Eagles speedy wide receiver DeSean Jackson scored his second touchdown on Sunday with pass play which I’ve seen run before. Andy Reid had Kevin Kolb throw a touchdown to Jackson in a game at Lincoln Financial Field on the same play against the same coverage about four years ago. I don’t know whose idea it was but it doesn’t matter, it worked.
It’s a play designed to take advantage of Jackson’s tremendous speed. On the play Jackson lines up in the slot position on the right side of the formation and at snap of the ball, he runs all the way across the formation to get in back of or deeper than the safety on the other side of the field.
It’s a route which is run against a two-deep zone. If Jackson gets a free release off the ball from the slot position, it becomes a foot race between Jackson and the safety on his side. There’s a not a safety in the league who can run with Jackson.
It was the fourth quarter against the Buccaneers and Jackson lined up in the slot on the Eagles right side with the score 21-20 in favor of the Birds. Outside of him was Riley Cooper. The Tampa Bay defense was in a two-deep coverage with Dashon Goldson lined at the safety position on Jackson’s side of the field.
On the other side of the formation, the Birds had two tight ends. Brent Celek was on the line of scrimmage and Zach Ertz was lined up off the line of scrimmage in a H-back position. The safety on the tight end side was young, talented and inexperienced former Alabama star, Mark Barron.
The key to the play from a pass route standpoint, is inducing the safety, Barron, on the side of the two tight ends to not get very deep. The Birds went two tight ends rather than tight end and wide receiver, so that Barron would play up closer because he was concerned about the possibility of them running the ball at him. They also gave him a run fake to keep him up as close as possible.
Celek also ran a route at Barron to get his attention, so that the safety wouldn’t drop too deep.
The key to the play from a pass protection standpoint was the offensive line and H-back Ertz. They had to hold their blocks longer than usual to give Jackson time to get across the field. The toughest block to they made was Ertz’s. He had to come across the formation after the ball was snapped and pick up hard-charging linebacker Adrian Clayburn. It was a tough block and that’s not Ertz’s strength at this time in his career.
The play began the way the Birds wanted it to start. Jackson got an uncontested release and was running like the wind downfield on a diagonal to the opposite corner. Foles faked the handoff to McCoy and dropped back to look up Jackson.
Ertz came across the formation to block Clayburn and was pleased to find out that the big, linebacker had taken the run fake, so he wasn’t coming full bore as a pass rusher. Unfortunately for Ertz, Clayburn quickly discovered it was a pass play and threw him out of the way as he prepared to pound Foles.
Once Foles picked up Jackson on his route, he let the ball go to the end zone on the other side of the field. It was just in time, as Clayburn and defensive tackle Gerald McCoy came in to bury the quarterback.
The run fake and the subsequent route by Celek had occupied Barrow’s mind and the last thing he was thinking about was Jackson coming from the other side of the formation behind him. When he saw Foles let the football go on a deep throw in back of him, his worst nightmare came true. Jackson was flying across the field in pursuit of the pass and in a footrace with the much slower Goldson.
It was a done deal. Neither Goldson nor Barron were going to have any chance of making a play on the ball. The only guy who had chance of catching the pass was Jackson and he was able to down shift into cruise control to make the catch.
Touchdown Eagles!! This was a classic case of great play design and outstanding execution.
