THERE WERE ANY number of contenders for this week’s Coaches Film from Peyton Manning’s record breaking touchdown to Ryan Tannehill’s key run on fourth down against the Bears.
However, there was only really one game we could feature and that was the St. Louis Rams win over the increasingly disappointing Seattle Seahawks featuring not one, but two special teams trick plays.
We’ve already taken a quick look at how the Rams returners fooled everyone – including the cameraman and commentators – with their punt return but far more interesting and, indeed, risky, was their fake punt late in the game.
For those who haven’t seen it, here’s how it played out on TV:
Below we’ll see how the Rams spotted a glaring weakness on defence and used their pre-snap alignment and motion to deny the Seahawks the football and a chance to win the game.
Pre-snap read: Offence
While in college football you can have slightly different formations, generally in the NFL teams line up exactly the same as the Rams have above and the key players in any punt are as follows:
Punter
Standing 10-12 yards behind the line of scrimmage, the punter’s (green) job is, usually, to kick the ball as high (to give his team-mates time to get there) and far (to keep the opposition pinned back) as possible to ensure the opposing team must start deep in their own half.
Snapper
With the punter standing so far back, the key traits of a good long snapper (black x) are accuracy and ability to read the defence as his job is to assign blocks for the other four linemen.
Advertisement
Gunners
Here the Rams have one gunner on the left (yellow) and right (blue). Their job, usually, is to chase down the punt returner as quickly as possible in an effort to tackle him before he can advance the ball forward.
Wings
Again, there is one left (white) and right (red) at the end of the offensive line and they’re there to stop any defenders attempting to come outside – rather than through – that line. Generally on punts, they line up one or two yards deep (as the right wing has here) to give themselves more time to react but the left wing is actually on the line of scrimmage.
The fact the left wing hasn’t will prove crucial later.
Personal Protector Usually a fullback, the personal protector’s (purple) role is to be the last line of protection for the punter which is why he lines up five yards deeper than most other players on the kicking team. A general rule of thumb is that the PP will line up on the side of the return team that features the most defenders, as he does here.
Pre-snap read: Defence
Unlike the punting team, the punt return team can line up in any number of ways depending on whether they want to block the punt or set up a big return.
Here, the Seahawks are showing 44(Eight Man) Left, a return formation.
44 refers to the middle of the field where there are four defenders on the left and four on the right with the kick returner in the backfield. Or, at least, there should be. The problem for the defence is that there appears – on every angle I’ve seen – to be a player missing from the left.
Like any man coverage defence, the Seahawks players are assigned to certain St. Louis players when blocking on the return in an effort to ensure their offence starts their next drive as close to the endzone as possible.
Look carefully at the left side of the offensive line above and you’ll see the wing on that side, Chase Reynolds (34), moves up to the line of scrimmage from his original position of two yards deep like the other wing, Cody Davis (38).
Once he does, the left gunner, Stedman Bailey (12), drops back a yard from his original position.
Because he is now off the line of scrimmage, Bailey can move to his right or left – this is what commentators mean by in motion - and drifts towards the centre of the field.
What happens next?
With the ball on their own 18-yard line, and still three yards to make for the Rams, I assume the defending Super Bowl champions – who only needed a field goal to win – never dreamed that St Louis would go for it in that situation.
With Bailey continuing his run towards the middle of the field to not only create a traffic jam – similar to setting apick in basketball - but also draw his defender, Steven Terrell (26), away from the left side of the field.
This allows the personal protector, Benny Cunningham (36), to run into the open space with no defender within five yards of him.
The pass from the punter Johnny Hekker (6) is perfect and Cunningham easily gets the first down. A few plays later, they win the game.
So far I only have access to two camera angles on this play but, in both, it looks as if they Seahawks have only lined up with 10 men on the kick return*. I can only assume that this basic error by Seattle is what prompted the Rams to go for it in such a potentially dangerous situation.
How the Rams exploited a Seahawks mistake to run crucial fake punt - Coaches Film
THERE WERE ANY number of contenders for this week’s Coaches Film from Peyton Manning’s record breaking touchdown to Ryan Tannehill’s key run on fourth down against the Bears.
However, there was only really one game we could feature and that was the St. Louis Rams win over the increasingly disappointing Seattle Seahawks featuring not one, but two special teams trick plays.
We’ve already taken a quick look at how the Rams returners fooled everyone – including the cameraman and commentators – with their punt return but far more interesting and, indeed, risky, was their fake punt late in the game.
For those who haven’t seen it, here’s how it played out on TV:
Below we’ll see how the Rams spotted a glaring weakness on defence and used their pre-snap alignment and motion to deny the Seahawks the football and a chance to win the game.
Pre-snap read: Offence
While in college football you can have slightly different formations, generally in the NFL teams line up exactly the same as the Rams have above and the key players in any punt are as follows:
Punter
Standing 10-12 yards behind the line of scrimmage, the punter’s (green) job is, usually, to kick the ball as high (to give his team-mates time to get there) and far (to keep the opposition pinned back) as possible to ensure the opposing team must start deep in their own half.
Snapper
With the punter standing so far back, the key traits of a good long snapper (black x) are accuracy and ability to read the defence as his job is to assign blocks for the other four linemen.
Gunners
Here the Rams have one gunner on the left (yellow) and right (blue). Their job, usually, is to chase down the punt returner as quickly as possible in an effort to tackle him before he can advance the ball forward.
Wings
Again, there is one left (white) and right (red) at the end of the offensive line and they’re there to stop any defenders attempting to come outside – rather than through – that line. Generally on punts, they line up one or two yards deep (as the right wing has here) to give themselves more time to react but the left wing is actually on the line of scrimmage.
The fact the left wing hasn’t will prove crucial later.
Personal Protector
Usually a fullback, the personal protector’s (purple) role is to be the last line of protection for the punter which is why he lines up five yards deeper than most other players on the kicking team. A general rule of thumb is that the PP will line up on the side of the return team that features the most defenders, as he does here.
Pre-snap read: Defence
Unlike the punting team, the punt return team can line up in any number of ways depending on whether they want to block the punt or set up a big return.
Here, the Seahawks are showing 44 (Eight Man) Left, a return formation.
44 refers to the middle of the field where there are four defenders on the left and four on the right with the kick returner in the backfield. Or, at least, there should be. The problem for the defence is that there appears – on every angle I’ve seen – to be a player missing from the left.
Like any man coverage defence, the Seahawks players are assigned to certain St. Louis players when blocking on the return in an effort to ensure their offence starts their next drive as close to the endzone as possible.
At the snap
Look carefully at the left side of the offensive line above and you’ll see the wing on that side, Chase Reynolds (34), moves up to the line of scrimmage from his original position of two yards deep like the other wing, Cody Davis (38).
Once he does, the left gunner, Stedman Bailey (12), drops back a yard from his original position.
Because he is now off the line of scrimmage, Bailey can move to his right or left – this is what commentators mean by in motion - and drifts towards the centre of the field.
What happens next?
With the ball on their own 18-yard line, and still three yards to make for the Rams, I assume the defending Super Bowl champions – who only needed a field goal to win – never dreamed that St Louis would go for it in that situation.
With Bailey continuing his run towards the middle of the field to not only create a traffic jam – similar to setting a pick in basketball - but also draw his defender, Steven Terrell (26), away from the left side of the field.
This allows the personal protector, Benny Cunningham (36), to run into the open space with no defender within five yards of him.
The pass from the punter Johnny Hekker (6) is perfect and Cunningham easily gets the first down. A few plays later, they win the game.
Notes
So far I only have access to two camera angles on this play but, in both, it looks as if they Seahawks have only lined up with 10 men on the kick return*. I can only assume that this basic error by Seattle is what prompted the Rams to go for it in such a potentially dangerous situation.
That said, you’d be amazed how often it happens:
Read more from our Coaches Film series
Rapid fire Steelers show their mettle against Texans
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
American Football Coaches Film NFL Seattle Seahawks St Louis Rams US sports Xs and Os