The Eagles defensive secondary was in a two-deep or Tampa two coverage yesterday and the team’s offense ran a three-deep pass route to put pressure on the coverage.
The philosophy versus five guys underneath and two safeties deep coverage is to get three-receivers deep in order to put the safeties in a no-win situation.¬† The thinking is simply that they could cover two-deep receivers but they can’t cover three of them.
One of the linebackers, usually the Mike or middle linebacker  is supposed to run with the tight end if he goes deep.
On the snap of the ball, split end Jeremy Maclin released and started sprinting deep down the left sideline and that occupied, Quintin Mikell,  the deep safety on the left side.
Tight end Brent Celek got a free release at the right tight end position and this is a kiss of death for two-deep coverage.¬† I didn’t see what Sam linebacker Moise Fokou did but he surely didn’t hold Celek up enough on his release.¬† He’s got to hold him up or there’s no way the middle linebacker and safety can do his job.
Joe Mays or rookie Jamar Chaney is supposed to run with the tight end down the middle on that coverage but they were late reading the route because Fokou didn’t get a good jam on Celek.
The tight end advanced deep down the middle with flanker DeSean Jackson being held up a bit by the cornerback outside, but still he was able to get off the jam and start streaking down the sideline.¬†¬† It didn’t take him long to go pass Celek in regard to depth.
Rookie safety Nate Allen was the right side safety, who I could see was headed toward a no-win situation as he saw Celek approaching him inside and Jackson turning on the burners to his outside.
Eagles quarterback Kevin Kolb is watching Allen and the receivers because he’s going to throw the ball the moment Allen commits to one of the receivers.¬† Jackson is closing so fast that rookie could be getting himself in trouble.
This is seven-on-seven so the defensive line isn’t involved but in a real game the defensive pass rush could be a factor on a play like this.
Leftside linebacker Ernie Sims is following Kolb’s eyes, so he’s starting to come from the other side and try to give Allen some help on Celek, but he’s got a long way to go.¬† The middle linebacker is running as hard as he can to try to catch up with Celek but there’s no way he can make it.
Finally Allen has no choice but to commit to Jackson.  Giving up a long pass to Celek is one thing but a long pass to Jackson is a sure touchdown.
Kolb let’s the ball go to Celek at Allen turns toward Jackson, and Sims runs and jumps as high as he can, but he can’t get to it.¬† Celek comes down with ball.
Mikell is there to make the tackle with Sims and the hustling middle linebacker but that’s after a nearly forty-yard gain.
Everybody standing there looking at the play thinks it’s solely Allen’s mistake but it really was Fokou’s fault because he failed to hold up the release of the tight end.
In a real game, the pass rush might have pressured Kolb to come off the throw and dump the ball to the halfback or fullback on a short pass because it’s a slow developing play.
Allen the rookie safety must learn to plays games with the quarterback in those situations by faking like he’s going to take away the tight end, then running toward the wide receiver or vice versa.¬† Sometimes a safety can fool a quarterback and get himself an interception.
He’s got to delay his decision as long as possible in order to give the other pass coverage guys or the pass rush time to rescue him.
I know this play and the defense wasn’t a coincidence because the coaches are purposely putting young Allen in tough situations and seeing how he responds.
They may have even told the linebackers to let the tight end free down the middle, so they can see the reaction of the rookie.¬† You’ve got to be a thinking man at safety and you have to try to stay away from giving up the big play.
He passed the test in the end because he took away the sure touchdown and gave up the long gain.
Great breakdown, G. I enjoy hearing the tiny details that go into making a play a success or an utter failure.
The kid has played FS his entire college career so he should have the basic knowledge of what he’s doing out there. The little tricks will come in time but he did make the smart move by going after Jackson.
Hopefully the coaches will figure out that we have to jam the TE off the line and make that a focus of Foku’s preparation going into the season.
next years record ,2-14