Situational football has become critical today. No moreso than in the red zone. Any contending team is capable of moving the ball between the 20’s but punching it in is what separates them.
Today, a look at Week 13 between Baltimore and Pittsburgh. A classic look at a forced throw that cost the Steelers.
Personnel: Quads
Route: Miller Down the Seam
Defense: Cover 3 “Sky”
Result: Ed Reed Interception
Something you’ll see a ton pre-snap is safety movement and rotation. The ultimate goal of any defense pre-snap is to disguise their coverage. Immediately, we see both safeties closer to the LOS but still giving two shell look.
Then the FS walks down to the line with the CB dropping off. When the safety has less depth than the corner, he’s playing the flat with the corner responsible for the deep third, creating the “sky” look.
3×1 formation for the Steelers. Sanders and Wallace on curls. Backside is Brown running a PCP (post, corner, post). And Miller down the seam.
Charlie Batch forces a throw to Miller and Ed Reed picks it off. Nice play by Reed. Worse decision by Batch.
Versus single-high safety, you can’t throw any vertical routes down the seam. There isn’t enough of a window in the red zone where everything is condensed.
You should be targeting inside breaking routes (think dig) that cross the safeties’ face. Good coverage by Baltimore but still a bad decision by Batch to fire it down the seam. One more time to see where Reed is at when Batch releases the ball. Aerial and end zone view.
Obviously, Ed Reed is in Houston and Charlie Batch a free agent. The players involved aren’t the point. The bigger idea is smart decisions must always be made, especially in the red zone. A team only gets a few chances a game if they’re lucky. And scoring or throwing an interception can mean the difference between a win or a loss.
