Tag: film review

Brain Baldinger breaks down Chiefs’ win over Ravens in AFC Championship Game

NFL analyst Brian Baldinger took to Twitter to break down the #Chiefs’ win over the #Ravens in the AFC Championship Game.

The Kansas City Chiefs are Super Bowl-bound after defeating the Baltimore Ravens in the AFC Championship Game on Sunday.

Exceptional efforts from quarterback Patrick Mahomes, tight end Travis Kelce, and the Chiefs’ entire defensive unit helped lift Kansas City to its second-consecutive Super Bowl appearance, and NFL analyst Brian Baldinger was ready to break down the game shortly after the final whistle blew.

Baldinger has made a name for himself as one of the most respected members of the media, making digestible breakdowns of key moments and matchups on Twitter to teach fans about the intricacies of the game of football.

His analysis of Kansas City’s win over Baltimore was one for the ages and gave context to all of the events that helped the Chiefs take down the top-seeded Ravens at M&T Bank Stadium.

Check out Baldinger’s breakdown of all the action from Sunday’s hotly-contested AFC Championship Game below:

Film room: What I learned from the Lions win over the Rams

Film room: What I learned from the Lions playoff win over the Rams

For the first time in 32 years, the Detroit Lions won a playoff game. Sunday night’s nail-biting win over the visiting Los Angeles Rams ended the longest postseason victory drought in the NFL and set up a second playoff home date in the same postseason for the Lions for the first time in franchise history.

The emotions of the real-time watch on Sunday night made concrete analysis somewhat difficult. The re-watch of the All-22 and broadcast feed on Tuesday morning was a more measured, analytical take. Here’s what I took away from the film review of the Lions wild card win over the Rams.

Lions vs. Packers: What I learned from film review of Detroit’s Thanksgiving loss

Takeaways from the film study of the Lions’ Thanksgiving loss to the Packers, a game Detroit lost from the very first play

Thanksgiving was a tough football meal to digest for the Detroit Lions. Losing 29-22 in Ford Field to the Green Bay Packers in a turkey of a game ruined the holiday buzz.

I delayed this week’s film study and lessons learned from it a little to make sure the bad taste of the loss was out of my mouth and not overly clouding my judgment. It turns out that the leftover helping of All-22 didn’t make it taste any better. In fact, I feel even worse about the way the Lions played now after studying it more.

Here’s what I took away from the film study of the Lions’ Thanksgiving loss to the Packers.

Lions film review: Grading Kayode Awosika’s start at LG vs. the Buccaneers

Awosika started in place of injured Jonah Jackson at left guard against Tampa Bay and had a mixed bag of a game

With regular left guard Jonah Jackson sidelined with an ankle injury, the Detroit Lions plugged Kayode Awosika into the starting lineup for the Week 6 matchup with the Buccaneers.

It was a bit of a surprise move, with regular starting RG Halapoulivaati Vaitai active after missing time with a knee injury. Vaitai only played on special teams, however, with top reserve Graham Glasgow still inserted in his place.

This was Awosika’s first start in 2023 and his first for the Lions at left guard. The third-year vet did start two games at right guard in 2022, in Weeks 12 and 13 (Buffalo and Jacksonville games). He’d been earning praise from teammates for his work in practices, and Awosika got the chance to prove himself against the Buccaneers.

Here’s what head coach Dan Campbell said about Awosika’s performance in his Monday press conference,

“Yeah, I think – look, I would say it was solid. It was solid. Look, that’s the first time this year he goes in there and bangs away. That’s a dang good unit, really good D-line. And there was some good and there was some that wasn’t so good, but I thought all-in-all, man, he really competed in there and gave us a chance.

And so, I thought it was positive. I thought it was positive. And I think really what it was is Big V is just steadily coming back from this. He’s kind of been on reserve, he was better this week than last week, but we just want to make sure that he’s 100 percent ready to go and then we’ll take it from there. But certainly, what Yode did is encouraging and I have a lot of faith in him. He’ll only get better as well.”

As part of the weekly film review session, I decided to focus on Awosika and grade out his performance. The criteria are pretty simple:

  • Wins on a rep earn a plus
  • Losses on a rep earn a minus
  • Not every rep has a win or loss

Here’s how it tallied out for Awosika over the course of 70 offensive snaps.

No. 74 earned his first plus on Detroit’s third offensive play. He nicely stayed with DT Calijah Kancey on a twist, not taking the bait with the end twisting inside. Center Frank Ragnow easily neutralized the loop, too.

That was the only mark, positive or negative, from the first drive.

Awosika’s first plus (or minus) in the run game came on a negative offensive play shortly after the Will Harris INT. From left guard, Awosika pulled across the formation and successfully engaged and pushed back the outside LB beyond the right end. Alas, the chaotic blocking assignments on the play saw RB David Montgomery swallowed by three defenders in the backfield. Somehow, Glasgow wound up on the ground outside left tackle Taylor Decker, who was behind right tackle Penei Sewell, who blocked the DT who was directly in front of Awosika at the snap.

His first minus came on the next Lions drive, in pass protection. This was a “look for work” opportunity where the Bucs didn’t have anyone for Awosika to block immediately. The scheme left him as the help assignment, and the help was needed with the Bucs blitzing the slot DB and an inside backer. David Montgomery picked the LB, but Awosika was exposed in never even seeing the backside help assignment. It’s a very difficult ask of a young player, but that’s a play we’ve seen Jonah Jackson make. Good on the Bucs for testing it, too. Jared Goff completed the pass under pressure to Amon-Ra St. Brown on the play.

At the half, Awosika had an even ledger:

6 plusses, 5 minuses

In pass protection, he was at three plusses and four minuses in the first half. Three of his minuses overall came on consecutive plays immediately after Montgomery left with an injury.

Second half

The second half was interesting, because it was an opportunity to see how Awosika adjusted to the Bucs’ defensive attack. Conversely, it also afforded an opportunity for those defenders to adapt to how No. 74 was playing.

The first two drives were a definite advantage to the defense. Awosika earned three minuses and one plus, all in pass protection.

As a general observation, cut blocking is not something Awosika should ever be asked to do again. Cut-block assignments against a quick DL like Kancey are setting Awosika up to fail. And he did.

For the game tally on Awosika

15 plusses, 16 minuses overall

In pass protection, it was an even split of 8/8. He was technically on the hook for one sack, though I had a hard time giving Awosika a minus on the play, a coverage sack where Goff stepped into the defender more than Awosika got beaten.

Run blocking saw seven plusses against eight minuses. When he was blocking someone in front of him to start the play, the split was 3/6. He was much better on the move in the run game. I didn’t grade Glasgow for this game, but the amount of times he didn’t engage anyone in the run game when asked to move was troubling. There’s a balance to be found there for OC Ben Johnson and OL coach Hank Fraley.

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Film Review: Lions rookie TE Sam LaPorta and his impressive performance vs. Seattle

Film Review on the impressive performance against Seahawks from Lions rookie TE Sam LaPorta

After the Lions traded away tight end T.J. Hockenson last season, there became an obvious need for talent at the position. The Lions did what they could with Shane Zylstra and Brock Wright but we all knew that it would only get them so far as an offense.

Fortunately for the Lions, they were able to land Iowa tight end Sam LaPorta in the 2nd round of the 2023 NFL Draft. After drafting him, it was clearly identified that there was a need for more talent at the tight end position in Detroit. So far, it looks like LaPorta is exactly what Detroit needed.

Through two games this season, LaPorta has been targeted 11 times. This has resulted in 10 receptions for 102 yards and six first downs. While his debut against the Chiefs was good, his performance against the Seahawks in week two was even more impressive. Let’s jump into the film room to see how good LaPorta was for Jared Goff and this offense of the Detroit Lions!

The first play I want to highlight from Sam LaPorta against Seattle was his first catch of the day. On the play above, the Lions are faced with a 2nd-and-2 and come out aligned in an empty set.  While there are three hitch routes ran, the route to focus on is the crosser from LaPorta. Even though he was initially covered, the key is how LaPorta comes back towards the quarterback. Jared Goff extends the play towards the sideline and in the process, LaPorta works back towards him to become open. It’s a veteran play from the rookie tight end.

When looking back at the college tape of LaPorta, he was a willing blocker. He needed more refinement but one thing for sure is that he’s willing to get dirty and try to bury a defender into the dirt on a run play. So far this year, LaPorta has had some misses when blocking.

Fortunately, the play above is a terrific win for LaPorta. As the defensive end attempts to blow up the play, LaPorta keeps his pad level low prior to contact. As he makes contact, he uses his outside hand to hook into the armpit of the defender and he just powers forward for a huge block that helps clear a path to the end zone for David Montgomery.

The next play I want to focus on is a play-action pass where the Lions come out in 12 personnel (one running back and two tight ends). Looking at the play above, the Lions put WR 11 Kalif Raymond in return motion prior to the snap. After the snap, Goff fakes the hand-off to Montgomery and looks deep down the field for the two vertical routes being run by the receivers.

While everything is covered, Goff waits for LaPorta to check/release and get to the middle of the field. LaPorta check releases well on this 2nd-and-4 and then shows good run-after-the-catch ability while breaking a tackle. This is a promising sign that can help the Lions in the short and intermediate areas of the field if Amon-Ra St. Brown is limited at all moving forward.

The next play that I want to focus on is potentially the play of the game for the Lions. Looking at the play above, the Lions are facing a 3rd-and-12 from their own 48-yard line. Pre-snap, they have LaPorta run return motion to the right side of the formation to have a 2 x 2 set post-snap.

Once the ball is snapped, LaPorta clearly runs a slant route to the middle of the field. Despite having a defensive back (DB 8 Coby Bryant) down in the box and playing tight coverage, Goff finds a way to fit this pass into the hands of LaPorta.

Despite complimenting Goff on the throw, this pass is primarily completed because LaPorta simply took it away from the defender. Meanwhile, he displays another good run after the catch where he’s able to get an additional 4 or 5 yards. This was a key catch in the 4th quarter during a key drive that the Lions needed.

Not only did LaPorta make one key play on the drive we just talked about, he actually made two key plays! The Lions are down 10 points and have less than five minutes left in the game. From the Seattle 29-yard line, the Lions come out in another 2 x 2 set.

Looking at the play above, you can see LaPorta aligned in the slot as the Y-receiver. After the ball is snapped, he runs a curl route and despite two defenders closing in on him to make the tackle, he shows tremendous strength to keep his feet.

He’s able to stay upright and is able to run after the catch and get his team down to the 6-yard line of Seattle. This helped set up another touchdown pass to Josh Reynolds and put Detroit within 3 points of Seattle.

Even though the Lions weren’t able to pull off a win against Seattle in week two, there were still a lot of positives from this Lions team. Whether it was good runs by David Montgomery or a strong performance from Derrick Barnes on defense, there are still players to get excited about.

That includes Sam LaPorta.

After two games, LaPorta has been impressive and has been a key part of the Lions offense. As he continues to build rapport with Jared Goff, I think we’ll see even more strong performances from the rookie tight end.

Packers film room: Closer look at what first-round pick Lukas Van Ness brings to defense

Breaking down the tape of Packers first-round pick Lukas Van Ness, the hulking edge rusher from Iowa.

The Green Bay Packers added a powerful edge rusher with their first pick in the 2023 draft.

Lukas Van Ness was considered one of the top pass rushers in this year’s class after two productive seasons at Iowa. The Packers took him with the 13th overall pick, even though he never started a game for the Hawkeyes.

“It’s unusual, but he played close to 1,000 snaps the last two years,” said Brian Gutekunst Thursday night. “Iowa’s got a very good culture there, and that’s just kind of the way they do things a little bit, but he played a majority of the snaps of anybody on the defensive line.”

While Van Ness’ lack of experience was a concern during the pre-draft process, Green Bay made the pick knowing that his best football was ahead of him. Despite coming off the bench in 2021 and 2022, he still managed to accumulate 13.0 sacks, 19.0 tackles for loss and 74 pressures, according to Pro Football Focus.

“Really big upside,” Gutekunst added. “The physical traits are all there for him to grow, so there’s no real limitation on him. But also, the versatility to win outside with speed and inside with power. There’s so much in front of him, and that’s where his best football will be.”

Speaking of physical traits, Van Ness measured in at 6-5, 270 lbs at the combine before he ran a 4.58 40-yard dash, with eye-catching 10- and 20-yard splits and a 7.02 three-cone. When teams talk about moldable traits, this is what they mean.

However, scouting ultimately boils down to projection. Though production at the college level is taken into consideration, it means nothing once you are in the NFL. What can the player do, and where is he headed?

Much of that is uncovered by turning on the tape. In Van Ness’ case, the film speaks volumes about the player the Packers are getting, both as a pass rusher and run defender.

Today, we are breaking down both areas of Van Ness’ game. By the end, hopefully, we have more insight into Green Bay’s reasoning behind the pick and how they think he will fit into their defense.

For this film review, we are evaluating the All-22 from Van Ness’ performances against Ohio State and Michigan this past season. Let’s get started.

8 things I learned from watching Lions vs. Vikings film

On Taylor Decker’s dominance, Aidan Hutchinson stepping up, WR blocking, great tackling, peak Jared Goff and more

The first viewing of the Detroit Lions’ 34-23 victory over the Minnesota Vikings was glorious in its own right. Sunday’s win marked the fifth time in six games Dan Campbell’s team prevailed, and it was an emotionally charged victory that breathed some real life into the Lions’ playoff hopes.

As is often the case, the film review strips the emotion and intensity from the game. I went back through and watched the game again twice — both the broadcast feed and the all-22 coach’s film. This was a great game to review with a lot of intricacies and subtleties much more visible the second (and third) time around.

Here’s some of what I took out of the film review of the Lions Week 14 win over the Vikings.

Lions film spotlight: Breaking down the replacement guards, Dan Skipper and Kayode Awosika, in Week 12

Lions film spotlight: Breaking down the replacement guards, Dan Skipper and Kayode Awosika, in Week 12 against the Bills

The Detroit Lions played the Buffalo Bills on Thanksgiving without both regular starting offensive guards. Pro Bowl left guard Jonah Jackson was sidelined with a concussion, while right guard Evan Brown sat with an ankle injury.

Those unfortunate injuries thrust two relative unknowns into the starting lineup. Veteran Dan Skipper took over on the left side for Jackson and Kayode Awosika filled in on the right side. Skipper had experience playing at RG before but the left side was a new experience. Awosika had played all of eight NFL snaps in two seasons prior to this game.

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This week’s film spotlight is on the replacement guards. The criteria are simple: I watch every snap and give a plus for a positive play or a minus for a negative play. Not every play earns a mark. Prior week spotlights started with Jeff Okudah in Week 1 and carried through Alex Anzalone in Week 10.

Jeff Okudah: Breaking down the Lions CB's Week 1 performance vs. the Eagles

Film review: Breaking down Lions LB Alex Anzalone in the Week 10 win over the Bears

The Lions didn’t hesitate to test the replacement guards. On the very first play from scrimmage, it was an outside run to the right with both Skipper and Awosika pulling in front and leading the blocking. Skipper moved very well and held his point of attack to the point where RB D’Andre Swift had to choose his option. Awosika got outside capably but struggled after initial contact with the Bills defender who eventually made the tackle on Swift. Skipper didn’t hold the backside of that well either.

The first couple of drives were clearly a feeling-out period for the Bills defense, especially with Awosika on the right side. Buffalo DTs Tim Settle and Jordan Phillips played it pretty straightforward with their rushes. I had Skipper for two minuses in pass protection on those drives–both losses to his outside shoulder where the DT beat him with quickness. He earned one plus as a run blocker, on Jamaal Williams’ TD run to cap the second drive.

Awosika had one minus in pass pro, a designed bootleg where he was too quick to turn his blocking mark loose. He had one plus and one minus in the run game.

The next drive, Bills DT DaQuon Jones beat Awosika with a pretty basic outside swim-over move for an easy sack on Jared Goff. One play later, the final snap of the first quarter, might have been Skipper’s best of the day; the LG didn’t bite on a stunt and stonewalled Settle with excellent balance on a pass pro rep.

The first half ended with this tally:

Awosika – 3 plusses, 7 minuses

Skipper – 3 plusses, 6 minuses

Two plays, one run and one pass, saw both guards earn minuses at the same time. That’s (obviously) very bad.

The second half saw the Bills try a few more gimmicks — overloaded lines, twists, LB gap blitzes. They got Skipper cleanly twice for quick pressures off those. Awosika handled his business in the run game better, though his range just isn’t there. The Bills defense figured out to attack the gap between Skipper and LT Taylor Decker with Decker’s attention held outside by a wide rush. Skipper just didn’t show the quickness to handle rushers with a two-way go option.

It wasn’t all bad. Skipper was at his best run blocking in short-yardage and red zone reps, and he was legitimately good there. But the safety was on Skipper’s ledger, though Goff deserves some blame too; Skipper held on long enough to give Goff an escape route but the QB didn’t take it.

Awosika got away with some serious holding, an unexpected positive for a greenhorn. His biggest area for improvement is in “look for work” situations, where he doesn’t have anyone immediately to block on a play. The Bills got savvy to this and let him uncovered in run situations quite a bit, and it worked for Buffalo. Awosika’s inexperience showed in being unable to find targets in those reps.

The final tally, with both players on the field for all 71 offensive snaps:

Skipper – 7 plusses, 13 minuses. The run/pass splits: 5/3 in the run, 2/10 in pass protection

Awosika – 6 plusses, 15 minuses. The run/pass split was 2/7 in the run and 4/8 in pass pro

All things considered, it could have been a lot worse. But Jackson and Brown both need to return quickly for the Lions offense to perform better.

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Film review: Breaking down Lions LB Alex Anzalone in the Week 10 win over the Bears

Film review: Breaking down Lions LB Alex Anzalone in the Week 10 win over the Bears

This week’s Detroit Lions player spotlight film review focuses on someone who doesn’t normally get much credit for his play. Linebacker Alex Anzalone has typically been the target of scorn from fans, not praise.

But in the Week 10 win over the Chicago Bears, Anzalone quietly played a pretty solid game. It was the second week in a row that Anzalone has pieced together a good showing. Against the Bears and unique QB Justin Fields, Anzalone did a lot of impressive dirty work away from Fields.

Jeff Okudah: Breaking down the Lions CB’s Week 1 performance vs. the Eagles

Malcolm Rodriguez: Breaking down the Lions rookie LB in Week 2

Film review: Breaking down Aidan Hutchinson’s performance vs. the Seahawks in Week 4

Film review: Breaking down Penei Sewell’s Week 5 game vs. the Patriots

Josh Paschal: Breaking down the Lions rookie DE in his Week 7 debut

Kerby Joseph: Breaking down the Lions rookie safety in Week 8

Film room: Breaking down the Lions tight ends in the Week 9 win over the Packers

The methodology for the film evaluation here is pretty simple. Plays where the player wins his individual matchup or performs the role on the play correctly earn a plus; plays where he loses his matchup or does the wrong thing get a minus. Not every play earns a mark.

Being in on almost every single defensive snap (60 of 61), Anzalone was very busy.

This is a good example of Anzalone at his best in the run game, from the Bears’ second drive. He doesn’t overcommit, stays clean and finishes with control and power.

Alas, Anzalone earned a minus on the very next play for being late to get out on the tight end in coverage. Fortunately, it didn’t cost the Lions; Fields didn’t see it and kept the ball on a run.

The mixed bag continued on the third drive. Anzalone saved a touchdown by knifing under a block and pushing Fields out of bounds at the 1-yard line. He even forced a fumble with his hit. But three plays later, he was the front-side containment that Fields ran around after making three would-be tacklers miss on the legitimately spectacular touchdown run by the Bears QB.

Later in the game, Anzalone got too far upfield and lost backside containment on the long Fields TD run in the fourth quarter. In general, Anzalone played positionally responsible. But it was glaringly obvious when he didn’t. Asking a player of his caliber to pitch a perfect game is demanding way too much.

I noted that Pro Football Focus credited Anzalone with five missed tackles in the game. Not to call that out, but I only saw three. I’m not faulting No. 34 for getting inadvertently leg-whipped by a teammate when he’s about to make a play, which is the only other even questionable miss attributable to Anzalone. A Bears penalty wiped out another potentially missed tackle. His whiff on the Bears drive that ended with the long Cole Kmet TD reception was really bad, however.

The final tally

Anzalone racked up 19 plusses and 15 minuses, a very meaty total for 60 snaps on defense.

The plusses:

  • 9 came in coverage, including a PD
  • 4 came on between-the-tackles runs
  • Earned a plus on his only designed pass rush attempt, the final offensive play by the Bears, but he did also get a minus for a missed tackle on the same play

The minuses:

  • 11 were in run defense, with five of those on runs by Khalil Herbert (10 total carries)
  • 2 came in coverage situations where he was late to recognize his mark
  • Two minuses were negated by Bears’ penalties

This wound up being one of Anzalone’s best games in a Lions uniform and continues a steady upward trend in his play since the bye in Week 6. Still hard to ignore the misses in no small part because the Lions ask him to be so integral to the defense.

Kerby Joseph: Breaking down the Lions rookie safety in Week 8

Breaking down the performance of Lions rookie safety Kerby Joseph in the team’s Week 8 loss to the Miami Dolphins

This week’s game film spotlight is on Lions rookie safety Kerby Joseph. The third-round pick from Illinois has emerged as not only a full-time starter but one of the leaders of the defense in just his seventh NFL game.

Joseph played all 68 snaps against the Miami Dolphins in the Lions’ Week 8 loss at Ford Field. I watched every single one of them from both the broadcast feed and the All-22 coach’s tape and took fastidious notes on what I witnessed.

Jeff Okudah: Breaking down the Lions CB’s Week 1 performance vs. the Eagles

Malcolm Rodriguez: Breaking down the Lions rookie LB in Week 2

Film review: Breaking down Aidan Hutchinson’s performance vs. the Seahawks in Week 4

Film review: Breaking down Penei Sewell’s Week 5 game vs. the Patriots

Josh Paschal: Breaking down the Lions rookie DE in his Week 7 debut

The methodology here is pretty simple. Plays where Joseph wins his individual matchup or performs the role on the play correctly earn a plus; plays where he loses his matchup or does the wrong thing get a minus. Not every play earns a mark. For a safety playing predominately single-high formation starting most plays 15 yards deep, most of those plays with no marks are on runs or short/quick passes — plays where Joseph should be inconsequential unless the players in front of him don’t do their jobs.

Joseph did not have a great start to the Dolphins game. He earned two marks on the opening Miami drive, both minuses. One was for getting beaten over the top–the cardinal sin for single-high safeties. The other was for a poor pursuit angle to a tackle where the rookie was fortunate Alex Anzalone made a very nice play or else Joseph would’ve been in serious trouble.

(sidenote–this was Anzalone’s best game in a Lions uniform)

Joseph got his head into the game quickly thereafter. He finished the first half with six plusses and three minuses, a figure that includes the two from the first drive.

One of those six plusses came on a fantastic play. Joseph forced a fumble with a big, clean hit where he properly attacked the ball without sacrificing good tackling position. This is beautiful:

Joseph also earned a plus with his one pass rush, a play where he forced Tagovailoa to throw the ball a count earlier than expected.

He kept up the strong play after the half, even as the secondary around him (looks at Amani Oruwariye and AJ Parker) played some truly awful football. In the second half, Joseph picked up eight more plusses against just two minuses. His savvy work in bracket coverage on speedy Tyreek Hill was very good. One of the minuses came in coverage, a play where he lost Jaylen Waddle on a deep seam route after Parker inexplicably turned him loose.

I wanted to give Joseph another minus for not intercepting a bad overthrow on Miami’s final drive of the third quarter, but the reverse angle of the play showed it was an impossible catch to make. Alas, his last minus came at a very bad time. Joseph was too passive and stayed deep too long on Miami’s final third-down conversion that sealed the game. That might have been by coaching design — Aubrey Pleasant did get fired after the game, after all — but his primary mark on the play was helping Will Harris cover Hill and he did not do that.

Overall

For the full game, Joseph earned 14 plusses and five minuses. Given the speed of the Miami receivers and the poor CB play around him, that’s a very impressive outing for a rookie in his fourth career game. Joseph showed solid instincts and very twitchy reactions in most situations.

One thing that really stood out was the lack of wasted motion or energy. Joseph almost never took a false step, and when he comes forward there isn’t a “bucket” step needed to launch him. Very promising effort and performance from No. 31.

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