For years Steeler Hall of Fame quarterback Terry Bradshaw has always said the crossing route is the best route in football because it will work against zone and man-to-man. The Eagles are proving that to be true. Chip Kelly and his crew are becoming masters of the crossing route. It will work as long as the offensive line blocks well enough to give the quarterback time enough to throw it.
The Eagles are doing a good job of attacking zone and man-to-man coverages by running crossing routes, which allows them to bring receivers from the one of side of the formation to the other side of the formation to attack weaknesses in the coverage.
Remember they had Brent Celek come across the formation in the Giants game and get deep on the coverage for a touchdown. In the second half of the Tampa Bay game, they had DeSean Jackson come from the right side of the formation on a diagonal route to get in behind the safety on the left side of the formation.
Going forward good teams will do their homework and be waiting for these types of routes, but it’s hard to defend even if you know it’s coming, if the offense executes it properly. The Buccaneers were still wondering what hit them on the screen to LeSean McCoy on the first play of the game, so they weren’t ready for the crossing route.
It was the second play of the game, the Birds had Riley Cooper lined up on the right side of the formation in the slot with DeSean Jackson outside of him. On the left side they had Jason Avant lined up outside although he was well inside the numbers, with Brent Celek on the line of scrimmage at the tight end position. Bryce Brown was in the backfield next to Nick Foles.
At the snap of the ball, they had Brown run a deep wheel route down the sidelines. They had Celek run a crossing route to the right side of the formation. They were clearing out the area.
They had Cooper come from the right side of the formation to the left side on a shallow crossing route right in back of the Buccaneers defensive linemen. He deepened his route as he got to the other side where the linebackers had been run off.
They had Avant run an inside route to both clear out the area and be ready to pick or get in the path of any defender who was covering Cooper man-to-man. As it happened, the Bucs were in a combination zone and man-to-man, but there was nobody chasing Cooper as he crossed. Avant didn’t have to pick anybody who was covering Cooper, but he did get in the way of Tampa Bay middle linebacker Mason Foster, who was the closest player to Cooper when he caught the football.
Cooper was wide open on the play. He caught the football, then he made Tampa Bay rookie cornerback Johnthan Banks pay for making the tackle. Cooper ran right over the defensive back, by putting his head and shoulder into the kid’s chest and nearly caving it in. The youngster was probably looking for his Mommy after the play. This was a good job by Cooper of finishing the play because rookie Banks played a passive game the rest of the day. Cooper took the kid’s heart with this play.
We still didn’t see a lot of things in this offense yet, I’ve been saying since day one, once the players get this system down and it becomes second nature to them, this offense is gonna be unstoppable! I also believe the D is going to get better as they get more comfortable in the system Davis is running, I saw Cox and a few other players step up.
I remember Cooper catching the pass on the left side and then show boating but I had no idea the play started with him on the right side. Usually it is Nate Allen getting trucked over, it is nice to see the birds offensive players laying some wood. Great play Riley and great game.
I believe that Kelly had Ben making some rookie mistakes during the earlier games, but to his credit he has not appeared to make the same mistake twice and is learning and adapting from his earlier experiences. The play calling has gotten better, and hopefully we will see it get even more inventive in the weeks to come.
I believe that Kelly has also been looking at the successful plays that teams run against the Eagles defense, like the pick plays, and has incorporated it into the Birds offensive scheme.
On the other side of the ball, while I am not a fan of Davis as the DC, I do see them play better in the second half of the more recent games. Unlike some of the past few years, we look to be making better halftime adjustments on both sides of the ball.
With a division game this week it will be important to win and establish ourselves as leaders. GO BIRDS!!
*had been……damn autocorrect!
I agree greenfan. Kelly needed to make some adjustments with redzone offense and play calling. When Vick comes back to start he will have the benefit of these adjustments.
The only issue I have with that argument is that Vick’sredzone production has floundered under Reid/Morningwheg as well. It’s not just Chip Kelley’s play calls, more of an execution issue. I think Vick’s height hurts him in the redzone. The difference between him and other vertically challenged quarterbacks like Russel Wilson and Drew Brees is that they have played and became acclimated to understanding passing lanes in tight quarters at least since college, where as Vick has freelanced the majority of his career.
Crossing routes hmmm
6’5″ QB Hmmm
5’11” QB Hmmm