IN THE VERY early hours of Sunday morning, the Arizona Cardinals advanced to the NFC Championship Game following one of the most dramatic playoff games in NFL history.
If you somehow haven’t caught up, you can see all the highlights here.
While a lot of the post-game conversation revolved around Aaron Rodgers’ two (TWO!) successful Hail Mary plays to send the game to overtime, today we’re going to take a closer look at the first play from scrimmage in that extra period and how a short pass turned into a 75-yard gain.
For those who missed it, here’s how it looked on TV:
Pre-snap read: Offence
It’s the very first play of overtime and, theoretically, the Cardinals have 15 minutes to make the 80 yards needed to find the endzone so you would have forgiven head coach Bruce Arians — who calls the offensive plays for Arizona — if he had decided to hand the ball off to the running back and taken a 2-3 yard gain.
However, as he has proven time and again, Arians is an aggressive play-caller so the fact he called a passing play should have come as no surprise to those watching the game or the Green Bay Packers. Indeed, as we’ll see later, they were very much expecting the pass.
The Cardinals are lined up in their 11 personnel grouping with Darren Fells (green) and David Johnson (yellow) the tight end and running back respectively. They are using a very typical single-back set with two receivers, Michael Floyd (#15) and John Brown (#12) split wide to the left and Larry Fitzgerald (red) alone out wide right.
Pre-snap read: defence
The Packers are in Cover 1 with Ha Ha Clinton-Dix (white) the single deep safety in zone coverage and everyone one else in, or at least supposed to be in, man coverage.
Green Bay are expecting the Cardinals to pass the ball and, after struggling against play-action passing on first down on the home side’s final drive in regulation, decide to blitz up the middle on the first play.
A quirk here is that the Packers are playing the Cardinals ‘three receiver hook’ formation, which would see their running back becoming a receiver if none of the wideouts could create separation. If he remained in pass-protect mode, as he did, Julius Peppers (orange) — who many blame for what happens next — is free to join fellow linebackers Jake Ryan (#47), Mike Neal (#96) and Clay Matthews (#52) — in blitzing Carson Palmer.
This leaves Damarious Randall (blue), Casey Hayward (#29) and Sam Shields (#15) man-on-man with Fitzgerald, Brown and Floyd respectively while Morgan Burnett (#42) keeps account of the tight end Fells.
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At the snap
Just before he snaps the ball, Palmer moves Fitzgerald closer to the line of scrimmage to test the defence and, with Randall shadowing Fitzgerald’s movements, he has a pretty good idea that he’s facing man coverage.
The entire Cardinals offensive line, but particularly right tackle Bobby Massie (#70) and right guard Ted Larsen (#60), do a fantastic job of blocking, particularly Larsen who eases Clay Matthews past Palmer.
As you can see above, Johnson the running back also puts in a great block, taking Jake Ryan out of the play.
Then we see Palmer, a quarterback not known for his mobility, throwing in a spin move to get away from Neal after he steps up into the pocket. Bouncing off Massie doesn’t actually hinder Palmer too much and, despite having faced a huge blitz, he now has nearly two seconds to find an open receiver.
There are two things you’re never really supposed to do as a quarterback. One is throw across your body and the second is to throw off your back foot. Palmer, as you can see, does both:
However, by this stage, 5.47 seconds after the snap, Fitzgerald is wide open so it’s a 0% risk pass. But how did the future Hall of Famer get so open?
After the catch
The first reason is play design. As Peter King pointed out on Monday, it is designed to create an open receiver by dragging the entirety of the Packers secondary to one side of the field, while creating a one-on-one match-up on the other. And that would have worked even if Randall had not blown his coverage:
Palmer being flushed out of the pocket to his right slightly complicates things but Randall failing to follow Fitzgerald costs them massively as, when he catches the ball, there’s no Packers player within 40 yards (taking into account the width of the field) of him.
Even still, the play should be over at the Packers’ 45-yard line as three Packers players converge on the receiver. However, a combination of poor lines from Clinton Dix (#21) and Shields (#37), and a weak arm tackle attempt from Matthews (#52) as well as a nice heads up cut from Fitzgerald keeps the play alive.
After he makes the cut, a strong block from Fells (#85) on Randall (#42) and a really solid stiff arm from Fitzgerald on Burnett (#42) ensures the play doesn’t stop at the Packers 35-yard line:
Two final cuts from Fitzgerald, as well as a nice block by Floyd (#15) on Hayward (#29) prevent the play from ending at the 15 and 10-yard lines respectively before he is finally, finally, brought down on the Packers five-yard line.
Two plays later, Palmer and Fitzgerald combined again to send the Cardinals to the NFC Championship Game.
Notes
This plays shows that playing defence in the NFL is really difficult. The Packers knew exactly what play was coming, had the correct defence to deal with it and they were still unable to stop a huge gain through a combination of a blown coverage and Carson Palmer making a heads up play.
Indeed, the quarterback admitted after the game he was tempted to scramble given how much space there was ahead of him but had caught sight of Fitzgerald standing all alone out of the corner of his eye.
Both Matthews and Neal had a chance to sack Palmer and failed to do so — thanks, it has to be said, to some exceptional pass blocking — and the simple fact is that if you’re going to rush that many player and don’t get to the quarterback, you’re going to pay regardless of blown coverages.
This was far from a vintage Cardinals performance, there are lots of things they need to correct before they play the Carolina Panthers for the NFC title, but Arizona fans must already be licking their lips at the prospect of what Larry Fitzgerald might do when he faces Cortland Finnegan in coverage.
Analysis: Hail Marys are great, but a bread and butter pass won the day for the Cardinals
IN THE VERY early hours of Sunday morning, the Arizona Cardinals advanced to the NFC Championship Game following one of the most dramatic playoff games in NFL history.
If you somehow haven’t caught up, you can see all the highlights here.
While a lot of the post-game conversation revolved around Aaron Rodgers’ two (TWO!) successful Hail Mary plays to send the game to overtime, today we’re going to take a closer look at the first play from scrimmage in that extra period and how a short pass turned into a 75-yard gain.
For those who missed it, here’s how it looked on TV:
Pre-snap read: Offence
It’s the very first play of overtime and, theoretically, the Cardinals have 15 minutes to make the 80 yards needed to find the endzone so you would have forgiven head coach Bruce Arians — who calls the offensive plays for Arizona — if he had decided to hand the ball off to the running back and taken a 2-3 yard gain.
However, as he has proven time and again, Arians is an aggressive play-caller so the fact he called a passing play should have come as no surprise to those watching the game or the Green Bay Packers. Indeed, as we’ll see later, they were very much expecting the pass.
The Cardinals are lined up in their 11 personnel grouping with Darren Fells (green) and David Johnson (yellow) the tight end and running back respectively. They are using a very typical single-back set with two receivers, Michael Floyd (#15) and John Brown (#12) split wide to the left and Larry Fitzgerald (red) alone out wide right.
Pre-snap read: defence
The Packers are in Cover 1 with Ha Ha Clinton-Dix (white) the single deep safety in zone coverage and everyone one else in, or at least supposed to be in, man coverage.
Green Bay are expecting the Cardinals to pass the ball and, after struggling against play-action passing on first down on the home side’s final drive in regulation, decide to blitz up the middle on the first play.
A quirk here is that the Packers are playing the Cardinals ‘three receiver hook’ formation, which would see their running back becoming a receiver if none of the wideouts could create separation. If he remained in pass-protect mode, as he did, Julius Peppers (orange) — who many blame for what happens next — is free to join fellow linebackers Jake Ryan (#47), Mike Neal (#96) and Clay Matthews (#52) — in blitzing Carson Palmer.
This leaves Damarious Randall (blue), Casey Hayward (#29) and Sam Shields (#15) man-on-man with Fitzgerald, Brown and Floyd respectively while Morgan Burnett (#42) keeps account of the tight end Fells.
At the snap
Just before he snaps the ball, Palmer moves Fitzgerald closer to the line of scrimmage to test the defence and, with Randall shadowing Fitzgerald’s movements, he has a pretty good idea that he’s facing man coverage.
What happens next?
A lot. Some of it good, some of it really bad.
Firstly, the Packers pass rush is impressive but it meets a coaching clinic in almost perfect pass protection.
The entire Cardinals offensive line, but particularly right tackle Bobby Massie (#70) and right guard Ted Larsen (#60), do a fantastic job of blocking, particularly Larsen who eases Clay Matthews past Palmer.
As you can see above, Johnson the running back also puts in a great block, taking Jake Ryan out of the play.
Then we see Palmer, a quarterback not known for his mobility, throwing in a spin move to get away from Neal after he steps up into the pocket. Bouncing off Massie doesn’t actually hinder Palmer too much and, despite having faced a huge blitz, he now has nearly two seconds to find an open receiver.
There are two things you’re never really supposed to do as a quarterback. One is throw across your body and the second is to throw off your back foot. Palmer, as you can see, does both:
However, by this stage, 5.47 seconds after the snap, Fitzgerald is wide open so it’s a 0% risk pass. But how did the future Hall of Famer get so open?
After the catch
The first reason is play design. As Peter King pointed out on Monday, it is designed to create an open receiver by dragging the entirety of the Packers secondary to one side of the field, while creating a one-on-one match-up on the other. And that would have worked even if Randall had not blown his coverage:
Palmer being flushed out of the pocket to his right slightly complicates things but Randall failing to follow Fitzgerald costs them massively as, when he catches the ball, there’s no Packers player within 40 yards (taking into account the width of the field) of him.
Even still, the play should be over at the Packers’ 45-yard line as three Packers players converge on the receiver. However, a combination of poor lines from Clinton Dix (#21) and Shields (#37), and a weak arm tackle attempt from Matthews (#52) as well as a nice heads up cut from Fitzgerald keeps the play alive.
After he makes the cut, a strong block from Fells (#85) on Randall (#42) and a really solid stiff arm from Fitzgerald on Burnett (#42) ensures the play doesn’t stop at the Packers 35-yard line:
Two final cuts from Fitzgerald, as well as a nice block by Floyd (#15) on Hayward (#29) prevent the play from ending at the 15 and 10-yard lines respectively before he is finally, finally, brought down on the Packers five-yard line.
Two plays later, Palmer and Fitzgerald combined again to send the Cardinals to the NFC Championship Game.
Notes
This plays shows that playing defence in the NFL is really difficult. The Packers knew exactly what play was coming, had the correct defence to deal with it and they were still unable to stop a huge gain through a combination of a blown coverage and Carson Palmer making a heads up play.
Indeed, the quarterback admitted after the game he was tempted to scramble given how much space there was ahead of him but had caught sight of Fitzgerald standing all alone out of the corner of his eye.
Both Matthews and Neal had a chance to sack Palmer and failed to do so — thanks, it has to be said, to some exceptional pass blocking — and the simple fact is that if you’re going to rush that many player and don’t get to the quarterback, you’re going to pay regardless of blown coverages.
This was far from a vintage Cardinals performance, there are lots of things they need to correct before they play the Carolina Panthers for the NFC title, but Arizona fans must already be licking their lips at the prospect of what Larry Fitzgerald might do when he faces Cortland Finnegan in coverage.
Once again, it will be Brady v Manning for the AFC Championship
If you went to bed early last night you missed one of the most dramatic playoff games in NFL history
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