THERE HAVE BEEN just nine safeties recorded in the NFL this season through six weeks and Dont’a Hightower is responsible for two of them.
After recording a safety against the Browns in week five, the Patriots linebacker changed the momentum of Sunday’s game against the Bengals with his sack of Andy Dalton.
It was a nice play by Hightower — and, as well as the two points, set the home team up for a short field and touchdown drive — but it also highlights just how important a blocking running back is in the passing game.
Normally we start with a look at the offence but today we’ll take a gander at how the Patriots lined up on defence seeing as it’s the first defensive play analysed in this year’s Coaches Film.
The Patriots are in what is known as a ‘Spread Defence’ which means they have five defensive backs on the field (orange), three defensive linemen (blue) and three linebackers including Hightower (yellow).
It’s similar to a Nickel defence but is used specifically to counter a spread offence on an obvious passing play.
The reason this is an obvious passing situation is that the Bengals are facing 2nd & 18 after a penalty.
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Pre-snap read: Offence
The Bengals have their 11 personnel on the field with Jeremy Hill (red) at running back and CJ Uzomah at tight end.
Up front, the part of the offensive line we’re concerned with is left tackle Andrew Whitworth (purple), left guard Clint Boling (green) and centre Russel Bodine (black).
For what it’s worth, here were the routes the three receivers and Uzomah were supposed to run to take advantage of the gaps in the zone coverage provided by the linebackers.
Last week, we praised an offensive line for providing the blocking that helped Zeke Elliott trundle home for a 60-yard touchdown.
This week, the offensive line have an absolute nightmare — as does Hill — when it comes to blocking.
As you can see below, three players – Whitworth (#77), Boling (#65) and Hill (#32) — all block the same player, Patriots defensive tackle Malcom Brown (#90), giving Hightower (#54) a free shot at Dalton.
I don’t know the play call, so I can’t actually say for sure, but I suspect from watching enough tape over the years that Hightower was there to spy the checkdown pass to the running back.
That type of play would not be uncommon for a second and long situation where the team tries to get the yardage back in two medium chunks rather than one big one.
As he’s spying the running back, Hightower is also in position to stuff any potential run.
What happens next?
Seeing almost instantly that Hill is in pass protection mode and not a threat to catch a pass, Hightower runs through the wide open A gap for the sack and safety.
Given that he’s facing the 30th ranked offensive line in football — via Football Outsiders – it’s hardly a surprise the blocking is so bad as they’ve already given up 17 sacks this season.
The frustrating thing for the Bengals is that there was ample opportunity to get a good chunk of the 18 yards they needed on this play had Hill blocked the A gap rather than the B.
Part of that is on the play calling which probably assigned the blocking to a particular gap, but Hill needs to make a heads up play as he can see pretty quickly there are two players taking care of Brown in the B gap and Hightower is making his way through the A gap.
It’s worth pointing out here that Hightower only brings Dalton down thanks to what looks like a horse-collar tackle.
Back in 2012, when the NFL adopted a rule against horse-collar tackles — a type of tackle where the defender grabs the opening of the jersey and/or shoulder pads on a player’s back and pulls them to the ground – the one exemption was tackling the quarterback in the pocket.
This means that Dalton was fair game for Hightower.
Analysis: How the Bengals' brutal blocking allowed the Patriots a safety dance
THERE HAVE BEEN just nine safeties recorded in the NFL this season through six weeks and Dont’a Hightower is responsible for two of them.
After recording a safety against the Browns in week five, the Patriots linebacker changed the momentum of Sunday’s game against the Bengals with his sack of Andy Dalton.
It was a nice play by Hightower — and, as well as the two points, set the home team up for a short field and touchdown drive — but it also highlights just how important a blocking running back is in the passing game.
If you missed it, here’s how it looked on TV:
Pre-snap read: Defence
Normally we start with a look at the offence but today we’ll take a gander at how the Patriots lined up on defence seeing as it’s the first defensive play analysed in this year’s Coaches Film.
The Patriots are in what is known as a ‘Spread Defence’ which means they have five defensive backs on the field (orange), three defensive linemen (blue) and three linebackers including Hightower (yellow).
It’s similar to a Nickel defence but is used specifically to counter a spread offence on an obvious passing play.
The reason this is an obvious passing situation is that the Bengals are facing 2nd & 18 after a penalty.
Pre-snap read: Offence
The Bengals have their 11 personnel on the field with Jeremy Hill (red) at running back and CJ Uzomah at tight end.
Up front, the part of the offensive line we’re concerned with is left tackle Andrew Whitworth (purple), left guard Clint Boling (green) and centre Russel Bodine (black).
For what it’s worth, here were the routes the three receivers and Uzomah were supposed to run to take advantage of the gaps in the zone coverage provided by the linebackers.
At the snap
Last week, we praised an offensive line for providing the blocking that helped Zeke Elliott trundle home for a 60-yard touchdown.
This week, the offensive line have an absolute nightmare — as does Hill — when it comes to blocking.
As you can see below, three players – Whitworth (#77), Boling (#65) and Hill (#32) — all block the same player, Patriots defensive tackle Malcom Brown (#90), giving Hightower (#54) a free shot at Dalton.
I don’t know the play call, so I can’t actually say for sure, but I suspect from watching enough tape over the years that Hightower was there to spy the checkdown pass to the running back.
That type of play would not be uncommon for a second and long situation where the team tries to get the yardage back in two medium chunks rather than one big one.
As he’s spying the running back, Hightower is also in position to stuff any potential run.
What happens next?
Seeing almost instantly that Hill is in pass protection mode and not a threat to catch a pass, Hightower runs through the wide open A gap for the sack and safety.
Given that he’s facing the 30th ranked offensive line in football — via Football Outsiders – it’s hardly a surprise the blocking is so bad as they’ve already given up 17 sacks this season.
The frustrating thing for the Bengals is that there was ample opportunity to get a good chunk of the 18 yards they needed on this play had Hill blocked the A gap rather than the B.
Part of that is on the play calling which probably assigned the blocking to a particular gap, but Hill needs to make a heads up play as he can see pretty quickly there are two players taking care of Brown in the B gap and Hightower is making his way through the A gap.
Notes
It’s worth pointing out here that Hightower only brings Dalton down thanks to what looks like a horse-collar tackle.
Back in 2012, when the NFL adopted a rule against horse-collar tackles — a type of tackle where the defender grabs the opening of the jersey and/or shoulder pads on a player’s back and pulls them to the ground – the one exemption was tackling the quarterback in the pocket.
This means that Dalton was fair game for Hightower.
>>Read the rest of our Coaches Film series
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