OK, I will try one!
Play one with 11:24 to go in the first.
First and 10 on our 46.
Foster 3-yd cut back run somewhere behind Brisiel or Myers.
LZ:
• We are going to start with this play because not only was it the first running play of the game, but it was also an indicator of what the Texans were going to see for the rest of the game.
I think the only future indication in this play I can see as fas as how the Giants D scheme goes is that they were willing to play more single safety, looking to stop the run.
So what, the Texans do it a lot of times (it varies from game to game.)
And isn't that how Pollard makes his living, basically?!?!
LZ:
• While the formation develops for the Texans, watch how the Giants shift and create a five-man front based on where Joel Dreesen ends up. Wherever Dreesen goes, the Giants will line the LB on that side up over Dreesen on the defensive line.
• Make sure and watch the defensive end on the weakside as he changes from a DE to a five-technique (lined up directly over LT Rashad Butler) as Dreesen goes in motion. The reason the Giants are shifting the DE down inside is because the Giants want to tighten up the backside cutback lanes.
They (the Giants) don't do this all the times.
And we do it sometimes (lining up over their tackle)
Or when we play gap control defense we basicallytry to close up all the gaps, looking to cut off every single running lane.
It's just one of several approaches.
LZ:
• Before the snap, you'll see the middle LB and the weakside LB shift over toward the strong side and you'll see the free safety come down into the box as basically an extra LB. The safety is in charge of making sure to add even more contain on the back side.
• Now, on this particular play, Dreesen doesn't block the LB, but instead he has the back-side block across the formation and FB Leach has the block on the LB, but the LB comes across the line of scrimmage and meets him head on, which shuts down the outside and turns the play back inside to where the Giants have schemed to close down the cutback lanes.
We set up an outside zone run to the strong side on our right.
Mainly, how the play develops depends upon the block of Winston and Leach.
(IMO, the run normally would be either inside or outside of Winston, against this defensive formation.)
The SAM went wide, so Leach took him outside.
Foster pressed Winston's heels while eying the MIKE to see where he should cut.
For a moment there, I believe Foster can see the LDE's inside number.
(From what I understant,) in a outside zone run, that's when the RB should cut to the outside.
(but Foster didn't.)
In this play, we kept both Myers and Brisiel on the LDT; therefore, the SAM was unblocked.
(Again, from my thinking,) Foster would have done better faking a move inside Winston, but then cut to the outside where there's daylight.
Pre-snap, Foster knew that AJ was set up on this side such that the FS stayed back (out of respect for AJ). I think the smart money should be on running to this side with AJ blocking the LCB.
As fas as the cutback lane is concerned, so what if the RDE played in tight.
All we needed was a got block from Butler (and got it too!).
In this case, it was a cut block; but Butler can also block in.
When a RDE attacks the weakside B gap too aggressive (as in this case) it only makes it easier for the RB to cut all the way back to the weak side.
The problem here was that Smith's cut block on the back side was far from effective as Butler's;
the RDT got over it easily and made the tackle from behind.
I don't think the D-scheme has a big effect in minimizing this run to a 3-yd gain.
It was simply execution:
- Not a great choice by Foster.
- Not a good block by Smith on the back side.
The one thing I agree is that by bringing the SS up, Dressen had to block him instead of the WILL.
However, if we catch them with a Play Action pass here, it could be disaster for them.
Sure, they still has the SS on the back side, but if he comes in after Schaub, Dresseen will be all alone. If he drops back to follow Dreessen, Schaub would have all day to find either Walter or AJ or even Dreessen.
Also, either Leach or Foster would have plenty of time to snick out of the backfield (especially Foster up the middle.)
LZ:
By having players directly over TE Joel Dreesen and RT Eric Winston, the Giants are able to keep the Texans from combo blocking the DE with Dreesen moving to the next level on the LB. Instead, the Giants are "setting the edge" by attack Dreesen at the line of scrimmage and forcing Winston to block man to man on the five-technique DE.
This is nothing new. We've seen Winston blocking the LDE one-on-one all the times.
In those instances, our TE would block the LB.
I really don't see any big deal here.
