Dave Canales’ tenure as the Carolina Panthers head coach had a shaky start but he’s starting to press the right buttons and quarterback Bryce Young suddenly looks promising again.
Speaking of first-round quarterbacks, Jayden Daniels’ career got off to a sizzling start but his numbers, like the Commanders offense, are starting to regress.
Packers head coach Matt LaFleur bolstered his case for coach of the year with a creative game plan against the 49ers.
More on all of this in Week 12’s best and worst coaching decisions.
Benching first-round QBs works?
When a franchise benches their former first-round pick quarterback, it usually means the end for that player with their respective teams.
When the Panthers benched Bryce Young, he was trending toward becoming an all-time bust. He didn’t look like he belonged in the league in his first 19 games. He was skittish in the pocket, inaccurate and was easily taken down. Still, benching the first overall pick after a little more than one season seemed premature. The Colts made a similar decision with No. 4 pick Anthony Richardson after just 10 starts.
Both quarterbacks look like different players since getting inserted back into the starting lineup. Richardson had the best game of his career against the Jets last week and played much better than his box score numbers Sunday against the Lions. The Colts had big plays wiped away by dropped passes and penalties. Richardson also had to throw the ball away repeatedly to avoid sacks on quick pressures.
Young had the best game of his career Sunday against the Kansas City Chiefs. The Chiefs’ defense has dropped off since last year but it’s still a very good unit and coordinator Steve Spagnuolo’s scheme is as tough to figure out as any coordinator. Canales called a great game with well-designed plays but most importantly, Young looked prepared for the blitz.
12:43 remaining in the first quarter, third-and-2
On the Panthers’ first drive, Young put running back Chuba Hubbard in a yo-yo motion in which he went outside before returning into the backfield. The purpose was to undress the defense and serve as a changeup. Backs usually don’t come back into the protection after motioning outside. Pressure teams like the Chiefs also have blitz checks when offenses go empty (no blockers in the backfield). No linebackers followed Hubbard outside, so Young knew a linebacker blitz was coming.
Both linebackers blitzed but both defensive ends dropped. Young knew he had numbers in protection and didn’t panic or throw hot. He waited for the dig route to develop.
He threw a perfectly layered ball over the underneath coverage to convert on third down.
Young made several impressive throws and nearly brought the Panthers back from a 20-9 deficit. Down eight with 6:54 remaining in the game, Young led the Panthers on a touchdown drive and Hubbard capped off the drive with the two-point conversion to tie. Unfortunately, they left too much time for Patrick Mahomes, who effortlessly got the Chiefs in position to kick the game-winning field goal.
I don’t know who had the final say on sitting Young and Richardson, so these aren’t purely coaching decisions but the results are the results. Both quarterbacks are playing well. Maybe in the future, we’ll think it’s OK to let young quarterbacks take a breather if they’re struggling.
Like: Zimmer’s game plan; Dislike: Kingsbury’s game plan
The Cowboys pulled off one of the biggest upsets of the season, beating the Commanders 34-26. The Cowboys were outscored by a combined 52 points in the first two games without quarterback Dak Prescott. They were 10.5-point underdogs against the Commanders. They barely had a pulse with Cooper Rush behind center.
Commanders coordinator Kliff Kingsbury’s offense was already showing signs of regression. His offenses as head coach of the Cardinals had a trend of regressing in the second half of the season. Last week, he was on the wrong side of this column for his unwillingness to move star receiver Terry McLaurin around to get him better matchups. He’s back this week for a lackluster game plan against a bad Cowboys defense despite consistently getting excellent field position.
Don’t get fooled by the final score, Washington’s offense struggled mightily. Coming into the game, the Cowboys were giving up 2.55 points per drive (third worst in the league). The Commanders only scored nine points in the first three quarters. They had a nice drive in the fourth quarter followed by a crazy 86-yard touchdown pass to McLaurin with 33 seconds left in the game to make things interesting, but they were not ready for Cowboys defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer’s blitzes in the run game or pass game. Daniels had the worst game of his career against the blitz, averaging minus-0.88 expected points added (EPA) per dropback and only averaging 3.9 yards per attempt against the blitz.
14:20 remaining in the third quarter, first-and-10
The Commanders typically like to run their zone read away from the wing (tight end lined up off the ball) so that if Daniels keeps the ball, he would have blockers releasing outside for him.
Knowing this, Zimmer slanted the defensive line toward the wing side. This occupied the left tackle, which meant no one would block linebacker DeMarvion Overshown. Defensive end Chauncey Golston got upfield which caused Daniels to hand the ball off to Austin Ekeler.
The slant caused Ekeler to cut right into Overshown and Golston.
The Commanders’ offense has reached a point where it’s too predictable. The Cowboys looked like they were a step ahead on every play. Dallas was in cover 3 or cover 1 for most of the game and Daniels threw curl routes and hitches against it repeatedly. They got more creative with their passing combinations in the fourth quarter but it was too little, too late. When asked about the trend of his offenses regressing during the week, Kingsbury was dismissive and said he wouldn’t change his offense. After this week, it might be time for change.
LaFleur showing off
An example of a creative run game that does an excellent job of eliminating tendencies is the Packers’ run game. They gashed the 49ers’ run defense and did it one paper cut at a time. The Packers ran for 169 yards while only averaging four yards per carry. Green Bay was in shotgun on 68 percent of snaps and it’s hard running out of shotgun without using the QB option game, but Matt LaFleur drew up wing-T-esque backfield actions that confused the 49ers’ run fits.
14:53 remaining in the first quarter, second-and-10
On this play, the Packers were running a “simple” split zone play to the left with the tight end blocking the backside defensive end. The first bit of window dressing was to have the tight end motion to the left before going back to the right to execute a “sift” block.
After the snap, quarterback Jordan Love spun around, turned his back to the defense, and faked the ball to receiver Jayden Reed on a sweep. The fake caused linebacker Fred Warner and nickel Deommodore Lenoir to bite outside.
Love then completed his spin and handed the ball off to Josh Jacobs, who had a huge crease down the middle of the defense to run through. With a simple fake, the Packers affected two defenders and froze the rest of the 49ers’ front.
13:57 remaining in the first quarter, second-and-7
On this play, the Packers had their pony personnel (two running backs) on the field. Before the snap, Jacobs motioned like he was going to run to the perimeter.
After the snap, Jacobs cut back toward the right to get the ball. The Packers were running a simple counter scheme with a guard pulling to kick out the edge and a skill player leading the way. Running back Emanuel Wilson would be the lead blocker.
Jacobs’ motion froze Lenoir on the back side of the play.
Lenoir’s false step gave receiver Romeo Doubs time to block him. Again, the Packers perfectly executed their blocks and gave Jacobs a huge lane to run through.
When I wrote about the wing-T offense’s influence on the NFL, I spoke to Dan Casey, who consults for NFL teams.
“Defenses have gotten really good at fitting this, the basic version of run plays,” Casey said. “So you do have to change the math or change the fit somehow. The nice thing about these wing-T concepts is there’s not a paradigm for defenses fitting it. It’s not like they’re seeing it every day in practice.”
The idea is to run regular plays but change how you present them. LaFleur is doing a masterful job of integrating those concepts in the Packers offense. Defenders must think twice before reacting, which doesn’t allow them to play fast. We’ll see these concepts all around the NFL as we get into the playoffs.
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(Top photo of Andy Reid and Dave Canales: Matt Kelley / Getty Images)
