This is the second edition of my playbook series that will go on throughout the NFL season. Each week I will highlight a few plays from each of the Cowboys’ and Texans’ games and explain why they worked or didn’t work thanks to the NFL’s release of All-22 film this season. Next up is a breakdown of the Texans and their key plays against the Dolphins last weekend.
Houston lines up in their base 3-4 defense here, but as you can see, it looks more like a 5-2, with one outside linebacker with his hand on the ground and the other showing blitz at the line on his side. Houston is going to rush five and drop six into coverage on this play as Miami goes with a traditional four-wide look with Reggie Bush in the backfield to provide additional blocking help.
Rookie Ryan Tannehill’s intended receiver is going to be Legedu Naanee, who is lined up wide left. Five of Houston’s six coverage guys on this play are going to drop back into zones and based on the directions they travel, it looks like a Cover-3 look. It’s possible that Johnathan Joseph was also supposed to drop back into a zone on this play but because Naanee ran a short route, which is something the Texans came into this game expecting a lot of, he stays with a man look.
Miami’s two slot receivers attempt to stretch Houston’s safeties by running 15-yard routes and then put their two wideouts on shorter routes. It’s a strategy that teams all around the league use, but because Houston knew that the Dolphins were trying to get Tannehill comfortable by going short, they were prepared to read the short routes.
Joseph makes an incredible play on this ball, cutting off Naanee’s slant route despite playing way off the line at the snap. This is one play that illustrates how great of a corner Joseph is and how well he can read quarterbacks at this stage of his career. With Houston down 3-0 at the time of this interception, this was the play that turned everything around for the Texans and led them to a 24-0 run in the second quarter.
Tannehill would throw his second career interception on his next drive and it was once again a product of Houston knowing Miami was going almost exclusively with a short passing attack in this game. Here Houston really spreads out their line on a third and long play and Brian Cushing, a middle linebacker, is the one showing blitz at the line. The white rush arrows indicate the path the Texans’ pass rushers are going to take. Houston is going to count on Antonio Smith to occupy the center and the left guard long enough for J.J. Watt to sneak around him and get into the center’s body.
As you can see, it worked. Watt gets his left shoulder on the center’s left shoulder, which frees up almost all of his body to get a hand in the passing lane.
Watt leaps at the perfect time, tipping the ball just after Tannehill released it. Meanwhile, Cushing, sensing that Watt would get his mitt on the ball, releases from his blocker, backs up a couple of steps and catches the football for an interception. This would happen to Tannehill again later in the quarter.
On this play we get to see a good example of Houston’s offensive line working together to create holes for Arian Foster. The Texans have seven blockers in on this play: five linemen, a tight end and a fullback. As the play starts, everyone right of the center pulls right while the left guard and left tackle block towards the left. This looks like a standard zone stretch run. The three defenders circled in white are the only three defenders in the picture not currently blocked.
Once the handoff is made and the blockers have gotten further down the field, you can see that there is only one unaccounted-for defender, who is about three yards to the left of Foster. Foster is currently in what I call his “cut phase.” As a one-cut back, Foster needs to decide which direction he’s going to cut towards on this play. You can probably already tell which direction Foster is going to head based on how the play has developed.
As Foster makes his cut through the hole, there is nobody within 10 yards of him. The only two unaccounted-for defenders won’t be able to stop Foster in time, although Miami’s safety does chip him as he crosses the goal line.
Here we see Houston hitting on a big play to Andre Johnson. Miami is in their base 4-3 defense, with their front four rushing, their three linebackers all in zones, three of their defensive backs in press man and their lone deep safety back to cover the middle of the field. Houston is going to have both of their outside receivers run stop-and-go routes while their tight end and slot receivers will both run short routes intended to beat the zone coverage. Arian Foster will curl into the flat out of the backfield, dragging Miami’s right outside linebacker, who has flat zone responsibilities, with him.
At this point of the play, Johnson is making his double move and you can see how it confused both his man and the deep safety. He jab-steps the post route, which makes his corner turn his hips to cover the inside route and the safety step in to provide support. Once he fakes the post route, Johnson explodes to the sideline, picking up a foot or two on his corner and forcing the safety to change directions yet again.
As the ball travels through the air, you can see just how much separation Johnson has to make this catch. The only negative about this play is that he is drifting towards the sideline and won’t be able to get a touchdown. But still, a 30-yard gain won’t hurt.
Really the only problem that the Texans had in Week 1 was preventing Reggie Bush from getting into space. Here we will see him, as a result of some good blocking up front, get a nice chunk of yards running right through Houston’s defense. The Texans come out in their 5-2 alignment with their two safeties in the back while Miami starts this play in the weak I-formation.
Miami does a really good job making their initial blocks here. All of Houston’s five pass rushers are being blocked individually by Miami’s linemen and tight end. There are only four Texans left on the play that aren’t being blocked and Miami has three blockers left to handle them. The safeties can’t commit to the run just yet because Tannehill could pull the ball back and throw it still, so that gives Miami even more time to get out there and block. The best block on the play comes from Miami’s fullback, Charles Clay. Clay is going to swing around into the open gap that Brian Cushing is about to penetrate and clear the way for Bush to get into the second level.
At this point, every one of Miami’s blockers has picked up their man and Houston’s last line of defense can’t stop Bush before he gets the first down. This just goes to show that even a great defense can get beat on a given play if they can’t beat their blockers.
Next Up: Jacksonville Jaguars (0-1)
The Jaguars lost a heartbreaker in Week 1, seemingly sealing the game with a last-minute touchdown before the Minnesota Vikings inexplicably drove down the field with 20 seconds on the clock and had their rookie kicker send the game to overtime with a 55-yard boot. They became the first team to lose an overtime game with an incomplete pass later in the game.
The Jaguars are better than last season because Blaine Gabbert looked a heck of a lot better than he did last season in every facet of the game. That’s not to say they are a great team, but they have a very good defense, a bowling ball of a running back in Maurice Jones-Drew and an improving QB that has some underrated weapons at his disposal. The focus on this matchup will likely be the way that the Jaguars defend Houston’s running game.
The Jaguars line up in their base 4-3 here as the Vikings line up in the I-formation with tight end support on the left.
The Vikings are diving left, so their entire line makes a push that way.
After looking at a couple running plays earlier on in which the blocks were perfect, here we see Jaguars defensive tackle Terrance Knighton beat his block and track down Adrian Peterson.
The Vikings are running a toss play to the left here, pulling their left tackle and center.
The Jaguars do a great job tracking the play and have four defenders within seven yards of Peterson blocking all of his running lanes.
Here is another look at the Jags’ defenders in Peterson’s vicinity. Again, they did a great job reading the play and have tracked it down very well. Aaron Morgan gets the initial contact and the rest of the team helps him finish the tackle.
Houston should beat the Jaguars handily but they may not have the easiest of times running the ball.
This piece first ran in Corpus Christi Caller-Times on September 14, 2012.
