Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - Locked On Patriots January 9, 2018 - Titans Tape Tuesday

Episode Date: January 9, 2018

Mark Schofield charted the Titans' offense against Kansas City, and has the results and the things you need to know for Saturday.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Good morning and welcome into Locked On Patriots for Tuesday, January 9th, 2018. Mark Schofield here in the big chair for a taped Tuesday edition of Locked On Patriots. Hope you're feeling awake this morning. Some of you probably stayed up late. Watch the national championship game between Georgia and Alabama. Alabama with a comeback victory. And a lot of talk this morning about Alabama head coach Nick Saban, whether he cemented his legacy as the greatest college football head coach.

And there's an argument to be made specifically with respect to his decision to bench starting quarterback Jalen Hurts for the true freshman who comes in off the bench, throws two touchdown passes, including a game winner in overtime. But that's a debate for another time. Today here on Locked On Patriots, we're going to dive into the Titans offense on this tape Tuesday edition. Spent some time over the past day or so

chartering their game, both run game and pass game, against the Kansas City Chiefs. So I've got some things to share, some things that I think we can expect to see from the Titans offensively on Saturday night, and some thoughts, some early thoughts on what the Patriots might do in response. Reminder, as always, check me out on Twitter at Mark Schofield. Follow the work over there, over at Inside the Pylon, over at LockedOnPatriots.com, over at Bleacher Report. Reminder, the NFL 1000 final grades for quarterbacks, those went up last week.

You can check those out as well. Also want to give a quick plug for Intentional Scouting. I know this is Locked On Patriots, but Intentional Scouting is a new podcast I have started with myself and Nate Geary over at WGR Radio in Buffalo. It is a quarterback-centric podcast, scouting the quarterbacks with a Bill's lens on the podcast. Obviously, it's a Buffalo show,

but if you're interested in following these quarterbacks, you might want to check that out as well. Let's dive into this Titans offense for a bit here. And I want to start with their passing game. I'm going to start with some broad themes on the Titans pass game. Went in, charted, drew up every single pass that they threw against the Chiefs last Saturday afternoon. Let's start with some general themes. First, you know, we hear a lot, particularly in draft season, about pro-style offenses versus, you know, college-style offenses and spread-style offenses.

And obviously, Marcus Mariota came from a spread system at the University of Oregon. And in going through and in charting every pass that the Titans threw during that game, it did sort of strike me that a lot of the concepts that we saw were very sort of similar to what Mariota was running in college, as we'll talk about here in a second. But the line between pro offenses and college offenses is certainly being blurred. And there was a great piece out last week in The Rinner about that

and had a fantastic quote from Andy Reid about how NFL offenses tend to be about five years behind college offenses. There's always a little bit of a trickle up. And this is something I've been talking about, harping about for a while now. You know, NFL coaches, they need to start recognizing the traits that these guys coming into the league have.

They need to stop trying to fit square pegs into round holes. If you've got guys that are coming in, coming from these systems, incorporate those spread type schemes into what you're doing. And the Titans have done that. And they've gotten knocked a lot this year for their offensive play calling, for their schemes. But there are things that they do that can work. And let's get into those. from a more global type perspective, some main sort of concepts to look for. Obviously, screens are, I don't want to say a critical component of what the Titans do in the pass game, but they do a lot of screen stuff. And they're not afraid to throw screens to any offensive player.

They'll throw swing screens, bubble screens, smoke screens to the wide receivers. Obviously, they'll do running back screens. They hit one to Henry against the Titans. They'll throw tunnels, and they'll throw tunnels to the tight end as well. Obviously, Delaney Walker is a player that features prominently in their past game. They'll throw tunnel screens his way. So the screen games, part of what they do, they'll use different players in the screen game as well.

Vertical concepts as well. They'll do some stuff in the vertical game. They love slot fade, particularly in the red zone. They tried to hit it early in the game to Eric Decker. That's a play that the Eagles ran a ton this year, particularly with Carson Wentz. Switch concepts as well. Building off of that, they like to use switch concepts.

We've got an outside receiver who runs an in-breaking route, and then the inside receiver will run sort of a wheel along the boundary. But they'll do other stuff with switch concepts. There's a play we're going to break down here in a minute where they ran basically switch slants. Where they had the outside receiver run a basic slant pattern. The inside receiver starts to the outside like he's going to come up the boundary.

And then he breaks over the middle as well on a slant route. So that's a design where they try to show you that switch vertical type concept, get the defender to think wheel. He over commits outside to the vertical route, to the boundary vertical route, and then you break underneath him. So that's something to look for.

Sticks concept. This is a play that we've talked about a bit here. It's simple. It's backyard football. It's everybody go to the first down marker and turn around and run a curl. They did that a number of times against the Chiefs. They ran it on back-to-back passing plays as well.

So that's something to watch. They like pin post-end concept. And they'll do it both deep, where it's like the Mills concept, where you have the deep post and the deep dig route. They'll do it quick with a band eight, quick post route and then a really quick in cut.

So they like that setup. They'll use that slants tosser concept where you have double slants. They'll do that as well. They like to put that on the backside of concepts. So they'll run something to one side of the formation. You know, for example, their first third down of the game

was a third and three they ran a smash concept a flat seven smash concept where you have a quick flat route and a corner route to the weak side and then on the back side they had double slants

Mariota tried to throw the corner out to Corey Davis missed it but they put that tosser on the back side those double slant routes on the back side of that play finally Dino double post but they put that tosser on the back side, those double slant routes on the back side of that play. Finally, Dino, double post.

Another thing that they like to do, a little bit deeper than tosser, the double slant concept. This is two post routes on the same side of the field. You try to get that inside safety to really commit, to really bite on that inside post route. You try to get the free safety to bite on that, throw the deeper post route behind him. So those are some of the basic concepts that they run. One thing of note before we dive into these in more depth,

you've got to cover the tight end. Obviously, Delaney Walker, a big part of what they do. You particularly have to cover the tight end on third down. They had six third down passing attempts. Three of those were completions to the tight end. One on a third and 20 went for 12 yards. One on a third and 10 went for 14 yards. And the other on a

third and three went for 9 yards. So they're looking to the tight end on third down. They've had some success with that against the Chiefs. Something to watch on Saturday night. Ahead, I'm going to break down a few of these passing plays more in depth and then get into their run game. That's next with me, Mark Schofield in Locked on Saturday night. Ahead, I'm going to break down a few of these passing plays more in depth and then get into their run game.

That's next with me, Mark Schofield, in Locked on Patriots. All right, let's go through a couple of these plays here. Things to expect and how to possibly deal with them. The first one is a bit of a trick play. This is a play that the Titans ran on a second and seven at the 137 mark of the first quarter. They show an unbalanced line. So they take the right

tackle, Jack Conklin, and put him on the left side. Line him up like a tight end next to the left tackle. And they put a receiver outside of him. And the man on the end of the line on the other side is wide receiver Taewon Taylor, a rookie

out of Western Kentucky. They put a tight end in the way next to Taylor. He comes in motion. So you have an unbalanced line to the left side of the offense. You bring an extra tight end in motion towards that side. Everything shows run.

Quarterback meets the running back at the mesh point. You have two backs in the backfield. One serves as a lead blocker. Everything sets up like it's a run play, and they just release the rookie wide receiver, Taylor, to the flat. You're hoping that, A, the defense sort of misses that because he doesn't have to declare himself as an eligible receiver. He's got an eligible receiver number. He's simply lined up like a right tackle spot,

but he's the end man on the line of scrimmage. He's an eligible receiver with an eligible receiver number. You're first banking that the defense misses that. And even if they do see it and the Chiefs see it, they point it out, you're then banking that the defense sells out on the run to that side. And that's what happens. He releases to the flat. It's an easy throw and catch from Mariota to Taylor. That's a design to watch.

I guarantee they burn it out at least once. I mentioned it in the intro. Slot fade. They tried this in the red zone. They're at the Chiefs' 21-yard line. It was a first and 10 midway through the second quarter. They line up in a deuce. Two by twos.

You have two receivers to the left, two receivers to the right. Delaney Walker is a tight end on the left side. He stays in in pass, bro. They'll use him in pass protection, whether to chip or even just stay in and block. They try the slot fade to Decker from the right slot. Backside receiver to the left side. He releases on a fade route as well. Something to watch in the red zone.

They do a lot with packaged plays as well. Here's one of them. From the 519 mark of the second quarter. They line up in a stack formation to the right. So you have two receivers, one right behind the other to the right, and then a pro alignment with a tight end and a receiver to the left. The receiver off the line in the stack, the sort of slot receiver, comes in motion towards the football. And then he runs a bubble screen. So he sort of bubbles back towards the sideline. Mariota and Derrick Henry carry out

a mesh. So it looks like Mariota has the option to hand the ball off. Then he has the potential bubble screen. But they're really trying to set up a vertical passing concept because the other receiver in the stack runs a go route. So they try to hit that. And if that's not there, they have two dig routes coming from the backside. And this is one of the few throws where Mariota really drills one over the middle. A lot of his throws are more seams to boundary. This one he hits the dig route over the middle.

So there you've got multiple options on a play. These spread offenses, they try to get you to defend the entire field, sideline to sideline, line of scrimmage to deep. And here you've got a potential run, a potential bubble, a potential deep route, and a pass concept attack in the middle of the field. So that's a lot of ground to cover as a defense. Patriots will need to be ready for that. That switch slant concept. They ran it on a second and one at the four-minute mark of the second quarter. Again, another play where they have Delaney Walker

lined up as a tight end to the left, and he stays in to block and pass pro. You have slot formation to the right. Inside receiver runs that. Looks like a wheel, but then cuts on a deep slant pattern. Outside receiver runs the quick slant pattern. Here Mariota hits the outside receiver on that quick slant for a 12-yard gain. That's a play to watch too because if they start showing you a lot of that switch vertical concept, cornerbacks might start to really bite on that wheel route. That slot corner might really sort to really bite on that wheel route that slot corner might

really sort of over commit to that they might then bring this switch slant concept out get that slot corner to overrun really over commit to that boundary route and then that switch slant comes underneath that so you're asking your cornerbacks if you you're in man coverage there, they're going to have to be quick with their hips, really sort of turn on that, if they see that look, to get back towards the middle of the field, and drive on that road, I mentioned RPO stuff,

they ran an RPO at the 225 mark of the third quarter, inside run look with Henry and Mariota meeting at the mesh point in the backfield. Three-receiver bunch to the right. They run a flood concept. Delaney Walker is in that bunch. He stays in and pass broad. The other two receivers run a two-level flood with a deep out and a flat route. And then you have the backside slant.

Mariota puts the ball in Henry's belly, reads that linebacker on the backside. Once he overcommits to the run, you throw the slant behind him. Just have that X receiver get inside leverage on that corner. Easy throw and catch, particularly when you get that linebacker to crash down. It expands that throw and window. Patriots need to be cognizant of RPOs. We're going to talk

about their run game next. Defensive tackles are going to have to come up big in this game and I'll tell you why in a minute. They're going to need to keep the linebackers clear as we'll get into. But you're going to need to be disciplined as linebackers clear as we'll get into. But you're going to need to be disciplined as linebackers as well.

Read your keys. You see these RPO looks. Don't overcommit right away. Make Mariota hand the football off in those situations. A couple more plays. We mentioned sticks.

Late in the third, early in the fourth, they ran it three out of four passing plays. They ran sticks. And all it is, like I said, go to the first down marker, turn around. They ran it on a third and ten on their last passing play of the third quarter. Again, one of the few completions over the middle. They hit Delaney Walker on it, picked up 14. They ran it on a third and three at the 10-31 mark of the fourth quarter,

picked up nine. That was to Juno Smith, I believe. And then they ran it on their next pass and play at the 9-54 mark, a first and 10. That play, Mariota was flushed. One of the curls got converted into sort of a deep post. It was broken up, but shows you Mariota in the scramble drill. One last pass and play to break down.

This was the throw before the touchdown. The touchdown came on a switch concept where you have trips to the left. Decker's the middle trips receiver who runs a vert seam route. Outside and inside receivers just run crossers, quick little crossers. So you basically have a slant route and a flat route. That was the touchdown. The play before that, a go flat concept to the right. Outside receiver runs a go.

Inside receiver runs a flat. Both the slot corner and Revis, the cornerback over the vertical route, collapse on the flat. It looked like almost cover two trap where you're trying to bait the quarterback into throwing that flat route, thinking that defensive back is going to vacate and carry the vertical. And then the quarterback throws the vert, and the cornerback breaks off of that underneath the flat route for an interception.

Well, here, it looks like that's what they ran. Mariota caught it, throws the vertical route, which is open, just overthrows it. So if the Patriots try to trap to try to confuse Mariota, safety needs to really be cognizant of that potential vertical route and get over the top of it. That's a look at some of their past game stuff and on some examples here, ways that the Patriots defense can sort of

counteract those plays. Next, we're going to spend a few minutes on their run game. That's ahead with me, Mark Schofield, in Locked on Patriots. Now let's take a look at the Titans run game. Not going to spend a ton of time on it, but I want's take a look at the Titans' run game. Not going to spend a ton of time on it, but I want to highlight a couple of things here.

Titans do a lot of different things, primarily zone run schemes, but they do do some power stuff. Some of their bigger plays came on power-type blocking concepts. The main thing I want to highlight, and I alluded to this earlier is against the Chiefs the Titans offensive line did a great job

on combination blocks that's where you get two offensive linemen double teaming at the point of attack and one of them scraping to the second level to handle a linebacker. That's how you really sort of open up holes for Derrick Henry in the run game.

And, you know, the first sort of example of this that I really wanted to highlight was a first and 10 run at the 5.57 mark of the second quarter. On this play, they show a split zone running scheme. That's where you have zone block it up front, and then you have a tight end cut across and block that backside defensive end.

They also tag this with a fake jet sweep behind it, so there's a lot of movement, a lot of eye candy for the linebackers. And on this play, that fake sort of orbit jet sweep behind the play, it does sort of catch the eye of one of the linebackers. And what happens is the center and the left guard, Ben Jones the center, Quinton Spann the left guard, they get a double team at the point of attack on the defensive tackle in the A gap.

And that play side linebacker, he's frozen for a second watching that potential sweep. And it allows the left guard, Quentin Spain, to get to that second level to block him. And that opens up the hole for Derrick Henry on that inside zone run

for an eight yard gain. Picking up eight yards on first down is nothing to sneeze at. Later in the second quarter, they run a midline read, midline zone read, where you don't block that backside defensive end. So Delaney Walker, he just releases to the flat. They leave Justin Houston unblocked.

Mariota puts the football in Henry's belly and sort of reads him. Houston stays home, so he hands it off. And we see another good combination block, another good exchange, this time between Quinton Spain and left tackle Taylor LeJuan. They get a double team on the linebacker, the edge defender. And then it's the tackle, LeJuan, who then gets up to the second level. Henry starts the run inside, sees the inside congested a bit, then bounces it to the left,

picks up that block to the second level from LeJuan, and he picks up a nine-yard gain. Again, a nice combination block. Get into the second level. Defensive tackles are going to really have to sort of fight and occupy guys. If you can slow guys from getting to the second level, you're going to be able to stop these plays before they get going. In their big run play, the 35-yard touchdown,

that came on a power concept. This time it was Josh Klein on a power concept. This time it was Josh Klein. A familiar face. The right guard for the Tennessee Titans. He comes on a pull. He's able to handle sort of the safety that's cheating down into the gap. This was an interesting

play because I believe it was an audible from Mariota. Defensively, the Chiefs showed a really big bubble, sort of an uncovered area on the offensive line to the left side of the offense. They were over committed to the right side, expecting something going that

way. And I have to believe that Mariota switched it. He seemed active in the pre-snap phase, took advantage of that, take advantage of what the defense gives you and bust it for a big 35-yard touchdown. But I think from the Patriots' perspective, you want to try to get quick penetration

for the defensive tackles to really sort of prevent those combination blocks from getting going. Put pressure on those guys in the interior to make them stay and fight on those blocks longer than they want to. And that will allow linebackers to flow and scrape to the football.

I think that's sort of the key to stopping this Titans run game before it gets going. But that's been a look at what the Titans like to do schematically, what they did, what they had some success with against the Kansas City Chiefs. We're going to look at their defense next. Until then, keep it locked right here to me, Mark Scofield, and Locked on Patriots.