I just want a back that don’t run straight into the ass of his own player.
Yeah, I get it. Hopefully he’s not that guy but I think the O-line is going to have to do a better job of opening some holes for him. I didn’t see him running into our guys backs with a huge hole next to them that he didn’t see.
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And I’ll add to the vision thing ….
I teach this (today - right now as I text on break) in my motorcycle safety classes…,
Vision actually more about anticipation of what will happen in the next .25 seconds and being ready for it (the patience part) …. You have to visualize the possible threats (players in your path of travel or about to enter it) and where you will need to be in the next .24/.45 seconds…, to avoid it or we call it knowing where you escape paths are and that they are totally fluid as the play progresses
You are being a “thinking on the move with anticipation of threats” type of RB
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L’eveon had a great feel for what was going on around him and where players were coming from and going to be, I don’t think “vision” is really even the correct term, it’s more of “feeling” the flow of whats happening and being able to “predict” what’s going to happen and where a hole might open up.
I’ve seen the difference up close during pickup basketball. Me and this guy Justin used to go head to head as point guards alot. Compared to other guys that we played with I had the best court vision, being able to see the entire court at the same time. When someone broke open I was able to quickly recognize it and execute the pass.
Justin was on a different level though. He wasn’t just watching people get open or directing them on how to get open like me and most anyone else. Justin had a deep understanding of calculating angles on the fly and manipulating defenders with timing. While a guy would be covered from one angle Justin would manipulate himself until the angle changed and suddenly the guy was open. And it was so subtle the defender often times didn’t realize what just happened until it was too late. I nicknamed him The Mattix because that’s how next level it felt watching him do his thing.
Yep, some guys run to light…which typically closes up by the time you get there and then there’s the guys that have this zen-like feel of the flow of a play.
Some RB’s run right to what hole the play was designed to go to no matter if there’s a hole there or not. The good RB’s see there’s no hole there and slow up and if they feel their blockers to their right engaged and moving their feet, they cut in back behind them. Like I said, feeling what is going on seems better than just having vision.
YES. Williams!
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I don’t mean to be negative about the play.
Reynolds did make the right read, and did show some burst on the play.
It is also good to know what the play design was and how the defense executed to evaluate the outcome. I find the X’s and O’s pretty interesting… so here we go. Sorry for long post in advance!
I am sure that pretty much everyone here recognized that it was a zone run.
However, this play had an interesting wrinkle using the “split-zone” concept.
First… here is the Outside Zone scheme in a diagram.
I am sure everyone is familiar with the concept of the RB pressing the hole and being patient for the chance to find a crease and “plant a foot in the ground and get upfield” that is talked about all the time on TV.
The Lions ran a Split Zone on Reynolds’ TD run. Here is the basic scheme.
The main difference is that the back side TE does not block the back side DE… but works immediately to the 2nd level to seal off the WLB. In place of the back side TE blocking the backside DE, the H-Back from the play side comes across the formation for a “wham” block on that DE.
This effectively creates a “trap” block and the offense actually hopes the defense is overly aggressive to the play side to set up the cut back opportunity. The Lions also got a bit lucky that the Bills back side DT completely ran away from his gap and was already past Reynolds to the outside..
This was an easy read for a RB on a zone run.
.
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But the Lions ran an interesting wrinkle on the Split Zone concept.
Here is the same concept executed by the Cowgirls with Zeke.
Notice that Zeke is already looking for the cutback as soon as he takes the handoff… because the DT flashes across his face.
It is by design. It is an easy read for the RB… and the play design works great.
Also… take a look at the screen shot as Zeke crosses the LOS… and the “alley” is illustrated on the picture looks a lot like the alley Reynolds had to run through against the Bills.
The Lions had TE Brock Wright run the same flat route that Witten ran on the play, and it worked just as well.
Zeke Elliot’s 60-yd Split Zone TD with a Special Influence
Posted on October 11, 2016
Ezekiel Elliot all but sealed a Cowboys victory with a 60 yard touchdown run to put Dallas up 28-0 in a Week 5 matchup against the Bengals. The play was a traditional under center split zone scheme, but included one wrinkle that made all the difference, Jason Witten’s flat route:
The Cowboys offensive line executed textbook combination blocks in the split zone scheme, with left tackle (#77) Tyron Smith blocking out, left guard (#65) Ronald Leary and center (#72) Travis Frederick combining to block the defensive tackle up to the left outside linebacker, and right guard (#70) Zack Martin combo blocking with right tackle (#68) Doug Free to take care of 3-technique (#97) Geno Atkins and middle linebacker (#58) Rey Maualuga. Tight End (#87) Geoff Swaim blocks across the formation to pick up “EMLOS”, or the end man on the line of scrimmage, (#96) Carlos Dunlap.
However, this leaves one defender unaccounted for: (#55) right outside linebacker Vontaze Burfict. The Cowboys don’t attempt to block him; instead, they influence him out of the play with Jason Witten running a flat route. Witten’s flat route ends up not only influencing Burfict, but the safety (#43) George Iloka as well. This is the difference between a 3 yard run, a 10 yard run, and a 60 yard run. With the zone steps of Dak Prescott and Zeke Elliot influencing the defenders left, the Cowboys offensive line combo blocks at the point of attack, and the split zone and flat action, a huge alley is created. From there, Elliot must identify the alley, make one cut to get between the combo block on Atkins and Swaim’s out block, and run a wind sprint to the end zone:
You can better see the influence of Witten’s flat route from the broadcast or high angle of the play:
The high angle shows how Witten’s route creates a gaping lane for Elliot to sprint to the end zone, seen fully below:
One important point to note: Witten’s influence and Elliot’s cut, vision, and speed shouldn’t take away from how well the Cowboys offensive line blocked at the point of attack. Their combination blocks and movement allowed the rest of the scheme to work and gave Zeke Elliot a chance to make a play. With that said, the scheme worked to perfection. From an offensive coordinator’s point of view, there is nothing like “blocking” multiple defenders without ever having to lay a hand on them.
What is weird to me is that the Lions didn’t show any of this Split Zone look early in the game… and were very vanilla. Then they rolled it out late in the game.
Here is another interesting play to watch… of the Rams in 2018 in Gurley.
Rams will use jet motion as their own wrinkle to confuse the back 7 defenders.
At snap… Woods is motioning and Higbee is also moving to back side.
Then…this looks familiar. The jet sweep motion and the H-back (Higbee) moving across the formation hold the back side LB wide… the DE is has eyes in backfield and a blocker in his way… and the alley develops.
I wonder if the coaches got input from Goff to incorporate this concept… or was this something that the staff came up with to replicate a play that Goff was familiar with before this year?
Or maybe coaches dailed this up for Reynolds specific… like this was something already concept wise….
Love your “X” and “O”’s!!
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I forgot to mention that the Rams ran 7 Split Zone runs in the following video of Gurley highlights… and Gurley had about 80 yards and 2 TDs on them.
I do love the amount you obsess on some details and back it up. Makes me feel a little less like an oddball.
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But that’s the norm around here!!
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why neither got a running TD did they? , Reynolds got here, met the crowd, and scored a damn TD the next day .
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