The pick 6 drive

[upperdeck]

Probably the most frustrating drive of the game

Not only the Gasden hold, which no tv angle really shows much other hand placement might have been wide

Washington blew a block because he never reacted to the snap

We also had the wide open miss to GIll

We ran nice Screen to Pena that Gasden blew his block when Pena had only 1 guy to beat and room run

We had the Bradford holding call, that I have no idea what he was doing and he let the DL from an outside angle beat him to the inside instead of forcing injto the pile, not that it mattered because others messed up as well

We had the LB helmet hit to Hatcher I think on the sideline where it wasnt really looked at.

Then we had the Pick 6.
That was actually perfect call with the blitz and while yeah Vallari might have gone the wrong way, we forget it was 3rd and long and he went to the sticks and turned.
The issue was again Kyle was under pressure and couldnt wait.

My real question though and no one asked in the PC was when they send the slot cover shouldn't that be a hot read and we throw a 5-7 yds on a skinny type post more than we throw a 12-15 yd curl? At worst we end up with 4th and 3-5 and we probably kick fg or go for it.

 

[upperdeck]

before the snap. Single high. from here we have no way to block pressure unless we slide protection. the right side has a chance but the LT LG have 3 possible guys. Which is why the first question in the PC should not have been when does Vallari do at the stem but why isnt this an immediate check down? Which makes me wonder if Vallari didnt know the hot route on that was him when the blitz happens.

Much like when Jeremy Grey is screaming at John Beckwith in Wedding Crashers with the same result.

We must have a call for that dont we?

I mean we went 5 wide and Stan went 7 in the box?

 

[upperdeck]

Here the protection breaks. Kyle has no choice but to throw early to the spot. Washington is blocking air. But note Meeks has an inbreaking route with no safety and watch gasden. at this point the safety has already started to break on this ball.

 

[upperdeck]

the final disaster. Kyle doesn't get smoked which is good. Meeks has an open shot right at the sticks if Kyle goes that way. The safety has committed to where he thought the ball was going and if Kyle goes inside with Vallari its a TD. To Meeks its a FD and more. And at the top Gadsen is gone for a TD on a skinny post as the LB is playing zone and blew whatever coverage they might have been in.

Still if you hit Dan V at the 40 with the safety at the 25 its likely he gains the first and with any good move it might also be a TD.

The coverage they played was awful all around and yet they smell like roses. it happens.

 

[DomeHolmes]

Here the protection breaks. Kyle has no choice but to throw early to the spot. Washington is blocking air. But note Meeks has an inbreaking route with no safety and watch gasden. at this point the safety has already started to break on this ball.

View attachment 245271

Great shots/illustration. Villari needs the awareness to start looking for the ball at the 40, catch it at the 35 and still have 5 yards to potentially beat the safety. Still McCord never should’ve thrown it. as you said, should’ve audibled to hot route.

Also Washington did not have a great game, but in fairness, the defensive end, who was his responsibility, looks to have bailed to slow down or cover LQA. You can actually see in your third shot he winds up being in the position he should have been. The play was screwed up by not keeping Laquint in. if he’s there to pick up the blitz and McCord has time, he finds one of the other targets who, as you said, if it’s Gadsden, is a TD. The guy who I thought screwed up here was Bradford (but maybe not) and/or communication with Reed . Reed was too far away from the defensive tackle to get there first, so Bradford had to slow him down first but then ideally needed to be able to chip on the blitzing linebacker. (Not easy) Ideally that assignment goes to a running back, but we did not keep one in. It looks like in the third picture he might actually have chipped on him Enough to keep him from lighting up Kyle, but not enough to keep the throw from being hurried.

 

[PhatOrange]

If Vallari had had any awareness of what was going on and the coverage he would’ve curled out and caught the ball at the 30. Instead he curled in. McCord was pissed at him.

by the way, the LT is blocking fine. The breakdown is the LG and C are blocking the same DT and the pressure comes from the LB blitzing thru the (guard) gap untouched.

 

[Newhouser]

Excellent break down - still though for me, DV needs to get his head out of his butt and start playing. Or he needs to see a ton fewer snaps.

 

[wfschrec]

Great shots/illustration. Villari needs the awareness to start looking for the ball at the 40, catch it at the 35 and still have 5 yards to potentially beat the safety. Still McCord never should’ve thrown it. as you said, should’ve audibled to hot route.

Also Washington did not have a great game, but in fairness, the defensive end, who was his responsibility, looks to have bailed to slow down or cover LQA. You can actually see in your third shot he winds up being in the position he should have been. The play was screwed up by not keeping Laquint in. if he’s there to pick up the blitz and McCord has time, he finds one of the other targets who, as you said, if it’s Gadsden, is a TD. The guy who I thought screwed up here was Bradford (but maybe not) and/or communication with Reed . Reed was too far away from the defensive tackle to get there first, so Bradford had to slow him down first but then ideally needed to be able to chip on the blitzing linebacker. (Not easy) Ideally that assignment goes to a running back, but we did not keep one in. It looks like in the third picture he might actually have chipped on him Enough to keep him from lighting up Kyle, but not enough to keep the throw from being hurried.

Pretty sure Washington was not in and that’s was Cruz at LT

 

[0.2 YNdeeR]

the final disaster. Kyle doesn't get smoked which is good. Meeks has an open shot right at the sticks if Kyle goes that way. The safety has committed to where he thought the ball was going and if Kyle goes inside with Vallari its a TD. To Meeks its a FD and more. And at the top Gadsen is gone for a TD on a skinny post as the LB is playing zone and blew whatever coverage they might have been in.

Still if you hit Dan V at the 40 with the safety at the 25 its likely he gains the first and with any good move it might also be a TD.

The coverage they played was awful all around and yet they smell like roses. it happens.

View attachment 245272

There are two lessons here: 1) you can get away with murder (multiple blown/weak coverages) in the secondary as long as you put enough pressure on the QB; and 2) good route running, including hot read adjustments, by ALL receivers is essential because Kyle may have to get the ball out quickly. If a receiver that blows his route or doesn't adjust happens to get targeted, not only are possible chunk gains (Meeks and maybe OG) wasted, it could cause a TO. As it happened, Villari's screw up - one bad route or adjustment failure - represented a 12 point swing in a close game. Details.

 

[PhatOrange]

Pretty sure Washington was not in and that’s was Cruz at LT

The LT is Cruz in this play for sure. #70

 

[Chip]

before the snap. Single high. from here we have no way to block pressure unless we slide protection. the right side has a chance but the LT LG have 3 possible guys. Which is why the first question in the PC should not have been when does Vallari do at the stem but why isnt this an immediate check down? Which makes me wonder if Vallari didnt know the hot route on that was him when the blitz happens.

Much like when Jeremy Grey is screaming at John Beckwith in Wedding Crashers with the same result.

We must have a call for that dont we?

I mean we went 5 wide and Stan went 7 in the box?

View attachment 245270

I love this post. From the view all the way to Wedding Crashers. "Would you just go line up on the other side?"

 

[BomberOrange]

the final disaster. Kyle doesn't get smoked which is good. Meeks has an open shot right at the sticks if Kyle goes that way. The safety has committed to where he thought the ball was going and if Kyle goes inside with Vallari its a TD. To Meeks its a FD and more. And at the top Gadsen is gone for a TD on a skinny post as the LB is playing zone and blew whatever coverage they might have been in.

Still if you hit Dan V at the 40 with the safety at the 25 its likely he gains the first and with any good move it might also be a TD.

The coverage they played was awful all around and yet they smell like roses. it happens.

View attachment 245272

This is great, thanks for posting the still shots. Not sure Gadsen is in for a TD though. When you look at the 2nd pic just as Kyle is releasing, the safety has not committed yet and could have slid to OG. Meeks definitely gets a first down here but Kyle didnt have time to look his way.

 

[Chip]

Pretty sure Washington was not in and that’s was Cruz at LT

Spoon was out and Cruz was in for him at LT. Washington is RT.

 

[NineOneSeven]

I actually think the most frustrating drive of the game was when we had 3rd and 2 just around FG range and instead of running twice, McCord dropped back I think off a read option kind of play and to his left and took a sack. Then we punted.

Before the snap I turned to my friends and said we had to run the ball here, twice. And then we got sacked. I about lost it. Was terrible.

The pick 6 was huge obviously because it led to their points but it was mostly a product of miscommunication with a back up player.

 

[DPCuse]

the final disaster. Kyle doesn't get smoked which is good. Meeks has an open shot right at the sticks if Kyle goes that way. The safety has committed to where he thought the ball was going and if Kyle goes inside with Vallari its a TD. To Meeks its a FD and more. And at the top Gadsen is gone for a TD on a skinny post as the LB is playing zone and blew whatever coverage they might have been in.

Still if you hit Dan V at the 40 with the safety at the 25 its likely he gains the first and with any good move it might also be a TD.

The coverage they played was awful all around and yet they smell like roses. it happens.

View attachment 245272

Thank you for taking the time to do this breakdown. From my seat it looked different but this cleared up what transpired. Appreciate it upperdeck.

 

[DPCuse]

I actually think the most frustrating drive of the game was when we had 3rd and 2 just around FG range and instead of running twice, McCord dropped back I think off a read option kind of play and to his left and took a sack. Then we punted.

Before the snap I turned to my friends and said we had to run the ball here, twice. And then we got sacked. I about lost it. Was terrible.

The pick 6 was huge obviously because it led to their points but it was mostly a product of miscommunication with a back up player.

Ditto. That was a crushing turn of events.

 

[upperdeck]

This is great, thanks for posting the still shots. Not sure Gadsen is in for a TD though. When you look at the 2nd pic just as Kyle is releasing, the safety has not committed yet and could have slid to OG. Meeks definitely gets a first down here but Kyle didnt have time to look his way.

yeah . but in watching the safety he is really driving hard at the spot and then sees the ball and slightly adjust and catches it. He would have pretty far into attack and the ball probably is by him when he site adjusts. but who knows.

 

[Chip]

My real question though and no one asked in the PC was when they send the slot cover shouldn't that be a hot read and we throw a 5-7 yds on a skinny type post more than we throw a 12-15 yd curl? At worst we end up with 4th and 3-5 and we probably kick fg or go for it.

I'm not really worried about them asking in the PC, but I agree and wish it was a quicker throw to Villari and see what kind of yards he can get. That's the one thing he was probably best at.

I know that safety would close quickly, as would the DB covering the inside WR and the LB who was shadowing. But still, he's the uncovered guy with the free release.

Oh well.

 

[FrancoPizza]

So basically everything had to go wrong on this play for the turnover to happen. A team that can pass protect with even average receivers can have their way with Stanford.

 

[BomberOrange]

yeah . but in watching the safety he is really driving hard at the spot and then sees the ball and slightly adjust and catches it. He would have pretty far into attack and the ball probably is by him when he site adjusts. but who knows.

Totally agree, it's hard to know how a player would react with just screen shots. Still cool to see the breakdown and I appreciate you posting it.

 

[PhatOrange]

yeah . but in watching the safety he is really driving hard at the spot and then sees the ball and slightly adjust and catches it. He would have pretty far into attack and the ball probably is by him when he site adjusts. but who knows.

no one else has any chance of making a play based on the coverage and the blitz. McCord couldn’t wait for Meeks to break open. Gadsden being open for a TD is nonsense.

Villari was the hot read here. The guy over him is 15 yards off and still 10 yards off him when Vallari hits the 35 yard line. This is 1000% on Vallari who was just focused on running his pattern.

 

[upperdeck]

no one else has any chance of making a play based on the coverage and the blitz. McCord couldn’t wait for Meeks to break open. Gadsden being open for a TD is nonsense.

Villari was the hot read here. The guy over him is 15 yards off and still 10 yards off him when Vallari hits the 35 yard line. This is 1000% on Vallari who was just focused on running his pattern.

yup. But you would think that they would have some signal to tell him he is the HOT on that and to shut it down.. It should be automatic given the coverage and the safety playing 20 yds off. He acts confused on alot of his plays.

 

[Chip]

no one else has any chance of making a play based on the coverage and the blitz. McCord couldn’t wait for Meeks to break open. Gadsden being open for a TD is nonsense.

Villari was the hot read here. The guy over him is 15 yards off and still 10 yards off him when Vallari hits the 35 yard line. This is 1000% on Vallari who was just focused on running his pattern.

I just watched the play again because I'm a glutton for punishment. There was no way the corner on the inside receiver, nor the LB was going to be a problem. Throw quick to Villari and it's him one on one against a safety who would have been 10 yards away if he caught the ball at the 38. Sigh. Fix this please and thank you.

 

[wfschrec]

Spoon was out and Cruz was in for him at LT. Washington is RT.

Yeah I meant Weatherspoon

 

[DomeHolmes]

Pretty sure Washington was not in and that’s was Cruz at LT

My post was referring to the original poster talking about “blocking air“ (which he was), but there was a reason for it, and I was talking about the right tackle not the left tackle.