Tag: Film Room

Film review: Jahmyr Gibbs has turned into the total package for the Lions offense

Film review: Jahmyr Gibbs has turned into the total package for the Lions offense, on full display in the Week 18 win over the Vikings

When the Detroit Lions selected running back Jahmry Gibbs in the 2023 NFL Draft, there was a lot of uncertainty around what he was going to be for them. Much of that was due to the Lions already having D’Andre Swift and David Montgomery. At the time, Montgomery had just signed a contract with Detroit and it felt like the running back room would be crowded.

On the second day of the 2023 NFL Draft, the vision of the running back room in Detroit became clearer. The Lions traded D’Andre Swift to the Philadelphia Eagles and from there, the rest is history.

Over the last two seasons, we’ve seen Gibbs and Montgomery split time in the Lions backfield. It’s led to some tremendous results as the backs compliment each other so well. Since becoming teammates and earning the nicknames “Sonic” and “Knuckles”, they’ve combined for over 4,400 scrimmage yards and 56 touchdowns. This has helped the Lions compile a 27-7 record during that span (best in the NFL).

Earlier this year when David Montgomery went down with an MCL injury, there were concerns about the Lions offense. Could Jahmyr Gibbs show that he could be the lead back for the Lions? He showed it during the 2023 season when Montgomery went down with an injury, however, it was a small sample size (two games).

In those two games, he had 51 touches for 315 yards and two touchdowns. Some terrific numbers but could he handle a full workload for the reminder of the season? There was speculation that Montgomery wouldn’t play again this year. That’s changed as he’s expected back for the Lions playoff game next week.

That said, Gibbs has been spectacular as the Lions lead back. Since Montgomery got hurt in the Bills game, Gibbs has recorded the following stats:

  • Week 16 vs. Chicago | 27 touches for 154 yards and two touchdowns
  • Week 17 vs. San Francisco | 22 touches for 163 yards and one touchdown
  • Week 18 vs. Minnesota | 28 touches for 170 yards and four touchdowns

Over these last three weeks, Gibbs is 3rd in the NFL in rushing yards with 365 rushing yards. His six total touchdowns are tied for 1st at the running back position during that span. Let’s dive into some film to see what Jahmyr Gibbs has been providing for the Lions offense!

 

Starting with the play that I used to highlight Gibbs as the total package. It’s a run that showcases his vision and burst. Looking at the play above, the Lions come out under center with their ’12’ personnel (one running back and two tight ends).

Aligned tight to the line of scrimmage, you’ll see Amon-Ra St. Brown and prior to the snap, you’ll see Brock Wright go in motion to the left. Once the ball is snapped, you’ll see double teams between the guards and tackles on both sides of the center. This is a Duo concept and as the play develops, you can see both guards climb to the second level to the linebackers.

Tremendous blocks across the board for the Lions offensive line, especially right tackle Penei Sewell and center Frank Ragnow. They win both of their blocks with ease and it helps keep Gibbs free so he can read the linebackers. Once he sees the opening, he takes over from there and puts his foot on the gas.

Using terrific burst to get through the second level, Gibbs is off to the races. He begins to run out of room as the defender takes a good angle downfield to force him to slow down along the sideline and get tackled. Ultimately, this was a gain of 47 yards.

 

Moving to the next play, it was the first touchdown scored from Jahmyr Gibbs against the Vikings on Sunday night. Looking at that play above, the Lions come out under center with their ’12’ personnel (one running back and two tight ends). They’re aligned in an offset I-formation and tight end Brock Wright lead blocks through the hole to the middle linebacker.

Once the ball is snapped, it looks like Gibbs gets shot out of a cannon. With a massive opening, he’s able to get through that opening with ease and all that’s meeting him at the second level is a safety that is buzzing down.

Gibbs hits another gear as he shakes that safety. With help from Amon-Ra St. Brown picking up a key block on the perimeter, Gibbs is able to use his speed to run free to the end zone.

 

It’s not all about loading the stat sheet for Gibbs either. Looking at the play above, the Lions will come out in a condensed 2×2 set with their ’11’ personnel (one running back and one tight end). Prior to the snap, Jared Goff will put Jameson Williams in motion to the left of the formation and it puts the Lions in a trips left formation.

Once the ball is snapped, Goff will take the ball and fake the handoff to Gibbs. In the process, Gibbs immediately notices a blitz off the edge. Staying square with low pad level, Gibbs is able to stay under control and pick the blitz up. Despite putting his head down, he does just enough to slow the defender down. This gives Goff enough time to throw this ball to Amon-Ra St. Brown.

 

Lastly, I want to focus on Gibbs catching passes out of the backfield. He was able to record 52 receptions in each season of his career so far. Much of his production as a pass catcher is due to his ability to use his quickness to create separation from defenders.

Looking at the play above, you’ll see just that from him. Faced was 4th and 1, the Lions came out in a trips left formation with their ’11’ personnel (one running back and one tight end). Prior to the snap, Goff will put Sam LaPorta in motion to the right of the formation.

Once the ball is snapped, Goff is faced with a six-man pressure from the Vikings defense. Coming out of the backfield is Gibbs and due to the blitz, he’s one-on-one with an outside linebacker that gets too far upfield. Using his speed to break free from the defender, Gibbs is able to get vertical quickly and runs a Texas route. With good protection, Goff is able to fire this pass to him and it leads to another touchdown for Detroit.

Since Montgomery went down with injury, Gibbs has recorded 13 receptions during that span (best in the NFL). Not having Montgomery has forced the Lions to get creative on key downs with shorter distances but it’s clear that Jahmyr Gibbs is one of the best running backs in the league.

Overall, he’s used this past month to show that he can be the number-one running back in this league. Most importantly, he showed that the Lions have no regrets for selecting him with the 12th overall pick in the 2023 NFL Draft. It’s clear through two seasons in the NFL that Jahmry Gibbs has turned into the total package for the Detroit Lions offense.

Film room: Detroit Lions defense made plays despite some struggles and miscues

Film room: Detroit Lions defense made plays despite some struggles and miscues against the 49ers

At this point in the year, it’s been well documented that the Detroit Lions defense has been shredded due to injuries. Whether it be a season-ending injury in the summer to John Cominsky or during the season with Aidan Hutchinson, the list of injuries is a long one for Detroit.

Since we saw linebacker Alex Anzalone go down with a broken forearm in week 11 against the Jacksonville Jaguars, we’ve seen the Lions defense regress. They’ve allowed 30+ points in 3 out of their last 4 games and now have the 31st-ranked pass defense in the NFL.

On Monday night against the 49ers, we saw those struggles continue as 49ers QB Brock Purdy was able to go 27-for-35 with 377 yards and three touchdowns. Purdy did end up throwing two interceptions to Kerby Joseph but overall, he was able to shred the Lions defense through the air.

Contributing to that, we saw the Lions linebackers struggle against the pass.  The group of Ben Niemann, Jack Campbell and Jalen Reeves-Maybin gave up 10 receptions on 10 targets in coverage for 162 yards and one touchdown vs. the 49ers. Despite some of the struggles, the Lions defense was able to make the plays that they needed to make. Let’s dive into some tape to look at the good and the bad of this Detroit defense from Monday night against the 49ers.

 

Staying on topic with the Lions linebackers, we’ll take a look at this play above, where linebacker Jalen Reeves-Maybin gets beat on a wheel route from 49ers RB Isaac Guerendo.

On this play, the Lions come out in their nickel package on defense against a trips right formation from the 49ers offense. Once the ball is snapped, the Lions will have one safety rotate back to the middle of the field and another will buzz down.

As the play develops, it appears that the Lions are playing in man coverage and in the process, Reeves-Maybin gets flat-footed, then turns his body back to the quarterback. This gives Guerendo plenty of separation. As Reeves-Maybin tries to gain ground and get back to the running back, the ball is already thrown and the pass is completed.

 

This next play is an interesting one from the Lions defense because I think there’s miscues across the board. Looking at the play above, the Lions come out with a single high safety on defense and it’s a clear indication that they’re running a Cover-1 man look on defense.

Prior to the snap, the 49ers put a tight end in motion. Once the ball is snapped, you can see that both linebackers (Jack Campbell and Ben Niemann) flow down towards the running back and tight end. However, the downside is that defensive back Brian Branch also flows down with them. This puts three defenders on two potential pass catchers and it leaves the middle of the field wide open.

This gives 49ers QB Brock Purdy a clear passing lane on the spot route that’s run in the middle of the field. It leads to a first down and helps keep the 49ers offense in rhythm. Cleaning up these types of miscues will be very important for the Lions defense as they get ready for their playoff push.

 

Adding to what I mentioned earlier, the Detroit defense has gotten statistically worse since linebacker Alex Anzalone went down with an injury. Looking at the Lions defensive DVOA, it hasn’t been pretty for the last four or five games.

Looking at the chart above, the Lions have had five straight games with defense worse than average. Specifically, the last three games have been a season-worst for the Detroit defense.

 

All of this said, the Lions were able to force two turnovers when it mattered most on Monday night. Looking at the play above, the Lions come out with a single-high safety again on defense. That safety is Kerby Joseph, and with how far off the ball he is, it’s a clear indication that some type of man coverage is going to be run on defense.

Once the ball is snapped, the receiver at the bottom of the screen is running a slant and despite 6 or 7 yards of separation between the safety and receiver, this ball is intercepted. Joseph does a great job reading this play the entire way and despite the separation, he’s able to trigger downhill fast enough to pick this pass off.

Getting this ball back to the Lions offense allowed them to chew up over four minutes of clock but most importantly, it put the Lions up 12 points with just under three minutes left in the game.

Overall, the Lions defense is doing just well enough but forcing two interceptions on Monday night really made the difference. They’re slowly getting players back on offense, defense and special teams so that’ll make a difference.

However, the key thing for the Lions moving forward is cleaning up some of these miscues that keep occurring on passing downs. Furthermore, the Lions defense is starting to become predictable with the alignment of their safeties. Single high safeties tend to mean Cover 3 or Cover 1 and with how they like to run man coverage, teams really start to key on that.

Some adjustments moving forward should be more two-high safety looks from the defense. This will allow the Lions defense to better disguise their Cover 1 or Cover 3 defense and it’ll make it easier for them whenever they run a Cover 2 defense.

Indianapolis Colts Passing Chronicles: The Good, The Bad, The Flacco

Let’s head to the film room and take a closer look at Joe Flacco’s performance in the Colts loss to the Giants.

Despite going into this game without Anthony Richardson under center, the Indianapolis Colts put up 33 points on the road and still somehow lost by 12 to the 2-13 Giants. That has already been covered on this fine site, so we’re just going to focus on what we always focus on here: the passing game.

This is the place where I usually put up the passing chart for the week, but NFL Next Gen doesn’t have a passing chart for the Colts this week. In fact, there are no charts for either the Colts or the Giants this week. I don’t know that I’ve ever seen that before.

We do, however, have some different sources. Here’s a passing chart from RBSDM. We don’t get the exact position on the field, but we do have the quadrant and air yards, so we’ll take it.

We also have a nice little passing summary from StatMuse:

The 2 interceptions stand out, but the numbers paint a pretty nice picture overall for Flacco. If it’s your thing, PFF tends to agree, giving him a 76.8 passing grade on the day. He was great when kept clean, turning in an adjusted completion percentage of 80.8% and throwing 2 TDs, with an ADOT (Average Depth Of Target) of 10.6 and an average time to throw of 2.32 seconds.

It was the pressure that got him. On the day, Flacco was pressured on 14 dropbacks. On those, he was 6/12 for 90 yards, 2 INTs and 2 sacks, including this duck-and-chuck on 2nd & 9 from the Giants 29 on the first drive of the game.

Overall, I think the numbers paint a pretty accurate picture of what the film shows. More good than bad, but still some bad and that absolutely bit them in this game. But when it was good, it was pretty good. We got Flacco hitting back-shoulder throws.

We got him ripping slants.

We got perfectly placed balls across the middle.

And we got big completions while being murdered.

Before we get out of here, let’s take a closer look at another nice throw from Flacco: his touchdown pass to Alec Pierce.

The Colts are in 11 personnel (1 RB, 1 TE, 3 WR), with Joe Flacco [15] in shotgun. They start in a 3×1 set, with Alec Pierce [14] as the lone receiver on the right side of the field. Before the snap, Josh Downs [1] goes in jet motion under the line. You can see the Giants communicating on the motion, with Ty Summers [47] motioning out to Cordale Flott [28]. Summers is telling Flott to bump outside with the motion, but Flott doesn’t see him until fairly late, which leads to confusion on the defense.

The Colts are running a version of Smash to that side, with Downs as the underneath receiver and Pierce on the corner route. With the confusion on defense, both Summers and Flott converge on Downs in the flat, which doesn’t allow either of them to fall under the corner route from Pierce.

That leaves Jason Pinnock [27] alone on Pierce, with Pierce running an out-breaking route and Pinnock starting with inside leverage on Pierce.

Pinnock tries to close the distance and Flott tries to peel off Downs and fall under the throw, but Flacco leaves the ball up, which allows the 6’3″ Pierce to go up and make a play.

And make a play he did. Nice throw and a great job by Pierce to high-point this ball and come down with a touchdown.

Albums listened to: Lush – Spooky; Slowdive – Slowdive; MJ Lenderman – Manning Fireworks

Film review: Lions Graham Glasgow played his worst game of the season against the Bills

Film review: Lions Graham Glasgow played his worst game of the season against the Bills

Coming off the best season of his career, it looked like Graham Glasgow really found his groove as he returned to Detroit. He played so well last season that the Lions gave him a three-year contract extension worth $20 million dollars, that included $9.5 million guaranteed.

Last season, he played almost 1200 snaps (highest in his career) and his performance earned an overall grade of 75.1 from Pro Football Focus (PFF). In pass protection, Glasgow allowed 46 pressures, 35 hurries, eight QB hits, and three sacks in 2023.

Moving onto 2024, the Lions signed guard Kevin Zeitler and that forced Glasgow to move to left guard. Unfortunately, this move has been less than ideal for Glasgow. Up to this point in the season, his blocking grades are way down from where they were a season ago.

According to PFF, Glasgow has earned a run blocking grade of 56.2, pass blocking grade of 54.5 and a 55.9 overall grade. Through 941 offensive snaps played, he’s already given up 33 pressures, seven QB hits and four sacks. Meanwhile, he earned the lowest offensive grade for any Lions player on offense against the Bills. His 34.3 overall grade against Buffalo was his lowest grade on the season. Let’s dive into some film and see what some of the issues were for Glasgow in week 15!

 

Starting with the first play that stands out on tape is this one between Graham Glasgow and Bills defensive tackle Ed Oliver. Looking at the play above, you’ll see the Lions coming out of an empty formation. Once the ball is snapped, you’ll see Glasgow getting out of his stance at left guard.

Right out of his stance, his base looks a bit wide but furthermore, his pad level is far too high. Especially when playing against a defensive lineman with the blend and power that Ed Oliver possesses. Revealing too much of his chest, Glasgow starts getting blown off the ball.

From there, he’s never able to regain control or anchor against this bullrush from Oliver. This forces Goff to get sacked and ultimately, he fumbles the football in the process. The more I look at this rep, the more concerned I get with the right knee of Glasgow especially when seeing him sit out of practice all week with a knee injury.

 

Moving to a more positive play, there’s still plenty of good technical work from Glasgow on tape. Looking at the play above, the Lions throw out of a shotgun formation that features TE Sam LaPorta being sent on an exit motion prior to the snap.

Once the ball is snapped, you’ll see Goff spin out of some pressure before resetting his feet and throwing a pass to WR Allen Robinson. Despite the pass being broken up, one thing worth watching is LG Graham Glasgow. You’ll see him slide to his right and in the process, he picks up the defensive tackle that is aligned as a zero shade over the center.

In the process, Glasgow hits the defender and as he looks to reset his hands, he executes a snatch-trap technique. This pulls the defender to the ground and it helps keep an additional defender away from the quarterback.

Bills DT Ed Oliver generated a season-high 10 pressures on 42 pass rush snaps against the Lions. That’s the most pressures in a game by a defensive tackle this season, per Next Gen Stats. Additionally, Oliver generated 7 of those pressures against Glasgow.

Overall, there’s no need to hit the panic button with Glasgow, but I would proceed with caution, especially since he’s popped up on the injury report with a knee injury this week. Certainly, he’s allowed a bad day at the office but his performance against the Bills is concerning.

Meanwhile, there’s been growing concern over the last month as Glasgow has been playing his worst football of the season. That’s significant as the Lions enter the most important 3-game stretch of their season. With him being a veteran player, there are reasons to believe he can turn it around. Unfortunately, if there aren’t improvements soon, the Lions could be turning to a new left guard sooner rather than later.

 

Indianapolis Colts Passing Chronicles: A Look at Anthony Richardson in Week 15

Let’s head to the film room and take a deeper dive into Anthony Richardson and the Colts’ passing game performance in Week 15.

I can’t say a whole lot here about the game that hasn’t already been said. I don’t want to write any moratoriums on the 2024 Indianapolis Colts: I just want to talk about the passing game. So let’s do it, starting with Anthony Richardson’s passing chart from NFL Next Gen Stats:

Another sub-50% completion percentage day, with a ghastly -17.1% CPOE (Completion Percentage Over Expected) to go with 0 TDs and 2 INTs. Certainly not a great look on its face. Some of the advanced numbers paint a slightly better picture, but only by comparison of the actual numbers.

PFF charted Colts receivers with 1 drop, and Richardson with 3 throwaways and 1 Hit As Thrown, bringing his Adjusted Completion Percentage to 52.9%. Again, slightly better, but you’re not dreaming of an adjusted completion percentage that just barely clears 50%.

If we look to his pressure numbers, they don’t paint a rosier picture. Richardson was kept clean on 51.2% of his dropbacks. On those dropbacks, he went 10/20, 117 yards, 0 TDs and 1 INT for a QB Rating of 47.3.

His under pressure numbers are bad – 7/18, 55 yards, 24.1 QB Rating – but most QBs aren’t great under pressure. Still, these are remarkably bad numbers, even by under pressure standards. That can be forgiven if he’s operating well when clean, but he wasn’t even doing that.

We saw some absolutely beautiful passes. He’s at his best when he’s able to rip the ball on-time to the middle of the field, and we got a couple of those this week that were stellar.


But we also got some of the same stuff we’ve been seeing all season: some absolutely baffling misses off throws that should be gimmes.

Some of those misses were due to Richardson pulling the ball down after initially starting to throw. It’s something he did multiple times in this game. I think he was concerned about his passes getting batted at the line. Not sure if that was something he looking for in real time or if that was something that came up during preparation for the game, but he did it multiple times.

The Broncos came into the game with 9 batted passes on the season, which put them right in the middle of the league in terms of batted passes.

There are other plays that may be complete, but still feature some wonky timing. This next clip is a result of both Richardson being too quick to set and throw – something we talked about earlier in the season – and Josh Downs [1] with some sticky feet coming out of the break. The result is a completed pass, but the timing of it all is just off.

This one also has the pull-down we saw earlier – to throw around a jumping lineman – which serves to make this look even more awkward than it would be otherwise.

To cap this all off, we got a pair of baffling interceptions.

The first one is an overthrow of Alec Pierce. Richardson has a man in his face and is trying to hit Pierce off a stalk-and-release. Richardson fades back and lofts a ball that floats a little too deep.

It’s possible that he thought Pierce was fading with this, but the delay in the release meant the safety could drive on it, so the best case scenario is a jump-ball with Pierce against a safety who is beating you to the spot. Not great.

The second one is a bad decision and a bad throw. The Broncos rotate to Cover 2 after the snap and Richardson is throwing a shallow corner route. There’s no window for this throw, but Richardson tries it anyway. He gives a pump fake to try to draw the underneath defender in on the slant route from the outside, but it doesn’t work.

The throw is flat and the underneath defender easily picks it off.

The Broncos have a good defense this year. Per FTN’s DVOA, they’re the 3rd best defense, with the 6th best passing defense. So this wasn’t an easy game for the Colts offense by any stretch of the imagination, but so many of these wounds feel self-inflicted. This felt like what we were seeing out of Richardson before he was benched.

With three games remaining and the playoffs merely a dream at this point (a 13% chance), I don’t expect to see any major steps taken by Richardson during the rest of the 2024 season. Get his confidence up and work as hard as possible during the offseason to fix some of these issues. The talent is still eye-popping, but at some point he needs to start harnessing it. As it stands right now, he doesn’t feel any closer than he did at the start of the season.

Albums listened to: Talk Talk – Spirit of Eden; Soccer Mommy – Evergreen

Terrion Arnold’s performance against the Bears is a beautiful problem for the Lions defense

Terrion Arnold’s performance against the Bears is a beautiful problem for the Lions defense

Whenever looking at the analytics for a player after a game, I never take it at face value. The data that gets charted on a player’s performance is a nice tool to have, but it doesn’t always tell the real story. That happens to be the case for Lions rookie cornerback Terrion Arnold after playing the Bears last week.

Looking at the data pulled from Pro Football Focus (PFF), Arnold was rated as one of the bottom-5 defenders for the Lions defense last week. He earned a 46.1 overall grade and has an overall grade of 49.5 this season.

However, when studying the tape against the Bears, it tells a different story about Terrion Arnold and his performance. Meanwhile, the Lions are faced with a beautiful problem with Arnold and his importance to the Lions’ defense. Let’s dive into some tape to look at what went right and what went wrong for Arnold on Thanksgiving!

 

Starting with what could have been the first career interception for Terrion Arnold, we go with the play above. Looking at that play, you’ll see see the Bears come out under center with their ’12’ personnel (one running back and two tight ends).

Playing with outside leverage on the bottom of the screen, you’ll see Arnold. Once the ball is snapped and the receiver releases up the field, you’ll see Arnold right behind the receiver. Using a trail technique, Arnold is in a great position to undercut a pass vertically down the field but he’s also in a good position to jump any route that breaks in, out or back to the quarterback.

In this instance, the wide receiver appears to be running some type of comeback or curl route. However, Arnold is in great position and is all over the route. Unfortunately, the ball is thrown somewhat lower than expected and Arnold isn’t able to get a hold of the ball for the interception. The good news is that Arnold was there and he made a great play on 2nd down.

 

Next, I want to focus on what could have been for Terrion Arnold. The play above could have been a huge play that would have prevented the Bears from scoring a touchdown on the following play.

Looking at the play above, you can see Arnold at the bottom of the screen and he’s playing with outside leverage. By playing with outside leverage, he forces Bears wide receiver Rome Odunze to release inside. This is good for Arnold because he’s got safety Kerby Joseph playing over the top and inside with potentially some expectation of jumping an inside route such as a post, dig or slant.

The unfortunate reality is that Arnold bites on the head fake to the inside and this gives Bears quarterback Caleb Williams a passing window to the outside. Despite being right there, the ball is completed for the first down and the Bears get the ball inside the Lions 10-yard line for first-and-goal. Had Arnold been able to break this pass up, it would have been a huge stop for the Lions on 3rd down.

As you can see, the data will paint one picture but the film paints another. There was a lot of good to come from Terrion Arnold in this game against the Bears. Personally, I think it was his best game as a rookie and that’s promising for a Lions defense that has been depleted by injuries and is currently dealing with a knee and thumb injury for the cornerback opposite of Arnold in Carlton Davis.

Against the Bears, Arnold was credited with giving up 2 receptions for 6 yards despite being targeted 6 times. He did record one tackle and a pass deflection in this game. Overall, it was a good bounce back performance for Arnold after missing the Colts game with a groin injury.

For us fans, we need to remain patient with Terrion Arnold. Meanwhile, he needs to continue to stay patient and disciplined when dropping into coverage. If he does, good things will turn into great things for him and the Lions defense.

Indianapolis Colts Passing Chronicles: Someone please help Anthony Richardson

Let’s head to the film room and take a look back at Richardson’s performance in the Indianapolis Colts Week 12 loss to the Lions.

A little late this week so let’s not beat around the bush. Let’s talk about the Indianapolis Colts’ passing game.

After a pretty good week last week, the numbers here don’t paint a great picture. Richardson clocks in with a 39.3% completion percentage and 6.1 YPA. Pretty bad!

Some of the advanced numbers don’t look much better. PFF charted his receivers with 2 drops and 3 throwaways. Throw in a batted ball and his adjusted completion percentage was 56.5%. Certainly better than 39.3% (math!), but sub-60% is generally frowned-upon.

As I’ve mentioned many times, PFF is notoriously charitable to wide receivers when it comes to drops. It’s subjective to be sure, but I almost always chart 2-3 more drops per game than PFF, and that was true here. That’s without even mentioning that one of those drops was a surefire TD, which makes the numbers look better (even if the adjusted completion percentage would have stayed the same).

All that about the numbers looking better if he got a little help is true, but also Richardson was dealing when he was clean. In this game, Richardson was kept clean on 56.7% of his dropbacks. On those dropbacks, he averaged 2.15 seconds to get rid of the ball, completing 62.5% of his passes (75% completion percentage) and 163 yards (10.2 YPA).

It was the under pressure stuff that killed him. He was under pressure on 43.3% of his dropbacks, completing an abysmal 8.3% of his passes (14.3% adjusted) for 9 yards (0.8 YPA). He averaged 3.48 seconds on those, which feels right; while some of that pressure was on the line, Richardson is certainly at fault with some of those pressures by holding onto the ball too long. Some of those numbers may look worse than other QBs, simply because Richardson fights like crazy not to take a sack, resulting in some less-than-ideal passes in those situations, which causes the completion percentage to take a hit.

As he has done all season, Richardson was chucking in this game, with an ADOT (Average Depth of Target) of 14.1 yards. Even though that’s a high number, that’s only the 4th highest ADOT in a game of Richardson’s season. On the season overall, Richardson has the highest ADOT in the league among regular starters at 12.9. Jameis Winston is 2nd with an ADOT of 10.6. That gap of 2.3 yards is the gap as it is from Winston at #2 to Dak Prescott, CJ Stroud and Joe Burrow at #14 (8.3 ADOT).

That’s a long way to say that Richardson is throwing deeper than any other QB in the league on a regular basis and it’s not particularly close.

Overall, not the cleanest game from Richardson, but he played much better than the numbers (even some of the advanced numbers) suggest. There are going to be bumps in the road, but, against a good Lions defense, I came away much more optimistic about how he looked than I did while watching it live.

Alright let’s look at a play before we get out of here. It’s in incomplete pass because of course it is, but it’s a concept I’ve been wanting to bring up in this space all season, so now is the time I guess.

I have not charted every passing play yet (slacker, I know), but this is one the Colts seem to run at least once per game. It’s almost always open, but the hit rate has been low because the throw is either off target or the ball is dropped. If they can ever get synced up on this, they’re going to absolutely eat.

It’s a simple, two-man concept off play action. The Colts go heavy in 12 personnel (1 RB, 2 TE, 2 WR), with both TEs in-line on the right in a YY Wing look. Richardson is in shotgun/pistol, with Jonathan Taylor [28] aligned behind him. They go play action, then release Alec Pierce [14] and Michael Pittman [11] into their routes.

Pittman is running an intermediate in-cutter, while Pierce is running a big crosser over the top. The Lions are showing a two-high safety look pre-snap, but they rotate into a single-high look post-snap. That’s perfect for where the Colts are trying to attack.

Pierce gets an inside release at the line and fights to maintain that up the field. With the safety dropping down over Pittman, that leaves an ocean of space for Pierce.

Richardson hangs onto this ball for a beat too long. He checks the safety and knows he has Pierce, but hesitates to throw until Pierce is a little further into the route. D.J. Reader [98] is pushing from the interior of the line, and that little hesitation by Richardson allows Reader to make contact as the ball is coming out.

It’s a nice-looking throw, but just a little too deep for Pierce. Pierce lays out and tries to bring this in, but it’s just slightly too deep.

Like I said, the Colts run this a lot and Pierce is almost always open. If they can get the timing just a bit better, it’ll be huge for them.

Albums listened to: Tom Waits – Small Change; Tiny Deaths – If I’m Dreaming

Film Room: What’s been going on with Lions TE Sam LaPorta this season

LaPorta isn’t coming close to his record-setting rookie performance, and there are a few indicators as to why

One year ago, Detroit Lions TE Sam LaPorta was having a historic rookie season. Through 10 games of that rookie season, he recorded 50 receptions for 492 yards and four touchdowns. Ultimately, he ended up with 86 receptions for 889 yards and 10 touchdowns in 2023.

This season, things have changed and the sophomore slump seems apparent. Through 10 games this season, LaPorta only has 28 receptions for 385 yards and three touchdowns. Certainly, it’s not the worst stat line but the expectations for LaPorta were going to be high due to what he did last season as a rookie.

Put the production aside and it’s evident that LaPorta looks “off” this season. While he’s struggled with staying healthy, he’s played through injuries but just doesn’t look as sharp as he did a season ago. Let’s dive into some film and see if we can spot the differences.

https://x.com/RussNFLDraft/status/1861395481974448197

Starting with LaPorta blocking, there will always be ups and downs for tight ends in this area. Much of that is due to alignment, blocking in space or who they have to block. Sometimes there are just mismatches for the position. However, the play above is a positive from LaPorta.

Looking at the play above, you can see LaPorta aligned next to Taylor Decker (LT 68). Once the ball is snapped, he comes off the line with a jab step using his left foot. This forces the defensive end to take an extra step out and away from the ball and most importantly, it gives Decker a better chance or angle to seal the defensive end.

As for LaPorta, he begins to climb to the second level. From there, his aiming point is the outside shoulder of Colts cornerback (40) Jaylon Jones. Once LaPorta gets close, he throttles down with good pad level and begins to buzz his feet as he approaches the defender. Within striking distance, he hits with his hands and follows through with his feet. From there, he keeps his feet chopping and clears the defender 10 or 15 yards downfield.

https://x.com/RussNFLDraft/status/1720269409875320894

Going back to last season, there was obvious trust between Jared Goff and Sam LaPorta. Using the play above as an example, we go back to the Monday Night game between the Lions and Raiders.

Looking at the play above, the Lions use pre-snap motion to get into a 2×2 set. Once the ball is snapped, you’ll see LaPorta running a post route but it wouldn’t be surprising if he’s running an option route. That route would change depending on the depth and direction of the middle linebacker for the Raiders defense.

Reading the safeties, Goff knows there’s a potential mismatch and opening for LaPorta to score a touchdown. Meanwhile, there’s some obvious trust for Goff to throw the ball in a tighter window due to the linebacker’s coverage drop.

https://x.com/RussNFLDraft/status/1861397242906603542

All of that said, it just feels like there’s a disconnect between Goff and LaPorta this season. Moving back to last week against the Colts, the Lions are faced with a 3rd and short on their opening drive of the game. These down and distances tend to be very manageable for the Lions but this one ended up being a negative play.

Looking at the play above, the Lions use pre-snap motion to get into a condensed 3×1 set with their ’12’ personnel (one running back and two tight ends). Rather than running the ball, the Lions drop back to pass and coming off an exit motion is Sam LaPorta.

As LaPorta starts to get upfield, he breaks to the middle of the field on what appears to be a snag route at 5 or 6 yards. Rather than throttling down, sinking his hips and sitting in the passing window, LaPorta runs with high pad level and drifts towards the middle of the field. Despite very good coverage from Colts LB (44) Zaire Franklin, it felt like Goff would have tried to fit this pass into this window last season. Additionally, it feels and looks like LaPorta would have ran this route a lot cleaner a season ago.

Overall, we should all be very pleased to have Sam LaPorta as the starting tight end for the Lions. He’s an asset to the offense due to the fact that at any point, he could produce a big game. Meanwhile, defenses have to honor him whenever he’s on the field. If not, the Lions offense could really stay hot like they’ve been for most of this season.

Despite it looking evident of some type of disconnect between Goff and LaPorta, we’re starting to see increased targets for the second year tight end. Over the last four weeks, LaPorta has seen 21 targets and it’s led to 14 receptions for 161 yards and two touchdowns. The four weeks prior to that, he had only seen 9 targets.

As the Lions reach the final month of the season, it wouldn’t be surprising for their offense to start featuring more of LaPorta in the passing game. Especially now that we’re starting to see injuries to some of their playmakers such as Kalif Raymond, David Montgomery and Amon-Ra St. Brown. There’s no reason to hit the panic button but through this point of the season, there’s been some concern with Sam LaPorta. This Thanksgiving against the Chicago Bears

 

Indianapolis Colts Passing Chronicles: Anthony Richardson’s Return

Let’s head back to the film room and take a closer look at Anthony Richardson’ s performance in the Indianapolis Colts’ Week 11 win.

After two weeks of being the back-up, Anthony Richardson came back as the Indianapolis Colts’ starter this week against the New York Jets. How did he look?

By pretty much every metric, this was Anthony Richardson’s best game of the season. It was his highest completion percentage (66.7%) and highest adjusted completion percentage (88.5), per PFF. It was his first game this season with a positive CPOE (Completion Percentage Over Expected). His highest number of 1st downs generated in a game this season (13). His best QB Rating in a game this season (106.5).

For the season, Richardson has not been great under pressure, completing 44.2% of his passes for a QB rating of 69.2. In this game, he was under pressure on 43.8% of his dropbacks and he was absolutely nails. He completed 75% of his passes (90% adjusted completion percentage) for a QB Rating of 114.9.

From a numbers perspective, he had a good game. How about from a film perspective?

Some of the same issues are still there, which is to be expected. It’s not like he’s going to magically fix all of his issues in two weeks. One area where he looked better was his timing within the offense. Through the first part of the season, he seemed to be sprinting through his footwork on passing concepts, so he’d arrive at his spot way too early. If you’re trying to operate within the rhythm of the offense, timing is crucial, and Richardson simply didn’t have that timing. He’d routinely rush through his steps, then have to wait at the top of his drop for the routes to be where they needed to be. Instead of “step-step-set-fire”, it was “step-step-set-wait-wait-fire.” That led to messy timing and an inconsistent base, which led to inconsistent throws and weird reads and all kinds of things.

Again, I don’t think that’s entirely fixed, but he was noticeably slower on his dropbacks in this game, which helped him to operate the offense at a higher level. I don’t know if that’s going to hold through the rest of the season, but it’s certainly something to keep an eye on.

With that in mind, we’re looking at two plays today. The first one is the touchdown to Josh Downs in the red zone, then we’ll back up and look at a play from the Texans game.

The Colts are in 11 personnel (1 RB, 1 TE, 3 WR) with Richardson in a shotgun, split-back look. They start with Josh Downs [1] on Richardson’s right and Jonathan Taylor [28] on the left, but they swap places before the snap. That brings the safety over to the right with Taylor.

They’re running a Smash look from a condensed split on the right. On the left, Alec Pierce [14] is running a vertical route, with Downs running an angle route from the backfield.

The two linebackers in the middle are pulled up to the line, one looking to pick up Taylor out of the backfield and the other appearing to be working as a spy on Richardson. That leaves a nice empty spot behind them. Downs pushes vertically, gives his man a shake, then breaks to the inside. Richardson delivers a ball on the money and the Colts pick up 6 and make the score 24-22 early in the 4th quarter.

Nice play and a good throw by Richardson to hit Downs in-stride.

Alright now let’s back up for a second to Week 8. Different situation and slightly different concept overall, but the right side of this play is going to look extremely similar. Colts are in 11 personnel with Richardson in a split-gun look. They start with Downs on the left and Taylor on right, but they swap places before the snap.

From the right side, Pierce is running a vertical route from the outside while Downs is running an angle route from the backfield. Downs pushes vertically, gives his man a shake, then breaks to the inside. Richardson sails the ball and it falls incomplete.

As I mentioned earlier, part of the issue here is Richardson arriving at his spot too early, then looking uncertain as to when to deliver it. He hits the top of his drop, bounces, waits a beat, then double-clutches on the throw.

Let’s just throw both of those end zone angle videos here again, with the snap-to-delivery portion slowed down.

First the TD from this week:

Then then miss from Week 8:

It’s not much, but getting to his spot with a little more patience makes this operation much smoother.

Like I said, I don’t believe all of his issues have been fixed over the course of two weeks. I certainly anticipate seeing a fair bit of inconsistency over the rest of the season. But seeing an improvement in his timing gives me an optimism for the rest of the season that I didn’t have prior to his benching.

Albums listened to: Mitski – The Land is Inhospitable and So Are We

Indianapolis Colts Passing Chronicles: Joe Flacco in Week 9

Let’s head back to the film room and take a closer look at Joe Flacco’s Week 9 performance as the Indianapolis Colts’ quarterback.

Last week, I did a big film breakdown of what we saw from Anthony Richardson in the Indianapolis Colts’ Week 8 loss to the Texans. While the film wasn’t quite as bad as the 10/32 stat line would have you believe, there still were enough recurring issues with Richardson’s process/footwork that I was fine with him getting benched. “Get some competent play from Joe Flacco while Richardson works on his core issues.”

What did we get from Joe Flacco? Well…

If you use your imagination, you can almost picture the outline of Oogie Boogie.

(I’m sorry. I don’t know why I did that.)

The standard numbers are bad. He completed 59.3% of his passes for 6.6 Yards Per Attempt and a negative CPOE (Completion Percentage Over Expected). That’s on an ADOT (Average Depth of Target) of 7.6 yards, the lowest mark of this season for Flacco (per PFF).

The advanced numbers aren’t much better. His adjusted completion percentage was 68%. He was kept clean on 56.7% of his dropbacks, completing 64.7% of his passes for 124 yards (7.3 YPA).

It’s not just the numbers: he straight-up missed multiple guys. Some of the misses could potentially be on the receivers not throttling down against zone, but most of his misses just looked like misses.

The silver lining here is that the Vikings are the #1 defense in the league (per DVOA). While the Bills aren’t exactly a walk in the park, they have the 15th ranked pass defense per DVOA (12th overall) and don’t run half the funky stuff up front that the Vikings do. So we’re likely to see a better showing from the passing game this week, which would certainly be a nice change of pace.

To the film. As we try to do in this space, we’re finding a fun play from this past weekend and digging in a bit. Because, even as frustrating as the game can be at times, there are always fun and cool things happening.

This play sees the Colts getting to Dagger – a core passing concept in pretty much every offense in the league – in a creative way. The throw goes elsewhere, but this is still a really cool concept.

Dagger is a two-man concept, consisting of the inside receiver running a clear-out route and the outside receiver running an in-cutting route behind it. The idea is that the inside receiver helps clear space for the outside receiver in the middle of the field.

The Colts are in 11 personnel (1 RB, 1 TE, 3 WR) in shotgun. They have a bunch to the left, with Mo Alie-Cox [81] at the point, Michael Pittman Jr. [11] as the inside man and Josh Downs [1] as the outside man.

At the snap, Pittman bubbles outside, with the initial step from Alie-Cox and Downs going up the field. This looks like a bubble screen to Pittman, something the Colts show a lot. They’re trying to trigger the Vikings down on the bubble screen, then release vertically behind it.

After that initial action, Alie-Cox releases vertically as the clear-out man and Pittman works back inside and behind Alie-Cox.

Flacco is looking to attack the middle of the field. He’s looking to Alie-Cox first, then working back to Pittman. But the Vikings are a tricky bunch. They’re showing a single-high defense pre-snap, with Cam Bynum [24] playing the post. At the snap, they switch to an inverted Cover 2 look, with Bynum dropping down to the middle of the field: the exact area the Colts are looking to attack.

With Flacco starting to feel the pressure, he moves off the middle and finds his way down to hit Downs in space.

Downs gets the ball and picks up 5 yards on 2nd & 9. I’ve seen a couple different measurements for Success Rate over the years, but the one I’ve heard most recently from coaching circles is gaining 50% of the necessary yards on 1st or 2nd down and 100% of the necessary yards on 3rd or 4th down. By that standard, this was a successful play.

Really fun way to get to one of your core passing concepts, by working it off a horizontal, behind-the-line-of-scrimmage play you show quite a bit.

Albums listened to: The Raveonettes – Pe’ahi; Bon Iver – i,i