Analysis from Seahawks Game coaches film

I thought willis got burned on both long te receptions in the seahawks scoring drives of 2q.

..and thanks for quantifying what most of us intuit about Frank.

Please, sir, may I have another?

Originally posted by Hoovtrain:
jonnydel, maybe you have already answered this, but how would you compare Kaep to other QB's who are known to go through their progressions? Specifically how often do those guys go through theirs and what % would you say Keap is going through his per game? It seems he is getting better with his progressions, but there are still plays being left on the field.

To me, he is getting better, but, still not anywhere close to a guy like Peyton. Right now, he's able to get away with some things because of his arm strength and because he has Crabtree back. What Montana and Young excelled at were the ability to go through progressions. Read the alignment, possible coverages from the pre-snap read, remember who has what leverage, where your read is going to be and what you are looking for and then where you go(based off your pre-snap leverage reads) where you go if the defense does something different than you thought they were going to do. In the end, you're not going to win every play, he is getting there but, to go deep in the playoffs he has to continue to progress and get better at it and know his own tendencies. On one play, I'll show later, he made the perfect read, but, he had already done it twice in the game and a defender made a great play and broke it up.

Originally posted by thl408:

Originally posted by jonnydel:

This post will show how Kaep threw the interception



On the broadcast you may remember Kaep audible at the line to this play.

On this play, he saw the defense in a similar alignment to the Vernon play above, thinking it was man coverage he audibled. However, Seattle went into a cover 3.
The corner Maxwell takes an over the top coverage, while Chancellor the safety, takes underneath coverage as there is no route to hold him in the flat. The safety Thomas is moving over towards Crabs for help and Maxwell, knowing he has help underneath, stays on top of Crabs and Kaep throws the pick to Maxwell. Granted the throw Kaep was trying to make is a VERY difficult throw, he shouldn't have thrown it in the first place. The moment he saw Chancellor drop out in coverage he should recognized the cover 3, known the play was dead and scrambled out right where there was NOBODY.

I have a different take on this INT play. It seems Kap saw the single high safety and thought cover1, with press man on Crabs. As soon as the CB Maxwell turned his back and Kap saw Maxwell's numbers on the back of his jersey, he felt Crabs was available. You are correct that Maxwell had over the top technique and he definitely did not bail. My thinking is that Crabs 1 on 1 is good enough for Kap to try. There were only 3 route runners here. The other side of the field had nothing to throw to (Vance/VD covered).

I feel the proper read was made and there is a slight window over the top of Maxwell. It is very possible that as soon as the ball was thrown, Cam was yelling "ball! ball!" to Maxwell, which causes Maxwell to turn and look for the ball. This was a good back shoulder throw, something that defeats press man. But if the CB's teammate is communicating during play, it nullifies the advantage of a back shoulder throw. Perhaps Kap should have gone with a fade route throw (outside shoulder), not a back shoulder throw (inside shoulder). That throw was way too far inside and underthrown.

Boldin would've caught that ball, or at least he'll make sure the defender wouldn't pick it. Crabtree is still a little rusty, but when he's fully healthy he'll again start making plays on those kind of throws. We got time until the playoff for Crabs to be comfortable on the field and start dominating again.

Originally posted by jonnydel:
Now I will show how Seattle scored it's 2nd TD



Here the niners are playing a soft 2 zone. Meaning the safeties are responsible for the 2 deep halves, the corners will drop about 10 yards back outside, the linebackers will cover short middle and Brooks drops towards the flat/qb contain.

Seattle pulls a run fake and Reid bites BIGTIME. He abandons his zone for run support. You can see Whitner on the top of the screen dropping into his deep half


Here you see Willis turned and saw Reid(highlighted by the red arrow) was out of his zone and tries to give chase. Rogers, when he turned his hips, saw Reid had jumped the PA and had to run with the receiver down the field leaving a wide open Luke Wilson(TE)



Rogers has to come off his man, try and close, and make the tackle on a big TE in open space. That's a tough task for anyone, so I don't blame him for missing the tackle. From there Wilson goes in to score.

If Reid stays home, Rogers can peel off his receiver and jump the TE route.

Reid is an outstanding safety and did play very well throughout this game. But, busted coverages like this can knock you out of the playoffs and playoff teams know how to take advantage.

Like I said in my previous post. When we play sound, fundamental defense, we are probably the best defense in the league.

Re-watching the play, and the gif, it seems like the design of the defense was for Reid and Rogers to swap responsibilities. Rogers bails immediately to a Cover 2 position, and Reid jumps the flat. If the RB our TE had run to the flat, Reid would have an INT opportunity. It seems like the Seapigeons just got lucky and called the perfect route for that gamble.

I could be wrong, and Reid could have jumped the play action. But if he's jumping play action AT ALL while having deep Cover 2 responsibility, then he needs to be benched. Even kids on my pop warner team don't make that mistake...

Love the analysis though, this is fun. Would be great to sit in on a film session after a game with the coaches and players to really know how much the game is a chess match.

Thanks so much - VERY appreciated.

Originally posted by jonnydel:

Originally posted by vrabbit:
I loved this, AJ and I will be talking about Gore again this week and I've already done a review of some of Gore's big plays against the Seahawks. If you could take a look at these two plays:

1st and 10 at SEA 34(Shotgun) F.Gore up the middle to SEA 30 for 4 yards (E.Thomas, K.Wright).

--> end of the 1st quarter

1st and 10 at SF 26F.Gore right guard to SF 34 for 8 yards (R.Sherman, E.Thomas).

--> early in the 2nd quarter

I'd be interested to see if you see what I see RE: Gore's vision (and cutbacks)

Here's my take on the first run you asked about. As you will see, Gore's ability to see the cuts and make the cuts are elite. I think we all know that. What I will show might give you even more appreciation for Frank.



Here we're running the zone read. Goodwin and Snyder get a combo block on mebane at the DT spot(he lined up at the 1 technique, being on the strong shade of the center) which calls for a double team block from the guard. The 8 man front, with a combo block, leaves 2 defenders who won't be blocked. Really this play should go for no gain. Chancellor(highlighted with blue arrows) stays at home in position to take on Miller or keep contain. Frank sees the 2 linebackers who won't be blocked and sets up his lineman. He starts to go behind the combo block of Goodwin and Snyder.



It's hard to see from this angle but Frank's initial move forces the backside linebacker to move right in pursuit. As soon as he sees the linebacker move that way he cuts back behind Goodwin(Frank's behind all those guys in the yellow circle)



When Frank cuts back it gets the backer moving back to the left and Snyder comes off his block and gets on #50, which Frank cuts again behind Snyder



Here you see where Frank gets tackled. In the end he only gets 4 yards but he shouldn't have gotten any. He makes 3 cuts in a very short span setting up his blockers and seeing the blocks. Very few backs in the league can even do this with that kind of vision.

yup, what I saw

On the other play you'll see Gore recognizing that the DT was getting past Vance McDonald taking away an initial gap for Gore to get through and he smartly cuts to the right where he finds a nice lane for the 8-yard gain

Here's a great play, both in play calling from Roman and great anticipation by Kaep.



Here, we're going Play action with Frank out of a 22 personnel look(2 backs 2 TE's) Davis is flexed out to the slot. Boldin runs a DIG(deep in) and Vernon Runs a streak/fade route with McDonald running a crossing route and Frank heading out to the flat. Since Seattle plays the cover 3 so often they use Davis from the slot to run off both Thomas the FS and Maxwell the corner deep, Frank going to the flat pulls the LB as well as McDonald vacating the deep curl area just past the 50 yard line wide open.



Here you see the development of the play a little bit



This is a really impressive play from Colin and the type of plays that are very encouraging. As you see from him highlighted, he is throwing the ball before Boldin is coming out of his break. This means he's anticipating the coverage and play. He makes his read quickly and hits his back foot coming out of play action and drives the ball.



As you see it's a 20 yard gain on a great play call and great execution. This is how the run game sets it all up because the linebackers over the middle hesitate, drop down and then get pulled off by McDonald and Gore. Great play Kaep!

Yet people hated us who said kap is horrible at reading and going thru simple progressions

Originally posted by Furlow:
Re-watching the play, and the gif, it seems like the design of the defense was for Reid and Rogers to swap responsibilities. Rogers bails immediately to a Cover 2 position, and Reid jumps the flat. If the RB our TE had run to the flat, Reid would have an INT opportunity. It seems like the Seapigeons just got lucky and called the perfect route for that gamble.

I could be wrong, and Reid could have jumped the play action. But if he's jumping play action AT ALL while having deep Cover 2 responsibility, then he needs to be benched. Even kids on my pop warner team don't make that mistake...

Love the analysis though, this is fun. Would be great to sit in on a film session after a game with the coaches and players to really know how much the game is a chess match.

How I knew it was soft cover 2 was because Brock drops into a soft curl zone on the other side and Rogers starts to do the same. Reid starts flying down when Wilson turns to fake the handoff, he doesn't head anywhere close to a soft zone area, where he ends up when he realized he just got tricked is where Bowman ends up for his drop into zone.

^^ that play (post #69) is a great example of how much coverage VD draws. The coverage read here is on the depth of the CB playing over the top of Boldin. If that CB is tight on Boldin, then VD is available on the corner route (test Earl Thomas' range). If the CB is playing off and over the top on Boldin, which he is because he's so scared of VD on the corner route, then the throw is to Boldin on the Dig. Read perfectly by Kap.

With a single high safety on so many plays, SEA knew VD would be trying to beat them with the corner route. They had their CBs help on that route all day.

Originally posted by jonnydel:
Here's the 2nd run you asked about. Here, it's not as much about Gore's vision, Roman called a great play and the O-line executed really well. Then Frank finishes with great power on the run.



Roman calls a "wham" play here. He tried it earlier in the game but, as I'll show later, I think Kaep misreads the alignment. On a "wham" play, which we heard a lot about against Detroit, the guard, Boone, leaves the 3 technique(outside shade of the guard) unblocked going down on the 1 technique. Goodwin moves the 2nd level to the linebacker. TE Vance McDonald takes on the 3 technique with T Anthony Davis taking the DE and Vernon Davis going to the 2nd level trying to find anyone to block. Gore is set to run outside the TE and inside the T or a "2" hole run(0 hole is right size of center, 2 right side of guard, 4 right side of tackle, etc)



Here you see the development of the play



the Wham block gives McDonald an excellent angle on the 3 technique and Goodwin does a great job of sealing off the linebacker. As Greg Roman says, "geometry never has a bad day." Frank explodes through the gaping hole and cuts back following Davis



You can see the wall the O-line and guys create for Frank, he cuts back and gains another 3 yards after contact. It may not seem spectacular to get an 8 yard run, but, if you can get your running back 5 yards downfield before anyone can make contact that's a great play for an offense.

So yeah, I'm having too much fun making GIFs. Here's this play.

Originally posted by jonnydel:

Originally posted by Furlow:
Re-watching the play, and the gif, it seems like the design of the defense was for Reid and Rogers to swap responsibilities. Rogers bails immediately to a Cover 2 position, and Reid jumps the flat. If the RB our TE had run to the flat, Reid would have an INT opportunity. It seems like the Seapigeons just got lucky and called the perfect route for that gamble.

I could be wrong, and Reid could have jumped the play action. But if he's jumping play action AT ALL while having deep Cover 2 responsibility, then he needs to be benched. Even kids on my pop warner team don't make that mistake...

Love the analysis though, this is fun. Would be great to sit in on a film session after a game with the coaches and players to really know how much the game is a chess match.

How I knew it was soft cover 2 was because Brock drops into a soft curl zone on the other side and Rogers starts to do the same. Reid starts flying down when Wilson turns to fake the handoff, he doesn't head anywhere close to a soft zone area, where he ends up when he realized he just got tricked is where Bowman ends up for his drop into zone.

There isn't a WR in the flat or going towards the flat, so no need for Reid to jump all the way to the soft zone. I like to call that "covering grass" which is a definite no-no in zone coverage. It just seems unbelievable that an NFL safety (and one who is playing very well) could make THAT bad of a mistake. Again, biting on play action when you have deep Cover 2 responsibility is so blatantly bad that it's inexcusable, even for a rookie.

Plus Rogers completely bails to a deep 2 responsibility, he doesn't settle in a soft zone like Brock does. Of course, he may have just seen Reid completely leave him hanging, so maybe he just kept his depth.

Either way it was a bad play, but I'm hoping that Reid isn't that much of an idiot. I agree with you that we need to be able to play zone coverage in order to effectively stop good running teams, and that means all of the DB's have to stay disciplined and stay in their zone until the ball is thrown or the RB has the ball.

Originally posted by Axl49:
Yet people hated us who said kap is horrible at reading and going thru simple progressions

Well I feel most people don't state he is horrible just that he has a lot to learn. He did great job on that play above but it also shows on the int that there was another option him running right.

It is simply a work in progress and every week with his talent the more knowledge he consumes the better he will be. I preference this statement by saying I feel he will: Kaep must be a complete nerd in his work for the week and more importantly during the games.

He must be able to adapt on the fly to changes in the D since they will be coming. If he pushes himself to be a complete student of the game and does not get distracted with other endeavors. He can do what Jaws stated: Be the best of all time.