Breaking down the Tape: Falcons Red zone Offense.

Eagles came to town with their elite Dream Team Pass defense. Last year Eagles gave up 31 Passing Touch downs (Falcons gave up 28 TD). This offseason Eagles went and added two elite corners who can create match up problems. But Falcons were 5/5 in the redzone, four of those Touchdowns came from passing plays. How did the Falcons managed to do it? Jump  right in to 3 of those Red zone formations and routes with pictures.

In the last few days, I am guilty of making fun of MM, for running down the gut every time. How ever, in the last game the little genius in the MM woke up and outcoached the Eagles. Did I just say MM Out coached the Eagles?

Touch Down 1 (Roddy White 1st Qtr 2:51) :

I don’t remember seeing this formation  by falcons before in the red zone. This formation had 4 Recievers(3 WR+TG) on the left and Julio Jones on the right with an empty back field.

Roddy white ran a cross route right past Nnamdi, Coleman (safety) moved with Roddy to cover him. While Nnamdi was in an island lost with no one to cover. Roddy beat the Safety Coleman for a TD. JJ was double covered.

Touch Down 2 (Tony G 0:50 2nd Qtr):

 TD Formation & Route:

Matt Ryan in Shot Gun formation with Roddy White , Harry Douglas and Tony Gonzalez on the right. Julio Jones and Jacquizz Rodgers on the left.  The Eagles had to single cover either Tony Gonzalez or Julio Jones. This was another good formation, which exposed the weakness in Eagles Safety and Line backing units. The best part of the route was Quizz matched up with Nnamdi Asomugha , this makes MM look like genius or the Eagles DC clueless.

TD Play:

Julio Jones was doubled on this play and still managed to be wide open. Nnamdi was stuck in an island with Jacquizz Rodgers, while Safety Page was mugging Tony Gaonzalez before the catch. The referee’s decided not to throw the flag for pass interference but anyways Tony Gonzalez went ahead and grabbed the TD. Roddy White was double teamed and Harry Douglas took away DRC with him.

Touch Down 3 (Tony G 12:11 3rd Qtr):

TD Formation:

This play was a play action pass after running Michael Turner up the middle so many times in the game.  Turner and Ovie in the Back field in an I formation, TG on the left , Roddy and Michael Plamer on the right. Nnamdi  is deep as a safety and Palmer on the far right with Asnate Samuels leaving Roddy White on safety Coleman.  TG lined up on Safety Page. Nnamadi had to pick either TG or Roddy White to help out safeties with Double Coverage. The LB in the box ready to stop Turner for the running play.

TD Play:

TG went right past Eagles Safety Page , Michael Palmer took Asante Samuels with him on the right and Roddy white ran with Coleman to end zone. Nnamdi initially jumped to cover Roddy but ended up in the middle covering none. TG in the redzone in single coverage with a Safety is matchup he will win most of the times. This was a well designed play to catch the Eagles off guard with a play action pass.

The other two formations, which resulted in TD, were also well-designed plays .Matt called those plays in No Huddle to perfection. Andy Reid has always outcoached us in the recent past, Its good to see that MM outcoached the Eagles Defense with 100% success in red zone. I think this is a step in the right Direction for MM. What say you?