon Spikes moving out toward Hillis who must be his man. #2 shows Wilfork shifting to a strongside 1-technique (more of a nose tackle position) and Pryce moves ever so slightly to his left as well. This balances out the front. At the bottom of the screen you see Ninkovich and Sanders slide out to cover the guys split out. The deep safety moves over as there's an uncovered receiver. Meriweather starts moving back to cover the deep zone.

 

3. Gotcha!!

 

 

What happens next tells McCoy that they've outsmarted the Pats. The linebacker Cunningham shifts to cover Hillis. Spikes (the other rookie LB) is either confused or he's trying to communicate with his DE. Either way, as the red markers indicate, you now have five guys blocking three guys. There's a bubble right in front of Steinbach. Steinbach and Thomas block Pryce. Mack and Yates handle Wilfork and Colt does the rest.

 

This is a great example of Colt knowing what he was looking at and creating a successful play by adjustments that dictated the matchups. There were several key plays in the game but this play was about tone setting.

 

BTW....look at Vickers (middle receiver, bottom of screen). In the replay from the sidelines, I noticed that presnap he was clapping about every 3-5 seconds in some rhythmic way. I am guessing that this was some kind of play clock help for Colt. Anyone have any idea what that might have been about?

 

Hope you guys liked this. I hope I can get time to do one more this week.

[Richiswhere]

Mangini talked about this play in pretty good detail in his post game press conference

 

http://www.clevelandbrowns.com/media-cente...d2-adf3c26e98f8

[tshirtfan]

Thank you for this! Great job.

[CantonLegend]

BTW....look at Vickers (middle receiver, bottom of screen). In the replay from the sidelines, I noticed that presnap he was clapping about every 3-5 seconds in some rhythmic way. I am guessing that this was some kind of play clock help for Colt. Anyone have any idea what that might have been about?

the trips set made a mismatch on the right side

 

there werent enough defensive players on that side to guard against the pass

 

im guessing that he was just clappin to get mccoys attention without keying the defense

 

it was obvious zone coverage but you can see the middle linebacker motioning towards the trips set and shifting over to that side before the snap....probably to assist with coverage over the middle

[Jibz]

Earl34

I am a fan of your posts. Do more!

Thanks

[Alendor]

it was most likely a planned audible. they were trying to draw the defense into jumping offsides. once that didn't work they switched to that particular play.

 

the clapping was most likely vikers pretending to call that he was open, and draw another defender, since he didn't have anyone covering him.

[kshutchins]

Mangini talked about this play in pretty good detail in his post game press conference

 

http://www.clevelandbrowns.com/media-cente...d2-adf3c26e98f8

 

 

I don't know if this is true but one of the things that Mangini has talked about over and over again impresses me. He emphasizes being able to prepare differently for each week in order to exploit the weaknesses of the opponent. In his first season, Mangini described how each player was learning the roles of all the other players so they could understand the changes weekly. He talked about how he looked forward to the days when the players would be eager to see the new game plan for the approaching opponent and that could only happen when they had an understanding of everything that was happening on the field. It looks like the learning curve is not quite as steep as it once was and progress is being made. I think this really helps build a team effort and that sense of trust that Mangini describes as a core concept of the team. I just love this guy as a head coach. I believe it's this type of understanding and interconnectedness that has the team ENJOYING what they are doing, feeling their progress internally to the team and has them playing hard each week. I am enjoying the heck out of watching that development because it creates a strong sense of self esteem and preparedness on a weekly basis. What a tremendous foundation for the future.

[SCRAM JET]

I don't know if this is true but one of the things that Mangini has talked about over and over again impresses me. He emphasizes being able to prepare differently for each week in order to exploit the weaknesses of the opponent. In his first season, Mangini described how each player was learning the roles of all the other players so they could understand the changes weekly. He talked about how he looked forward to the days when the players would be eager to see the new game plan for the approaching opponent and that could only happen when they had an understanding of everything that was happening on the field. It looks like the learning curve is not quite as steep as it once was and progress is being made. I think this really helps build a team effort and that sense of trust that Mangini describes as a core concept of the team. I just love this guy as a head coach. I believe it's this type of understanding and interconnectedness that has the team ENJOYING what they are doing, feeling their progress internally to the team and has them playing hard each week. I am enjoying the heck out of watching that development because it creates a strong sense of self esteem and preparedness on a weekly basis. What a tremendous foundation for the future.

 

Great post and I agree wholeheartedly. Unfortunately, even such solid foundation can be undone in a year or two with a "player friendly" coach. Just ask Rex....errrr...I mean Herm Edwards. What a stark contrast between Brown's systematic dismantling of the Patriots and the Jets bumbling/fumbling with no discipline for most of the game and winning b/c of Lion's own share of blunders.

[Richiswhere]

I don't know if this is true but one of the things that Mangini has talked about over and over again impresses me. He emphasizes being able to prepare differently for each week in order to exploit the weaknesses of the opponent. In his first season, Mangini described how each player was learning the roles of all the other players so they could understand the changes weekly. He talked about how he looked forward to the days when the players would be eager to see the new game plan for the approaching opponent and that could only happen when they had an understanding of everything that was happening on the field. It looks like the learning curve is not quite as steep as it once was and progress is being made. I think this really helps build a team effort and that sense of trust that Mangini describes as a core concept of the team. I just love this guy as a head coach. I believe it's this type of understanding and interconnectedness that has the team ENJOYING what they are doing, feeling their progress internally to the team and has them playing hard each week. I am enjoying the heck out of watching that development because it creates a strong sense of self esteem and preparedness on a weekly basis. What a tremendous foundation for the future.

 

 

You obviously didn't watch the video and if you did what do you think Mangini was talking about from 6:50 to 8:10?

 

Earl34 pics and the way he has it described pretty much go hand and hand to what Mangini said.

[philbert79]

Great post! We need more of this on this forum. Thank you, Earl34. I remember watching this develop on Sunday. I was really impressed by the gameplanning and play calling that got carried out on Sunday. I can't wait to see what they have up their sleeves for the Jets.