BSL: Flacco Struggles Against the Bengals Zone Blitz

[BSLNadeemK]

http://baltimoresportsandlife.com/ba...ls-zone-blitz/

This should be a fun discussion...

[AirFlacco]

This from Film Study's notes:



The Bengals ran primarily vanilla 4-man pressure on 14 of the Ravens’ first 17 pass plays. When that produced ample time and space (ATS) on 12 occasions, they switched to frequent double-A-gap blitz looks with some combination of Rey/Maualuga/Lamur standing to either side of Zuttah.

I can’t help but think how helpless Gradkowski was in such situations a year ago, but as we’ll see, the 2014 Ravens line was up to the challenge.

The problem here if you look at the tape, Joe never sees the blitz from his right at the
end of the game. Guy blitzes in un-touched. Wagner blocked his man. Yanda was blocking his man when he saw the blitzer and moved over to slow him down then his man got in on the sack but Joe never looked to his right when he lined up under the center.

The QB is supposed to look up and down the los before the snap. Usually, he should know
what to do before he lines up under center. There was a game with Aaron Rogers walking
up to the los and Gruden said he knows what he's going to do already. He sees the scheme.

He said that about Joe during the SB season and Joe did check off on the big 3rd down
play to Boldin that broke SFs back but he hasn't done it since. I defended him last year
saying he was running for his life all the time as the most blitzed QB in football at one
point but he doesn't look up and down the line before the snap.

Same thing happened a few years ago when TP snuck up to the line and nobody saw
him. Joe didn't look to his left. Oher said he saw TP but had to block Harrison but he
didn't try to slow him down like Yanda did when he saw the blitzer. At least Yanda
tried to do something, Oher didn't know what to do.

[Filmstudy]

This from Film Study's notes:



The Bengals ran primarily vanilla 4-man pressure on 14 of the Ravens’ first 17 pass plays. When that produced ample time and space (ATS) on 12 occasions, they switched to frequent double-A-gap blitz looks with some combination of Rey/Maualuga/Lamur standing to either side of Zuttah.

I can’t help but think how helpless Gradkowski was in such situations a year ago, but as we’ll see, the 2014 Ravens line was up to the challenge.

The problem here if you look at the tape, Joe never sees the blitz from his right at the
end of the game. Guy blitzes in un-touched. Wagner blocked his man. Yanda was blocking his man when he saw the blitzer and moved over to slow him down then his man got in on the sack but Joe never looked to his right when he lined up under the center.

The QB is supposed to look up and down the los before the snap. Usually, he should know
what to do before he lines up under center. There was a game with Aaron Rogers walking
up to the los and Gruden said he knows what he's going to do already. He sees the scheme.

He said that about Joe during the SB season and Joe did check off on the big 3rd down
play to Boldin that broke SFs back but he hasn't done it since. I defended him last year
saying he was running for his life all the time as the most blitzed QB in football at one
point but he doesn't look up and down the line before the snap.

Same thing happened a few years ago when TP snuck up to the line and nobody saw
him. Joe didn't look to his left. Oher said he saw TP but had to block Harrison but he
didn't try to slow him down like Yanda did when he saw the blitzer. At least Yanda
tried to do something, Oher didn't know what to do.

Someone left a comment on my piece asking for more detail on the last 2 sacks, which I added just now:

http://russellstreetreport.com/films...engals-around/

The key to reading the blitz on the sack shared by Nelson and Gilberry was Rey's drop to soft coverage on Steve Smith with Nelson still pressing opposite Smith prior to the snap. That should have clued Flacco that the overload was coming from the right side and the ball would need to be out quickly. Unfortunately, Yanda tried to rotate to Hunt, but Zuttah was blocking the retreating Lamur, so Gilberry also came essentially free and that accelerated the pressure, leaving Flacco with no chance.

There's more detail with the link provided.

[AirFlacco]

This from the link above.

The Quarterback must also communicate with the offensive line and receivers. The Quarterback must understand the strengths and weaknesses in the protection and compare it to the potential defensive schemes in his pre-snap read. The Quarterback must also know the potential escape routes if the protection is overloaded on a particular side.

The offense can’t protect against every blitz. The Quarterback must know when to throw to the hot receiver, when to scramble or when to take a sack.

Again, Joe doesn't look up and down the los to even see who's lining up so he can
communite to his linemen, at least as I noticed at the end of the game.

All that said, Joe still gave them the win but the D couldn't hold the lead
for 2 lousy mins, not even 1 play as Chykie fell down batting the ball up
to Green's waiting hands.

[AirFlacco]

Someone left a comment on my piece asking for more detail on the last 2 sacks, which I added just now:

http://russellstreetreport.com/films...engals-around/

The key to reading the blitz on the sack shared by Nelson and Gilberry was Rey's drop to soft coverage on Steve Smith with Nelson still pressing opposite Smith prior to the snap. That should have clued Flacco that the overload was coming from the right side and the ball would need to be out quickly. Unfortunately, Yanda tried to rotate to Hunt, but Zuttah was blocking the retreating Lamur, so Gilberry also came essentially free and that accelerated the pressure, leaving Flacco with no chance.

There's more detail with the link provided.

Thanks FS. That wasnt my request but Joe didn't look to his right. He looked straight ahead. It reminded me of Earl Morall in SB 3 with Jimmy Orr wide open and he never looks to his left. He looks
straight ahead, just like Flacco and thows an interception to the FB of all people.

Joe has been here long enough to do all that and is a SB MVP. He still had a 58% completion average and gave them the win but defense couldn't hold on.

Joe has to look up and down the los before the snap.

[Filmstudy]

This from the link above.

The Quarterback must also communicate with the offensive line and receivers. The Quarterback must understand the strengths and weaknesses in the protection and compare it to the potential defensive schemes in his pre-snap read. The Quarterback must also know the potential escape routes if the protection is overloaded on a particular side.

The offense can’t protect against every blitz. The Quarterback must know when to throw to the hot receiver, when to scramble or when to take a sack.

Again, Joe doesn't look up and down the los to even see who's lining up so he can
communite to his linemen, at least as I noticed at the end of the game.

All that said, Joe still gave them the win but the D couldn't hold the lead
for 2 lousy mins, not even 1 play as Chykie fell down batting the ball up
to Green's waiting hands.

One other thing that was pissing me off about the timing of those last 2 plays was the horrific clock management. Had the Ravens scored, it probably would have been in the next play or 2 and they left far too much time on the clock for the Bengals to drive for a FG. AN ideal time to wait to call the timeout prior to the last snap might have been 40 seconds remaining.

[AirFlacco]

Yea and we've been pissing about clock management since HARBs got here.

[Bigfish]

I don't recall seeing the overload before then. Not having the resources to study film, I'm curious if they did this before? Joe might have gotten lulled into becoming lazy in going through his pre snap reads. Not trying to excuse him, the intensity of the moment should have enhanced his awareness.

[AirFlacco]

Im pretty sure that was a new formation. Somebody mentioned it on Sunday that they
threw something new Joe wouldn't recognize and you can bet PIss will do the same, like with
TP sneaking up on him.

All Joe had to do was look up and down the los before the snap to see the over load and
no one was in front of the blitzer. He wasn't Wagner's responsibility. I also blame Kubes
who didn't figure it out either but he should have foreseen a blitz and left KJ in to pick
up the block and try to slow him down. I saw Leach do that under CAM many times for
crying out loud. Marvin out-coached the entire staff including Kubes. It was payback for
Kubes who had his number in Houston especially in the POs. Does anyone remember the
quote from some AFC coach who said now we'll see if little JOhnny can coach after CAM
left and many of us thought it was Marvin who said it? Some thought it was Rex but
Marvin got him on Sunday and in Cinci last year for the last game.


I called it all last week saying they'd stack the line and blitz like crazy. As FS said, they
started off with a 4-man line not knowing how our line had improved thinking they could
dominate them again like in Cinci last year. Once they figured out they couldn't they
went to the stacked line and blitz in the second half. Piss throws multiple blitzes and wraps them up in a package to confuse the QB.

I didn't know the technical name of Cinci's overload blitz but I said we'd lose if Joe couldn't beat the blitz and he didn't. With Joe, it's all mental at this point.

[pslholder96]

One of the few things that kind of frustrates me about Joe is that he's not as vocal when it comes to managing blocking assignments. Be nice if he took the same approach that Brady, Manning and Rodgers do

[GOTA]

Yea and we've been pissing about clock management since HARBs got here.

That seems to be the biggest thing Harbaugh took with him from working with Andy Reid for so long.

[Ravenswintitle]

They disguised that blitz at the end of the game and it worked. Not sure if there should be blame on the Oline or Flacco but it's a mute point now.