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One of the highlights of the game during the Seahawks/Packers last night was the read-option pass play that ended up a 33 yd TD.
Pete Carroll admits they took it right out of Auburn's playbook.
Peter [email protected]. -- 17 minutes into the game. Green Bay led 7-3, and Seattle was driving at the Packer 33. The game was competitive then. It held the promise of the kind of drama we hadn’t seen in the NFL since the Seattle-San Francisco NFC title game last January.
Then offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell of the Seahawks called the kind of play that took some breath out of everyone watching. On a first-and-10 at the Green Bay 33, Wilson lined up in the shotgun, with Marshawn Lynch a sidecar to his left, and what followed is a play I’ve never seen in the pro game. (Maybe it’s been run; I just know I haven’t seen it.) Wilson took the snap, and Lynch immediately extended his arms to take an inside handoff from him, except that the handoff wasn’t forthcoming. Option read, clearly. Wilson took the ball into his gut and sprinted left. We’ve seen this before, Wilson on the edge isolated against a linebacker or safety or corner, trying to beat one man and make a big gain. This time, though, Wilson stopped after two running steps before the line of scrimmage when cornerback Sam Shields came off his man, wide receiver Ricardo Lockette, to play the run. Wilson cocked his arm in a split second and fired the ball to Lockette, 15 yards in the air, and Lockette beat a rookie safety, Ha-Ha Clinton Dix, for the 33-yard touchdown.
“That’s the boss right there,” Bevell said in a hallway outside the Seahawks’ locker room after the game. “That’s a Pete idea.”
Pete Carroll did cop to hatching the play. “We’ll go anywhere to find a play,” the Seattle coach said afterward. “And that one—uh, Muschamp at Florida, no … Auburn. They ran it. Give Gus Malzahn credit. That’s a great play. I kept telling them [the offensive staff and players] this summer, ‘It’ll work, it’ll work.’ But it didn’t work all summer.”
The reasons Carroll and Bevell liked the play when they watched Auburn run it last year against Alabama is simple. The read-option assumes the running back or the quarterback will run the ball—the running back if the quarterback sees a hole when he puts the ball in the back’s gut, or the quarterback if he sees traffic and knows he (the quarterback) needs to tuck it down and run. But what if the quarterback, about to get pummeled, pulled it down and just flipped it to the nearest receiver?
“That was a great read by Russell,” said Lockette. “He sees the corner coming up, and so he knows I’m free. It all happens fast, so he’s got to read the play in a split-second.”
“We practiced it a little,” said Bevell. “But it came from college tape. We just thought it fit another dimension off the zone read and could enhance the play.
Keys to the play working:
Wilson has to sell the fake, that he’s going to run, to the defenders on the edge. He does.
Tight end Luke Willson has to execute a seal block on the Green Bay defensive end to prevent him from blowing up the play. He does.
Lynch has to sprint left after not getting the ball and be prepared to protect his quarterback. He does.
Lockette has to beat the safety once he catches the ball. He does.
Bevell has to have the guts to call the play. He does.
Pete Carroll admits they took it right out of Auburn's playbook.
Peter [email protected]. -- 17 minutes into the game. Green Bay led 7-3, and Seattle was driving at the Packer 33. The game was competitive then. It held the promise of the kind of drama we hadn’t seen in the NFL since the Seattle-San Francisco NFC title game last January.
Then offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell of the Seahawks called the kind of play that took some breath out of everyone watching. On a first-and-10 at the Green Bay 33, Wilson lined up in the shotgun, with Marshawn Lynch a sidecar to his left, and what followed is a play I’ve never seen in the pro game. (Maybe it’s been run; I just know I haven’t seen it.) Wilson took the snap, and Lynch immediately extended his arms to take an inside handoff from him, except that the handoff wasn’t forthcoming. Option read, clearly. Wilson took the ball into his gut and sprinted left. We’ve seen this before, Wilson on the edge isolated against a linebacker or safety or corner, trying to beat one man and make a big gain. This time, though, Wilson stopped after two running steps before the line of scrimmage when cornerback Sam Shields came off his man, wide receiver Ricardo Lockette, to play the run. Wilson cocked his arm in a split second and fired the ball to Lockette, 15 yards in the air, and Lockette beat a rookie safety, Ha-Ha Clinton Dix, for the 33-yard touchdown.
“That’s the boss right there,” Bevell said in a hallway outside the Seahawks’ locker room after the game. “That’s a Pete idea.”
Pete Carroll did cop to hatching the play. “We’ll go anywhere to find a play,” the Seattle coach said afterward. “And that one—uh, Muschamp at Florida, no … Auburn. They ran it. Give Gus Malzahn credit. That’s a great play. I kept telling them [the offensive staff and players] this summer, ‘It’ll work, it’ll work.’ But it didn’t work all summer.”
The reasons Carroll and Bevell liked the play when they watched Auburn run it last year against Alabama is simple. The read-option assumes the running back or the quarterback will run the ball—the running back if the quarterback sees a hole when he puts the ball in the back’s gut, or the quarterback if he sees traffic and knows he (the quarterback) needs to tuck it down and run. But what if the quarterback, about to get pummeled, pulled it down and just flipped it to the nearest receiver?
“That was a great read by Russell,” said Lockette. “He sees the corner coming up, and so he knows I’m free. It all happens fast, so he’s got to read the play in a split-second.”
“We practiced it a little,” said Bevell. “But it came from college tape. We just thought it fit another dimension off the zone read and could enhance the play.
Keys to the play working:
Wilson has to sell the fake, that he’s going to run, to the defenders on the edge. He does.
Tight end Luke Willson has to execute a seal block on the Green Bay defensive end to prevent him from blowing up the play. He does.
Lynch has to sprint left after not getting the ball and be prepared to protect his quarterback. He does.
Lockette has to beat the safety once he catches the ball. He does.
Bevell has to have the guts to call the play. He does.
