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Odell Beckham and Josh Norman on Coaching Tape, plus the Early Week 16 Picks

24 Thursday Dec 2015

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It was always my intention to look at the coaching tape of the matchup between Odell Beckham and Josh Norman as it was one of the most enticing prospects of the year coming into week fifteen. We were expecting to see a competition between two of the young stars of the NFL, with Beckham making breathtaking catches all through his short career and Norman being talking about as a candidate for defensive player of the year. I am going to focus on what I saw on tape, rather than go fully into all of the mess that has so dominated the post game coverage, but with Norman fined and Beckham suspended I cannot just ignore what went on after the whistle and sometimes during the play.

The first thing for me to say is that I can’t know what was said before or during the game, the amount of accusations thrown around after the game seems to be an attempt to distract from a spectacle that made neither player look good. However, there is plenty of blame to go around as there were plenty of signs that Beckham was not playing under control and neither team leaders nor coaches were able to bring him back from the edge. It is understandable that in such a physical game as football that players have to play with a fire, but there has to be a line that you don’t cross and Beckham hurt his team with a number of penalties. It is also disappointing that in 2015 we are still dealing with the questioning of a player’s manhood and the throwing around of homophobic slurs as accepted ways of trying to get into the opposition’s head. There is not the same organised chanting at football games in the States as there is over here in terms of songs and a terrace willing to say anything to put off the opposition, but the culture of masculinity is very similar and it is something that should be dismantled in a systematic way. Without going back and watching the game as broadcast it is hard for me to comment on what was going on between plays, but this was not what the NFL was hoping the matchup would look like going into the game.

Anyway, moving on to the game film, this game didn’t look to me quite as eventful as the highlights and the coverage has made it appear. I will be asking Dan about the game on the next podcast as I know he is intending to watch it, but in terms of what I could see on tape there were more snaps where Norman and Beckham lined up and not a lot happened than there were problems. The Giants move Beckham round the formation and bring him in motion to try to get him open. Meanwhile the Panthers played a mixture of zone and man, with Norman covering Beckham at times and others he was on the opposite sides of the field as both players lined up on either side of the formation.

We are used to seeing the spectacular catches and the impressive numbers for Odell Beckham, but he only had six catches in this game and a lot of the yards he did gain were wiped out by penalties he gave away. He also had a couple of drops, but what was striking on tape was his ability to get open. He is both quick and sudden, which enables him to often get open whether he is finding a way through zone coverage or in a one on one matchup. The touchdown he caught at the end of the game was from a lovely double move, that allowed him to get behind Norman to make the catch, and that wasn’t the only time he got behind Norman. There was a lovely deep post pattern that he ran in the third quarter creating a deep play opportunity, but Eli Manning couldn’t quite get the ball to him. The thing I will say about Beckham’s temperament in this game was that it was not just Norman that Beckham was petulant with, he ran into several safeties and other corners as the coverage rotated. I was also getting frustrated by his blocking in the running game as several times he bumped with a shoulder rather than truly engaging as a blocker. I don’t know how he is coached so it may be that this is what the team want him to do, but later in the game there was a snap where he engaged and turned his corner on a run play so he can do it. The egregious play to me was the running play where he went past Norman who did take a swipe at him, but Beckham came back down the field and clearly tried to take Norman out with a helmet to helmet hit. With the emphasis on player safety it was an outrageously dangerous play and you could easily argue that he should have been ejected from the game for that alone. It was hard to always see what was going on between snaps, but there was at least one play where part of an officiating crew put themselves between Beckham and Norman after the whistle had blown.

Focussing on Josh Norman, the coverage of him this season has been very positive, but looking at his play I would not say that he is quite the man on man lockdown corner that some would have you believe. That is not to say that he isn’t playing well as he really is, but the Panthers play a fair amount of zone but it looks different to the three deep zone with almost man corner play that you see if you were to watch Richard Sherman in Seattle. However, Norman is similar to Sherman in that he moves well and has the length to bother receivers and cause disruption. This is however, a great defence at all levels and on the all twenty-two you could see receivers passed smoothly between corners, safeties, and linebackers, as the receiver ran their route through the defence’s zones. Norman was clearly taking his chances to be physical where he could, and was called for his own unnecessary roughness penalties apart from the retaliation for the helmet to helmet hit. It was clear that he was niggling at Beckham for chunks of the game, and there was one play were he clearly just went for the head area of Beckham.

With one player suspended and another fined, neither has created a good look for the NFL. More worryingly for Beckham is that he clearly let things get to him and so he will see a lot more of this needling tactic as he is too good a receiver to cover conventionally, and has revealed a potential weakness that the rest of the league will see if they can exploit. Only time will tell if this will be a problem, but in what is one of the most team orientated of sports, Beckham will have to learn integrate his phenomenal talents into the team ethic if he wants to win games. As for Josh Norman, he will be watched closely, and let’s hope he can find the balance between being competitive and detrimental to his team.

And now onto the first picks of week sixteen that are immediately around Christmas day, with me managing to eek out another game on Dan last week.

Gee:    Week 15   11-5                       Overall   119-105
Dan:    Week 15   10-6                       Overall   110-114

Chargers @ Raiders (-5.5)

The Raiders have definitely made progress this season, but they are still making the mistakes of a young team. They lost to the Green Bay Packers last week, and still have plenty of areas that they need to develop, but in 2014 they drafted Khalil Mack and Derek Carr, then followed it up this year with Amari Cooper, so there is hope for a franchise that sat in the doldrums for too long that they can continue to build and develop. This is another team that could be on the move, although I’m not sure any team has the votes they require to get a move approved by the other owners, but given the games last week I expect this to be an emotional occasion in Oakland.

The Chargers got the win that so many players wanted in what was possibly the last game at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego. However, there is so much in flux for this team with it being up in the air where they will play next season, and likely who will coach them. They have been beset by injuries on the line, but they had problems with this last year as well, and they have a closing window given that as good as Philip Rivers has been, he is thirty-four.

In this game I think that the Chargers come back to Earth as they are not a good team, and with the Raiders at home for possibly the last time and them definitely heading in the right direction I think they will cover these points. It might also be another big day for Khalil Mack given the problems in pass protection that the Chargers have had all season.

Gee’s Pick:      Raiders
Dan’s Pick:      Raiders

Washington @ Eagles (-2.5)

There was a power struggle in the offseason at the Eagles, which Chip Kelly won, but I am not sure how much the total control of personnel has been of benefit. Initially I could see a plan in what he was doing, trusting his scheme on offence and focus his efforts on getting players for their defence, but the plan seemed to be ignored for some of his moves. However, a lot of talent has been shipped out over the last couple of seasons and it will be telling if he retains control over personnel and is given time to continue with his plan, or if some power is taken back or worse still if he is fired. On the field it has been a real mix with some good performances but nothing for them to really hang their hat on. The offence started of struggling, before they found a way to run the ball, but whilst high priced free agent DeMarco Murray might lead the team in rushing, he seems to have slipped down the pecking order and does not seem to fit the system. It appears that Sam Bradford is becoming more comfortable in the offence, but this is not the offence people were expecting to see coming into the year. More worrying is that the defence, which for much of the year looked like the stronger unit, has struggled in recent weeks and has given up forty points or more in three of the last five games.

This week the Eagles welcome a Washington team to Philadelphia who are currently a game clear at the top of the NFC East and who could clinch a playoff birth with a win in this game. It was not the most auspicious of starts for Jay Gruden in Washington, but you have to admire the way he stuck to his guns regarding the Robert Griffin situation and it would appear the starting quarterback question has been solved for now. The other thing that seems to have helped was the appointment of Scott McCloughan as GM, with his focus on building through the draft looking like it has been of benefit already, and I will be curious to see how they continue in the offseason. On the field the team has not excelled on offence or defence, although their special teams are ranked sixth in the league by DVOA. However, Kirk Cousins has managed to find a balance between willingness to make aggressive throws and protecting the ball. The team have played better in Washington than on the road, which makes me nervous about picking this game, but I do not trust the Eagles and if I am getting two and a half points then I am going to take them.

Gee’s Pick:      Washington
Dan’s Pick:      Washington

Week 9 Amatuer Adventures in Film

15 Sunday Nov 2015

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As I mentioned on the podcast, I’m trying to focus in on a particular thing when reviewing coaching tape to make the task more manageable as there are almost infinite things you could be looking at. I was intending to look at both Jameis Winston against the Giants, and the Colts’s route concepts against the Broncos mainly man pass coverage, but it appears that given the time I think it is better if I focus in on one thing per week.

Superficially this the 32-18 score line makes this look like a comfortable win for the Giants, but this was actually a closer game than that with the lead being inflated by a touchdown scored on the last play of the game when the Buccaneers were attempting a multi-lateral do or die play, and Mike Evans attempted a cross field pass to guard Logan Mankins who couldn’t catch the ball. This was not where they lost the game though, as whilst Jameis Winston did not throw an interception, nor did he throw a touchdown as the offence struggled with some key drops and the Buccaneers fumbled the ball four times and lost three of them. Ultimately, too many drives stalled and resulted in field goals, and this allowed the Giants to eek out enough of a lead to win the game.

The good news for Bucs fans is that Winston actually outgained Eli Manning in this game, completing nineteen of thirty-six throws for two hundred and forty-seven yards despite the drops. It does seem like Winston can lock on to receiver Mike Evans on some plays, but you could often see him going from his first read to a second, and he really does seem to be making sure to only throw the ball in safe situation for the majority of the game. He may have let loose a bit later in the game, but there were plenty of occasions where he was more patient for instance, on one play Adam Humphries was running a mid-level in route behind two linebackers in zone coverage and was in space, but Winston waited for Humphries to come open across the field before make the throw rather than trying the harder options of dropping his pass over the linebackers. He also threw a lovely timing pass where Winston threw a ball with touch that was right on time to tight end Cameron Brate as he made his break on a deep out. It was also noticeable when Winston was scrambling to avoid pressure that his eyes were always down field until he had to tuck and run. You would like to see him manipulate safetys more with his eyes, and you could see better secondarys being able to jump some routes, but things are definitely heading in the right direction. I’ll need to spend more time watching quarterbacks to really get into the nuances of footwork, but there were plenty of throws where he hit the end of his drop and delivered the ball, and he certainly has the arm to make all the throws. He showed no ill affects from the multiple hits he took and if he can continue to develop then it really does look as if the Buccaneers have a quarterback they can build with, and that is no mean feat in the NFL given there simply don’t seem to be enough quarterbacks to go round and an early does not mean that you are guaranteed to get one. I look forward to following Winston’s progress.

NFL Week 3 Washington at Giants

27 Sunday Sep 2015

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I was really looking forward to the Thursday night game this week, but sadly it was a demonstration of the criticisms of the Thursday night games with sloppy football, lots of penalties, and an easy win for the home team, although it didn’t turn into the kind of blow out that so plagued us last year. It started badly for Washington with a drive that saw a deep third down pass to Chris Thompsons for thirty-three yards wiped out by a penalty, a missed pass on the replayed third down, offsetting penalties on the resulting punt, and finally a blocked punt that bounced out of bounds in the end zone for s safety. This pretty much summed up the entire game for Washington, but let’s start with probably the most successful group in this game.

On offence the Giants looked like they were continuing the transition started last year into Ben McAdoo’s offence. They moved the ball well enough, and although they would like to run it more effectively, the passing game was working well with Odell Beckham looked good, helping Eli Manning out with an excellent grab in the end zone for a touchdown, and Rueben Randle led the team in receiving yards with one hundred and sixteen yards of seven catches, as well as adding a late touchdown. Manning finished with solid numbers, but there were still some missed chances and overthrows including one that he was very lucky not to have picked off. The running game never seemed to get going, and the highlight was Andre Williams running through Washington Safety Trent Robinson, who failed to get lower than Williams and so bounced off spectacularly. Unfortunately that was pretty much it for the running game highlights. The really worrying thing for the Giants though is the number of times they had to settle for field goals, they got one touchdown in three trips to the red zone in this game, giving them a measly three for the year from eleven red zone visits. If they can’t improve their efficiency in their opponents half then they are going to continue to struggle to win games.

The Washington defence continued to hold up fairly well, but they were not dominant and failed to stop the Giants slowly eking out their lead. They were sound in run defence, but failed to generate a pass rush with only two quarterback hits in the entire game. It is therefore unsurprising given the time he got in the pocket that Eli Manning was able to find his receivers, with his misses being more down to his erratic play than pressure or tight coverage, and his overthrow in the first quarter that just hit the ground before DeAngelo Hall could grab it was the nearest Washington came to causing a turnover all game.

Unfortunately, this could not be said for offence with Kirk Cousins throwing two interceptions, in a performance that wasn’t so much dreadful, as not quite good enough for so long that the accumulated damage had the same destructive effect as a full on melt down. They were unable to run the ball as well as in previous games, and for some reason the rookie Matt Jones, who has shown promise so far and did get over one hundred yards last week, got more carries that Alfred Morris, even though Jones fumbled the ball out of the end zone for a turnover whilst reaching for a touchdown. The problem was this failure to establish the run game, and the slowly expanding lead the Giants created, leant to a problem that Bengals fans will be all too familiar with. Whilst Cousins needed to play better, Jay Gruden had him drop back to pass nearly fifty times and this is too many times unless you have a truly top class quarterback. Washington did not end the game that far behind the Giants, and if they had been able to establish the run or at least run a more balanced attack, perhaps Cousins will have had an easier time and they would have been more successful. I will look at one of Cousins’s interceptions in a bit, but this version of the Washington offence is not going to win a lot of games.

The Giants defence did well against the run, and their secondary got a couple of interceptions and managed for the most part to contain Odell Beckham, but they didn’t get much pass rush with their only sack of the game coming from a six man blitz. They did get some quarterback hits and pressure, but this was more situational as a combination of their lead and Washington’s reaction repeated dropping back to pass, meant that the defensive linemen could spend a large amount of the later game simply rushing the quarterback.

I feel like I leave this game with more questions that answers, it was interesting to hear the commentators talk up how pleased Coughlin was with his special teams play, and then late in the game see the Giants give up a one hundred yard kick off return to Washington as they made this game closer than it perhaps should have been.

The Giants remain in contention in their divisions, but they need to close out games and to improve their scoring efficiency if they want to mount and effective campaign this season. Washington are progressing, but we are getting to a point where they may need to address the long term answer at quarterback if none of their current players truly demonstrate that they are the solution, and no one has done so far.

This weeks adventures in coaching tape is looking at two plays that caught my in this game.

I will start with Kirk Cousins first interception. Washington line up with 22 personnel in a strong side offset I formation with tight end Jordan Reed lined up as an outside receiver, whilst the Giant line up in their base 4-3 showing blitz with their middle linebacker. Washington run a play action pass whilst the Giants rush six using some delay/zone concepts, but what is interesting is that Cousins barely offers the ball to his running back, locks onto his receiver and throws the ball without a pause. The Giants rush their strong safety who has swapped with Prince Amukamara on the right side of their defence, who drops a few steps as the play begins, identifies what is happening, and simply beats Jordan Reed to the ball. It looks like a bad play on Cousins part as Amukamara can simply spy into the backfield, identify what is going on without much deception and make a play on the ball.

The second play I was curious about was a wide open pass that Jordan Reed caught in the third quarter. This time Washington lines up in 12 personnel with both receivers and tight ends lined up tight to the single back formation. The Giants again are in their base 4-3 formation, with strong safety Landon Collins lining up over tight end Derek Carrier on the left side of the defence. The Giants play a the three deep zone, with the linebackers and Collins playing zone underneath, but Jordan Reed is able to run a simple out pattern, whilst barely getting jammed by linebacker Devon Kennard, and so gets between the two sets of zones to pick up eighteen yards before Amukamara can force him out of bounds. There always ways to attack a zone, but I would have thought that Kennard has to disrupt a receiver running through his zone more than that if he is going to allow them behind him, particularly as there was lot of room as the outside receiver was running a deep go route on the play.

NFl Week 4: Giants @ Washington Recap

28 Sunday Sep 2014

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We’ve had series of big wins for the home team in the Thursday night games this season, so this week we turned it around, but sadly only so we got a big win for the away team. My focus for Washington was to be Brian Orakpo and Richard Griffin, but with RG3’s injury, I’ve swapped it to his backup Kirk Cousins who is now the starter. For the Giants I wanted to take a look at Eli Manning and see how he is settling into the new offence, and Antrel Rolle at safety who went to the Pro Bowl last season.

The headline for this game has been the four interceptions for Kirk Cousins and the good day for Eli Manning, there are other things that that need writing, but I might as well start there.

Kirk Cousins didn’t actually play too badly in the first half. I liked the use of play action in the passing game, but the warning signs were already beginning to show themselves. Washington’s first drive ended on sack of Cousins, who fumbled the ball, handing the Giants excellent field position from which they scored. Both sides then failed to get a first down on their next drives, Washington fails to get a first down again, before the Giants and then Washington have touchdown drives. The lone touchdown pass for Cousins to Andre Roberts came off play action and was the last time that Washington were within a touchdown of the Giants. On the next series, Cousins lofted a deep pass that led Niles Paul into a pair of receivers and a concussion. The drive ended when he completed a pass to Logan Paulsen, who then fumbled the ball. As I said, I liked the play action passes and Cousins looked good completing to his backs and tight ends, but there were some inaccurate throws mixed in.

The meltdown came in the second half trying to get his team back in the game, but the interceptions were not good passes. Having successfully led his team to a touchdown on their first drive, Cousins threw his first interception on the next one. His receiver was not open, but what made it worse was that Cousins placed his throw to the inside of Ryan Grant, giving a simple interception to corner Prince Amukamara. He might have gotten away with this, when on the following Giant’s drive a diving Brandon Meriwether jarred the ball lose in the end zone, that popped up for an interception, but on the second play of the ensuing drive, Cousins overthrew Pierre Garcon and safety Quintin Demps made a nice play to get across from his deep position and make the interception. With good field position, Eli Manning wasted no time in getting a touchdown in four plays. On the following drive Washington fails to get a first down, but then so does the Giants. However, again on the second play of the drive, Cousins drops back with three receivers to his right, hits his back foot and throws the ball into zone coverage, and directly to Mathias Kiwanuka. This again gives Eli Manning a short field and he wastes no time in scoring another touchdown. However, on the next drive Cousins throws his final interception, when he can’t step into his throw as left guard Josh LeRibeus gets knocked over resulting in Giants pressure, an underthrown ball, and an interception to Antrel Rolle. This was a horrible half of football, and whilst it is far too early to write him off, Washington and Cousins can’t afford to have too many more performances like this.

So whilst Kirk Cousins had a nightmare, Eli Manning had four touchdown passes, a touchdown run and three hundred yards passing. He looked in control of the offence, settling into the new system, and making good use of tight end Larry Donnell who looked really good as he caught three touchdown passes. There’s no doubt that Eli benefitted from good field position, and there were a few more three and out drives than the Giant’s would have liked, but he definitely looks like he could thrive in the new offence, and talk of his demise has been a bit premature.

The other thing that helped Eli Manning look so good was a well ranked defence that I was not that impressed with in this game. The secondary seemed soft in coverage all day, and there were a lot of diving attempts at tackles without wrapping up. I was pretty disappointed with Brian Orakpo, who managed no sacks, very little pressure and only two tackles. He seemed to be completely controlled by Will Beatty, and whilst I don’t know if this was just a bad day, he’ll need to do a lot better if he’s to get the big contract he will want next season.

On defence for the Giants, Antrel Rolle looked good without standing out to me. On the interception, I wonder whether if Cousins was able to step into the throw, DeSean Jackson was not past Rolle and gone for a big play. I also saw him miss a tackle when Alfred Morris stepped round him and he was flat out run on a pass play by Roy Helu, but he was round the play and I could very well be nit picking. I need to spend more time watching safeties to be sure.

In conclusion, this was a very solid win for the Giants and casts more question about Washington than just the play of Kirk Cousins. I said the Giants were improving when I picked against them, but they were definitely better than I expected and I am now worried about how Washington are going to be going forward. For now, only time will tell.