Before I get started, allow me to say how thrilled I am to be joining Colts Wire for this upcoming season as a film analyst. I’ve been writing about football from a film/scheme perspective for 11+ years now and am excited to get into the nuts-and-bolts of an offense that I absolutely loved watching last year.
I’ll be popping up here weekly during the season to break down a play or two. It seems only fitting that my first piece here will focus on one of my favorite things in modern football: the vertical RPO.
There are two main types of RPOs: pre-snap read and post-snap read. A pre-snap read is simply the QB reading a numbers advantage before the ball is snapped then making the decision to hand off the ball or throw it based on how those numbers look. Do you have 3 receivers on the right but they only have two defenders? Throw the quick WR screen. If they have 3 defenders over those 3 receivers, hand it off.
The post-snap read RPO is a little trickier, but can also lead to bigger gains. The Colts love their post-snap RPOs, so I wanted to get into one of those they ran against the Bengals in the final preseason game.
In a post-snap RPO, the QB is making his determination to hand off the ball or throw based on the movement of a Conflict Defender.
In this instance, the Colts have called an inside zone run (Duo, I believe, as the center is blocking away from the tight end), with a glance route from the backside receiver. Anthony Richardson is putting the ball into the belly of the running back and reading that Conflict Defender. If the defender breaks toward the line to join the run fit, it means he is not falling under the route of the receiver, so Richardson will rise up and throw. If the defender falls back under the route, it means there’s one less man in the run fit, so Richardson will hand the ball off.
It’s essentially an If/Then proposition, made in a split second while large men try to take your head off. Easy peasy.
On this play, the defender breaks down towards the run, so Richardson pulls the ball and throws. Even with that defender exiting the coverage zone, he’s still kind of in the passing lane, but Richardson is able to get the ball around him and to the receiver.
It’s a lovely play design, executed well by Richardson and this offense.