| Situation: | 2-point conversion try from the 7 yard line. 3:04 left in 4th quarter, trailing by 2 |
| Personnel: | 11 |
| Play: | Trey Left Motion, 67 X-Dig F Rub / Sneak |
| Defense: | Cover-1 Man |
This week we look at a pivotal two-point conversion by tight end Lance Kendricks. My initial thought when I first saw the play was that is was an old Bill Walsh drive concept play. Walsh used to use this play by sending Jerry Rice in motion toward the formation and at the snap he would be full speed running a shallow crossing route. Behind Rice, the tight end would be running a dig. If it was man, it was awful tough to cover Rice by chasing him all the way across the formation. If zone, the tight end was suppose to fill in a hole in the defense where they were jumping the crossing Rice.
However, with Jackson there was another shallow crossing route. Two shallow crossing routes run together are known as a mesh concept, made popular by Mike Leach’s Air Raid attack. Determined to come to some conclusion on this play, I reached out to an expert on the field, Bruce Eien.
Bruce confirmed that this was indeed a hybrid play mixing a couple of concepts. He actually pointed me towards another old Walsh play, 24-25 Backs Cross. I'm not exactly certain which variation of concepts the Rams would label this. But what we do know is that the play is a dual tag. Half the field will consist of man beaters (right side with Kendricks and Gibson) and the other half will consist of zone beaters (left side with Givens, Jackson, Pettis). When it comes down to it, this really turns into a two-man game underneath between Lance Kendricks and Steven Jackson. The video touches on both their roles, Sam Bradford’s reads and the role Brandon Gibson plays.
Bruce is a long-time high school coach who has been featured on many different websites. He’s created instructional videos that can be purchased at his website BruceEien.com. And if you are a football junkie like myself, search for him on Youtube.com. A ton of great stuff, including a breakdown of both the drive and mesh concept.
Here are a few more diagrams of the concepts that Schottenheimer pulled together for this play-call.
The Drive Play
The Mesh Play
Bill Walsh's 24-25-Cross
