Miami Dolphins 2020 Passing Concepts - Weeks 1-4

STAFF:

•  HC: Brian Flores (2nd year)
• OC: Chan Gailey (1st year, NYJ '16)
• QB: Robby Brown (1st year, NYJ / West Virginia CFB)
• WR: Josh Grizzard (1st year WR, 4th yr @MIA)
• TE: George Godsey (2nd year)
• OL: Steve Marshall (1st year, NYJ / Memphis Express AAF)

This is not the entirety of the Miami passing game / all of their concepts.

NOTES:

This is from the first four games of the 2020 season (Weeks 1-4).

Ryan Fitzpatrick is the starting QB in these clips.

There is a new OC, QB coach, WR coach, and OL coach.

Concepts of focus largely reduced from 2019 to 2020: 

    Mesh, Backside Fade-Out, China/Slant-Fade.

Concepts of focus being newly emphasized in weeks 1-4:

    Y-Cross.

    Note Sail concept was being called a bit in 2019, and slightly more frequently in 2020.

CONCEPTS:

SAIL CONCEPT

SLANT SCREEN / 2man TUNNEL

Y CROSS / SLOT CROSS

SMASH

HB SLIP

Romeo Crennel Pass Defense: Part 2 - Covering Empty

Romeo Crennel in 2010 was bringing essentially two calls against empty, with adjustments for sub packages. One being a Tampa 2 variant, and the other being a cover 0 man blitz. 

STRETCH (FLEX)

This is Coach Crennel's Tampa 2 call vs empty. Stretch is called with base personnel. Flex is the call for sub 3-4 personnel. 

Alignment notes: Mike (low hole) can align as 9tech vs an attached TE, or hipped off the OT vs a detached receiver.

Coverage

• Flat (CB) - outside the numbers, covering all outs and comebacks. Carry WR to the seam before releasing. Keep eye on #2 breaking out. 
• Hook (Ni, Jack) - Covering outside the hashes, and not going beyond the numbers. Take 1st in-breaker, and deliver to the Rat (low hole). 
• Low Hole/Rat (Mike) - This is the extra coverage gained when rushing 3 instead of 4. Typically opens to the #3 receiver side. Jam any crossers, read QB, depth is around 8-12 yds. 
• Post (Will) - Opens to most dangerous side determined by game plan / personnel. Closes the post to any vertical routes (between hashes).

There are no explicit rules on how to deal with a 4th or the rare 5th vertical with the only three assigned deep players (safeties and will).

• Some coverages would have CBs take #1 vertical if #2 is not OUT in the first ~5yds. 
• May be playing to have Safeties and Post defender midpoint over top of all verticals and defend them that way.

RAIN (FALCON)

Rain

Falcon

Rain (Falcon) is a check vs empty, man coverage across the board with a 6man pressure. 

Front

• Defensive line slides to the formation strength (TE here, or 3 WR side), and the backside backer (Jack) becomes the DE on the backside. The front is aligned EVEN. 
• Depending on offensive line slide, either Mike or Will may drop into coverage (if they get a slide TO).
• Vs attached TE, the frontside DE takes the point and the Sam (Ni) will come down and press the TE inside. If TE blocks out onto the DE, DE will man him and Sam (Ni) will blitz. 

Coverage

• Coverage matchups will be determined by game plan or base rules. 
• The coverage is man/man and locked on all motions. If motion ends in the backfield, the defender will match box location. 

In part 3, we are outlining some base man coverage calls, as well as some of Romeo Crennel's core man coverage principles. 

Romeo Crennel Pass Defense: Part 1 - Terms & Definitions

This is based on the 2010 KC Chiefs defensive playbook, which can be found online. 

This is part 1 of a (??) part series. In this first part, we are outlining the core terms of Coach Crennel's coverages during his time at Kansas City in 2010. This is to establish concrete definitions to some of the base terms before getting into the coverages themselves.

After the first few parts of this series going over coverages and rules, we will look at the 2020 Texans film and see how concept have carried over to Romeo Crennel's current team. 

ZONE DESCRIPTIONS

UNDERNEATH AND SHORT ZONES

1. Flat - 12 to 15yds, midpoint 3yds outside numbers
2. Curl - 15yds, midpoint on numbers
3. Slot - 15yds, midpoint 3yds inside numbers
4. Hook - 12 to 15yds, midpoint 2yds outside hash
5. No Cover - Behind LOS, up to 5yds beyond LOS
6. Reroute Level - 5 to 12yds, where receivers must be rerouted or patterns matched

Other Terms

• "Hold the Curl" - Tells curl defender to hang in curl zone as long as needed to prevent a pass.
• "2nd Man Thru" - Refers to second receiver running through an outside zone (curl or flat). Defender responsible for that zone will play the 2nd man all the way. 

INTERMEDIATE ZONES

1. Fade - from sideline +4yds inside, 15-25yds depth
2. Seam - from inside of numbers +3yds, 15-25yds depth
3. Middle Read - Basically between hashes, 17-25yds depth (cover 2)

Other Terms

• "Hold the Seam" - Tells seam defender to hang in the seam as long as needed to prevent a pass.
• "Carry the Fade" - Tells cornerback to sink with the receiver through the fade area.

DEEP ZONES (thirds and halves)

1. Deep 1/3 Zone - Covers 1/3 of field, from 15yds to end line.
2. Deep 1/3 Midpoints - 9yds from sideline, and the middle of the field.
3. Deep 1/2 Zone - 1/2 of field, from 17yds to the end line.
4. Deep 1/2 Midpoint - 17yds, 3yds from inside numbers and extending to the end line.

In part 2, we will look at coverage calls vs Empty sets. 

Kickoff Return Formations in the NFL

The intent of this article is to gain a general idea of what return formations in the NFL look like. It does sample kickoffs from every team, but not every kickoff from the season. 

Formations

6-2-2-1  

6-2-1-2 

6-2-1-1-1 (unbalanced)

5-3-2-1   

5-3-1-2

4/2-2-2-1

• 6-2-2-1 and 5-3-2-1 are the primary/base formations for most of the league.

• Depth, alignments, and splits tend to be slightly different depending on game situation and opposing kicker/coverage team.

6-2-2-1

New England 2019 Passing Concepts

STAFF

HC - Bill Belichick (20th year)

OC/QB - Josh McDaniels (7th year)

TE - Nick Caley (3rd year as TE coach)

OL - Dante Scarnecchia (21st year)

This is not the entirety of the New England passing game / all of their concepts.

Slant Flat Concept

Tampa Bay Buccaneers 2019 Passing Concepts

Staff

HC - Bruce Arians (1st year, ARI)

AC - Harold Goodwin (1st year, ARI)

OC - Byron Leftwich (1st year, ARI)

QB - Clyde Christensen (1st year, MIA)

WR - Kevin Garver (1st year, ARI)

TE - Rick Christophel (1st year, ARI)

OL - Joe Gilbert (1st year, U Arizona)

This is not the entirety of the Tampa Bay passing game / all of their concepts.

CONCEPTS

Sail Concept

Miami Dolphins 2019 Passing Concepts

STAFF- 

HC - Brian Flores (1st year, NE)

OC - Chad O'Shea (1st year, NE)

QB - Jerry Schuplinski (1st year, NE)

WR - Karl Dorrell (1st year, NYJ)

TE - George Godsey (1st year, DET)

OL - Dave DeGugliemo (1st year, IND)

This is not the entirety of the Miami passing game / all of their concepts.

CONCEPTS

Curl Flat Concept

Sacks VS the Miami Dolphins, Weeks 1-6

Sacks VS the Miami Dolphins

    Taking a look at some of the causes and factors in each of the 10 sacks during Miami's first six games. We can also look back at problems, similarities, and differences in protection and sacks between R. Fitzpatrick and T. Tagovailoa after he starts a few games. 

Full film cutup is linked at the bottom.

Defensive Fronts: The Wide Front

 

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Defensive Fronts: The Wide Front

Generating Pass Rush Pressure From The Wide Front, Across The NFL.

Click here for cutup of wide front snaps

Matched Box Wide Front. Only backer in box (49) matches HB.

KEY POINTS

• This front is called strictly on anticipated passing downs. Called on 5% of all snaps sampled for this article, but more than 20% of 3rd downs. Nearly all on 3rd&4+.
• The wide front is a 4-down front, with center and both guards uncovered. (Tackles 4i/4/5, Ends 7/9 techniques)
• Advantages of the wide front are in creating four possible 1-on-1s (OTs, OGs), removing much of the impact of the Center sliding to either side, and opening space with wide alignments to be attacked with line games.

Disguising Tampa 2 - NFL Defenses

 

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Disguising Tampa 2 — NFL Defenses

Film of these disguises in action is linked at the bottom.

The What.

While this article won’t get into too much detail of base Tampa 2, the basics are:

1. Two-deep zones, typically covered by safeties in a two-high shell.
2. Pole runner, typically a linebacker, covering the middle of the field, between the hashes.
3. Four underneath zones. Two CBs playing sink-flats, two LBs playing hook-curl zones. CBs may be carrying #1 WRs vertical to help deal with possible 4-verts.
4. Typically the low middle is vacated by the pole runner (blue zone circled above). Some teams will drop a DL into this zone off the line.

Disguising Tampa 2 typically comes from either disguising the players responsible for covering the two-deep zones, or disguising the pole runner.

Negative Run Plays in the NFL

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Negative Run Plays in the NFL

From offensive snaps in weeks 1–4 of the 2020 NFL season: New England, Tampa Bay, Miami. Cutups at the bottom.

Disclaimer: this is an experimental breakdown. The goal here is to attempt to divorce some very general causes of negative runs from the specific defensive fronts, blocking, and run schemes. At least divorce as far as possible without losing all meaning and context. Leave a comment here or on reddit with some feedback.

Here we will look at some of the most common causes of run plays in the NFL resulting in +1 yards or less. Causes being addressed are listed below.

1. Unblocked Backside Edge Defender

2. Defensive End/Edge + Linebacker Gap Exchange on a Down Block

3. Zone Runs Against Bear Fronts

4. Tight End Blocking a Defensive End at Point of Attack

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UNBLOCKED BACKSIDE DEFENDER