What Made This Play Impossible To Defend

[FalconsIn2012]

Alright guys, I need a little help.  In the article below, Richard Sherman calls a certain play from our 2016 playoff game impossible to defend in a Cover-3 (they don’t say which play he is talking about).  Even the Seahawks coaches had no clue how to defend it.  Does anyone know the play?  If so, why is it so unique and difficult for Cover 3 to stop?

My guess is the Coleman TD catch.  But as you can see, if the Seahawks DB (circled in red) didn’t fall down, the play may not have worked

 

“A current key 49er was caught off-guard by Shanahan's ingenuity back in 2016, when Shanahan was coordinating Atlanta's offense and Richard Sherman was still a member of the Seattle Seahawks. Shanahan called a route combination that included a go route, a flat and a corner, a concept that was commonly seen against Cover 3. But Shanahan's was different.

"He had run it in a way that was so unique, we had never seen it before," Sherman recalled. "The corner route was wide open. We went to the sideline and we're like, 'Hey, so, what do we do about this play?' And they were like 'uh, we don't have an answer for that play.' I'd never heard a coach say that. I'd never heard anybody say that, but there was really no answer for what he had designed and the way he had designed it."

Once again, Shanahan was ahead of the curve.

[New Jersey Falcon]

I can’t upload the video clip but yes this is the play.  Seattle played a zone.

   Julio coming across the middle brought 2 defenders up (Kam being one)

  Gabriel’s go route took away the Shead who played 10 yards off to the middle of the field.  
   That side of the field had no CB on the line so KJ Wright took the flat (hooper).
   Coleman’s corner route broke right behind Kam with no one in the area to pick him up.  Beautifully drawn up and executed.

I’m not one who is a scheme genius, so I can’t answer your question with legit breakdown of why it was so successful but that’s how it played out 😂. If Kam were to pick up Coleman, Julio most likely scores.  God I miss football and finally beating the likes of Seattle and GB after so many years of getting burnt by them.

[quickzero]

I'm not sure what play Sherman is talking about but three of my favorite Matt Ryan touchdown passes have come against the Seahawks. One TD pass to Julio, another to Toilolo and the other to Coleman. I'm sure what play was called on either side but they looked similar and I do know the Seahawks couldn't cover our guys on those plays and were visibly frustrated by it. 

[Dem Birds]

2 hours ago, quickzero said:

I'm not sure what play Sherman is talking about but three of my favorite Matt Ryan touchdown passes have come against the Seahawks. One TD pass to Julio, another to Toilolo and the other to Coleman. I'm sure what play was called on either side but they looked similar and I do know the Seahawks couldn't cover our guys on those plays and were visibly frustrated by it. 

You had 3 opportunities to say Roddy White in the divisional playoffs and you blew it lol 

[FalconsIn2012]

3 hours ago, New Jersey Falcon said:

I can’t upload the video clip but yes this is the play.  Seattle played a zone.

   Julio coming across the middle brought 2 defenders up (Kam being one)

  Gabriel’s go route took away the Shead who played 10 yards off to the middle of the field.  
   That side of the field had no CB on the line so KJ Wright took the flat (hooper).
   Coleman’s corner route broke right behind Kam with no one in the area to pick him up.  Beautifully drawn up and executed.

I’m not one who is a scheme genius, so I can’t answer your question with legit breakdown of why it was so successful but that’s how it played out 😂. If Kam were to pick up Coleman, Julio most likely scores.  God I miss football and finally beating the likes of Seattle and GB after so many years of getting burnt by them.

Didn’t Coleman or Toilolo score on a similar concept against the Broncos Week 5 or Seahawks Week 6 in 2016?

[Wjcorner]

most indefensible plays come from a pick your poison type of reality. in cover 3 the poison is normally the underneath route, Seattle was just incredibly adept at crashing down on underneath stuff as soon as the QB's eyes left deep, and most couldn't get another progression with feet planted to throw deep on a rope, with their pass rush. a go, flat, corner route is a common flood concept which takes the deep defender out with the go and the shallow defender down with the flat. I'm at work right now, so can't tell you what Shanahan did differently though, knowing his offense, he probably had the corner coming from an abnormal spot, or used a play action scheme similar to a run he was cooking with to further bring down flat defenders and guys playing the middle zones who could've flowed where the player was instead of guarding empty grass.

 

having a player like Julio who demands extra attention can make it easier to scheme passing concepts too

[Dirtybird56]

I’m sure it was this play as I remember it garnering a fair amount of attention that week from people I think have high football IQ
 

All I remember is it’s called a scissors route in Shanny’s playbook and something about how each defender reading their keys as they’re supposed to leaves the corner route wide open

[Lethal]

1 hour ago, Dem Birds said:

You had 3 opportunities to say Roddy White in the divisional playoffs and you blew it lol 

I meaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan lol...was thinking the same thing.

[Tim Mazetti]

5 hours ago, New Jersey Falcon said:

 

I’m not one who is a scheme genius, so I can’t answer your question with legit breakdown of why it was so successful but that’s how it played out 😂. If Kam were to pick up Coleman, Julio most likely scores.  God I miss football and finally beating the likes of Seattle and GB after so many years of getting burnt by them.

I remember that play.....And think it is ingrained as one of the most brilliant. Begin at about 4:04: 

 

 

[New Jersey Falcon]

5 hours ago, Wjcorner said:

most indefensible plays come from a pick your poison type of reality. in cover 3 the poison is normally the underneath route, Seattle was just incredibly adept at crashing down on underneath stuff as soon as the QB's eyes left deep, and most couldn't get another progression with feet planted to throw deep on a rope, with their pass rush. a go, flat, corner route is a common flood concept which takes the deep defender out with the go and the shallow defender down with the flat. I'm at work right now, so can't tell you what Shanahan did differently though, knowing his offense, he probably had the corner coming from an abnormal spot, or used a play action scheme similar to a run he was cooking with to further bring down flat defenders and guys playing the middle zones who could've flowed where the player was instead of guarding empty grass.

 

having a player like Julio who demands extra attention can make it easier to scheme passing concepts too

The corner route came from out the backfield (Coleman).  Yes having Julio come across the middle is most likely why it was very successful as it brought Kam down.

[Wjcorner]

5 hours ago, Tim Mazetti said:

I remember that play.....And think it is ingrained as one of the most brilliant. Begin at about 4:04: 

 

 

Ah. Looks like Shanahan used a compressed post, late corner combo. Beautiful play. Hooper takes the flat defender down, Gabriel runs that skinny post to keep the boundary and the deep third busy, Coleman almost “leaks” out late from the backfield. Julio runs a drag underneath which takes the attention of the shallow middle zones. The guy who could’ve squeezed the throw if the boundary corner doesn’t play so hard on the Gabriel post is Chancellor, but he has to come up for Julio otherwise Julio has a head of steam in the red zone. If the boundary doesn’t squeeze Gabriel to centerfield Ryan has that throw with Chancellor crashing down on Julio. Yeah, if Ryan read that right ever rip, we’d have a completion against that defense. 

[QuantumFalconz]

On 7/10/2020 at 2:31 AM, FalconsIn2012 said:

Alright guys, I need a little help.  In the article below, Richard Sherman calls a certain play from our 2016 playoff game impossible to defend in a Cover-3 (they don’t say which play he is talking about).  Even the Seahawks coaches had no clue how to defend it.  Does anyone know the play?  If so, why is it so unique and difficult for Cover 3 to stop?

My guess is the Coleman TD catch.  But as you can see, if the Seahawks DB (circled in red) didn’t fall down, the play may not have worked

 

“A current key 49er was caught off-guard by Shanahan's ingenuity back in 2016, when Shanahan was coordinating Atlanta's offense and Richard Sherman was still a member of the Seattle Seahawks. Shanahan called a route combination that included a go route, a flat and a corner, a concept that was commonly seen against Cover 3. But Shanahan's was different.

"He had run it in a way that was so unique, we had never seen it before," Sherman recalled. "The corner route was wide open. We went to the sideline and we're like, 'Hey, so, what do we do about this play?' And they were like 'uh, we don't have an answer for that play.' I'd never heard a coach say that. I'd never heard anybody say that, but there was really no answer for what he had designed and the way he had designed it."

Once again, Shanahan was ahead of the curve.

Seems like the Julio effect. They was worried about JJ and Hooper under that they forgot about Coleman over top. Remember, 2016 was crazy for us as an offense. They had to pick their poison. They picked wrong.

[10 Yard Fight]

Did they run this in the Superbowl, say, in the second half?

[kenn.junior]

4 hours ago, 10 Yard Fight said:

Did they run this in the Superbowl, say, in the second half?

nope but after matt and julio had one of the greatest throws and catches in SB history all the needed to do is run and we win the game

[10 Yard Fight]

On 7/12/2020 at 7:15 AM, kenn.junior said:

nope but after matt and julio had one of the greatest throws and catches in SB history all the needed to do is run and we win the game

Yep.  If only we had a coaching staff with a brain between them.

[Hard2BaBirdWachr]

I think Shanahan drew up this play just for this type of situation (the distance from the goal line) knowing the Seahawks would be in cover 3. Spread the defense out and leak the RB into the corner of the endzone. I don't think they were expecting a 14-yard pass/catch to a RB that close to the goaline as they were onto our receivers.

[Mr.11]

On 7/11/2020 at 4:28 AM, QuantumFalconz said:

Seems like the Julio effect. They was worried about JJ and Hooper under that they forgot about Coleman over top. Remember, 2016 was crazy for us as an offense. They had to pick their poison. They picked wrong.

Probably, but they had 6 guys on the field covering as far as I can tell on that play, and we only had 5 guys running a route (Hoop, Teco, Julio, Turbo, and Sanu). That's what makes this even more impressive because the defense technically had the numbers to defend this play.

I think what threw the defense off is that the play at the outset (because of the positioning and spacing) looks like Gabe is gonna break to the outside and run the corner route. Kam is in a position where he has to think about defending either Julio or Teco (because both are in his zone and Julio is mismatched on a LB), but he's probably supposed to pass off whoever runs past his zone. That leaves the deep middle safety as the would be fail safe to cover the corner, except Gabe is breaking inside to the middle of the field where deep safety is, taking the DB covering him with him.

 

 

[Lornoth]

On 7/10/2020 at 5:21 PM, Tim Mazetti said:

I remember that play.....And think it is ingrained as one of the most brilliant. Begin at about 4:04: 

 

 

Man, I like our current skill players but I really liked Sanu and Gabriel (And Kyle Shanahan's Freeman).

[Tim Mazetti]

40 minutes ago, Lornoth said:

Man, I like our current skill players but I really liked Sanu and Gabriel (And Kyle Shanahan's Freeman).

Me too. We missed that window in the SB, but I think we get one....maybe two more chances.

[FalconsIn2012]

1 hour ago, Tim Mazetti said:

Me too. We missed that window in the SB, but I think we get one....maybe two more chances.

We have the talent to win a SB.  No doubt about that.  What we did the 2nd half last season with an offense firing at 80% could be an indication of things to come

[Tim Mazetti]

8 minutes ago, FalconsIn2012 said:

We have the talent to win a SB.  No doubt about that.  What we did the 2nd half last season with an offense firing at 80% could be an indication of things to come

Yeah, the coaching changes last year are a harbinger. And as you stated they have all the positional talent to do it.

Good post.