The Philadelphia Eagles 2017 Third Down Manual

CLICK HERE to get your copy of the Philadelphia Eagles 2017 Third Down Manual

Matt Bowen (ESPN NFL Analyst): “Peters’ natural ability to break down and explain the game of football allows readers to step inside the Eagles offense. From the play diagrams to the modern terminology, this book should be viewed as a teaching tool as Peters pulls back the curtain on the offensive system that led the Eagles to a Super Bowl Championship.”

The Philadelphia Eagles 2017 Third Down Manual will give readers a thorough analysis of the different concepts the Eagles used in critical situations during their Superbowl run. The Eagles found success on third downs with a variety of schemes, incorporating endless variations of their core concepts. Within each concept, the Eagles ran different versions from week to week to prevent the defense from picking up on tendencies. The best example of this is the H Post concept. The Eagles ran seven different versions in the eight occasions they called the concept. The video below shows three of these variations.

Doug Pederson and his coaching staff created space for his plethora of skill position players to work. Finding unique ways to get Alshon Jeffery, Zach Ertz, and Trey Burton open are found throughout the book. Specifically, the All Curl concept allowed the Eagles to find 1 on 1 matchups with evenly spaced routes near the first down marker.

The Eagles had a unique blend of old school “West Coast” play designs that incorporated modern trends found in all levels of the game. This gave the Eagles the best of both worlds and placed them on the cutting edge of offensive football. Specifically, the use of the Slot Fade concept gave the Eagles one of their most efficient third down calls in 2017.

The coaching staff’s creativity has been well documented. We can all remember the gutsy play calling in the Superbowl. These were not one-off decisions for Pederson. Many examples of gutsy play calls can be found in the regular season as well. This next video clip is a great example. The Eagles faced a critical third and one against Dallas in week 11. Down by a score in the third quarter, Pederson was not saving anything in his arsenal. The unbalanced formation surely tipped a run tendency to the defense. This allows the tight end to leak out to the other side of the field.

The Eagles excelled in the red zone in 2017. This was a result of their meticulous game planning and pin point execution. The “Bison” Concept allowed the Eagles to convert two for two in the red zone on this particular play call.

This book will take you through each concept the Eagles used, explaining why it worked and did not work. This book is meant to serve as a resource for high school coaches, college coaches, and anybody who wants to understand what propelled the Eagles to a Superbowl title in 2017.

CLICK HERE to get your copy of the Philadelphia Eagles 2017 Third Down Manual

What to Expect in the Los Angeles Rams 2017 Third Down Manual

Click Here to get your copy of the Los Angeles Rams 2017 Third Down Manual for only $14.99

As the top scoring offense in the NFL this past season, the LA Rams are an interesting team to study. The design of the offense has a lot of carry over to the lower levels of football. Coaches have many things they can take away from this past season.

Easy Answers for the Quarterback

With well thought out play designs, the Rams were able to get their primary receiver open often. This gives the quarterback less to think about and asks the offensive line to protect for a shorter amount of time. Rookie wide receiver Cooper Kupp emerged as the Rams primary target on third downs. Sean McVay had many concepts that featured Kupp as the primary target. One of the most commonly used ones was a deep out from a trips set. This concept is often referred to as “Train” in west coast playbooks. The diagram below shows one of the versions the Rams used in 2017.

This concept is meant to look like four verticals. The goal is to clear out room for the #3 receiver on the 10 yard out cut. Many modern pattern-match defenses will instruct the outside defenders to turn and run with the vertical routes. This gives the quarterback a lot of room to work with on the out cut.

Use of formations

The Rams used tight split bunch formations often. These formations neutralize the press-man techniques that many successful NFL defenses use. When offenses line up in a bunch set, defenses will typically have a go-to check against the formation. Sean McVay has a few concepts that will attack the leverage of these calls to get receivers open by design. In conjunction with the previous section, these plays also tend to get the first read in the progression open.

Eliminating Pressure Possibilities

Using simple progression reads, McVay gave his second-year quarterback an easy way to find open receivers. The stick-spacing concept allows the quarterback to get rid of the ball quickly, while still having the ability to go through an entire progression. The Rams were 5/5 when calling this concept on third down. The video shows how Goff can get to his third read quickly, before the pass rush has a chance to get to him.

Another way the Rams eliminated pressure possibilities was with the use of the crack toss. Defenses see third and 4 as a great chance to bring pressure and force a young quarterback into a bad decision. Sean McVay stayed one step ahead of teams with the use of the crack toss. The toss play gets the ball on the edge quickly and will still give the offense a good chance at converting the first down without over-exposing their quarterback. This call had great forward-thinking qualities that gave the Rams a better chance of converting these third down situations.

When the toss call would not convert, a common theme was present. On each case, the first down block outside of the tackle failed. This is often a tough block for wide receivers. This block should be carefully planned out by coaches. Using the team’s best blocker in this spot will give the offense a better chance of converting.

As a high school football coach, this manual will not only give you play designs, but an insight into successful offensive philosophies. There are many key points that I will be taking with me into the 2018 season.

Click Here to get your copy of the Los Angeles Rams 2017 Third Down Manual for only $14.99

2018 Offseason Work

Below are hyperlinks to my off-season projects and articles:

Philadelphia Eagles Third Down Manual

Los Angeles Rams Third Down Manual 

Podcasts

The Purple Podcast with Matthew Coller discussing NFL offensive X&O's

The Purple Podcast: The LA Rams Offensive Breakdown

Da Bears Brothers Podcast: Matt Nagy Scheme Breakdown through the first four weeks

Sean Payton and the New Orleans Saints

How to incorporate short option routes into your passing game:

Sprint Smash Concept

Kyle Shanahan 

 

Kyle Shanahan's Trips Slant Concept 

Kyle Shanahan's 21 Personnel Running Game 

Kyle Shanahan's Deep Cross Concept

"All Curl" Concept

Andy Reid & Matt Nagy 

 

Andy Reid's Shallow Cross Concept

Matt Nagy's Unique Concepts 

Chief's Trips Levels Concept

Doug Pederson and the Philadelphia Eagles 

 

 Eagle's Slot Fade Concept

Trey Burton's Skill Set in the Modern NFL Offense

ESPN 1500 Interview on John DeFilippo's Offense

Eagles Man vs Man Concepts

Sean McVay

Passing Concepts in the Trips - Stack Formation

McVay's Option-Return Concept

 

Miscellaneous Articles 

 

Dallas Cowboys' Passing concepts in the Trips - Stack Formation 

Jim Harbaugh's Play Action Concepts

Waggle/Bootleg Variations: The Delay Route

Bruce Arians X&O Impact

Play Action off of the Duo run concept

Scissors Concept

Attacking Cover 3 with Empty: A "Hoss Y Juke" Variation

Here are two of my favorite ways to attack cover three out of empty. These two are great because they attack quickly, and are simple progression reads for the quarterback.

1. "Hoss Y Juke"

I wrote about this play a few years ago. CLICK HERE to read the article.

Zach Dunn had an extensive write up on it more recently. CLICK HERE to check it out.


2. Hitches with a split-seam (please excuse the crude drawing)

This play attacks the same landmarks and "Hoss Y Juke", but has potential for creating a bigger play. The two receiver side will run hitches, and the #3 on the opposite side will run a "split seam" to get to the seam on the opposite side of the field. This creates a nice triangle for the quarterback. If the underneath defenders take the bait (hitch routes), this will open up the split-seam route.

Unless the hook defender commits to the inside hitch route, the hitches will be open every time. If the weak side hook defender commits to the inside hitch, the split-seam will be open. It's a 3 on 2 in the offense's favor.

Here are a few videos of the Saints running it. In the second video, Brees tries to get the ball to the split-seam route, but gets hit as he is throwing it.

Attacking Cover 4: North Carolina vs Narduzi's Pitt Panthers

When I watch film, my mind tends to look for two things:

• How teams execute their base plays. I like to see if they have any specific technique that helps make the play work better. I also look for how teams mix their base schemes together to create hesitation for the defense (e.g. power/counter)
• Unique play designs. This can be either an entirely new play that I have never seen before, or a small wrinkle/double move to create leverage for an explosive play. 

I saw one of each when watching Pitt vs North Carolina. 

Play # 1

North Carolina uses the "Middle Read" concept quite often in their game plan each week. The play is shown below:

Pitt uses a lot of cover 4, which will typically match the safety in man coverage against the slot receiver after 7-8 yards. Pitt played their safeties with inside leverage on the slot receivers, which gives the defense leverage against this play.

North Carolina had a play prepared to attack this. They ran the smash concept for a touchdown.

Smash is a nice compliment to their base play. It was called at the most opportune time as well, in the red zone.

Play # 2

North Carolina used a nice wrinkle on the traditional concept of four verticals out of trips, in order to take advantage of the solo coverage. Solo is designed to stop most versions of four verticals, with the backside safety keying the number three receiver.




The vertical from #3 is meant to occupy the backside safety, and the play action keeps the linebackers from gaining depth. This leaves nobody to cover the #2 receiver running across the field.


Big plays change the dynamic of games. Finding ways to create them often doesn't come easy, so we must take note when we see good examples.

This book has many other plays that attack different cover 4 schemes. Click here to check it out

A New Hope: Mitchell Trubisky

When evaluating prospects taken at the top of the draft, it is important to look at the film in order to disseminate fact from conjecture. Mitch Trubisky is no different. Some fans, and even some analysts, have strong opinions without ever turning on the tape.

In my world, the two most important qualities a quarterback can possess are sound decision making and accuracy. While accuracy can be judged after watching a few different game tapes, decision making is harder to evaluate.

When it comes to accuracy, it is easy to place Trubisky at the top of the prospect list. His quick release and precise footwork gets his body in position to deliver the ball where it needs to be, both accurately and on time. Accuracy often slips when a quarterback has to get rid of the ball quickly, or faces pressure in his face. The next two videos show Trubisky facing these scenarios, without sacrificing accuracy.






Decision making is a harder trait to analyze. Without being privy to a North Carolina playbook, assumptions have to be made about read progressions based on common concepts used. When projecting his decision making to the next level, we need take a look at the core concepts he ran each week that are often used in the NFL.

Playing in an air raid based offense at North Carolina, Trubisky ran "95" or "Y Cross" multiple times each game. The play is shown below.

This play has a lot of carry over into NFL playbooks. The Arizona Cardinals, for instance, have feasted on hitting Larry Fitzgerald on the deep cross for years. The concept can be found in west coast offenses as well, like the Green Bay Packers. Here is a clip of the Eagles using it in 2016





Trubisky consistently reads this play well. He moves quickly through his progression, often hitting the deep cross on time.




The other full field read Trubisky routinely used at North Carolina is the "Middle Read" or "Doubles" concept. This play can be found in pretty much every NFL playbook. The play is drawn below.

Against a single high safety (cover 1 or cover 3), the quarterback usually has 1 on 1 match ups to the outside. The routes to the outside receivers can be called in the huddle, hand signaled before the ball is snapped, or it can be designed as a post snap option route.

Against two high safeties, the quarterback will most likely look to his slot receiver as his primary, and his backs as checkdowns. The middle linebacker will be placed in a high low read.

When North Carolina called this play, they would often simplify the read for Trubisky and keep the backs in for max protection. If his primary receiver wasn't open, he would look to scramble. In the NFL, these backs will have protection responsibilities against a blitz, but will check release into their routes if they do not have a blitz threat. Below are a few videos of North Carolina running the "Middle Read" concept. North Carolina had a lot of success throughout 2016 getting big plays on fade routes to their outside receivers on this concept.

Watch how Trubisky controls the safety with his eyes in the first video. This is something that most quarterbacks don't do on a regular basis. When running the middle read concept, Trubisky consistently controls and manipulates the safeties, a trait that translates very well to NFL success.








With Trubisky, I have two main concerns:

• With the exception of Y Cross and Middle Read, he hasn't had many full field reads. Many of the other throws he made were of the quick screen/RPO variety. This inexperience can be abated with practice reps and plenty of pre-season action.
• Will he have the coaching staff and supporting cast to help him grow? He must be taught how to navigate more complicated passing structures.

Overall, I am on board with the Bears going after Trubisky. He displays the traits that are essential for success at the position on a regular basis. 

Stay tuned for two follow up articles that should be finished in the next few weeks:

1. How North Carolina game planned two big plays in the passing game against Pitt's Cover 4 scheme.

2. How a Trubisky interception was his coach's fault, and not his.

Check out my new books on Amazon:

Click Here to learn about Quarterback Development: How Four NFL Teams Coached Their Quarterbacks to have Successful 2016 Seasons

Click Here to learn about The Melting Pot: How to Acclimate Old NFL Concepts into your High School or CollegeOffense


Here are a few more clips of Trubisky that show other important traits. The ability to throw with pressure in his face is constant throughout his game tape. He also has plenty of mobility to occasionally run a power read or RPO/QB run read.