The Football Brainiacs

So I’ll be going through the 1st quarter here breaking down the offensive plays and giving you some thoughts:

1. To get this thing started, let me first admit that this is very difficult.  Drawing circles and arrows isn’t, but watching this again is tough.  In an earlier post, we had talked about how we needed to drive a stake in the ground and proclaim this is who we are.  Running a trick play on the very first play of the game does nothing. Reverses, counters, screens and draws, by nature are trick plays.  You don’t hear counters, screens and draws being called trick plays often, but that’s what they are.  You hope to catch the defense off guard and hope to catch their momentum working against you.  A counter you have to first set up with a stretch, sweep or toss.  A screen or draw you first have to set up after a few passes.  A reverse, is much like a counter in that you’re hoping to catch the defense in hot pursuit the other way.  Sometimes you end up outsmarting yourself, which is what we did here.  We fake the swing out to Clay who is circled in red.  The Baylor defender in blue is peeking in the backfield and would have no chance to make the play on Clay.  Since we’d given the Baylor defense no reason to respect the play, the black jersey right behind bell ends up making the play.

2. This is right before the snap on 3rd down.  If you include Brennan Clay, we have 6 guys in the box to block their 7.  All three backers walk up and show blitz before the snap.  Still baffling to me why we can’t see this from the booth.

2. (cont.) Here a tick later, we see the lone unblocked Baylor defender circled in blue pressuring Bell.  All six blockers make blocks, so you see it’s not an ability issue, it’s a scheme issue.  They’re playing man outside, and we can’t beat it.  Baylor showed their hand early on passing downs and we failed to be good tacticians and adjust to it. What also should be noted is this was a screen to the right.  So what appears to be a good call in the face of a rush, is poor strategy.  They’re blitzing all over up front, but you’ve given them no reason to respect a true pass drop.  The players on Baylor’s defensive left all read screen and cover up Clay for a solid defensive play.  So for two out of three plays, we’re hoping to catch them off guard rather than doing what we do.

3. This is the 1st play of the 2nd possession.  What makes Trevor such a dynamic runner partly is his decision making.  He’s in high gear and getting vertical now!  He gets contacted 4 yards from the stripe and gets three additional yards.  K posted on why Bell’s getting all the touches…here’s exhibit A of why we think he shouldn’t.

4. On the 2nd down play, the game hasn’t quite come to Trevor, and all the more reason why you have to let him settle in and get a rhythm.  Ikard has done a good job here and he’s running two Baylor defenders by the hole.  Ikard is pushing the guys to the bottom of the screen (Blue Arrow).  If Trevor pauses and cuts this back up in there he gets the first down.  This is what we would call patient running.  He continues outside into the leverage of the defenders for no gain.

5. Here we see how we choose to run into Baylor’s strength with six defenders bottom vs. four defenders top.  Easily you could bring Rip and Damien across the formation to give you a plus two blockers playside.  While we don’t have a numbers disadvantage here, it’s just smarter to run where they have fewer players.

5. (cont.) Same play here and we have chosen to go right.  The left most blue arrow is Irwin, and the right arrow is Dixon.  Had Bronson stayed square to the line of scrimmage, he comes off the combo here and picks Dixon up.

5. (cont.) Here a tick later Dixon has gone behind(underneath) Irwin.  Dixon is the left arrow now, while Irwin is the middle.  Bronson needs to be facing the goal post instead of having his shoulders completely turned.  He has to be stronger than that.  The lone unblocked player, had Irwin been technically sound here is the right blue arrow, who couldn’t have made the play since he’d have gotten caught up in the wash.  While this is an execution issue, if you look back left at all the green grass and only three Baylor defenders, you can’t help but wonder what might have been.

6. 1st play of the 3rd possession here.  Bronson’s just not doing well technically.  Again you see his shoulder’s turned, when he should be facing the goalpost.  The Baylor linebacker to the right scrapes right off his butt and ends up making the play.  Instead of Damien having to shake the safety in the alley, he’s having to deal with two defenders.  You expect him to beat the safety but not multiple defenders.  Bronson’s gotta help his back out here and stay strong and come straight off the ball!

7. This play is actually blocked really well.  Everyone does what they’re taught to do, including Jalen Saunders.  He’s blocking the guy I’m pointing at with the small red arrow on the right.  The Defense is flowing, and Clay has to see that Jalen is washing his defender down.  He has to cut outside and take the path I’ve drawn here with the big red arrow.

7. (cont.) Here’s a tick later on the same play.  The lone Baylor defender who could have made the play, had Clay bounced outside here is the player I’ve circled in red.  Check his feet and body lean.  No way he can get outside if Clay does a jump cut outside of Jalen’s block on the top side.  The defender to the top on the 40 is completely turned and running with the receiver.  This could have been a huge run play early if Clay recognizes Jalen’s and everyone elses blocks and gets outside.  As a staff, we have to become better students of the run game and teach our players to capitalize.  Clay has the speed.  He scores here if he’s outside.

8. Here’s 1st and goal after the penalties for Baylor.  Again, we choose to run into their strength.  I’m not counting the free safety who’s lined up in the middle right in front of the umpire.  By alignment we could do ourselves a lot of favors by choosing to run back weak where they don’t have numbers.

9. This play is why we desperately need a tight end as a redzone threat.  Both the linebacker and safety(small red arrows)  are crashing the line of scrimmage since they have zero respect for Brannon Green as a receiving threat here.  Brannon has good hands, and this would have been an easy six if we’d run play action here.  It’d send a shot across their bow as well.

Be on the lookout for the second quarter. And if you have any questions please be sure to leave a comment below. Thanks for reading!