rookBoston
In the Starting Line-Up
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I thought the turning point of the AFC Divisional Game was when McCourty intercepted Osweiler's pass to Hopkins, halting the Texans' drive in the 3rd quarter.
Situation
The Patriots are leading 24-13, but are -2 in turnovers. A field goal by the Pats earlier in the quarter made it a two possession game, but things were not looking all that certain for the home team with Houston driving. Losing the turnover battle was the surest way for the season to slip away.
The McCourty interception was the first turnover for the Pats in the game and marked the point where momentum started to swing back.
Houston's Alignment
Facing 3rd and 4, Houston has "11 personnel" on the field: 1 RB, 1 TE, 3WR.
To the left, they have Will Fuller outside, Keith Mumphery in the slot and TE Ryan Griffin just outside the LT in a two point stance.
On the right they have RB Jonathan Grimes lined up outside with Hopkins in the right slot-- and then put Grimes in motion. More on that in a bit.
Pats' Alignment
The Pats are in a nickel with a 3-3 front and two deep safeties, Harmon and McCourty.
It's Flowers, Branch and Long applying the pass rush as the down linemen. Hightower is on the strong side over the TE. Ninkovich and Van Noy are off the LOS.
In the secondary, to the QB's left, Ryan is manned up against Mumphery, Butler is running with Fuller, and Harmon owns the deep half. On the other side, Rowe is on the line with Hopkins and McCourty has the other deep half.
Once they're lined up, but before the snap, there's an interesting exchange between McCourty and Rowe, where shift their assignments. In this frame, you can see Rowe is initially lined up right across from Hopkins and McCourty is outside and deep against Grimes. But you can see McCourty waving Rowe outside to take the RB instead.
They go from here...
... to here, where Rowe is signalling that McCourty needs to take Hopkins.
The shoes of the Pats defender at the top of these frames belong to Rob Ninkovich, who they both know will be dropping into a shallow zone to take away the crossing route.
If the Texans' had quick-snapped before this adjustment, it would have been man-to-man on this side with Rowe on Hopkins and McCourty responsible for Grimes. But with Hopkins aligned in the slot and the RB outside, McCourty and Rowe (for some reason) decide it's preferable to give Rowe outside leverage and slide McCourty onto Hopkins. Maybe they spotted this formation on film. Gotta think so.
Swapping assignments means that Hopkins will get a clean release, which is not ideal. But with Rowe providing outside containment, McCourty can drift back towards the centerline and patrol the deep half. They still have inside help inside from Ninkovich, so it's three defenders covering two players on that side.
Motion
Houston puts Grimes in motion and stacks him behind Hopkins. You can see here at the bottom of the frame, that Rowe keeps his outside leverage, pre-snap, even with Grimes motioning back inside. Hopkins is still uncovered and sure looks like a tempting option.
McCourty is doing something interesting in this frame. He has drifted nearly all the way back to the hash marks. This is pure disguise to create a Cover-2 look. He knows that Van Noy is going to drop into the deep middle third, and he doesn't need to defend the middle of the field. Ninkovich will drop back and take care of any crossing routes. There's nothing around the hash marks that McCourty needs to worry about. His real responsibility is for Hopkins. They're not in zone... it looks like zone on that side, but they're playing man.
By cheating over to hash marks, seems to me that McCourty's sugaring the trap by showing Cover-2. If I'm Osweiler looking at this pre-snap look, I really like the Hopkins out-route to convert the first down:
The Pass Rush
The Pats send only three rushers, and everyone else drops back.
Long gets stonewalled, and Flowers gets knocked to the ground. Both ineffective.
Alan Branch, however, powers the OC straight back into Osweiler and forces him to throw the ball under duress. Really impressive bull rush, as you can see here. Branch is in complete control of his man. Osweiler's body language is panicky and as he steps into his throw he actually collides with his own man in his follow through. The ball floats. Here's what it looks like as he releases the ball. Tremendous job by Branch.
The Coverage
Supporting the idea that McCourty is baiting Osweiler to throw the out to Hopkins by drifting to the hash marks, as soon as the ball is snapped, McCourty immediately runs back outside to the numbers without hesitation, as Van Noy drops into the middle third to protect against the seam pass. This is Cover-3 posing in Cover-2 clothing.
Ninkovich runs with Hopkins for ten yards, keeping inside leverage the entire way to force the route outside. Osweiler drops back and surveys the field, and this is what he sees...
On his left, Butler and Ryan have tight man coverage. His TE in the seam is bracketed high and low by Hightower and Van Noy.
Rowe is trailing Grimes on a crossing pattern, and in fact Rowe falls down shortly after this frame. If Osweiler throws to Grimes it would likely have been a first down conversion unless some Hightower gets there in time-- he's already breaking on the Grimes route when the ball is thrown. Luckily, Osweiler wanted Hopkins the whole time. McCourty is over the top reading the QBs eyes the whole time and hoping the ball goes to Hopkins.
With Grimes dragging Rowe inside, Ninkovich keeping inside leverage on Hopkins, and McCourty playing deep, there is apparently no one in position to stop Hopkins on an out-route.
But by the time Hopkins makes his turn turn to the outside, Alan Branch is nearly in Osweiler's lap, Osweiler has to release the ball and McCourty already knows it's coming. Here, the ball isn't out yet, but McCourty is already closing on the route...
... and then makes the interception.
Keys to the play
Ninkovich, Van Noy, Butler, Ryan and Harmon all do their jobs well in the scheme. Rowe falls down but no harm done. Flowers gets double teamed and destroyed on his side. Long gets stonewalled one-on-one with the LT. About 8 of 11 defensive players looked good.
In the final assessment, this was just the perfect defensive call plus superb individual plays by McCourty and Branch, forcing Osweiler into a bad decision and forcing him to throw off his back foot. Recognition by McCourty is excellent to take advantage of the opportunity. Really, a lot of the credit for this interception has to go to pretty mediocre QB play.
Situation
The Patriots are leading 24-13, but are -2 in turnovers. A field goal by the Pats earlier in the quarter made it a two possession game, but things were not looking all that certain for the home team with Houston driving. Losing the turnover battle was the surest way for the season to slip away.
The McCourty interception was the first turnover for the Pats in the game and marked the point where momentum started to swing back.
Houston's Alignment
Facing 3rd and 4, Houston has "11 personnel" on the field: 1 RB, 1 TE, 3WR.
To the left, they have Will Fuller outside, Keith Mumphery in the slot and TE Ryan Griffin just outside the LT in a two point stance.
On the right they have RB Jonathan Grimes lined up outside with Hopkins in the right slot-- and then put Grimes in motion. More on that in a bit.
Pats' Alignment
The Pats are in a nickel with a 3-3 front and two deep safeties, Harmon and McCourty.
It's Flowers, Branch and Long applying the pass rush as the down linemen. Hightower is on the strong side over the TE. Ninkovich and Van Noy are off the LOS.
In the secondary, to the QB's left, Ryan is manned up against Mumphery, Butler is running with Fuller, and Harmon owns the deep half. On the other side, Rowe is on the line with Hopkins and McCourty has the other deep half.
Once they're lined up, but before the snap, there's an interesting exchange between McCourty and Rowe, where shift their assignments. In this frame, you can see Rowe is initially lined up right across from Hopkins and McCourty is outside and deep against Grimes. But you can see McCourty waving Rowe outside to take the RB instead.
They go from here...
... to here, where Rowe is signalling that McCourty needs to take Hopkins.
The shoes of the Pats defender at the top of these frames belong to Rob Ninkovich, who they both know will be dropping into a shallow zone to take away the crossing route.
If the Texans' had quick-snapped before this adjustment, it would have been man-to-man on this side with Rowe on Hopkins and McCourty responsible for Grimes. But with Hopkins aligned in the slot and the RB outside, McCourty and Rowe (for some reason) decide it's preferable to give Rowe outside leverage and slide McCourty onto Hopkins. Maybe they spotted this formation on film. Gotta think so.
Swapping assignments means that Hopkins will get a clean release, which is not ideal. But with Rowe providing outside containment, McCourty can drift back towards the centerline and patrol the deep half. They still have inside help inside from Ninkovich, so it's three defenders covering two players on that side.
Motion
Houston puts Grimes in motion and stacks him behind Hopkins. You can see here at the bottom of the frame, that Rowe keeps his outside leverage, pre-snap, even with Grimes motioning back inside. Hopkins is still uncovered and sure looks like a tempting option.
McCourty is doing something interesting in this frame. He has drifted nearly all the way back to the hash marks. This is pure disguise to create a Cover-2 look. He knows that Van Noy is going to drop into the deep middle third, and he doesn't need to defend the middle of the field. Ninkovich will drop back and take care of any crossing routes. There's nothing around the hash marks that McCourty needs to worry about. His real responsibility is for Hopkins. They're not in zone... it looks like zone on that side, but they're playing man.
By cheating over to hash marks, seems to me that McCourty's sugaring the trap by showing Cover-2. If I'm Osweiler looking at this pre-snap look, I really like the Hopkins out-route to convert the first down:
- Hopkins will get a free release.
- Grimes will keep Rowe entertained with his shallow crossing route at the sticks
- McCourty seems to be worried about defending the middle of the field-- which he would be if (for example) Hightower and/or Van Noy were coming on a delayed blitz. Hint: they're not.
The Pass Rush
The Pats send only three rushers, and everyone else drops back.
Long gets stonewalled, and Flowers gets knocked to the ground. Both ineffective.
Alan Branch, however, powers the OC straight back into Osweiler and forces him to throw the ball under duress. Really impressive bull rush, as you can see here. Branch is in complete control of his man. Osweiler's body language is panicky and as he steps into his throw he actually collides with his own man in his follow through. The ball floats. Here's what it looks like as he releases the ball. Tremendous job by Branch.
The Coverage
Supporting the idea that McCourty is baiting Osweiler to throw the out to Hopkins by drifting to the hash marks, as soon as the ball is snapped, McCourty immediately runs back outside to the numbers without hesitation, as Van Noy drops into the middle third to protect against the seam pass. This is Cover-3 posing in Cover-2 clothing.
Ninkovich runs with Hopkins for ten yards, keeping inside leverage the entire way to force the route outside. Osweiler drops back and surveys the field, and this is what he sees...
On his left, Butler and Ryan have tight man coverage. His TE in the seam is bracketed high and low by Hightower and Van Noy.
Rowe is trailing Grimes on a crossing pattern, and in fact Rowe falls down shortly after this frame. If Osweiler throws to Grimes it would likely have been a first down conversion unless some Hightower gets there in time-- he's already breaking on the Grimes route when the ball is thrown. Luckily, Osweiler wanted Hopkins the whole time. McCourty is over the top reading the QBs eyes the whole time and hoping the ball goes to Hopkins.
With Grimes dragging Rowe inside, Ninkovich keeping inside leverage on Hopkins, and McCourty playing deep, there is apparently no one in position to stop Hopkins on an out-route.
But by the time Hopkins makes his turn turn to the outside, Alan Branch is nearly in Osweiler's lap, Osweiler has to release the ball and McCourty already knows it's coming. Here, the ball isn't out yet, but McCourty is already closing on the route...
... and then makes the interception.
Keys to the play
- Hopkins looks like a good option pre-snap, with a free release
- McCourty disguises the coverage well, making the out-route more appealing
- Cover-3 is close to an ideal defensive call against this play
- Branch brings a powerful solo bull rush to force the ball out
- Osweiler can't stride into the pass because Branch has pushed the OC into him-- the ball floats
- Osweiler glances as Griffin, but basically stares Hopkins down
- McCourty knows it's coming, gets a great break on the ball, and sees it in the air the whole time
Ninkovich, Van Noy, Butler, Ryan and Harmon all do their jobs well in the scheme. Rowe falls down but no harm done. Flowers gets double teamed and destroyed on his side. Long gets stonewalled one-on-one with the LT. About 8 of 11 defensive players looked good.
In the final assessment, this was just the perfect defensive call plus superb individual plays by McCourty and Branch, forcing Osweiler into a bad decision and forcing him to throw off his back foot. Recognition by McCourty is excellent to take advantage of the opportunity. Really, a lot of the credit for this interception has to go to pretty mediocre QB play.
