Sean McVay's Tone-Setting Opening Script vs. the Vikings in the Wild Card!

Dive into Sean McVay's powerful opening script, including a potentially new type of play!

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This postseason, we’re going to pivot away from explosive plays specifically and look more at gameplans. This week, we’re going to break down Sean McVay’s opening script against the Vikings. After one of the worst first quarter offenses from the regular season and only scoring about 40 points total in the last month of the season (since the Buffalo barn-burner), McVay dialed up an opening script to let his former protege Kevin O’Connell and his top-flight Defensive Coordinator Brian Flores know that the postseason was not going to be the same. All I thought about when watching this drive unfold is that this is the epitome of what coaches often talk about in coming out and punching somebody in the mouth.

PA AGGIE NOW Z BLINK

I haven’t seen this exact play in playbooks, but this appears to be how it plays out. I love this formation. In high school, oftentimes defenses will set the strength to the Closed/Nub side because he is on the ball, leaving a lot of opportunities to another 3 man surface with the wing and twins outside that generally pull the attention of 3 defenders. McVay starts out in 12 personnel. Base personnel, run action on a run down, and a blitz-heavy background already for Flores leads to many fast-fitting defenders on this play.

I said it back in 2021 before I was creating content, but I don’t know that there is better play designer in the NFL when it comes to getting specific players the ball. Then, it was Cooper Kupp’s triple crown. Now, it’s Puka Nacua. I’ve seen a lot of notes on social media about how his usage is unsustainable in that he’s the only real threat the offense has, but it doesn’t bother me very much when taken into consideration that McVay simply knows how to design players open. This play is a great example.

I’m not very familiar with Flores’s defense outside of knowing he is very aggressive and creative with the front seven, but I won’t be able to speak very much to the coverage. However, this concept seems perfectly planned and timed for how the coverage plays out. It seems to be similar to one of the ways they run All Go (Aggie). Instead of full 4 verts, the single side eligible (the Closed TE in this formation) runs a Shallow (Now). This concept seems specifically designed for Puka because his route sits while the others carry on. The #1 WR outside releases to force the CB to turn his hips, even temporarily. The #3 WR runs the Thru/Hi Cross, which is going to take the attention of the Weak Safety. With the pressure, there isn’t much underneath coverage to speak of. The inside and outside clearout routes essentially isolate Puka on a Safety, who seems to be more worried about the outside WR and not getting beat deep. Puka sits his route down in the void for a 27 yard gain on the first play of the game. I think this is a great concept for this defense because it also has hot answers with both crossing routes in case Puka wasn’t open and the pressure was applied.

SAME 24 Y SIFT

Second play of the drive was a failed run. However, this is an interesting formation. In 12 personnel bunch, you would generally think the WR would be the outside man in the bunch, but in this case, he’s the point man with the outside and inside eligibles as the tight ends. This is a typical formation where Kupp is that outside man in the bunch, but it has appeared to me over the last season and a half that McVay is trying to limit just how much he blocks. Ultimately, this looks to me to be same-side split zone, but it could have also been zone insert. The issue, in my opinion, is the LT on the back-side. He muddies up the hole appearing to try and block two defenders. His first two steps look like he’s trying to hold the DE up with eyes on the ILB. I understand not wanting the DE to squeeze down off the edge, but if he did and the sifting Y logs him to give Williams the edge, he had a lot of space to work. The LT, in my opinion, needed to either get straight to the LB if it were split zone or be more aggressive on the DE if it were zone insert. Instead, he kind of does both halfway, and it clogs the hole up.

SMACK H GATOR

McVay doesn’t need much to decide it’s time to throw the ball, and after that run, he doesn’t call another one for 10 plays! The third play leads to another explosive pass, this time off of Smack Gator. This play does appear to be audibled to as Stafford starts out under center then makes some calls while shifting to the gun, and with the concept, I wouldn’t be surprised if the criteria for the audible was getting one high. SMACK is what this tree calls the popular one-high beater of Hitches on the outside and Seams on the inside. From this condensed set, the outside WRs run speed outs instead of hitches, but they attack the same space at the same time. Gator is what they call the Over the Ball option route. Williams check releases then has an option to break left or right based off the leverage of his defender.

The defense doesn’t really disguise at all. Pre-snap, it’s pretty evident that they are playing man free behind a 5 man pressure. With one CB pressed and the other only 5 yards off, Stafford knows pre-snap that the access speed outs are off the table. I think that Stafford makes more of a matchup decision here than reading the safety. Yes, you can see from the endzone view that he’s keying the safety, but the safety doesn’t drift. He stays right on the hash. If Stafford were throwing away from the safety, I thought Kupp was a bit wider than Higbee and had more room to continue running away from him being to the wider side of the field. Neither seam has much separation, which is why I think this was more of an “if all things are equal, take the matchup” throw as Higbee is 6’6” and he’s being covered by Blake Cashman, who is 6’1”.

McVay has had some dud play-calling series’ in the red zone, but this is not one of them. Paid subscribers will have access to the red zone series that finished setting the tone to open the game, including a new kind of play? Read the article to find out!