The All-22 – Syndication Server

Grant Delpit and the Browns’ pass defense could give Lamar Jackson serious problems

The Browns’ defense is playing off the charts right now, and safety Grant Delpit is a key factor. Greg Cosell and Doug Farrar break it down.

Through the first three games of the 2023 NFL season, the Cleveland Browns are playing defense at a level we rarely see. The 3-0 Browns rank first in Defensive DVOA, and they have the sixth-best DVOA through the DVOA era, which goes back to the early 1980s.

The numbers are pretty insane. Cleveland ranks first in net yards per passing attempt allowed at 3.5. The NFL average is 5.9. They’ve allowed 14 first downs in the passing game – the NFL average is 32.2. They’ve allowed 2.8 yards per rushing attempt – the NFL average is 4.1. They’ve allowed one passing touchdown. The NFL average is 3.9.

We know about Myles Garrett, Za’Darius Smith, and all those pass-rushers — we’ve discussed that before. It’s time to turn our attention to what the Browns are doing on the back end, because their pass defense — albeit against Cincinnati Bengals, Pittsburgh Steelers, and Tennessee Titans offenses that have struggled to bust a grape at times — is particularly obscene.

Per Sports Info Solutions, that pass defense has allowed an opponent passer rating of 61.1 — only the Buffalo Bills and Dallas Cowboys have been better. Their Yards per Coverage Snap of 4.2 leads the league. Their Passing EPA allowed of -40.68, and their EPA Per Play allowed of -0.42 are both second-nest behind the Bills, their Positive Play Rate Allowed of 24.5% is by far the NFL’s best (the Cowboys rank second at 35.2%), and on and on and on.

So, let’s turn to the Browns’ secondary, and detail how that’s working so well. We must start with safety Grant Delpit, who’s playing out of his mind this season. Delpit has two pressures, 15 tackles, nine stops, and he’s allowed eight catches on 11 targets for 22 yards, 16 yards after the catch, no touchdowns, one interception, one pass breakup, and an opponent passer rating of 37.3. Defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz loves to use subtle twists of the knife through a game in coverage, and Delpit has been Schwartz’s perfect foil because he plays with his hair on fire all over the field.

Whether he’s covering Tee Higgins of the Cincinnati Bengals through the deep third…

…or blitzing from the slot to upset Joe Burrow…

…Delpit can do it all from everywhere.

Schwartz talked a lot this week about the challenges presented by the Baltimore Ravens’ offense and Lamar Jackson.

“There’s still a lot of carryover from last year, particularly run game and quarterback run game, but probably a little bit more emphasis on some of the dropback game,” Schwartz said on Thursday of Baltimore’s offense under new OC Todd Monken. “His completion percentage is way up. They’re trying to get high-percentage completions, get the ball out of his hand fairly quickly, but that goes both ways. It comes out of his hand a little bit faster, but sometimes he’s really dangerous when he’s holding the ball a long time, making guys miss and making big plays down the know the field. There’s still a lot of carryover from years past. And I think with Coach [John] Harbaugh there, he’s not going to let it get too far away from his philosophy and their effort to be physical and control the game with the run game. So, there’s a lot of stuff there, and we’ll have to be ready for a lot of different personnel packages. They use different packages within personnel packages and things like that. So, we’ll match it a lot of different ways.”

It’s a tremendous matchup, and Greg Cosell and Doug Farrar get into it in this week’s “Xs and Os.”

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You can watch this week’s “Xs and Os with Greg Cosell and Doug Farrar,” featuring detailed tape and metric breakdowns of Week 4’s biggest matchups, right here:

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You can also listen and subscribe to the “Xs and Os” podcast on Spotify…

…and on Apple Podcasts.

Texans rookie WR Tank Dell is breaking the mold for smaller receivers

Houston Texans rookie receiver Nathaniel “Tank” Dell is breaking the mold for smaller receivers. Greg Cosell and Doug Farrar discuss in this week’s “Xs and Os.”

The list of receivers in the general area of 5-foot-8 and 165 pounds leans toward gadget guys as opposed to legitimate outside targets. When you’re that small, you’re generally not expected to deal with bigger, more physically dominant cornerbacks; you’re generally best off exploiting open space from the slot or the backfield.

The Houston Texans have had a different plan with rookie receiver Nathanial “Tank” Dell. The Houston alum has caught 15 passes on 23 targets for 251 yards and two touchdowns, and where he’s catching those passes is pretty interesting. Through his first three NFL games, Dell has lined up in the slot on just 27 snaps, and 74 outside. And all three of his explosive plays have come out of an outside alignment.

“I would say the biggest growth, really has just been the minutia of route-running,” Texans offensive coordinator Bobby Slowik said this week of Dell’s development. “When I say that, Tank has always been a really good route runner and a really good separator. But how he uses his speed and how that impacts his routes – and not just deep routes, but intermediate routes, short routes, how he gets in and out of cuts – not just with freak athleticism, but now with intentionality and tying it to other routes that we run that maybe he’s not coming out of a break point. So, being able to make things look similar to other routes we run has started to really resonate with him. I think it shows up on tape and he’s really doing a great job in that area.”

Dell’s vertical ability showed up twice against the Jacksonville Jaguars last Sunday — there was this 46-yard near-touchdown in the first quarter where he just ran through the Jaguars’ Cover-2…

…and this 68-yard actual touchdown in the fourth quarter in which Dell did the same to Jacksonville’s Cover-1.

In this week’s “Xs and Os with Greg Cosell,” we discussed the challenges Dell will present to the Pittsburgh Steelers’ defense this Sunday, in conjunction with rookie quarterback C.J. Stroud.

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You can watch this week’s “Xs and Os with Greg Cosell and Doug Farrar,” featuring detailed tape and metric breakdowns of Week 4’s biggest matchups, right here:

You can also listen and subscribe to the “Xs and Os” podcast on Spotify…

…and on Apple Podcasts.

How can the Bills stop the Dolphins’ ridiculous offense?

The Miami Dolphins’ offense is an unstoppable juggernaut that the Buffalo Bills must try to stop. Greg Cosell and Doug Farrar detail how the Bills can pull it off.

The Buffalo Bills are coming off a 37-3 waxing of the Washington Commanders in which they became the first NFL team since the 1985 Dallas Cowboys to put up nine sacks and four interceptions in a single game.

But by Monday morning, head coach Sean McDermott had thrown those good feelings right out the window, and for good reason. Buffalo must now deal with a Miami Dolphins offense that set all kinds of records in its preposterous 70-20 thrashing of the Denver Broncos.

So, as well as McDermott’s defense is playing, there’s no time for pats on the back.

“It gets shorter and shorter or smaller and smaller, that window, right? And in particular, when you got a team that put up 70 points, I don’t think I’ve seen that in my NFL career the entire time,” McDermott said Monday morning. “So they’re very explosive,”

In this week’s “Xs and Os with Greg Cosell and Doug Farrar,” the guys talked at length about the challenges presented by Miami’s offense, and how the Bills can best deal with them.

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You can watch this week’s entire “Xs and Os with Greg Cosell and Doug Farrar,” featuring all of Week 4’s biggest matchups, right here:

You can also listen and subscribe to the “Xs and Os” podcast on Spotify…

…and on Apple Podcasts.

Now, let’s get into how the Bills can ostensibly stop this bullet train.

The Xs and Os with Greg Cosell: Previewing Week 4’s biggest NFL matchups

Lions-Packers! Dolphins-Bills! Browns-Ravens! Steelers-Texans! Greg Cosell and Doug Farrar preview Week 4’s biggest NFL matchups.

With three full weeks down in the 2023 NFL calendar, it’s time to look ahead to the most compelling matchups in Week 4 of the season. As always, Greg Cosell of NFL Films and ESPN’s NFL Matchup, and Doug Farrar of USA Today’s Sports Media Group, have you covered with comprehensive tape study and advanced metrics.

This week, the guys break down these genes:

Detroit Lions at Green Bay Packers
Miami Dolphins at Buffalo Bills
Baltimore Ravens at Cleveland Browns
Pittsburgh Steelers at Houston Texans
Arizona Cardinals at San Francisco 49ers

You can watch this week’s “Xs and Os with Greg Cosell and Doug Farrar” right here:

You can also listen and subscribe to the “Xs and Os” podcast on Spotify…

…and on Apple Podcasts.

The Xs and Os: How Jordan Love can singe Detroit’s defense with big-time vertical throws

The Lions will be tested this Thursday night by Jordan Love’s tight-window deep throws. Greg Cosell and Doug Farrar break it down in “The Xs and Os.”

In the first half of the Green Bay Packers’ Sunday game against the New Orleans Saints, Packers quarterback Jordan Love completed just seven of 16 passes for 74 yards. The Packers were down 17-0 when they went in the tunnel, and this looked like it could be a blowout. Dennis Allen’s Saints defense is maybe the best in the NFL at tying pressure to match coverage, and Love was having all kinds of problems with it.

Then, in the second half, Love completed 15 of 28 passes for 185 yards, one touchdown, and one interception — still not amazing numbers, but the ways in which he was able to make tight-window vertical throws in the second half turned out to be a major factor in Green Bay’s 18-17 comeback win.

The first big-time throw came with 1:53 left in the third quarter, and Love made a brilliant 30-yard pass to backside slot receiver Romeo Doubs out of a five-wide empty look against the Saints’ Cover-3. Love did a great job of maintaining the concept despite the Saints’ flip from two-high to single-high, but also against safety Tyrann Mathieu disrupting the timing of the route after he dropped down.

The second big play came with 12:30 left in the fourth quarter against Cover-1. Cornerback Alontae Taylor was in aggressive man coverage against rookie receiver Jayden Reed, who pushed back on Taylor’s bumpage until he broke outside. Taylor stumbled for a split second, and that’s how you get a 22-yard completion.

The third big play came with 4:13 left in the game, and this 30-yard completion helped to set up Love’s game-winning touchdown pass to Doubs with 2:59 left on the clock. This was Reed against Taylor again — this time, from the frontside outside slot. And Reed did two important things against Taylor on this play — he took outside leverage well, and he got a subtle push in Taylor (Saints fans may debate the definition of “subtle” here) to get open just enough for Love’s deep pass.

“I think we were just going [into] two-minute mode, going a little bit faster and taking some more shots downfield,” Love said after the game of the difference in the second half. “We were getting a lot of man-to-man coverage and receivers were just capitalizing on those opportunities and just making plays for us.”

Love also had high praise for Doubs and Reed.

“Those guys are special. They made some great plays when we needed it most. That’s a credit to everybody. It wasn’t perfect a lot of that game, but guys never flinched and they showed out, showed up and they played to the end.”

The Detroit Lions, who face off against the Packers in Thursday night, have allowed seven opponent completions of 16 or more air yards (the NFL’s definition of an explosive passing play) on 11 attempts for 177 yards per Sports Info Solutions, so that’s something to watch.

In this week’s “Xs and Os with Greg Cosell and Doug Farrar,” the guys get into why Love is able to succeed in these concepts, and how the Lions’ defense will be challenged to stop him — especially with those bang-on downfield throws.

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You can watch this week’s full “Xs and Os” video with all the key matchups for Week 4 right here:

You can also listen and subscribe to the “Xs and Os” podcast on Spotify…

…and on Apple Podcasts.

The Xs and Os: Detroit’s precision, motion could cause problems for Green Bay’s defense

The Lions have a precise passing game with motion that could upend the Packers on Thursday night. Greg Cosell and Doug Farrar break it down.

The Detroit Lions under offensive coordinator Ben Johnson don’t use pre-snap motion a ton in the passing game, but when they do, it’s generally effective and explosive. Through the first three games of the 2023 NFL season, per Sports Info Solutions, quarterback Jared Goff has 45 dropbacks with pre-snap motion, which ranks 24th in the league. But with motion, he’s completed 31 of 41 passes for 357 yards, 231 yards, three touchdowns, one interception, and a passer rating of 115.6 — fourth-best in the league.

One reason that the Lions are so good with motion is the precision of their receiver splits and concepts. Johnson sets Goff up to hit open reads with different motion ideas, including the speed motion that has taken the NFL by storm… especially in Miami.

This 22-yard pass to receiver Kalif Raymond against the Atlanta Falcons in Week 3 had Raymond running across the formation pre-snap to get a full head of steam, and that put him ahead of cornerback DeAundre Alford in Atlanta’s Cover-3. Goff could turn his back with play-action and then hit his back foot to throw with confidence.

The good news for the Green Bay Packers, who the Lions face on Thursday night, is that their middle-of-the-pack defense is actually quite good when dealing with motion in the passing game. Joe Barry’s defense had allowed 26 catches on 37 attempts for 228 yards, one touchdown, two interceptions, and an opponent passer rating of 72.8, which is the NFL’s sixth-lowest.

This Rasul Douglas interception against the Atlanta Falcons and quarterback Desmond Ridder in Week 2 was a somewhat similar concept, with running back Bijan Robinson running that fast motion across. However, Robinson didn’t exploit the deep coverage against Cover-3 the way Raymond did for the Lions, and Ridder decided to throw over the middle, with far less than the desired effect.

There’s motion to indicate, and motion to disrupt. This appeared to be neither. The Lions will provide a tougher test for the Packers because of that offensive precision than the Falcons or Chicago Bears have.

In this week’s “Xs and Os with Greg Cosell and Doug Farrar,” the guys got deeper into that idea.

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“When you watch their offense, you just get a really strong sense that it all works together so efficiently, and very rhythmically,” Greg said. “It comes down to, how do you disrupt timing? There are different ways to do that, but you’re trying to disrupt timing.”

Option 1 for any defense to disrupt receiver timing is to press those receivers, but motion obviously complicates that equation.

“I spoke to a defensive coach this week who said that it’s possible to jam motions, but it takes a lot of work, and it’s very hard,” Greg continued. “The whole thing with dealing with receivers because the ball comes out quickly is that it’s tough deal when you deal with motion. It’s harder to jam receivers on the move, particularly when they’re motioning across the formation.”

Which the Lions can do very well.

You can watch this week’s full “Xs and Os” video with all the key matchups for Week 4 right here:

You can also listen and subscribe to the “Xs and Os” podcast on Spotify…

…and on Apple Podcasts.

Secret Superstars: The top underrated players for Week 3 of the NFL season

From De’Von Achane to Tank Dell to Hjalte Froholdt to Terrel Bernard to Kendall Fuller, here are the Secret Superstars for Week 3 of the 2023 NFL season.

There are all kinds of reasons that NFL players are underrated.

Perhaps they’re in systems that don’t best show their skills. Maybe they’re buried on a depth chart. Or, they’re in somebody’s doghouse, and their coaches can’t see their potential. Sometimes, young players haven’t quite put it all together, but there are enough flashes to make you sit up and take notice, and when it does work, it’s all good.

Week 3 of the 2022 regular season features players at every position who showed up and showed out despite their underrated statuses, and here at Touchdown Wire, it’s our job to point them out.

Here are the Secret Superstars for Week 3 of the 2022 NFL season.

(All advanced metrics courtesy of Pro Football Focus unless otherwise indicated).

The All-22: Dolphins had the perfect game plan in historic 70-point performance

The Miami Dolphins put up a historic offensive performance on Sunday, and here’s how they did it from the All-22 view.

There are wins, there are beatdowns, there are absolute ass-whoopings, and then… there’s what the Miami Dolphins’ offense did to the Denver Broncos’ defense on Sunday in a 70-20 thrashing the likes of which professional football has rarely seen.

Mike McDaniel’s offense put up 726 total yards, becoming the fourth team in NFL history, including the postseason, to score at least 70 points in a game and the first in 57 years, joining the Chicago Bears (73 points in the 1940 NFL Championship on December 8, 1940), the Washington Redskins (72 points on November 27, 1966), and the Los Angeles Rams (70 points on October 22, 1950).

Dolphins hit 70-point mark against baffled Broncos

Per NFL Research, the Dolphins are the second team in NFL history, including the postseason, to record at least 700 yards of total offense in a single game, joining the Rams on September 28, 1951 (735 yards of offense).

Miami has recorded 1,651 total yards of offense this season and surpassed the 2011 New England Patriots (1,621 yards of offense) for the most-ever by a team through its first three games of a season.

The Dolphins have scored 130 points so far this season and surpassed the 2013 Denver Broncos (127 points) and 1966 Dallas Cowboys (127) for the second-most ever by a team through its first three games of a season. Only the 1968 Cowboys (132 points) had more.

So, yeah… pretty historic stuff.

Here are all 10 of the Dolphins’ touchdowns in historic 70-20 beatdown of the Broncos

“Shame on us if you put a ceiling on what you’re capable of,” McDaniel said after the game. “If you just worry about the right things, you don’t worry about anything but your technique and fundamentals and your assignment within the team. You don’t worry about stats, you don’t worry about credit, it’s amazing what a group of people can do going in one direction. I think the points don’t carry over, but I do think this is a meaningful game for a lot of guys to understand to not let an opportunity on the field together slip through your fingers in any way, shape or form because collectively, we have all the right people to do some pretty cool stuff on the football field. I think that’s just incredible. It just goes through my mind like a Rolodex, like all of the intentional work that goes into it by the players.

The Dolphins dumped the entire Rolodex of plays on Vance Joseph’s defense, and here’s how they did it to such a ridiculously successful degree.

The 49ers seem to think that Giants QB Daniel Jones is seriously overpaid

After Daniel Jones’ underwhelming Thursday night game, several 49ers defenders implied that the Giants’ quarterback is seriously overpaid.

Outside of the second half and overtime of their Week 2 win over the Arizona Cardinals, the New York Giants have woefully underperformed on offense this season. And in Thursday night’s loss to the San Francisco 49ers — a 30-12 loss that the Giants were never in after a 3-3 start — quarterback Daniel Jones did little to impress. Jones completed 22 of 32 passes for 132 yards, no touchdowns, and one interception, and that yardage total tells you all you need to know about Big Blue’s approach in the passing game. Overwhelmed by an injury-ravaged offensive line against San Francisco’s dominant fronts, Jones was pressured on 15 of his 34 dropbacks, per Pro Football Focus, which is unsustainable for any quarterback.

After the game, several 49ers defenders made it clear that they were unimpressed with Jones, and found the four-year, $160 million contract he signed this offseason to be… well, farcical.

“The dude did not want to throw the ball,” one unnamed 49ers defender told Mike Silver of the San Francisco Chronicle. “Early on, you could tell it wasn’t gonna happen. Everything was a checkdown. At that point, we knew what time it was.”

Linebacker Dre Greenlaw had no problem putting his name on his opinion of Jones.

“A lot of people who make all that money don’t even deserve it. I think they took a chance [when they paid him]. I mean, he’s not bad. And if you ain’t got nothing better…”

Per Silver, the hits just kept on coming.

“Yeah,” conceded Niners cornerback Charvarius (Mooney) Ward, “forty million dollars a year is a lot of money.”

Another S.F. defender called Jones’ salary “unbelievable.” Still another used the word “ridiculous.” Said a third: “That’s a travesty, man.”

Ward was also happy to discuss the interception Jones threw with 3:48 left in the game, though it wasn’t Jones’ fault — he threw a slant on time to tight end Darren Waller, Ward matched Jones over the middle, Waller couldn’t bring it in, the ball bounced up in the air, linebacker Fred Warner almost caught it, and the ball floated to safety Talanoa Hufanga.

“It makes you hungry,” Ward said. “At the end of the game, every DB on the field was playing for a pick. Huf was the lucky guy to get it. I had a good assist. I was happy to help. We were on our P’s and Q’s tonight.”

Jones wasn’t, and in the doing of that undoing, he left the 49ers wondering what the Giants were thinking with that contract.

The Xs and Os with Greg Cosell: Previewing Week 3’s biggest NFL matchups

With tape study and advanced metrics, Greg Cosell and Doug Farrar detail Week 3’s biggest matchups in this week’s “Xs and Os” video and podcast.

It’s time for Week 3 of the NFL season, and Greg Cosell of NFL Films and ESPN’s NFL Matchup, and Doug Farrar of Touchdown Wire, are here to preview the biggest games and the most exciting matchups in the new week.

This week’s games:

Buffalo Bills at Washington Commanders: How Sam Howell has impressed just about everybody.

Los Angeles Chargers at Minnesota Vikings: What might Justin Herbert see from Brian Flores’ offense? Based on this year’s trend, it could be just about anything.

Chicago Bears at Kansas City Chiefs: Justin Fields is clearly on the outs with his coaches. How can the Bears put together a functional passing game?

Philadelphia Eagles at Tampa Bay Buccaneers: Where are we with Jalen Hurts’ pocket vision after two weeks, and why Baker Mayfield is looking so good in Dave Canales’ offense.

You can watch this week’s “Xs and Os” right here:

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You can also listen and subscribe to “The Xs and Os” podcast on Spotify…

…and on Apple Podcasts.