Rams Video Rewind (Part II)

Reviewing the second half of the Rams game was a little strange.  By the fourth quarter, backups were in across the board and we moved to really topical questions like "How does Todd Herremans look as a future left tackle?"

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At any rate, the third quarter kicked off with two great plays by Mike Patterson.  In this first video, I've highlighted Patterson both times pre-snap.  On the second play, I also highlighted the Rams TE/WR who motions down and delivers a nasty crackback block on Juqua Parker.  Doesn't matter because Patterson still makes the play:

The Eagles were in nickel for both those plays, which was a switch from the first half that saw them mostly stay with a full set of linebackers. 

On third and long, Johnson went to his new (in the sense that I don't remember it) dime package, which looks something like this:

...................37

26......20...27....55......24....22

............DE..DT..DT..DE

It's a three-safety look that allows JJ to call all kinds of exotic coverages.  It's easy to see from the above how you're in a cover-three, but you can also drop one of the safeties and move into a cover-two quite easily.  It's also a great blitzing set because you have all those quick guys on the edges.  Which is exactly what they did on third down, with both Mikell and Dawkins rushing (flip the alignment above) and Bulger forced to go to his hot read for less than a first down (and great hustle by Bradley on the play getting out to make the tackle).

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On the Eagles' first offensive series we saw the shotgun spread handoff to Westbrook on first down.  It went for nine yards and got me wondering if the Eagles have that play set up to either go to Westbrook or be play action every time, or if they have a read in there for McNabb on the end.  If he were five years younger, I wouldn't mind seeing it.

Anyway, it's skipping ahead a bit, but the Eagles ran the same play for their final touchdown.  Here's how that looks (with bonus narration, but still no game sound):

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Incidentally, I put a stopwatch on Sav's next punt and got in the neighborhood of 4.2 seconds on a 48-yard effort.  Nothing extraordinary, although he put it right on the sideline.  Maybe the Eagles' coverage units are just really fast these days.

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Sticking with STs, on the Rams' first punt the Eagles went with the formation where they double one gunner and leave JR Reed back by Jackson to act as his sort-of lead blocker.  Reed definitely went after the wrong guy and Jackson had nowhere to go.

I mention that only because on the next two punts the Eagles doubled both gunners and ditched the "personal protector" concept.  Those were the returns that went for 18 and 60 yards.  Worth pointing out.

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The other interesting thing about the second half is how obvious it was that the Eagles have decided to go with a fullback by committee approach.  I think Buck may have done just as much lead blocking as Hunt did.  And of course the Klecko play by the goal line, after which Moose (former FB himself) raved about Klecko's form, saying he's not just a big guy, he knows what he's doing.

Hunt had a terrific power run on the last drive when the Eagles needed two yards to keep the chains moving.  He was stoned in the backfield but never stopped fighting and picked it up.  He also made a nice play in kick coverage when he split a double team and got the stop.

The only problem I see with both these "fullbacks" is that it seems like 80 percent of the time they try to take a guy out low.  Once linebackers start picking up on that trend, we're going to see Westbrook get pasted by a guy who just jumps over the block.

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Other random things I noticed:

• Andrews had a couple of messed up plays, but he's still Shawn Andrews.  I don't know if anyone in the league is better at blocking the initial point of attack and still getting out in time to screen the linebacker.
• Cute series where Avant and Baskett kept waving the rookie up closer to the line to avoid an illegal formation penalty.
• Celek looked great solo-blocking a DE in pass protection.  Everyone on the Eagles looked great all day though, so take that for what it's worth.
• I think Akers third-to-last kickoff might have been that weird spins-like-a-top model we saw in the preseason, rather than the traditional end-over-end ball.  Hard to tell on TV, but it sure looked weird.  Would love to know what he's going for there.
• The first play I noticed Chris Clemons he was getting buried by a double team on an off-tackle running play.  He got penetration on the next two plays, however (unblocked on the second).
• Buckhalter wears a white towel on his right hip.  That's how you can tell Hunt (29) and Buck (28) apart at the fullback spot.  Unless they're going right to left, in which case you're screwed.
• Considine still needs to think about wrapping those bigger players up, rather than just hitting them.  McMichael kind of jacked him up a bit.
• Shawn Andrews and Todd Herremans looked much better at tackle than Nick Cole did at guard.  I don't think OT depth is an issue for this team.
• Stewart Bradley's hurdling sack was quite something, wasn't it?
• Lorenzo Booker looks, to me, and only on first glance, a little bit like, well, Jeremy Bloom, in the extent to which once contact is made, he no longer has any say in where his body will end up.
• Kevin Kolb sure looks like a real quarterback when he's playing with guys who know what they're doing, doesn't he?  Nice to see him come in and immediately lead a clock-killing nine minute that ended with kneeldowns.  Beautiful.

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And with that, we close the book on the Rams (picture Bob Uecker here).  It's on to the Cowboys.

Comments

[Ravi]

always love your video rewinds. speaking of which, did you see the new atlantic piece by mark bowden where he reviews game film of the 1958 nfl championship game with andy? very interesting piece, and sounds like the "real" andy participated, not the automaton we are used to in the press conferences...

http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200810/nfl-eagles