Fun Bunch Friday: NFL Week 14, 2023

New ideas to spice up classic plays abound in this week's article.

As the season progresses, each play-caller in this tree has gotten deeper into their “bag,” and I am really excited about the plays we are discussing this week, starting with a classic.

19 FORCE CAT

The Dolphins ran a version of this play recently, and if there is one thing this tree likes to do, it is steal from each other. When I was originally putting my adaptation of this system together, I had decided that I wasn’t going to use “Cat” calls the same way they do, but my thoughts on that have done a complete 180 because the angles created are unmatched.

With Force Cat, the Fullback is responsible for isolating the Cornerback. He doesn’t have the help he would have on a Zap or Zorro Cat. This allows for the blocking surface to focus more on vertical displacement, even on a perimeter run play, because the Fullback is essentially kicking out the Cornerback on the Crack Replace. Notice the play-side Tight End and the Left Tackle taking the Defensive End down the field and Trent Williams (LT) being able to easily fall back on the filling linebacker, combining with the push crack by Aiyuk to seal in the front and the isolation Cat block by Kittle on the Cornerback to create the seam.

The concept is doubly impressive because of the use of Spirit motion into the block for Kittle. Where I would really like to see this play progress is to an Oscar variation out of a 2x2 condensed formation, which is what the final formation is on this play. This would allow for gameplanning throughout the week to determine which side the play-caller wants to run this play to, let the QB “Oscar” (flip) the run if needed to get to the correct side, and the back-side TE gets into the Spirit motion from there.

FK 17 F CHARLIE X AROUND

The Packers have become a fantastic case study in End Arounds over the last month of the season with finding more ways to get rookie Jayden Reed the ball. This one is off of GF Counter [what I call (F/Y) Charlie] action, but it is different than versions we have covered before. In the first example, we had Christian McCaffrey abandoning the run fake to lead for the run with Trent Williams attempting to kick out the Cornerback. I prefer how this iteration is blocked up better. We still see a similar fake wrap by the F to lead for the end around, but almost everything else differs, starting with the Offensive Line.

Instead of the Play-Side Tackle climbing and slipping out for the Cornerback, he slides down to essentially down block the Defensive Tackle. The Guard still pulls to fake the Counter action, and what I really like that ends up happening is the Center and Back-Side Guard end up slipping through/around the Defensive Line to lead for the reverse. I think those angles are much better than using the Play-Side Tackle.

This play is also run toward a two-receiver, nasty split side. The Y gets to help set the edge by blocking down on the Defensive End, and the Z seals in the defense by cracking the support player. The F fakes his wrap to lead for the reverse, and the offense has a ton of bodies leading for the misdirection play.

DON’T TRY THIS AT HOME

The Rams are in such a groove offensively right now that the only way to shut them down is to be able to affect Matt Stafford with a 4 man rush. Stafford is playing so well that the defense can’t give him time to pick them apart, but the wide receivers are too good to bring extra pressure, which is what the Ravens dial up here.

McDonald calls for middle closed man coverage behind a 6 man pressure with the Weak Safety rotating to the middle of the field. The Rams have also been very successful over the last few weeks with their use of motion. This slow Cheetah motion by Nacua changes the man assignments for the defense and demonstrates a great job scouting by McVay’s offensive staff. The matchup on Cooper Kupp goes from the Cornerback to the Nickel. He plays flat-footed, and Kupp runs right past him.

Not to be lost on this play is the incredible throw by Stafford. This is a throw that maybe 5 QBs in the world can make, and he is one of them. He throws off his back foot with just enough power to get the ball where it needs to go. Some would argue that this is a bad throw because it is underthrown. I would argue otherwise. This ball traveled a lot of air yards for coming off the back foot, but Stafford had the ability to make the throw because the Nickel was so out-of-phase that he was never going to make a play on it.

PA SLIP

This is a phenomenal design by Kyle Shanahan, a play action pass off of Power run action to a closed side. It seems simple enough, but there are a lot of intricacies from a defensive perspective that make this a very challenging play to defend.

Running this play to a closed edge is significant for two reasons. First, it forces the Cornerback to be the force defender, so off of the run action, he can’t simply sink. Second, the Strong Safety still has to fit the run as well, so he thinks that Kittle is simply coming to block him at the snap. By the time he realizes Kittle is going for a pass, it’s too late.

I also want to notice the run action itself. I am a huge fan of trap pass pro in play action, especially when a Fullback is involved at any level, but especially high school. Almost any well-coached Linebacker is going to see the GF action and be certain that a run play is coming. Linebackers fill, force defenders rush to set the edge, and then the Fullback slips right past them into the empty flat.

Happy holidays to all of you, and thank you for reading! Paid subscribers will see a great influence run, one of my favorite play action passes run to perfection, and 21+ minutes of explosive plays.