Tag: Lions Film Review

Film Study: Jameson Williams has career day for the Lions season opener

Lions film study breaking down Jameson Williams and his career day against the Rams in Week 1

All off-season we’ve heard about wide receiver Jameson Williams having a breakout year for the Detroit Lions. There’s still plenty of football left to play but after one game, Williams is off to an impressive start this season.

On Sunday night against the Rams, Williams had 5 receptions for 121 yards and a touchdown. In addition to that, he also had one carry for 13 yards. While it was a quiet night for the Lions number one receiver, Amon-Ra St. Brown, it was the big time game that Lions fans have been waiting on for Williams.

He impressed so much that he earned himself a game ball for his performance. Let’s dive into some film to breakdown the career day that Jamo had for the Lions during the season opener against the Los Angeles Rams.

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Starting with one of the first big plays from Jameson Williams in this game. The Lions align in the I-formation with their ’11’ personnel (one running back and one tight end). Bunched to the right is Jameson Williams (WR #9) and Kalif Raymond (WR #11).

Prior to the snap, Raymond is sent on an exit motion to the sideline. Once the ball is snapped, you’ll see Williams explode up field and he’ll threaten the defender vertically with his speed. As the defender opens his hips and prepares to run stride-for-stride, that’s when Williams breaks to the middle of the field.

Coming off play-action, Goff sees Williams open and he fires the ball to him with ease. With plenty of room to run, you can see Williams run and collect plenty of yards after the catch. This was an explosive play that helped get the offense going after a slow start to the game.

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Next, I want to focus on the end around that was ran with Jameson Williams. It’s the same play we saw on Thursday night with Xavier Worthy of the Kansas City Chiefs and it’s the same play we saw Williams score on during the NFC Championship game against the 49ers.

Looking at the play above, the Lions align under center with their ’11’ personnel (one running back and one tight end). Bunched to the right of the formation is Kalif Raymond (WR #11) and Amon-Ra St. Brown (WR #14). Once the ball is snapped, you can see Williams running into the backfield.

As Goff fakes the hand-off to the running back, he flips the ball to Williams. This leads to him getting out in space and up field for a gain of 13 yards. Getting the ball in his hands can always lead to a big play and had one more block been secured at the second or third level, this could have possibly been a touchdown.

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Lastly, I want to focus on the touchdown pass to Williams in the 3rd quarter. Looking at the play above, the Lions align in a trips formation (to the left or bottom of the screen) with their ’11’ personnel (one running back and one tight end).

At the bottom of the screen, you’ll see Jameson Williams running vertically up the sideline. During his route, he will throttle down and make it look as if he’s potentially running a comeback route or a curl route. This forces the defender to stop his feet and as that happens, he bursts up field.

This creates plenty of separation and leads to the deep pass completion from Goff. Ultimately, Williams gets into the end-zone and increases the Lions lead to 17-3.

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Overall, it was a great start to the season for Jameson Williams. It was a slow start for players such as Sam LaPorta and Amon-Ra St. Brown but there’s been questions surrounding which player will step-up as another option in the Lions passing attack. It may only be one game but it really looks like this could be the game plan for him on a weekly basis.

Look: Nate Sudfeld’s very bad preseason night summed up in one very bad play

Detroit’s first pass play against the Giants perfectly sums up why and how QB Nate Sudfeld had such a bad night in New York

Anyone who watched the Detroit Lions preseason opener against the New York Giants knows that quarterback Nate Sudfeld did not have a good night. Sudfeld, battling with Hendon Hooker for the backup job behind Jared Goff, got the start in New York on Thursday night.

No. 8 was off from the very start of the game. Witness Detroit’s first pass play, the second offensive snap of the game.

The play design is straightforward. It’s 12 personnel, with TE Parker Hesse (No. 43) playing fullback in front of RB Craig Reynolds. It’s a designed play-action bootleg, a scripted play the Lions run in every practice — often on both the opening walkthrough/warmup and then in team drills. This is a Ben Johnson staple scheme, one designed to get an intermediate crossing receiver open and also an option to take a deep shot if the DBs botch the coverage.

The first part of the play is very well-executed by almost everyone, including Sudfeld with the play fake. TE James Mitchell (No. 82) leaves a little early and it tips off safety Dane Belton (No. 24 in blue), but the Lions offensive line, Reynolds and Hesse all do a great job selling the run fake.

Wideout Antoine Green (No. 18) from the bottom of the formation) shows good patience in waiting to cross the field. In the practices we’ve seen, he is the primary option on this play. When the Lions starters run this, it’s Amon-Ra St. Brown in Green’s role and Jameson Williams as the top receiver, which is Daurice Fountain (No. 12) on this rep.

As the play progresses and Sudfeld spins outside to his left (by design) to where he can throw, Green is streaking across at the 24-yard line. Mitchell winds up being effectively covered, but the Giants defender whose responsibility is Green here (No. 31, Tyler Nubin) is still behind the 30 and running around a (legal) pick with Fountain starting to pull away from his coverage up the seam.

This is exactly how the play is supposed to work. Sudfeld has the option here to hit Green on the cross, or hold a half-count and throw it up for Fountain on the deep shot. No defender is within seven yards of Sudfeld. We’ve seen Sudfeld connect on both throwing options here many times in practices, just as Jared Goff and Hendon Hooker routinely do in their reps.

Not this time.

Sudfeld refuses to pull the trigger on either option and eventually gets sacked near the sideline at the 11-yard line. As the play progressed, Hesse also came open in the middle of the field as an emergency outlet, albeit a very risky throwing option, by smartly flowing with the play.

None of the offensive linemen are in place to help Sudfeld because he’s supposed to throw the ball. They’re selling the run fake and did so very well, notably center Kinglsey Eguakun (No. 65) and left tackle Dan Skipper (No. 70). Again–that’s the precise design of the play that we see them practice multiple times in every session. There are some variants off the base formation, too, but this is the primary “choose your best adventure” script for a quarterback in Ben Johnson’s playbook.

This isn’t a coverage sack. Fountain wound up getting 2-3 more yards of separation on his defender. Green remained an open target for another two steps before Nubin finally got within arm’s reach of him. It’s a rapidly closing window but that’s the NFL. Quarterbacks who don’t think they can make that throw typically don’t stick around the NFL very long.

Give the Giants linebackers, notably Dyontae Johnson (No. 54), credit for quick reactions. Johnson bags the sack on Sudfeld, who isn’t unathletic (he’s slightly more mobile than Goff) but is never going to scare a defense with his legs. But this is a money-making play for the Lions offense if Sudfeld decides to write the check and throw the ball.

This one play is a great nutshell of why Lions fans, media and even head coach Dan Campbell were so hard on Sudfeld on Thursday night.

 

Jack Campbell stepped up in a big way against the Saints

Jack Campbell stepped up in a big way against the Saints, and Russell Brown breaks it down

When linebacker Alex Anzalone went down with a thumb injury two weeks ago, there were a lot of questions surrounding the player that was going to step up in his place. Some had thought it was going to be Derrick Barnes and others thought it was Jack Campbell. When Jack Campbell’s name was brought up, there was some hesitation with some fans.

Their reasoning was simple.

He was a rookie that was playing with hesitation and was missing tackles in previous games. But most importantly, he had big shoes to fill. Trying to replace Anzalone is tough to do in this Lions defense. He’s an experienced player that comes from this defensive system during his days with the New Orleans Saints. Meanwhile, Anzalone leads the Lions with 87 tackles this season.

Certainly, the pressure got put on the shoulders of the rookie linebacker from Iowa. But he thrived in the situation and stepped up to the plate in a big way for the Lions defense. Let’s review the tape of Jack Campbell’s performance against the New Orleans Saints.

Starting with the first play that really stood out on tape was the one above. The Saints come out with their 11 personnel (one running back and one tight end) and prior to the snap, they motion a receiver on a jet-motion. Faking the jet, the quarterback goes to hand the ball off to the running back.

For the Lions, they come out in their nickel package with their inside linebackers being Derrick Barnes (LB 55) and Jack Campbell (LB 46). Aligned in a ’30’ technique (B-gap) is Campbell. Despite sliding inside a gap to account for the motion, Campbell does a great job reading the quarterback.

Campbell knows the hand-off to the running back is about to happen and he immediately gets downhill and attacks the ballcarrier. It’s a tremendous fill and tackle by Campbell and as you can see, he was pretty fired up about it. This play just goes to show some of the instincts and overall ability that he has as a player.

The next play I want to focus on is the one above where Campbell does a great job reading QB power. Looking at that play, the Saints come out of a shotgun formation with their Swiss army knife, Taysom Hill (TE/QB 7).

As you can see, Jack Campbell and Malcolm Rodriguez are the inside linebackers as the Lions come out in their nickel package. Aligned in the A-gap (between the left guard and center) is Campbell. Prior to the snap, Hill motions a receiver out of the backfield and away from him.

Once the ball is snapped, Campbell appears to blitz but honestly, I think he’s reading Hill the entire way. He presses the line-of-scrimmage and takes away any potential cutback lane for Hill. In the process, he grabs ahold of the legs of Hill and doesn’t let go. This play perfectly sums up how Campbell played throughout much of this game. Scratching and clawing his way to every ball to find ways to make a play for the defense.

Lastly, I want to focus on some of the pass coverage from Jack Campbell in this game. Against the Saints, he was targeted four times and allowed three receptions for 46 yards. Throughout the season, he’s allowed 20 receptions for 199 yards and two touchdowns.

When watching Campbell throughout the season, he’s been doing well in coverage. Despite playing with hesitation in some of his drops, he’s right there every single week. With more time, Campbell will start transitioning his position from just good coverage to interceptions and pass breakups.

Looking at the play above, he’s covering one of the best pass catching backs in the league in Alvin Kamara. The Saints come out 2×2 with a condensed set to the right of their formation. Meanwhile, the Lions come out in their nickel package with Jalen Reeves-Maybin and Jack Campbell. As the routes develop downfield, the Lions are in good coverage and Carr quickly checks this down to Kamara.

While it appears that Kamara is juggling the football prior to catching it, Campbell was with him every step of the way. He closes any separation that is between him and the running back and he makes a good open field tackle. This was a good stop for the Lions and it setup 3rd down.

Overall, Jack Campbell has been progressing every single week. He looked comfortable “manning” the middle of the Lions defense and it wouldn’t be surprising if it’s something that happens a little bit more down the stretch. Especially if Anzalone isn’t going to be playing at 100% each week. Regardless, there’s been a lot of promising signs from Campbell throughout his rookie season but his performance against the Saints was his best by far.