xs and os Let's Talk About: A Well Executed Stunt (sacking Breezus) GIFs ADDED

[PeytonMannings Forehead 27,502]

Greetings, beautiful people, it's been way too long, but finally, the Falcons have given me something interesting to dig into.  I've made no secret over the years of my love for defensive football, so you can imagine how rough these past few seasons have been.  Every football sensibility I have has been assaulted by these sumbitches in every way, but on Sunday... oh, boy, Sunday was a welcome respite.  For ONE AFTERNOON, our defense was everything I ever wanted it to be, and against the Saints, no less.

Now there was a whole lot of good football to break down Sunday, but for my own selfish reasons, I'm gonna dig into one of my favorite parts of the game: Stunts.  I love me some defensive line stunts.  Not as much as I love run fits, but it's a close second -- kinda like that middle child you love to death, but maybe not quite as much as that first born.  You know what I'm talking about?  Yes?  No?  Ok, you don't have to admit it.  

Just in case there are any questions as to what a defensive line stunt is, it's basically where your pass rushers will exchange rush lanes to confuse the protections. Almost like when the offense aligns their receivers tight to create a natural pick.  Here, we're doing the same thing.  We're trying to create a free runner, to the QB.  It can wreak havoc on a offensive line if it's well timed and executed.  People talk about being creative on defense, being aggressive, bringing pressure... this is a way to accomplish all of that, while rushing four and not compromising your coverage.  There are literally endless combinations of them you can bring: E/T, T/E, Double Tex.  You can E/T on one side and T/E on the other, you can run Pirate, Charlie, then you can bring a backer into it add even more combinations.  The only limit is your imagination.   But for the sake of brevity, I'm gonna focus on this one from the 2nd quarter.

 

3rd and 4 - 2nd quarter: Now we want to look at the alignment first and the personnel.  Vic's in a wide-9, Takk is next to him inside in a 4 technique on the offensive tackle, Grady is in a 1 tech, and Clay is aaalllll the way to the other side in no-man's land in a 9.  This is a really creative use of personnel.  Your two most athletic pass rushers to one side, next to your best interior rusher, and your best overall pass rusher all by himself.  What do you do as an offensive line with this -- three to one side, one to the other?  Naturally you're gonna want to slide your protection, which way?  And if you do, it's gonna leave you thin somewhere else.  It's almost like when the offense puts three receivers to one side, and Julio all by himself wide to the other.  It forces the coverage to adjust in ways that stresses them.  You dictate terms when you do stuff like that.  But here, we are dictating to the offense and forcing them to adjust.

 

This is the game that we have on.  We've got a TEX stunt to the left side of the screen where the Tackle will go first, hard to the outside, while the End will fake a rush upfield, then loop around  inside where the defensive tackle used to be and find the hole.  On the other side we have an Exit stunt where the End will go first.  Here, Clay will take a hard inside move and it's Grady who is supposed to be the looper.

 

Here is how it actually plays out.  New Orleans slides their line to Takk and Vic's side, which makes sense.  Clay on the end, makes a hard inside move at the snap.  No wasted motion.  He's going right now to pull that offensive tackle inside.  The back, Murray, is in a check release on the Campbell.  Campbell didn't blitz, so he's gonna release into the pattern.  Kamara to the other side in the wing, gets out immediately, so it's a straight 5 man protection.  It's all on their linemen to beat ours.

 

This is the key part of this play.  Grady starts from a 1tech and slants all the way over to the left guard (pictured right) and engages him.  Because he engages him, that guard now cannot pick up Clay coming on the loop.  The tackle on Clay correctly looks to pass him off to the guard and pick up Grady, but Grady ain't coming quite yet.  The game to this side ain't exactly playing out as designed, but that's part of it.  Defensive line coaches tell their guys all the time, "I can't tell you were the hole is going to open up", you just gotta keep rushing and find it.  Be a football player.

 

This right here is just pure beauty.  Poor #75 at guard is just all in pieces.  Ain't in position to block nobody.  His man Grady done looped around, and Clay done came out of nowhere and knocked the s*** out of him.  Another thing to look at is because of the alignment and the slide to Takk and Vic, the Center has to block to that side.  So he can't help to the side where our most dangerous rushers are --Clay, and Grady.  He's gotta help out to the other side.

 

No commentary needed.  #75 is dog food...

 

... And Drew is dead.

 

Now to be fair, #75 is in a bad spot.  Usually, and especially when you're a guard, you've got a man over you, so you naturally can pick up those games better.  But this is just an awesome design to screw with the protection of the Saints, knowing they would slide the line to Takk and Vic and that would create one-on-ones for Grady and Clay.  More of this, please.

Credit @SPITFIRE for looking out on that All-22.

[Jerz #GurleySZN 7,170]

Takk just plays with that tenacity sometimes that I love in a DLineman.

[PeytonMannings Forehead 27,502]

2 minutes ago, Jerz #Quinning said:

Takk just plays with that tenacity sometimes that I love in a DLineman.

Agreed.  Effort is non-negotiable, and for all you can say about Takk, he brings it.

[NWFALCON 4,045]

Are you planning to do the play where Vic got the sack? The effort and motor for the defensive line was a thing of beauty for just about the entire game. 

[kiwifalcon 19,438]

PMF this what absolutely kills me we’ve had this personnel all year and why we can’t dial this chaos up every week frustrates the fark out of me.

Fast & Physical is it like old Skool fire alarms break glass when fire occurs.

[Goober Pyle 7,125]

@PeytonMannings Forehead

 

Thank you! I have missed these breakdowns.......Love it! 

[papachaz 18,839]

since I had two older sisters, and two younger sisters, I understood it perfectly

 

 

thank PMF! Man I've missed these, because there's been no reason for you to DO them, and we've missed that too! Thanks again for helpin to educate us ignorant ones

 

[ATLFalcon36 2,826]

@PeytonMannings Forehead Great breakdown. Question: Since there's the huge gap between Grady and Clay, what's to stop team's from seeing this look and checking to a run in that gap, or a draw or something to counter the stunt? Or do we reserve this for super obvious, terrible idea to run, situations?

[vel 32,064]

Man PMF they finally gave us what we've wanted! Great break down. I don't know why it's taken so long for this pass rush to come alive but they finally did and the perfect team to do it against. I loved it all!

[Osiruz 10,079]

Takk needs clowney on the other end and some good lber play behind him. 

[PeytonMannings Forehead 27,502]

2 hours ago, NWFALCON said:

Are you planning to do the play where Vic got the sack? The effort and motor for the defensive line was a thing of beauty for just about the entire game. 

I wanted to get to all of them, but the week is getting away from me quick.  I'll see what I can do.  This one really jumped out to me Sunday.  

1 hour ago, kiwifalcon said:

PMF this what absolutely kills me we’ve had this personnel all year and why we can’t dial this chaos up every week frustrates the fark out of me.

Fast & Physical is it like old Skool fire alarms break glass when fire occurs.

 

3 minutes ago, vel said:

Man PMF they finally gave us what we've wanted! Great break down. I don't know why it's taken so long for this pass rush to come alive but they finally did and the perfect team to do it against. I loved it all!

Exactly.  And ain't none of it rocket science.  We've never been a heavy stunt team despite the fact that we do execute them pretty well.  I saw this advanced stat from a few season ago where we were at the bottom of the league at running stunts, but right at the top in effectiveness when we did run them.  I get it when you got Freeney and a hot Vic you might just wanna let them do their thing, but we've been pitiful rushing the passer.

[athell 31,675]

2 hours ago, PeytonMannings Forehead said:

Agreed.  Effort is non-negotiable, and for all you can say about Takk, he brings it.

It's not popular with some, but his win rate speaks for itself.

https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/27584726/nfl-pass-blocking-pass-rushing-rankings-2019-pbwr-prwr-leaderboard

Top 10 DE/OLB Pass Rush Win Rate

1. T.J. Watt, Steelers, 32%
2. Robert Quinn, Cowboys, 31%
3. Takkarist McKinley, Falcons, 31%
4. Myles Garrett, Browns, 28%
5. Preston Smith, Packers, 27%
6. Matthew Judon, Ravens, 27%
7. Jadeveon Clowney, Seahawks, 26%
8. Dante Fowler Jr., Rams, 26%
9. DeMarcus Lawrence, Cowboys, 25%
10. Za'Darius Smith, Packers, 25%

[PeytonMannings Forehead 27,502]

1 hour ago, papachaz said:

since I had two older sisters, and two younger sisters, I understood it perfectly

 

 

thank PMF! Man I've missed these, because there's been no reason for you to DO them, and we've missed that too! Thanks again for helpin to educate us ignorant ones

 

23 minutes ago, ATLFalcon36 said:

@PeytonMannings Forehead Great breakdown. Question: Since there's the huge gap between Grady and Clay, what's to stop team's from seeing this look and checking to a run in that gap, or a draw or something to counter the stunt? Or do we reserve this for super obvious, terrible idea to run, situations?

Absolutely nothing.  And that is one of the risks that you take running them, that's why you want to mix them up, and your alignments the same way you mix your coverages.  An offense gets a look at the same thing long enough, they'll come up with a counter.

Now in this case though, a lot of it is game planning.  You got a good idea of tendencies based on down and distance, and formation.  Plus in this particular stunt, you do hope/expect that the middle don't be wide open to be gashed from the loopers going inside.  There are certain stunts that you like to run specifically to stop certain runs -- especially if you don't have a huge defensive line but you have a quickness advantage.

[PeytonMannings Forehead 27,502]

7 minutes ago, Osiruz said:

Takk needs clowney on the other end and some good lber play behind him. 

Here’s the thing to factor in with Clowney. Clowney has been incognito for most of the season until the Seahawks got Jarran Reed back from suspension. 

Clowney has been a plus run defender all year and he’s actually been getting pressure but there was no interior push to help him out. Jarran Reed finally showed out Monday night. 
 

I don’t know that Takk needs another blue chipper to bookend with him since we’ve got Grady (although it certainly wouldn’t help) so much as he needs better coverage on that back end. I’m still not sure he is gonna be the guy that we can hang our pass rush on and log double digit sacks every year, but the secondary has been such a mess, it’s tough to give him a fair evaluation.

[kiwifalcon 19,438]

49 minutes ago, PeytonMannings Forehead said:

Here’s the thing to factor in with Clowney. Clowney has been incognito for most of the season until the Seahawks got Jarran Reed back from suspension. 

Clowney has been a plus run defender all year and he’s actually been getting pressure but there was no interior push to help him out. Jarran Reed finally showed out Monday night. 
 

I don’t know that Takk needs another blue chipper to bookend with him since we’ve got Grady (although it certainly wouldn’t help) so much as he needs better coverage on that back end. I’m still not sure he is gonna be the guy that we can hang our pass rush on and log double digit sacks every year, but the secondary has been such a mess, it’s tough to give him a fair evaluation.

I look for Takk just to put one other move he can hang his hat on consistently.Much like Clayborns cross chop I look for Takk to be one of those guys.Power Bullrush seems to be his go just add one more and I think he’ll be ok.

[PeytonMannings Forehead 27,502]

10 minutes ago, kiwifalcon said:

I look for Takk just to put one other move he can gang his hat consistently.Much like Clayborns cross chop I look for Takk to be one of those guys.Power Bullrush seems to be his go just add one more and I think he’ll be ok.

Absolutely.  He's gotta expand his repertoire... just a bit.  Michael Strahan used to say, you don't need a lot of moves, but you gotta have a counter.

[A Dog Named Brian 3,731]

God, I missed these. Good stuff as always

[1989Fan 15,494]

3 hours ago, PeytonMannings Forehead said:

 

 @SPITFIRE

Love the commentary on this pic. I LOL’d

[Osiruz 10,079]

1 hour ago, PeytonMannings Forehead said:

Here’s the thing to factor in with Clowney. Clowney has been incognito for most of the season until the Seahawks got Jarran Reed back from suspension. 

Clowney has been a plus run defender all year and he’s actually been getting pressure but there was no interior push to help him out. Jarran Reed finally showed out Monday night. 
 

I don’t know that Takk needs another blue chipper to bookend with him since we’ve got Grady (although it certainly wouldn’t help) so much as he needs better coverage on that back end. I’m still not sure he is gonna be the guy that we can hang our pass rush on and log double digit sacks every year, but the secondary has been such a mess, it’s tough to give him a fair evaluation.

Agreed, but imagine better secondary play and him and clowney as bookends in a 4-3. We would have a top 10 defense. 

[Falcons_Frenzy 3,688]

Did the defense perform any stunts when DQ was running it? I seriously don't know.

[VTCrunkler 9,142]

Gunna have to pin this for a while. 

[TheUsualStuff 5,162]

The beauty of this play is that it seems that we dictated the action from beginning to end instead of just trying to react to any possible lanes they may have given us.

It and much of the rest of the game were a complete 180 from what we had been seeing.

[PeytonMannings Forehead 27,502]

47 minutes ago, Falcons_Frenzy said:

Did the defense perform any stunts when DQ was running it? I seriously don't know.

They did, not a ton but we ran some games.  But like a most everything else, it always seemed disjointed. It kinda felt like we were out there flailing around trying to find anything that worked. We seemed to have a lot more cohesion Sunday.

Also the use of personnel. Quinn talked a lot in the preseason about different rush packages but I didn’t see a lot of it to start the season. Usually when Clay was on the field it would be Takk on the other side with Beasley off. Then most of the times I do remember Takk and Vic on the same side, it would be some sort of blitz look and one of them would drop.

1 hour ago, Osiruz said:

Agreed, but imagine better secondary play and him and clowney as bookends in a 4-3. We would have a top 10 defense. 

Hey no doubt. I would never talk myself out of another edge rusher.

[papachaz 18,839]

3 hours ago, PeytonMannings Forehead said:

Absolutely nothing.  And that is one of the risks that you take running them, that's why you want to mix them up, and your alignments the same way you mix your coverages.  An offense gets a look at the same thing long enough, they'll come up with a counter.

Now in this case though, a lot of it is game planning.  You got a good idea of tendencies based on down and distance, and formation.  Plus in this particular stunt, you do hope/expect that the middle don't be wide open to be gashed from the loopers going inside.  There are certain stunts that you like to run specifically to stop certain runs -- especially if you don't have a huge defensive line but you have a quickness advantage.

see, I DO pay attention. and, I DO understand SOME things you say

 

[NWFALCON 4,045]

@PeytonMannings Forehead

One thing that I found interesting is the division of defensive coaching duties. It’s a quick excerpt but in his press conference, Quinn said having Morris and Ulbrich calling the defense has left him able to set the direction of the overall team but more specifically DQ has been working with the defensive line almost exclusively. 

So now you have DQ focusing solely on the d line, Ulbrich getting the linebackers in line, and Morris working the secondary. The three coaches are tight and I’m sure they come up with a direction and they work on getting specific things conveyed when It comes to plays and communication.