Film Analysis Ep 2.1 (Part 1/2) - Army - Offensive Reads
In this episode, I cover all the reads from Patterson / McCaffrey in the first half against the Black Knights. Part 2 of this episode (tomorrow) will cover all the reads from the second half / OT.
A real quick note about the ordering of the plays in the video: All are in chronological order except for the very first play. This one was supposed to be play #6, but the export messed up, for whatever reason.
Anyways, enjoy! I release each of these plays on Twitter before the full video is uploaded to YouTube, if interested in that. As always, constructive criticism is always welcome. I'm not an expert by any means, so let me know if there are things I can do to make these better!
2.1.1 - Q2 12:02 - M6 - 1st & 10 - RPO Inside Zone - 4 yards by Charbonnet
- CORRECT read on the give, as the slant from Black is covered. Play is blocked well for Charbonnet, especially from Mayfield setting up the right side of the hole. An overhang safety is unaccounted for and makes the play.
2.1.2 - Q1 12:54 - M27 - 1st 10 - RPO Inside Zone - 12 yard run by Charbonnet
- CORRECT give to Charbonnet, here, as the conflict player sits in pass coverage. Excellent blocks by Ruiz & Hayes, here, with Bredeson doing just enough on his to keep Charbonnet clean on his run.
2.1.3 - Q1 11:18 - M46 - 1st 15 - RPO Inside Zone - 11 yard run by Turner
- CORRECT give to Turner, as the LB sits in coverage, again. Onwenu messed up his block, leaving the MLB free to react to the run. Turner jukes him. Nice block on DE by Mayfield, as well.
2.1.4 - Q1 10:46 - A43 - 2nd & 4 - RPO Slant - 15 yard catch by Black
- CORRECT throw to Black. Conflict player breaks the mesh rules, here, as Patterson instructs Turner to pass-pro instead of run mesh on the R of RPO. Tough throw, but nice snag from Black.
2.1.5 - Q1 4:43 - M30 - 1st & 10 - Inside zone - 1 yard run by Charbonnet
- WRONG read, and not even close. DE crashes inside, numbers to the outside for Patterson if he keeps it. He doesn’t. Mayfield & Onwenu do well on their blocks, but Ruiz misses the slant, and crashing DE makes play
2.1.6 - Q1 3:30 - M42 - 2nd & 10 - Inside zone - 5 yard run by Charbonnet
- WRONG read, and one of the worst ones. DE obviously crashing inside, Michigan runs into 7 with 6 blockers. Had room outside +1 with Bell on orbit motion as pitch-man. Blockers all do well, just running into too many guys.
2.1.7- Q2 11:32 - M10 - 2nd & 6 - Arc Read Inside Zone - 7 yards by Charbonnet
- DEBATABLE read, here, as the DE is shuffling, could see room to the outside. Solid blocking from Mayfield, Onwenu, among others. McKeon had a tough job, but coulda done better. DE makes first contact.
2.1.8 - Q2 11:06 - M17 - 1st & 10 - RPO Stretch(?) - 2 yards by Charbonnet
- CORRECT read, but an irrelevant one? Not sure on play design, here, as conflict guy isn’t involved in the run action at all. Hayes holds, and rough job from Mayfield / Onwenu on a DT. Blegh.
2.1.9 - Q2 10:46 - M9 - 1st & 18 - Arc read power - 11 yards by Charbonnet
- CORRECT read, fun little use of motion on this one. Onwenu & Mayfield destroy a DT, and solid blocks from McKeon & Bredeson on their pulls. Power running from Charbonnet.
2.1.10 - Q2 9:41 - M34 - 1st & 10 - RPO Stretch(?) - Fumble VanSumeren
- CORRECT read, but again, weird read action, here. McKeon needs to do better, here, since Mayfield provides a great chip and then gets a LB. Hold onto the ball, gents.
2.1.11 - Q2 0:45 - M45 - 3rd & 2 - Inside zone read - 5 yards by Charbonnet
- DEBATABLE read on the give. Michigan has numbers advantage and takes advantage of it. Ruiz / Onwenu / Mayfield all open this up. Charbonnet likely could’ve gained a bit more, here.
2.1.12 - Q2 0:08 - A27 - 3rd 4 - Inside zone read - -11 yards by Patterson
- DOOMED read here, as DE is crashing fast and CB blitz. Just a good play call by Army, and regardless of what Patterson does, the play is doomed. Blegh.
September 18th, 2019 at 1:05 PM ^
Thanks oz,
Best eval on this blog.
September 18th, 2019 at 2:15 PM ^
Good read, thanks much
September 18th, 2019 at 2:39 PM ^
Great analysis. I'm curious to hear from anyone who has played quarterback in a zone read offense in HS or college or even coached it: it isn't easy even with the benefit rewind and slow motion to second-guess those read option decisions. It seems like it would be near impossible to make those reads in the one second you have to make them in real time. Also, it seems that fumbles would be more common... I can't imagine being a running back and getting that ball ridden against your belly and not wanting to "clamp down" on the thing.
I suppose it's one of those things where if you rep it a thousand times, the game slows down.
September 18th, 2019 at 4:22 PM ^
Not a former QB, but I think you nailed most of it. Doing a thousand reps simply HAS to be done to get the reads correctly. I don't see how film study would help much, since it's all about getting comfortable making that decision both a) at the speed of the play, and b) at the vantage point of the QB, not the camera.
I think an area of improvement is to have "gray" reads. Where, beyond the obvious "give" vs. "keep" reads, give the QB a distinction of the play with an additional "gray-give" or "gray-keep" call. So that, given a defender is squarely in that gray-area for the decision, the QB has a direction on which one to go with.
Army lived in the gray area, and seemingly Michigan could have benefitted from trying some plays with the "gray-keep" distinction.
September 19th, 2019 at 6:05 PM ^
Those are all valid points, but it's not like this is an entirely new skill set for Patterson to develop. He ran read options last year and looked pretty good doing it, and from what I recall he ran them at Ole Miss too. So while I agree that this is a skill that must require massive amounts of reps to get good at, he has shown an ability to do it in the past.
September 19th, 2019 at 10:44 AM ^
Thanks for the work!
September 19th, 2019 at 2:46 PM ^
So, Patterson was 7-2-2 on reads in this section. My eyes during the game thought he was worse than this number. Curious to see how he did in part 2 of this installment.
September 20th, 2019 at 8:43 AM ^
Some notes to consider on play 3.
The left side of the line is pass blocking, so you can pretty much take them out of the zone run scheme. The C/RG are correct with who they block. The RB should follow the line and take a gap through there. Hitting the gap between the C/LG isn't ideal because the LG isn't run blocking and also the C is blocking in anticipation of the RB going to his right, not left. More could have been done by the RG to get to help double and get to the next level, but we don't necessarily get to see that come to fruition.
Especially on a run to a single side of the line, you'll want to consider just that side when counting blockers vs defenders in box. On the right you have 5 blockers (C, RG, RT, TE, and WR who is tight) against 4 defenders. Huge numbers advantage and this was likely a pre snap read just based on numbers alone.
Comments