If you need an example of how important film study is in football, look no further than Darious Williams’ interception of Russell Wilson in the Rams’ 30-20 win over the Seahawks in the Wild Card round of the NFL playoffs.
Williams has had a knack for jumping routes all season long, so it wasn’t surprising to see him jump Wilson’s quick pass to D.K. Metcalf for the interception before running it back for the game’s first touchdown. If it looked as if the Rams’ second-year cornerback knew what play Seattle was running, it’s because he probably did. In fact, Williams said as much after the game.
“I already knew what they was doing, ” Williams told NFL Media’s Omar Ruiz after the game. “I’ve seen it 100 times on film. I just went to go get it.”
Here’s the play:
I used Sports Info Solutions’ Tendency Reports App to look up how many times the Seahawks had lined up in a three-receiver bunch formation like that. It was only four times. And only twice did the back line up to the same side of the bunch.
On both of those plays, the Seahawks called a run-pass option pairing an outside zone run with a preimeter screen pass to a receiver. Here’s the first time, which came in a Week 8 game against the 49ers…
Here’s the second time, which came in a Week 13 game against the Giants…
So when Williams saw the Seahawks line up like that, he could be pretty confident that a screen pass was coming. Against the Rams, though, Seattle had the outside receiver run the screen as opposed to the inside receiver running it. That little wrinkle didn’t matter.
Williams was able to jump the route and gave the Rams a lead they’d never surrender.