Dion Waiters: “I’m still trying to find my way”
November 5, 2014Checking in with Johnny Manziel
November 5, 2014The Cleveland Browns won their second straight game and are now 5-3 on the season. The team played a tight game with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and pulled out a 22-17 wins on Sunday. It was another close game at the end with a lot of big plays by the Browns. On defense, the Browns forced two interceptions and made the big stop at the end of the game to finish off the win. The special teams was just as important as the unit was able to block a field goal and a punt, both ended up being huge, scoreboard-changing plays. The game was all about the big plays the defense and special teams made to help give the Browns the win. In this week’s film room, I will break down the big plays the defense and special teams made on Sunday.
So take a seat, grab some popcorn and enjoy this week’s film room! After you’re done reading, talk about what plays you thought were instrumental in the Browns win in the comments below.
Special Teams
The Browns special teams stepped up this week after a rough start to the season. The special teams blocked a field goal and a punt on Sunday versus the Buccaneers. Here is how the team was able to make these two big plays.
This block field goal was at the end of the Buccaneers first drive of the game. Tampa Bay attempted this 31-yard field goal to go up 3-0 early in the first quarter. Here is how the Browns stopped that from happening.
The Browns are in a regular field block formation with everyone on the line except for one player. Billy Winn is the one who blocks the field goal. He is designed to shoot up the gap on the right side of the center.
Winn uses a great move and hops the center and the lineman to the right of the center. He jumps right over the middle of the line and gets the free shot to block the field goal. It was a huge play for the Browns and a great move by Billy Winn.
This might have been the biggest play of the game. This blocked punt late in the fourth quarter, gave the Browns great field position to get the go ahead touchdown that won the Browns the game. Here is how Craig Robertson was able to deflect the punt.
The play was well designed by the Browns. Tank Carder is key to this play in getting Robertson free to block the punt. Carder slides down to the right and takes on the center and the blocker in the backfield. He is called to seal the side for Robertson to go to the left and go through the hole made by Carder.
As you see in this shot, Carder was perfect on the play by taking on the multiple players he had to seal to the right. Robertson has a clear path to the punter because of Carder. Robertson flies right up this gap and deflects the punt causing just a one-yard punt.
These two special teams plays were huge in helping the Browns beat the Buccaneers. The block field goal took three points off the board and the block punt gave the Browns great field position for the game-winning touchdown on the following drive. It was definitely a huge improvement over the sloppy and flat out bad special teams the Browns have had for most of the season.
Defense
The Browns defense has looked a lot better over the last couple weeks. The Browns defense has forced eight turnovers over the past three games. With the offensive struggles over the last couple weeks, the Browns defense has stepped up and kept the team in every game. On Sunday, the Browns defense had two interceptions and a game-winning stop to end the last drive for Tampa Bay. Here are some of the big plays the Browns defense had on Sunday.
This interception by Donte Whitner was one of the top plays of the week in the NFL. The tipped pass by Joe Haden to Whitner was a smart play that led to a field goal to go up 6-0 in the game. Here how the play was made.
The Bucs have two receivers out wide with two tight ends and a running back. The key route on the play was receiver Mike Evans. Evans is running a deep streak route on the left side of the field.
The Browns are in Cover 2 with every target in the passing covered man to man. Joe Haden is on single coverage with receiver Evans.
The Browns have the three targets running underneath Evans covered pretty close. Safety Tashaun Gipson covers the out route underneath so Joe Haden is in single coverage on Evans.
Joe Haden is a few steps behind Evans in coverage, but the throw is a bit underthrown. This along with Haden’s fast recovery speed allows Haden to get his hand up and tip the pass away from Evans. Haden realizes that Whitner is following behind him, so he tips the ball to Whitner who intercepts the pass and takes it 54 yards up field. Haden’s pick negates a possible huge play by Tampa Bay and gives the Browns good field position, which the Browns use to get a field goal.
This play was the final offensive play for the Buccaneers to keep their last drive alive. It is a 4t-and-11 at the Browns 47-yard line. Here is how the Browns made the game-winning stop.
The Bucs line up with four receivers wide and a running back in the backfield. Tight end Austin Seferian-Jenkins is the slot receiver and the target on the play. He will run an underneath route to the right and fill into the space on the right side of the field vacated by the receiver who is running a streak up field.
The Browns are in a Cover Two with man to man defense on all the targets in the passing game. The Browns are rushing four on the players on the play.
As you can see in this shot, every target on the play is covered very tightly and there is no real open receiver. The key to the coverage is safety Donte Whitner’s tight coverage on Seferian-Jenkins. He is right on the young tight end’s back and giving the quarterback no space to throw the ball.
Another factor in this incompletion is the pass rush on the edge by linebackers Paul Kruger and Jabaal Sheard. The edge rushers get past there blockers and force quarterback Mike Glennon to step up into the pocket. This rattles Glennon and forces him to throw earlier then he wanted.
As you can see here, the pass is off target, but the receiver wasn’t open either. It was combination of good coverage and good pass rush. This incompletion ended the game for the Bucs and finished off the win for the Browns.
The defense has improved over the last couple weeks and they have made a lot of big plays for the team. The ability to force turnovers is key to the success of this defense because it is prone to give up yards. The defense will give up yards, but it will hold teams to field goals and cause turnovers by their opponents. It is not a perfect defense, but it is improving every week and it has the ability to be a big play producer.
Defensive Highlight
The defensive highlight for this week is safety Donte Whitner. Whitner had eight tackles, one interception, and one pass defense in the game. According to ProFootballFocus, he was graded the highest of all the Browns defenders. Whitner has given the defense much needed leadership and toughness in the secondary. He was productive in both the run and pass defense versus the Bucs. He and Tashaun Gipson make up a great combination at the safety positions.
Defensive Lowlight
The defensive lowlight for this week is corner Buster Skrine. According to PFF, he was targeted 11 times allowing nine receptions for 136 yards and a touchdown. His main problem is his ball skills. He is usually right with his opponent, but he struggles getting into the right position to make the play on the ball. He was caught a lot of the times facing the receiver and not looking for the ball. Skrine gave up a lot big completions because he loses track of the ball and the receiver gets the catch over him.
12 Comments
Can’t remember ever seeing a DB do quite what Haden did: intentionally batting the ball hard toward a trailing safety. I mean, a lot can go wrong with an oblong ball: the ball goes a somewhat different direction than intended and another receiver ends up with it … Also, the Browns suddenly have multiple defenders that really know what to do with INTs. Whitner, Haden, Skrine and Gipson all are excellent using blocks and going back the other way.
While it should be rarely attempted for the reasons you mention, I don’t think it’s quite as difficult on a long ball like that. The ball isn’t coming incredibly fast or hard, and if you know you have a bead on it it shouldn’t be difficult to tap it toward someone and away from the receiver. In that situation you know that the only TB player around is behind you so there’s no risk unless you absolutely miss the ball.
Alabama did it in the Nat’l Championship game just a couple years ago though was trying to tip it up for himself. I’ve seen it quite a few times done more purposefully in college over recent years too, but the NFL it doesn’t happen much (if at all, cannot recollect a specific instance before Haden).
http://s1.totalprosports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/22-bama-interception-2012-13-bowl-season-gifs.gif
oh, duh….the Sherman-tip against SF came to mind right after I posted that other comment. here you go:
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-w6M8lmqVtis/UtyPva9jE5I/AAAAAAAAFbs/0FzBj8uTzEg/s400/STIP.gif
perfect. Didn’t see that before. Same play, but even more dangerous, since if teammate bobbles it up might be caught for TD. Bottom line is: NFL CBs are some of the greatest athletes in the world.
Not poking fun, but I’m shocked you hadn’t seen that play before. Probably the biggest play of the year—it led to the infamous Sherman rant.
never underestimate the size of the rock I live under. Or the badness of my memory. Don’t remember which it is.
actually if that was the Rant Play I did see it. That was a great great game. It was like the last play.
[What are they serving for lunch today?]
I thought there were rules prohibiting players to jump over the line during a field goal try.
I believe there are 2 rules, which Winn was close to violating, but I think were correctly not called.
(1) Cannot use your own players to assist in your leap. You can hurdle everyone, you just cannot use your guys as a boost to do it. You can use the OL to get a bigger jump to block a kick.
(2) Cannot knock back the center when he’s in a defenseless position. But, since Winn is just sort of hand-checking his shoulder while hurdling, I think this is okay. Seems to be that our coaches noticed their LS never lifts his head. That’s on him.
You already ate lunch.
That was today? Well, answer that phone.