OUR FAVOURITE PLAY of the weekend happened way back on Thursday night when the defending Super Bowl champions opened their season with a 36-16 over the Green Bay Packers.
There were lots of interesting play calls made by the Seahawks’ offensive co-ordinator Darrell Bevell during the game, but the one that led to Ricardo Lockette’s 33-yard touchdown early in the second quarter is what we’ll focus on today.
If you missed the play, here it is in full before we break it down:
At first glance, it looks like busted coverage by Packers corner back Sam Shields – and in a way some of it is his fault – but, as we’ll see, the success of the play was a lot to do with how well Russell Wilson ran it.
Pre-snap read – Offence
The Seahawks offence are in an Ace/12 formation with Russell Wilson standing in shotgun.
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The ace refers to having just one running back (green) and the 12 meaning there are two tight ends (blue) and two receivers (yellow) out wide.
Pre-snap read – Defence
The Packers are in a cover 3 defence which means they have three defensive backs (red, green and blue) to cover one third of the field each – or zones as they’re called – with another four defenders (orange) taking care of any short pass plays such as curls or flats and to help out the defensive line (yellow) in the run game.
At the snap
The Seahawks were in a pre-packaged play where Russell Wilson had three options he could take depending on what the defence did before and after the snap. We broke down exactly what the read-option was last year if you want to refresh yourself.
The three options available to Wilson were:
1. Inside zone - Had he chose to, Wilson could have given the ball to running back Marshawn Lynch who would have taken it between the guard and tackle. With the Packers reading run, this would likely have resulted in a short gain.
2. QB keep (pull) - With the Packers defence reading run – and in particular inside handoff – Wilson could have kept the football himself and exploited the space to the left of his offensive line for a medium gain.
3. Vertical pass – However, the beauty of the play is the third option, which only comes about because Shields has completely bought into the run. He’s convinced he’s read a fake handoff, QB run – which, in a way, he has – and dropped Lockette to make the tackle on Wilson.
With so much space ahead of him, all Wilson has to do is connect on the short pass to Lockette for a big gain and, if he can make a move on the safety, a touchdown.
What happens next?
The Packers still have a chance to make a play but Lockette forces rookie safety Ha Ha Clinton Dix to make the slightest move to his left before the receiver cuts inside to his right for the go-ahead score.
Of course, this is not the first time we’ve seen this particular play. Indeed, it is virtually identical to the one the Auburn Tigers ran against Alabama in the 2013 Iron Bowl.
Something the Tigers themselves noticed when the posted this vine.
https://vine.co/v/Ou6vEEiVJnL
Coaches Film: How the Seahawks fooled everyone with their 'triple option' touchdown
OUR FAVOURITE PLAY of the weekend happened way back on Thursday night when the defending Super Bowl champions opened their season with a 36-16 over the Green Bay Packers.
There were lots of interesting play calls made by the Seahawks’ offensive co-ordinator Darrell Bevell during the game, but the one that led to Ricardo Lockette’s 33-yard touchdown early in the second quarter is what we’ll focus on today.
If you missed the play, here it is in full before we break it down:
At first glance, it looks like busted coverage by Packers corner back Sam Shields – and in a way some of it is his fault – but, as we’ll see, the success of the play was a lot to do with how well Russell Wilson ran it.
Pre-snap read – Offence
The Seahawks offence are in an Ace/12 formation with Russell Wilson standing in shotgun.
The ace refers to having just one running back (green) and the 12 meaning there are two tight ends (blue) and two receivers (yellow) out wide.
Pre-snap read – Defence
The Packers are in a cover 3 defence which means they have three defensive backs (red, green and blue) to cover one third of the field each – or zones as they’re called – with another four defenders (orange) taking care of any short pass plays such as curls or flats and to help out the defensive line (yellow) in the run game.
At the snap
The Seahawks were in a pre-packaged play where Russell Wilson had three options he could take depending on what the defence did before and after the snap. We broke down exactly what the read-option was last year if you want to refresh yourself.
The three options available to Wilson were:
1. Inside zone - Had he chose to, Wilson could have given the ball to running back Marshawn Lynch who would have taken it between the guard and tackle. With the Packers reading run, this would likely have resulted in a short gain.
2. QB keep (pull) - With the Packers defence reading run – and in particular inside handoff – Wilson could have kept the football himself and exploited the space to the left of his offensive line for a medium gain.
3. Vertical pass – However, the beauty of the play is the third option, which only comes about because Shields has completely bought into the run. He’s convinced he’s read a fake handoff, QB run – which, in a way, he has – and dropped Lockette to make the tackle on Wilson.
With so much space ahead of him, all Wilson has to do is connect on the short pass to Lockette for a big gain and, if he can make a move on the safety, a touchdown.
What happens next?
The Packers still have a chance to make a play but Lockette forces rookie safety Ha Ha Clinton Dix to make the slightest move to his left before the receiver cuts inside to his right for the go-ahead score.
Notes
Of course, this is not the first time we’ve seen this particular play. Indeed, it is virtually identical to the one the Auburn Tigers ran against Alabama in the 2013 Iron Bowl.
Something the Tigers themselves noticed when the posted this vine.
https://vine.co/v/Ou6vEEiVJnL
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