Football 101: Pass or Run Test { With Answers}

[Tony2046]

Okay all you knowledgeable football fans, I'm going to post three short videos of three plays from a Patriots vs Ravens game. The video will include everything up until the snap. All you have to do is decide for each video whether the Pats ran the ball or passed the ball and choose the appropriate poll choice.

(I tried to edit the video so that the opening frame is a full view of both teams personnel lined up. )

I will provide you with the defensive personnel and any need to know details for each play.

I will post the answers along with a full video of each play in a few days.

Have fun.

Defensive Personnel for all three plays.


Note: The Ravens like to run a 3-4 defensive hybrid. They also like to disguise their coverages and fronts making it difficult for the QB to read their defense. That's where recognizing personnel becomes important.


Play 1 : Pats - 11 Personnel. ( 1 RB, 1 TE, 3 WR)
1st and 10 from the Ravens 40.




Play 2: Pats - 13 Personnel. (1 RB, 3 TE (Fleming declared eligible), 1 WR) Nice play.
1st and 10 from the Pats 45.


Rear view


Side View:


Play 3: Pats - 21 Personnel. (2 RB, 1 TE, 2 WR)
1st and 10 from the 50.

 

[bbobbo]

you should have gone ahead and posted all 8 possibilities--my initial guess wasn't one of your choices!

 

[long distance]

Great idea. Great charts. Great edits.
(this is how more threads in offseason should look like)

And due to my short memory - no idea what really happened..

 

[DarrylS]

Interesting well thought out thread, but my answer: Pass, Pass, Run does not work.

 

[BTTA]

At first glance, just based on formation, it would appear to be pass, run, run.
But me thinks that's the trap you want me to fall in to. It is, after all, your first option.
So really it is run, pass, pass.
But that's not one of your options.
Or, perhaps, you think that's what I'll think, so it really is pass, run, run.
You are a clever, sneaky person Tony.
I'll go with pass, pass, pass.

 

[jah]

Trick question. Blount is on for all 3 plays, so run run run.

 

[Tony2046]

Thanks for the comments and suggestions.

Couple of side thoughts. (My novice observations btw)

I found it funny that the Pats had Fleming declare as an eligible receiver numerous times during this game which from a fan perspective seems like BB was trolling Harbaby during the game. In reality I think the Pats used an eligible receiver simply because it's a Raven's defensive weakness.

The Ravens like to disguise their defenses. They do that in various ways. They have talented LB/DE and LB/DB hybrid players which line up in 3-4 or 4-3, they line up late and just prior to the snap at times and/or partially line up with a LB or CB acting as though he is blitzing etc... For example: In play 1 they have only two Defensive linemen (by jersey number), four LB's and five DB's on the field.

They also like to disguise whether they are playing man or zone. In play 3 you'll see Edelman go in motion but no one follows him which may indicate zone but the Ravens sometimes do not "follow" a player in motion rather just switch man coverage responsibilities.

IMO, the Raven's defensive philosophy is to stop the run, force the QB to throw and feast on the turnovers. They ranked top five in run defense, fourth in Takeaways and first in interceptions.

 

[pazrul72]

Excellent thread Tony and well done on the editing. My original thought of run pass run is not in your poll choices as I seem to recall Bennet slipping out of a goal line like formation (3 TE) for a 20 yard pickup then I looked at what you said about personal. Play 1 they are in nickle so they must have run it and play 2 and 3 they are in base so they must have passed. Or as Elijah mentioned Blount is in so it's run run run. Interesting starting idea and I look forward to the discussion about why they did what they did on each play. Football 101 for the win.

 

[bbobbo]

funny, right now the votes are 3, 2, 3, 2 or pretty much evenly distributed. which shows:

1) ravens are good at disguising their defensive play-calling, and/or
2) patriots are good at disguising their offensive play-calling, and/or
3) most pats fans have no business second-guessing the play-calling
.

 

[Tony2046]

Excellent thread Tony and well done on the editing. My original thought of run pass run is not in your poll choices as I seem to recall Bennet slipping out of a goal line like formation (3 TE) for a 20 yard pickup then I looked at what you said about personal. Play 1 they are in nickle so they must have run it and play 2 and 3 they are in base so they must have passed. Or as Elijah mentioned Blount is in so it's run run run. Interesting starting idea and I look forward to the discussion about why they did what they did on each play. Football 101 for the win.

I hope part of that discussion involves QB decision making. As much as the Ravens like to disguise their defense the Pats like to disguise their offense. It's quite the chess match. Brady is looking for the mismatch pre snap but has to verify that mismatch post snap. To do that pre snap he will send players in motion, hand signal his receivers, call out the mike and post snap he'll look off the safety, pump fake a receiver or fake a handoff to the RB to pull in the LB's. Anyways Brady does a lot of little things at the line to keep the defense thinking and I suspect he changes what he does from game to game to keep him from becoming predictable.

In play 2 you can see that the Patriots are already lined up on the ball while the Ravens are still switching defensive personnel. That's another way Brady/McDaniels like to keep the opposing defense on their toes. If the Pats find a defensive package that gives them a huge mismatch advantage you might see Brady run a no huddle series of plays.

 

[sb1]

I'm going to go screen pass left to Blount for #1.

#2 is probably a run given where Blount is 8 yards behind the LOS and nobody else in the backfield. Hogan(?) looks like he's set to drive forward and run block.

#3 is probably a pass since two receivers are in and it looks like it's set up for pass blocking

 

[Tony2046]

Trick question. Blount is on for all 3 plays, so run run run.

Good observation. That's part of the reason I picked those three plays. The other is that they were all similar in field position and down/distance situations.

 

[jah]

Good observation. That's part of the reason I picked those three plays. The other is that they were all similar in field position and down/distance situations.

In all seriousness, 1 could easily be a pass and 3 could go either way. But Blount was a dead giveaway more often than not. Hopefully none of the 2017 RBs are a tell like that.

 

[sb1]

Sort of OT but did anyone ever play the bar game QB1 where you had to do this for every play? The more accurate you were - like saying pass short left instead of just pass - the more points you get? And the more consecutive calls you got right the higher bonus scores you'd accumulate. Great game. My score was ranked #33 across North America one time.

 

[Tony2046]

Sort of OT but did anyone ever play the bar game QB1 where you had to do this for every play? The more accurate you were - like saying pass short left instead of just pass - the more points you get? And the more consecutive calls you got right the higher bonus scores you'd accumulate. Great game. My score was ranked #33 across North America one time.

No I've never played that but my son and I play "Pass or run" at home during the games. Currently I rank 2nd in my house.

 

[slam]

If you look closely in the background in these videos, you can see Ray Lewis killing a guy.

 

[BlueThunder]

My first choice wasn't one of your options ( punt..punt...punt..) so I had to rethink it..

 

[signbabybrady]

At first glance, just based on formation, it would appear to be pass, run, run.
But me thinks that's the trap you want me to fall in to. It is, after all, your first option.
So really it is run, pass, pass.
But that's not one of your options.
Or, perhaps, you think that's what I'll think, so it really is pass, run, run.
You are a clever, sneaky person Tony.
I'll go with pass, pass, pass.

 

[pwes]

I pick Pass Run Pass. When do we get the answer? I'm too lazy to go look this up.

 

[Tony2046]

I pick Pass Run Pass. When do we get the answer? I'm too lazy to go look this up.

I originally thought in a couple of days but I'm open to whenever seems best.