Formation Chicanery

(and it IS a very solid piece of work that I enjoyed), but what Shanahan did wasn’t that extraordinary. Jeff’s piece is insightful and instructive, but Shanahan really didn’t do much clever on that play. In fact, I credit Cutler.

Even at the high school level, when an offense comes out they can run or pass. In such a situation, if the defense has the wrong guys on the field, the offensive coordinator (or more likely the QB, through an audible) can call the play that takes advantage of whichever mis-match the defense chooses. Had ATL shown pass coverage, DEN might have ran the ball in that situation. My guess is that the credit for this play goes more to Cutler than Shanahan. I imagine he audibled the pass when he saw a LB assigned to Royal.

The best defense (for a defense) is to disguise their coverage. If ATL’s defense telegraphed a LB covering a WR, they deserve a little credit for the Denver TD too.

I always enjoy reading Legwold’s often informative analyses, and in this instance he answered a question I asked here, about the role the line played in our linebackers’ effectiveness against Atlanta: “They did it with quality play up front, which enabled their linebackers to flow to the ball.” That would most likely mean the interior line, which suggests that D-Wayne and Thomas played well.

have always been Mike Shanahan’s primary area of offensive creativity. They really run the same plays many times, from a lot of different groupings and pre-snap looks. The repetition of the actual plays encourages consistent execution. Legwold’s point is good, and I do tend to agree that the ultimate credit lies with Cutler for recognizing the defense and checking into (or staying with) the pass play.

By the way, to Spock’s comment, I have personally been pleased with the play of Robertson and Thomas at DT for most of this season. Teams haven’t had a lot of luck running up the middle, unlike last year. Where our problems have generally been is off-tackle, in the C gaps, and the big plays have mostly come on cutbacks, taking advantage of over-pursuit and poor tackling angles in the secondary. Our DTs have been pretty stout, but it’s a question of gap control and how well the DEs hold up outside, whether we see a consistent day stopping the run.

I remember last year Doom in particular was often manhandled in those off-tackle plays. Maybe the ends have been playing the run better the last few games. Also, it seemed the back seven did a better job of contain, of not overpursuing, in the Atlanta game.