ON SUNDAY NIGHT, the Atlanta Falcons arrested a two game losing streak with a late comeback win over the Green Bay Packers.
Even though Quintorris “Julio” Lopez Jones had a relatively quiet day by his own high standards — catching three passes on five targets for just 29 yards — he was still the focus of most of the Packers’ attention on this play.
That, and the threat of Devonta Freeman — who already had a rushing and receiving touchdown in the game — freed up Mohamed Sanu to take advantage of a one-on-one match-up with a poor pass-covering linebacker to grab the game-winning score.
If you missed it, here’s how it looked on TV:
Pre-Snap Read: Offence
As you’ve noticed if you’ve been reading Coaches Film this season, unless you’re the New England Patriots, 11 personnel — one running back, one tight end — is pretty much the standard offence in the NFL these days.
The Falcons are no different and have tight end Austin Hooper (blue) lined up to the right of the line of scrimmage with running back Freeman (pink) in the backfield.
The other three receivers on the play are lined up in a typical shotgun formation with Justin Hardy (red) out wide right and Jones (black) and Sanu (yellow) on the left, close to the line of scrimmage.
On first and ten, with 37 seconds to go in the game and two timeouts in their pocket, the Falcons could easily run a passing or rushing play here and set up in a way that doesn’t obviously tip the defence off.
Pre-Snap Read: Defence
The Packers are playing with only two defensive linemen on the field, #76 Mike Daniels and #97 Kenny Clark.
The rest of the defence has four linebackers and five cornerbacks in a 2-4-5 nickel sub-package.
This is not unusual for the Packers — indeed, they’ve been known to play with just one defensive lineman — and the idea of this formation is to disguise any blitz coming from the linebackers or cornerbacks.
The two safeties (green) — Ha Ha Clinton Dix (#21) and Morgan Burnett (#42) — are in Cover 2 zone while the rest of the defence is in a mix of man and zone coverage.
The key defender to focus on, however, is #47, inside linebacker Jake Ryan (white).
At the Snap
The Packers only rush the four players at the line of scrimmage leaving everyone else in coverage. As you can see, the Falcons offensive line deals with the rush very easily.
It is actually at the exact moment above that Matt Ryan decides to throw the ball to Sanu (#12) as he can see that he is in one-on-one coverage with a linebacker (Ryan).
Not only that, but both the safety Clinton Dix (#21) and cornerback LaDarius Gunter (#36) have drifted towards Jones (#11) as he runs towards the left side of the endzone.
With Hooper (#81) taking the other safety Burnett (#42) away from the other side of the field, Sanu just has to run into the open space in the endzone.
As you can see below, the throw from Ryan is right on the money:
Notes
Linebacker Jake Ryan was picked up in the fourth round of the 2015 NFL Draft by the Packers out Michigan.
Coming out of college, NFLDraftScout.com reported that Ryan’s biggest weakness was:
Tight hips and lacks the body fluidity to consistently hold up one-on-one in coverage. Inconsistent vision and lacks the make-up speed to compensate.”
It was that lack of fluidity and vision — coupled with the failure of the pass rush to get any pressure on the Falcons quarterback — that costs the Packers on this play and, ultimately cost them the game.
However, credit must also go to Kyle Shanahan, the Falcons offensive co-ordinator, for drawing up a play designed to take full advantage of the weaknesses of Dom Caper’s unusual defensive formations.
There were really only two looks on this play and, if Jones wasn’t in one-on-one coverage, then the ball was going to Sanu.
The real beauty of the play call, however is that — if neither pass was on — the check down to Freeman would likely have resulted in a touchdown too.
