McCarron to Jones for 38 and a TD...

 

For much of the night against Virginia Tech, Alabama struggled to consistently move the ball offensively. They did however show flashes of big play ability on one play with 3:49 left to play in the 3rd quarter.

 

'Bama comes out on 3rd &11 in a two by two shotgun formation with one back in the backfield who happens to be #4, TJ Yeldon. The formation has the twins on each side inverted, meaning that the inside receiver is on the line of scrimmage and the two receivers flanked wide are off the line.

 

 

To the left we have DeAndrew White #2 (off the line) and Christion Jones #22 (on the line). To the top of the screen we've got true freshman OJ Howard #88 (on the line) and #83 Kevin Norwood (off the line).

Like Virginia Tech had been doing all night they're still crowding the line of scrimmage even with the spread formation 'Bama is showing and the down and distance. Virginia Tech has six men within five yards of the ball and even blitzes a seventh! As the play begins to develop the free safety creeps up and comes straight through the 'Bama offensive line just as AJ releases the ball.

 

 

As the play starts to take shape above we see 'Bama show a familiar play on 3rd down. The two outside receivers run crossing routes all the way across the field at about 5-7 yards. This is a nice concept to run against man coverage, which it appears the Hokies are playing. However, the sticks are at 11 yards. I'm guessing that this play was called with AJ being told to read this play long to short. The two inside receivers, Jones and Howard are both running deep routes, which would normally blow the top off of the defense specifically for the underneath crossing routes. Christion Jones runs a streak with a bit of a stem and hesitation to help him blow by the Hokie corner. Howard on the other side of the play runs a corner route. The coverage and matchups all work out in 'Bama's favor as Jones beats his man by about 5 yards. TJ Yeldon also does a great job of picking up the stunting linebacker. Watch the play here.

 

 

Above is the exact point where Christion makes his move that is decisive for the score. #26 for the Hokies is the corner who is playing man on Jones. He is only about 3-4 yards off of Jones which is good news for the Alabama offense. #17 is playing man on DeAndrew White of Alabama and he is almost 10 yards off of the football. The same situation is present on the other side of the field where Virginia Tech has their deep defender playing the shallow route and the rolled corner playing the deep corner route which is eventually run by OJ Howard.

 

Even though this play came toward the end of the game it was a welcome sight to Bama fans who had been waiting to see some explosiveness from the Alabama offense.

 

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3rd & Miami

My latest article from BamaHammer.com! Go check it out...

http://bamahammer.com/2013/02/07/alabama-football-breaking-down-film-from-the-2012-sec-championship-game/

Thanks...

Thank you for reading everyone...

Most, (if not all) of my writing will be done on BamaHammer.com from now on. I'll be sure to keep everyone updated on my Twitter when new articles are coming.

Here's a hint...

Roll Tide Roll!

Amari Cooper can be as good as he wants to be...

I'll start by breaking down a play from the BCS National Championship against Notre Dame. It's early in the 4th quarter (13:05) and the score is 35-7 in favor of the Crimson Tide. Alabama has lined up in, what seems to be a variation of their favorite formation of the 2nd half of the season, an ace look with trips shown to the left and TE Michael Williams is also on the left side of the formation even though he is ineligible being covered by Kevin Norwood. H back Kelly Johnson then motions to the right side of the formation and settles in behind DJ Fluker.

The play ends up being a counter fake to the right. Lacy takes a jab left and attacks the line of scrimmage back to the right side. AJ gives a nice fake, extending the ball to Lacy before bringing it back in and settling in the pocket. AJ takes a hitch step and launches the ball to Amari.

Amari Cooper is flanked out wide lined up with Notre Dame's best cornerback Bennett Jackson defending him. Although you can't tell in this image, Jackson is giving Cooper about an 8-9 yard cushion which make this route even more incredible.

Amari quickly eats up the cushion that Jackson is giving. Amari keeps his eyes up and focused on the corner. Amari doesn't give away his route by trying to get an inside or outside position too early. In the image above he's still breaking down the cushion. Notice how low he's come out of his stance compared to his original resting stance. Just like a sprinter a good receiver wants to come out low. Driving out of the "blocks" -- or his stance in this case. I'd call this simply his drive off of the line of scrimmage. This drive should look exactly the same every play. I've noticed that Amari does a very good job of making this look consistent each play, run or pass.

Above we see that Amari has made his release and declared his route... or has he? From this image we can see that Amari has taken what's known as an outside release. He's attacking the corners outside shoulder making Jackson think fade or just a simple streak/go route. Jackson now has his eyes on Amari after he has realized that this is pass. Jackson has also opened up his stance already to the outside release.

 Amari is still getting up field in this image and Jackson continues to take the bait and open his stance...

In this image, Jackson has fully declared his position after turning his hips around to get hip to hip with Cooper and follow him up the sideline. It also appears that Cooper has shortened his stride a bit...

And boom goes the dynamite. Amari has perfectly set up his route by "stemming" his route to the outside making the corner think fade while the real route is post and breaking inside.

Another part of Cooper's game that is superb is the use of his hands. Using your hands in the game of football is underrated in general. At the receiver position, especially split end, using your hands well is crucial. Obviously against a press corner you need a few good releases but few people realize the subtle hand movements that can get you open past the line of scrimmage. The most widely used is the "top gun" move that Cooper is in the process of using above. It is essentially a "swim." There are many different ways that this move can be executed but this is a perfect example. Amari clearly has the advantage in this route after making his break on the post but now he's got to get off his break cleanly, meaning that he needs to now separate from the corner to get open. The best way to ensure this separation is using the "top gun." Amari places his right hand on Jackson's back and will "swim" over/under him with his left hand. In this instance, Jackson is actually too out of position to properly use this technique but Amari clearly has an understanding of this technique and is attempting to use it. He's also show example of this move in several other game this past season.

As you can see above, Amari has released cleanly from his break. All he has to do now is accelerate down field, and he will win that battle every time. Kirk Herbstreit pointed out in the television broadcast that Cooper is a true freshmen and commented on how polished he is as a wide receiver. That is an understatement. Cooper is an absolute technician at the position.

On the same drive, Cooper is aligned in a trips formation to the right of the field. He's in the middle of the three receivers, with Kevin Norwood to his left (inside) and Kelly Johnson to his right (outside). Just based on the formation alone Bama has won on this play. Johnson is split wide being covered by a corner while Cooper is in the slot being covered by an outside linebacker.

Above Cooper has recognized zone coverage and has already made his break. The play appears to be some sort of trips vertical concept with Norwood getting across the field, Cooper on a post, and Kelly Johnson taking an outside release on a fade taking the corner with him. Once Cooper identifies zone coverage he just finds the soft spot of the zone which happens to be right behind the outside linebacker covering him and underneath the two deep safeties that Notre Dame is playing. The coverage appears to be a cover 2 man. Once Cooper sees this, he makes a "speed cut" and gets into his route.

A "speed cut" is different from a regular break on a route in that the plant foot on the cut changes. On a typical post route a wide receiver would plant on his outside foot and break in... while on a route that breaks out you would plant on your inside foot. On this speed cut, Cooper throws his left foot into the ground and rolls his weight over that foot and gets into the post. Essentially a  speed cut is just rounding off your route but it should help you get into the route quicker, it just may not get you as much separation... but as in Cooper's case he doesn't need separation.

In the images above, you see Cooper getting into that soft spot in the cover 2 and catching the post for the TD.


Moving to the SEC Championship, Cooper caught a jump ball in the first half that was just beautiful. The catch was one of the most impressive things I've seen in a while for a receiver let alone an 18 year old who was playing high school football last season at the same time. On that play however, just as impressive as his catch was the release off the line of scrimmage. Above I wrote about Coopers consistent and full speed releases off the line of scrimmage and this is another example of it here. Again he's come out hard, full speed, but again he's also making himself small and coming out low. Eyes are up... on the corner... threatening him deep.

A few yards down field, Cooper eats up the cushion given by the Georgia cornerback. The Georgia corner appears to hand check him to slow him down and get hip to hip with him after Cooper has released to his outside. Cooper does an excellent job of dipping his shoulder and minimizing the effect that the corner's contact has on his momentum.

Again this is a cover 2 and this corner has the flats so he lets Cooper go down field and Georgia's All SEC Senior safety Bacarri Rambo picks Cooper up.

Above, you can see who wins the jump ball. These two players are almost exactly the same size except for the fact that Rambo is about four years older and will be playing in the NFL next season. Cooper does an unbelievable job of "high pointing" this ball and hauling it in. If you've never done this before, you have no idea how hard it is...

Later on in the game Cooper catches the game winning touchdown on an inside zone play action pass...

Bama has lined up in a similar formation as the formation seen against Notre Dame above. It is trips to the left, one back, and a TE to the right. Cooper is lined up to the far left.

Here again we see Amari's good release from the line of scrimmage. He's low and his eyes are up.

In this post game interview from the Crimson Tide Recruiting Facebook page, Amari states that the preferred route on this play is an "inside release post" but that "they are told to use the best release." Initially, this route just looks like a fade that was stemmed hard inside but now with the interview we know that the preferred route was an inside release post that Cooper reads and takes "the best release" outside and blows by the corner.

Above, Cooper again uses the "top gun" move with his hands to minimize contact by the corner and get away clean.

There are many more examples of his play throughout this past season that I could go on and on about... and I may later but I will stop for now.

I can't say enough about his game. Amari is special and I don't care if I'm biased. I personally haven't seen a wide receiver prospect this polished at his age. I'm excited to witness the rest of his career...

Now go follow me on Twitter and be on the look out for more pieces like this. https://twitter.com/CodyVincent

Got an idea for a future breakdown? Let me know!

COOOOOOOOOOOOP

Soon I will be posting my analysis of Alabama true freshmen receiver Amari Cooper.

Offensively adding and removing gaps...

This article from Chris Brown (Smart Football) really got me thinking. About my overall offensive philosophy. Especially when he talks about adding and removing gaps.

 

A 'gap' is the space between each linemen or player on the offense that the defense is responsible for.

 

 

Above is a freeze frame of the Stanford/Oregon game from this past Saturday. This shows Stanford lined up in one of their tight formations with an extra offensive linemen in the game. Stanford is lined up unbalanced to the left with an extra tackle next to the left tackle and also a massive tight end next to him. On the right side of the formation is just the right guard, right tackle, and Stanford's starting TE, Zach Ertz.

 

By alignment, Stanford would be crazy to not run the ball to their numbers, to the left side of the formation where they've placed an extra linemen and a tight end... right?

 

Wrong. One of the things that I like the most about the Stanford offense is that they aren't affraid to run weak, very weak. They run against tendencies and away from strength all the time. Which is what we'll see above as Stanford will run a traditional Power play to the right side of this formation. They will 'remove' the backside 'A' gap and they will insert the left guard into the right side of the offensive line creating an extra gap to defend.

 



 

Above the Power play begins to develop. As you can see gaps have already changed. The left tackle does a very good job of quickly closing the large gap created by the left guard pulling to the right.

 

More later...

Alabama's last series of downs...

 

 

It hurts to watch this game again. Especially the last series from the 7 yard line. Here it goes...

1st & Goal

Bama starts in a gun twins left and flanker right, with the TE (Michael Williams) on the right as well. Eddie Lacy the tailback is offset right toward the TE. The flanker Kenny Bell motions to the left of the formation creating the trips left look you see above.

It is pretty obvious that A&M is in man coverage across the board. Their is no safety and when the flanker motions he is followed across the formation.

After breaking this play down and seeing the routes run by the Bama receivers this play is even more painful to comprehend.

AJ McCarron (the Bama QB), clearly sees that this is man coverage as noted above. The read on this play appears to be the TE coming off the line of scrimmage and opening up on the second level of the defense like he had done all day long on previous four vertical routes, (that is until AJ went to him earlier in the game into double coverage). The reason the TE was coming open is because it had been zone coverage earlier in the game. Michael Williams is not going to win any 1on1 match ups with anyone, especially a defensive back. Though it appears that is what AJ is banking on with this play. The trips route concept that Bama employs on the backside of the play with the trips is baffling. Unless this was just a concept to clear the middle of the field I honestly have no idea what they are trying to accomplish. The widest man is Amari Cooper #9, who runs a streak to the corner of the endzone. Motion man, Kenny Bell runs a 5 yard out route, while Christion Jones runs a post corner that breaks very closely to Bell's route and Jones ends up in the same zone as Cooper. This would be a bad route combination against any coverage. I'm certainly hoping that someone ran the wrong route or this was just a "stay out of the middle of the field" play in order to give the TE space to make a play.

On the front side of the play the TE Williams releases pretty cleanly and quickly off the line until his man jams him around the 3 yard line. It is hard to tell exactly what route the TE is running here with the horrible camera angle CBS has given. He appears to take a jab step around the goal line but this could be a double move on his man in order to open up deep into the endzone or he could actually be planting on the goal line and turning this into an out route. Either way, against man, the best option for Williams would be to get two yards deep in the endzone and post up. Eddie Lacy clears out of the backfield and runs an arrow route, keeping it pretty flat to the line of scrimmage which leads me to believe that Williams may have been running an out route.

AJ gets the snap and quickly looks to the flat for Lacy. He appears to take a quick glance at Williams and then back to the middle of the field where nobody is at. My conclusion on 1st & Goal is that someone ran the wrong route. I'm not quite sure but this play was an absolute mess.

2nd & Goal

On 2nd & Goal, Bama lines up in a traditional 'I' formation with H back Kelly Johnson at fullback in front of Eddie Lacy. The tight ends are again Michael Williams with Brian Vogler in at backside TE. Amari Cooper is the flanker who motions across the formation. This play A&M is not playing man coverage because Cooper is not followed across the formation. The corner on the other side of the A&M defense simply widens out with Cooper.

This is just a simple stretch/outside zone play that the Houston Texans of the NFL have made a living off of. Lacy is clearly trying to get outside of this end that #89 Michael Williams is blocking. Once this player "sets the edge" of the defense by crossing Williams face it forces Eddie to cut up in the small seam that has been created which is quickly closed by the flow of the A&M defense.

3rd & Goal

On 3rd & Goal, Alabama comes out in a similar formation as they did on 1st down. They've initially lined up in a trips right look with the tailback offset to the left with the tight end. Kenny Bell #7 again motions, this time toward the tight end and sets up a 2x2 formation seen above.

 

This play begins as a simple pick play to get a slant into the middle of the field. As you can see above, Michael Williams the TE again releases downfield and appears to be trying to get a piece of as many people as he possibly can in order to open up the underneath route to Kenny Bell. Almost the exact same thing is happening on the other side of the field as the inside receiver who I believe is Christion Jones runs a corner route to back pylon of the endzone again trying to bait the A&M defense to follow him while Amari Cooper #9 runs a slant underneath him.

 

A&M initially shows a blitz but only brings 4 guys on the play. They are guarding the goal line essentially. It appears that one man ends up following Williams into the endzone while one man also occupies Christion Jones as well. Leaving 5 defenders who are guarding two slants run by Bell and Cooper while Lacy slips out of the backfield and begins to run an outlet crossing route till he is knocked off of his feet. The problem that I have with this route is it needed a lot more room than 15-16 yards in order for it to work properly. If A&M had blitzed anyone on this play then it may have been more effective but still the TE and split end to the right are trying to "blow the top off the defense" with 15 yards to work with. The safety immediately sees (which I've highlighted in the image above) the threat of Cooper coming across the middle on the slant and you can tell that AJ almost tries to force it in to Cooper because he is open for about a split second.

 

Instead however, McCarron tucks the ball and scrambles around before eventually landing on the 2 yard line after a helmet to helmet hit that wasn't called.

 

 

Above, a different view shows how little AJ's receivers tried to help bail him out on this play. Eddie Lacy has gotten up after being knocked down during his outlet route and retreated to the endzone where he is being covered man to man. At this point in the play McCarron is still about 5 yards behind the line of scrimmage, plenty time to dump the ball into the endzone if an open receiver had been there. My question is where are both playside receivers, Kenny Bell and Michael Williams? Or instead Amari Cooper was running a slant in this direction, surely he should've arrived by now if he had kept running his route.

 

4th & Goal

 

This is the pre-snap look that we get on 4th & Goal from the 2 yard line.

 

 

Above, Bama shows a shotgun tight bunch formation with tailback Eddie Lacy offset right. TE Michael Williams is on the line of scrimmage to the left and Kenny Bell is off the line behind him and has begun to go in motion to create a bunch trips right formation. Christion Jones is on the line of scrimmage on the right side along with Amari Cooper behind him off the line.

 

 

This frame shows the formation just before the snap. Bell is now in motion and the ball is snapped while he is basically already running his eventual route which is a flat arrow route to the pylon of the endzone. A&M is once again in man coverage which is evident by #21 following bell accross the formation.

 



Here is another look pre-snap that we get along with the genius Gary Danielson's illustrations. Again this shows Bell's path in his route with the eventual man that makes the play, Deshazor Everett #29.

 

Just after AJ has released the ball we again see two receivers that appear to be on very similar paths. Amari Cooper again looks to be on a corner route to the back of the endzone but is taking a very shallow angle to get there while Bell is still on his track for his arrow route. Meanwhile Christion Jones #22 has settled in on his quick curl route just inside the endzone. Deshazor Everett for A&M, who is on the red track above, widened with the formation when Bell came across in motion. He seemed to be playing against Amari Cooper in man coverage but the poor design or execution of this play allowed Everett to basically play man coverage against two Alabama receivers. Bell's original defender #21 is way behind in coverage due to the quick motion and snap of the play. What may have been if Amari Cooper would have done anything but almost duplicate Bell's route?

 

Gary Danielson of CBS says that "Cooper tried to pick 'em but he couldn't get to 'em." Really Gary? How would you pick someone from such a compressed formation like this? What would Cooper have done? Run his route out to Everett, 'pick him', and pick him all the way to the sideline where the ball was eventually thrown to Bell?

 

I'm not buying that this was a 'pick' play. If it was then it was an extremely poorly designed play. It looks to be more of a horrible route run by Amari Cooper. All around though in my opinion the play was poorly designed.

 
 
Things I would ask Coach Saban/Coach Nussmeier and random thoughts...

• Why not throw out of the Jesse Williams goal line formation? (seen below) An opponent hasn't yet seen a pass out of this unless I'm mistaken.

• If the 4th down play was a 'pick' as Gary Danielson says it was, then why not do it out of an easier formation to pick out of? A formation where Amari would have been split out wider to get an angle on the defender almost like a down block?
• Overall formation choice seemed odd to me on this possession.
• We have never seemed to shy away from running the ball out of the shotgun or pistol formation before. We run the ball one time in four chances from the 7 yard line but we do it from a tight 'I' formation.
• Keep the defense on their toes... run the ball from a spread look and pass the ball from a tight, compressed formation.
• In the passing game during this series we got zero chances in the endzone for our receivers to make a play. On 1st and 3rd down we were looking to pass and ended up with our QB on the ground both plays, while on 4th we through the ball straight to the defender on a terribly designed play.
• Why not throw a fade? (Amari Cooper as the target) Of course not on 4th down, but throw the ball up in the endzone to our best playmaking receiver and let him come down with it or draw an interference call. At least this creates a chance in the endzone.
• We have a 6'6 270lb TE named Michael Williams, why not post him up 3 yards deep in the endzone and let AJ bury it in his gut?
• Bama's go to pass play on 3rd down the last few years has been a shallow crossing route with two quick guys streaking across the field, why  not spread the field against (most likely) man coverage and see if we can get one of them open?
• This would have been a GREAT 4th down call in that compressed formation.
• Play for the win NOW!
• It seemed like this whole series of plays was rushed. We had two timeouts and we should have used at least one of them before the 4th down play to pick out the play that could get Bama 2 yards.
• How could we not have a better play to get us anywhere from 2-7 yards when we absolutely needed it?