Offensive Production - Purdue Edition

[AUEngineer2016 407]

It's been a while since I posted, but I've been getting more into film breakdown (Brett Kollman does a great job, but focuses more on the NFL) and thought this would be a good game to take a look at why our offense exploded against Purdue. Was it scheme? Execution? Playcalling? A mix? Let's find out.

All of the screenshots and plays are taken directly from Auburn Football's highlights video on YouTube.

Play #1 - Wheel Route TD to Boobee Whitlow

This is the 3rd play of the game, and it's 3rd and 1. Purdue has clearly watched film of Auburn this year, and based on our offensive tendencies, they're selling out for the run, betting that we'll stick to our usual gameplan and run up the middle. To accomplish that, they're lined up in a 3-4 set, but have brought both safeties down 10 yards off the LOS and have their corners in press coverage. At this point, Auburn can be fairly confident that they are bringing pressure, which dictates that we should probably get the ball out quick to avoid a sack.

Pre-snap, Chandler Cox is lined out wide to the right side of the offensive formation, but he is immediately motioned back into the backfield. This motion is designed to help identify whether the defense is running a man or zone look. The defender (Safety #27) follows Cox through the motion, which (along with the press coverage) indicates that this is a man blitz. 

With Cox in the backfield, it's a little easier to see the man coverage. Stidham knows that Purdue is probably bringing 5 blitzers, with 2 additional possible (LOLB and MLB). He also knows that his "hot" route is going to be the RB on the rub. Looking at the play design, first the rout concepts:

Auburn is sending 4 players out in the formation, and the primary target on this play is Boobee. Both Seth Williams and Anthony Schwartz are running slant patterns, but notice that both receivers presnap are looking at the LBs- that is because their first objective here is to get in the way of the LB covering Boobee (in this case, the ROLB). With no safety help over the top, this "pick" or "rub" action is what causes Boobee to be so wide open on the play. On the other side of the formation, Darius Slayton is getting an outside release and running either a fly route or a comeback, but he's out of view so we can't tell. Meanwhile, looking at the blocking:

This blocking setup is designed to cause the LBs to hesitate (giving the WRs more time to get in their way, which will free up the wheel route). We're blocking down towards the wide side of the field, but are pulling our strong side guard back to the left, which typically indicates a run to the left side of the formation (either QB on a Power or Read Option or RB on a counter). Meanwhile, the DL all gets washed down away from the playside, giving Stidham a "bailout" to the playside if he needs one. Notice the split between the DT and the DE on the left side of the offensive formation- this split makes it a lot easier for Tega to get leverage on the DT. 

Play at 50% speed:

Seth Williams does a good job of "rubbing" the ROLB, which leaves Boobee wide open. Stidham hits Boobee in stride an lets his guy go make a play.

Verdict: Scheme, Playcalling, and Execution made this play work.

Play #2: Fly Route to Seth Williams

Auburn comes out in 11 personnel (1 RB, 1 FB) with 2 WR to the wide side of the field, while Purdue again puts 5 guys on the LOS. This time, they have their corners at a 5-6 yard depth. Notice that all of the DBs are looking inside, not at the player in front of them. Also notice that S #27 is lined up on the opposite side of the formation from Boobee or Cox. Both of these are indicators that this is going to be a zone coverage, but it's not yet determined what type of zone it will be (cover 1,2,3,4). These "cover" monikers refer to the number of safeties that are the last line of defense, so in Cover 1, there's one man back who is responsible for the whole field, in Cover 2 there are 2 who are responsible for half, and so on. Each of these different "covers" dictates a different read on the play. There are lots of resources out there detailing how to attack zone coverages, so I'm not going to reinvent the wheel here. 

Offensively, after the snap, Seth Williams (top of the screen) runs a fly route and Ryan Davis (slot, right of the formation) runs a little "bubble" route. The goal of this play is to fake the bubble screen, have the corners bite on the fake, and hit Seth Williams over the top for a chunk play: 

Purdue ends up running a Cover 4 here (so 4 safeties over the top, each responsible for a quarter of the field, also called Quarters coverage), which should take away the fly route that Seth Williams runs. This shouldn't be a problem, because all of the defenders going so far back opens up underneath routes like Ryan Davis's will be wide open.

After the snap, Stidham immediately looks towards Ryan Davis, who is 14+ yards from the nearest defender. In accordance with the called play, he gives Davis a pump fake and throws it up to Seth Williams. This was a very dangerous decision. To his credit, Williams did have a step on the defender, however he was incredibly fortunate that the CB and Safety were so preoccupied watching Seth Williams that they didn't look for the ball because the pass was also underthrown, causing Williams to have to come back for it rather than hitting him in stride. 

Given that the CB wasn't looking for the ball, I won't call this a terrible decision by Stidham, but it was a dangerous decision, especially on 1st and 10 where we didn't need to pick up chunk yardage like that. The safer decision would've been to hit Ryan Davis in the flat, gain 5-6 yards, and keep yourself in a good spot for 2nd down. This play worked against Purdue, but I can about guarantee it wouldn't have worked against Alabama, LSU, or Georgia.

Full Play, Half Speed:

Verdict: Playcalling was good, but the play worked due to poor defense and a good catch by Williams.

Play #3: Screen pass to Darius Slayton

Auburn is up big, but is in a bit of a hole on 2nd and 18, so we come out in a 2x2 set. This is a bit of a misnomer though, since one of the receivers at the top is Chandler Cox, who is seldom used in the pass game. Again, we're using motion to determine the defensive playcall, but this time we're doing it with Kam Martin. He motions into the backfield, nobody follows, so it's likely a zone.

Presnap, Purdue is showing us a Cover 2 look from a 3-3 Nickel formation. Notice that they've got a LB covering Cox at the left side of the formation. Also notice that their corners are playing "off", not press. Offensively, Gus is betting that Purdue is going to be pinning their ears back and coming after the quarterback, and rather than try to stop them from doing so, he's going to use that to his advantage by calling a screen pass. In this case, he's going to utilize a "tunnel" screen, which will attempt to get WR Slayton (far left of the formation) the ball behind a wall of blockers. That wall will come from Cox and the OL, who will simply let the DL run by them.

A couple things to notice: #1 - Tega (LT) is staying in to block. This is intentional, because it will help prevent the DE on the play side from either batting down or intercepting the ball. #2 - Cox is going to block the ROLB covering him, not the CB covering Slayton. Again, this is intentional, but this time it's because the DBs are in a "bail" technique, typical of off coverage. Their hips are already partially turned, and their goal is to force everything back inside where they have help over the top rather than trying to jam the receiver at the line. 

The playcall was a good one and Tega did a good job giving his QB time to throw. Additionally, Slayton's blocks set up nicely:

Unfortunately, this play was not perfect. Even with ample room to throw, Stidham's pass was high, and Slayton had to jump to catch it, losing precious time. Additionally, Chandler Cox was unable to maintain his block on the ROLB, who executed a swim move to the inside. By the time Slayton recovered from his catch, here's what the picture looked like: 

Realistically, there are now 4 defenders who can possibly make this play: The ROLB that got away from Cox, the CB initially covering Slayton, and both Safeties. Even so, at this point Slayton has a lead blocker and is already back to the LOS with a blocker in front of him and room to run, so the play should be a success.

Harrell takes care of the CB and Slayton out runs the ROLB, but now is without a lead blocker and has 2 safeties in pursuit. Both are still a ways away, so this should at least get Auburn back to 3rd and manageable.

This picture is the reason Slayton scored on the play: Safety #27 messed up. He took a bad angle, and on top of that he left his hips wide open. See how Slayton is watching him? My guess is that #27 hoped to simply hit Slayton out of bounds, but before he can do so Slayton makes a great open-field move with a "hesitation" or "stutter step" move and a little jab step inside, which caused the #27 to hesitate. Once he did so, Slayton turned on the jets and beat him to the boundary. 

Full play, half speed:

Verdict: Playcalling and execution made this play a success, but an individual effort by Slayton made it a TD. 

 

[keesler 5,922]

Superior player execution on AU's part and level of competition on Purdue's part are the main the results of a bloodbath and a great big W for AU.

[Mike4AU 1,739]

Impressive post AUEngineer2016!

[au81bs 32]

Thank you AUEngineer2016!  For a novice like me, this is very instructional and helps me immensely gain a little more understanding of the game.  I very much appreciate your time and work to diagram and analyze these plays.

[WarEagle1982 447]

Great analysis.  You are right about Seth Williams rubbing off that LB on the first TD.  Anytime you can make that guy run underneath and chase on a wheel route you are winning the battle.

 I will add that on the screen pass TD to Slayton this is actually a double “read” screen.  I listened to them talk about their progression on this a few years ago at their spring coaching clinic.  Their first part of this is to identify the Mike LB.  When the ball is snapped the QB’s first read is the Mike.  If the Mike works out with the RB then the QB immediately goes with the tunnel screen because you now have one less LB to pin with the linemen.  That is what happened in this case.  If the Mike sits or goes with the tunnel screen then the QB reads the DE to the RB side.  If he feels like he can beat the DE to the RB side he throws the screen to the RB.  The first TD against FSU to Mason in the title game 2013-14 season is an example of that part of the read.

We run this screen in our scheme at the high school I coach at except we don’t read the Mike.  We simply read the DE to the swing side.  We also release all 5 linemen so we have the center to pin the Mike LB if he tries to fall in on the tunnel screen.

[Auctoritas 2,826]

This is freaking phenomenal. Thanks for this. I would love to get more into this stuff, and this post makes me want to do it even more!

[WarEagle1982 447]

I love coaching the screen game.  We do a ton of it at the high school level.  My personal favorite is the middle or missile screen where you release all 5 linemen through the middle of the field.  We have had HUGE success with that one.

[AFTiger 282]

Blocker blocked, passer passed, receivers received, and tacklers tackled. Looked good to me.

[homersapien 11,352]

1 hour ago, keesler said:

Superior player execution on AU's part and level of competition on Purdue's part are the main the results of a bloodbath and a great big W for AU.

Yep.  Our team was way faster than their team.  And we "punched them in the mouth" right off the bat and kept it up.  

[AUEngineer2016 407]

1 hour ago, WarEagle1982 said:

Great analysis.  You are right about Seth Williams rubbing off that LB on the first TD.  Anytime you can make that guy run underneath and chase on a wheel route you are winning the battle.

 I will add that on the screen pass TD to Slayton this is actually a double “read” screen.  I listened to them talk about their progression on this a few years ago at their spring coaching clinic.  Their first part of this is to identify the Mike LB.  When the ball is snapped the QB’s first read is the Mike.  If the Mike works out with the RB then the QB immediately goes with the tunnel screen because you now have one less LB to pin with the linemen.  That is what happened in this case.  If the Mike sits or goes with the tunnel screen then the QB reads the DE to the RB side.  If he feels like he can beat the DE to the RB side he throws the screen to the RB.  The first TD against FSU to Mason in the title game 2013-14 season is an example of that part of the read.

We run this screen in our scheme at the high school I coach at except we don’t read the Mike.  We simply read the DE to the swing side.  We also release all 5 linemen so we have the center to pin the Mike LB if he tries to fall in on the tunnel screen.

You're absolutely right, I tried to focus more on the playside, but in the GIF you can see Kam Martin run out to the wide-side of the field with lead blockers Mike Horton and Jack Driscoll as well as Seth Williams blocking on the boundary. Stidham's read on the play is the DE to the strong side of the formation (in this case, the right side of the formation). You can see him watch the DE, and when the DE stops rushing to cover Kam, he turns and fires it to Slayton. Turned out to be the right decision because Seth Williams was unable to get a good block on the DB. Kam might have been able to out run him, but would've been a harder play to convert. 

[AUEngineer2016 407]

2 hours ago, keesler said:

Superior player execution on AU's part and level of competition on Purdue's part are the main the results of a bloodbath and a great big W for AU.

I think it was a big part, but schematically we also did some clever things to take advantage of Brohm's aggressive play, especially with their defense. The offense was clicking on all cylinders, and that includes the play caller. Biggest example of that in the OP was the 3rd down wheel route- that was the perfect play call for the situation, and would've worked regardless of who was running it. I agree that we definitely executed better and that we clearly had a talent advantage, however playcalling was still a huge component of the win. 

[BJCrawford 1,568]

I LOVE this. Thx! I am a novice and the amount of planning and execution that goes into a single play is incredible. Please post more often! Btw would you come to the conclusion that against a better coached defense the Williams catch and the Slayto TD would likely not happen?

[bigbird 60,368]

1 hour ago, WarEagle1982 said:

I love coaching the screen game.  We do a ton of it at the high school level.  My personal favorite is the middle or missile screen where you release all 5 linemen through the middle of the field.  We have had HUGE success with that one.

As a secondary guy, I hate that one. 😂

[AUEngineer2016 407]

1 minute ago, BJCrawford said:

I LOVE this. Thx! I am a novice and the amount of planning and execution that goes into a single play is incredible. Please post more often! Btw would you come to the conclusion that against a better coached defense the Williams catch and the Slayto TD would likely not happen?

Yes on the Williams catch (though that's assuming Stidham still throws it, he might take a checkdown if the DB has good coverage), but the Slayton TD was more athleticism than anything. He wasn't in danger of being tackled until after he got the 1st down. The only thing better coaching might do is make sure defenders get out to cover the screen quicker.

[tigerbrotha12 2,362]

3 hours ago, AUEngineer2016 said:

It's been a while since I posted, but I've been getting more into film breakdown (Brett Kollman does a great job, but focuses more on the NFL) and thought this would be a good game to take a look at why our offense exploded against Purdue. Was it scheme? Execution? Playcalling? A mix? Let's find out.

All of the screenshots and plays are taken directly from Auburn Football's highlights video on YouTube.

Play #1 - Wheel Route TD to Boobee Whitlow

This is the 3rd play of the game, and it's 3rd and 1. Purdue has clearly watched film of Auburn this year, and based on our offensive tendencies, they're selling out for the run, betting that we'll stick to our usual gameplan and run up the middle. To accomplish that, they're lined up in a 3-4 set, but have brought both safeties down 10 yards off the LOS and have their corners in press coverage. At this point, Auburn can be fairly confident that they are bringing pressure, which dictates that we should probably get the ball out quick to avoid a sack.

Pre-snap, Chandler Cox is lined out wide to the right side of the offensive formation, but he is immediately motioned back into the backfield. This motion is designed to help identify whether the defense is running a man or zone look. The defender (Safety #27) follows Cox through the motion, which (along with the press coverage) indicates that this is a man blitz. 

With Cox in the backfield, it's a little easier to see the man coverage. Stidham knows that Purdue is probably bringing 5 blitzers, with 2 additional possible (LOLB and MLB). He also knows that his "hot" route is going to be the RB on the rub. Looking at the play design, first the rout concepts:

Auburn is sending 4 players out in the formation, and the primary target on this play is Boobee. Both Seth Williams and Anthony Schwartz are running slant patterns, but notice that both receivers presnap are looking at the LBs- that is because their first objective here is to get in the way of the LB covering Boobee (in this case, the ROLB). With no safety help over the top, this "pick" or "rub" action is what causes Boobee to be so wide open on the play. On the other side of the formation, Darius Slayton is getting an outside release and running either a fly route or a comeback, but he's out of view so we can't tell. Meanwhile, looking at the blocking:

This blocking setup is designed to cause the LBs to hesitate (giving the WRs more time to get in their way, which will free up the wheel route). We're blocking down towards the wide side of the field, but are pulling our strong side guard back to the left, which typically indicates a run to the left side of the formation (either QB on a Power or Read Option or RB on a counter). Meanwhile, the DL all gets washed down away from the playside, giving Stidham a "bailout" to the playside if he needs one. Notice the split between the DT and the DE on the left side of the offensive formation- this split makes it a lot easier for Tega to get leverage on the DT. 

Play at 50% speed:

Seth Williams does a good job of "rubbing" the ROLB, which leaves Boobee wide open. Stidham hits Boobee in stride an lets his guy go make a play.

Verdict: Scheme, Playcalling, and Execution made this play work.

Play #2: Fly Route to Seth Williams

Auburn comes out in 11 personnel (1 RB, 1 FB) with 2 WR to the wide side of the field, while Purdue again puts 5 guys on the LOS. This time, they have their corners at a 5-6 yard depth. Notice that all of the DBs are looking inside, not at the player in front of them. Also notice that S #27 is lined up on the opposite side of the formation from Boobee or Cox. Both of these are indicators that this is going to be a zone coverage, but it's not yet determined what type of zone it will be (cover 1,2,3,4). These "cover" monikers refer to the number of safeties that are the last line of defense, so in Cover 1, there's one man back who is responsible for the whole field, in Cover 2 there are 2 who are responsible for half, and so on. Each of these different "covers" dictates a different read on the play. There are lots of resources out there detailing how to attack zone coverages, so I'm not going to reinvent the wheel here. 

Offensively, after the snap, Seth Williams (top of the screen) runs a fly route and Ryan Davis (slot, right of the formation) runs a little "bubble" route. The goal of this play is to fake the bubble screen, have the corners bite on the fake, and hit Seth Williams over the top for a chunk play: 

Purdue ends up running a Cover 4 here (so 4 safeties over the top, each responsible for a quarter of the field, also called Quarters coverage), which should take away the fly route that Seth Williams runs. This shouldn't be a problem, because all of the defenders going so far back opens up underneath routes like Ryan Davis's will be wide open.

After the snap, Stidham immediately looks towards Ryan Davis, who is 14+ yards from the nearest defender. In accordance with the called play, he gives Davis a pump fake and throws it up to Seth Williams. This was a very dangerous decision. To his credit, Williams did have a step on the defender, however he was incredibly fortunate that the CB and Safety were so preoccupied watching Seth Williams that they didn't look for the ball because the pass was also underthrown, causing Williams to have to come back for it rather than hitting him in stride. 

Given that the CB wasn't looking for the ball, I won't call this a terrible decision by Stidham, but it was a dangerous decision, especially on 1st and 10 where we didn't need to pick up chunk yardage like that. The safer decision would've been to hit Ryan Davis in the flat, gain 5-6 yards, and keep yourself in a good spot for 2nd down. This play worked against Purdue, but I can about guarantee it wouldn't have worked against Alabama, LSU, or Georgia.

Full Play, Half Speed:

Verdict: Playcalling was good, but the play worked due to poor defense and a good catch by Williams.

Play #3: Screen pass to Darius Slayton

Auburn is up big, but is in a bit of a hole on 2nd and 18, so we come out in a 2x2 set. This is a bit of a misnomer though, since one of the receivers at the top is Chandler Cox, who is seldom used in the pass game. Again, we're using motion to determine the defensive playcall, but this time we're doing it with Kam Martin. He motions into the backfield, nobody follows, so it's likely a zone.

Presnap, Purdue is showing us a Cover 2 look from a 3-3 Nickel formation. Notice that they've got a LB covering Cox at the left side of the formation. Also notice that their corners are playing "off", not press. Offensively, Gus is betting that Purdue is going to be pinning their ears back and coming after the quarterback, and rather than try to stop them from doing so, he's going to use that to his advantage by calling a screen pass. In this case, he's going to utilize a "tunnel" screen, which will attempt to get WR Slayton (far left of the formation) the ball behind a wall of blockers. That wall will come from Cox and the OL, who will simply let the DL run by them.

A couple things to notice: #1 - Tega (LT) is staying in to block. This is intentional, because it will help prevent the DE on the play side from either batting down or intercepting the ball. #2 - Cox is going to block the ROLB covering him, not the CB covering Slayton. Again, this is intentional, but this time it's because the DBs are in a "bail" technique, typical of off coverage. Their hips are already partially turned, and their goal is to force everything back inside where they have help over the top rather than trying to jam the receiver at the line. 

The playcall was a good one and Tega did a good job giving his QB time to throw. Additionally, Slayton's blocks set up nicely:

Unfortunately, this play was not perfect. Even with ample room to throw, Stidham's pass was high, and Slayton had to jump to catch it, losing precious time. Additionally, Chandler Cox was unable to maintain his block on the ROLB, who executed a swim move to the inside. By the time Slayton recovered from his catch, here's what the picture looked like: 

Realistically, there are now 4 defenders who can possibly make this play: The ROLB that got away from Cox, the CB initially covering Slayton, and both Safeties. Even so, at this point Slayton has a lead blocker and is already back to the LOS with a blocker in front of him and room to run, so the play should be a success.

Harrell takes care of the CB and Slayton out runs the ROLB, but now is without a lead blocker and has 2 safeties in pursuit. Both are still a ways away, so this should at least get Auburn back to 3rd and manageable.

This picture is the reason Slayton scored on the play: Safety #27 messed up. He took a bad angle, and on top of that he left his hips wide open. See how Slayton is watching him? My guess is that #27 hoped to simply hit Slayton out of bounds, but before he can do so Slayton makes a great open-field move with a "hesitation" or "stutter step" move and a little jab step inside, which caused the #27 to hesitate. Once he did so, Slayton turned on the jets and beat him to the boundary. 

Full play, half speed:

Verdict: Playcalling and execution made this play a success, but an individual effort by Slayton made it a TD. 

 

Glad you’re back buddy. Great post

[Linayus 676]

I didn't get to watch the game (just listened to it on ESPN radio while I drove through the snow in northern NM) so I appreciate the play breakdowns. Lots of great info you provided and I learned some things about the different reads the QB has to make! I hope Bo picks up on that quickly!

[WarEagle1982 447]

2 hours ago, bigbird said:

As a secondary guy, I hate that one. 😂

😂😂.  Funny story:  the first time we put it in and ran it we had it set up perfect except for the fact that the opponent had a lazy lineman that tripped over his own feet and fell down right in the dang passing lane!!  We still completed it but it affected the timing enough that it got tackled for like a 2 yard gain.

This past season we were playing a huge rival at their place.  We had not played them in 3 years because we had moved up in classification and then back down.  They were on a 24 game regular season winning streak and had won back to back region titles while we were up.  We drove on our opening possession and hit the middle screen perfect on 3rd and 6 for a TD and our folks went nuts.  My LT knocked a LB down and then climbed and sealed off a safety that got our guy in.  I absolutely went crazy cause I love it when my linemen get downfield and get work done!  We won on a late TD in a 38-34 shootout!  

[aujeff11 6,243]

Are the gifs working for y’all? 

[GreenDrazi 24]

11 minutes ago, aujeff11 said:

Are the gifs working for y’all? 

No, they aren’t for me and I have no problem visiting exgif.com. In other words, I don’t think that it’s my adblocker, but would love to hear from others.

FANTASTIC post from @AUEngineer2016 otherwise. 

[AU64 10,122]

Note says url expired....but terrific explanations....

Thanks

[augolf1716 21,094]

Great job  @AUEngineer2016

[AU_Tiger_88 417]

Great analysis and input by others....love these kind of topics vice the fire this or that coach type of threads....

[AUEngineer2016 407]

7 hours ago, aujeff11 said:

Are the gifs working for y’all? 

 

7 hours ago, GreenDrazi said:

No, they aren’t for me and I have no problem visiting exgif.com. In other words, I don’t think that it’s my adblocker, but would love to hear from others.

FANTASTIC post from @AUEngineer2016 otherwise. 

 

6 hours ago, AU64 said:

Note says url expired....but terrific explanations....

Thanks

Fixed the GIFs. Downloaded them and uploaded to GIPHY, so they should be permanent.

[toddc 13,194]

Rewatching the game yesterday and man are we gonna miss the blocking of our fullback big time! 

[Rednilla 5,383]

Exceedingly well done. I loved running the tunnel screen, even though I was one of the receivers blocking downfield. Felt so great to get a big, perfectly legal block as the defender turns to follow the receiver.

I was also the pitch guy on the hook and ladder, and the guy who ran intricate routes to get separation. Our QB until senior year pitched for Georgia, and he could hum the ball in there. I was the only receiver who could consistently catch the ball from him (but at 5'11, 140, that doesn't always help except on quick routes). If I hadn't been riding my four wheeler without a helmet one day in July of 97, I would have filled out more to 170 or 180, at least, and my head wouldn't have been trying to make it a damned movie. 

But life goes on.

Sorry, I went and got all sentimental being reminded of good football analysis. Bravo, @AuEngineer! And thanks to all the coaches for chiming in, too!