Film Study: Purdue Boilermakers

The Washington Huskies returned to the win column and kept the Purdue Boilermakers winless in B1G conference play with a 49-13 victory in Husky Stadium. Despite both Denzel Boston and Jonah Coleman being out with injuries, among others, the offense was able to find its footing with over 500 total yards. The youngsters showed flashes of the future as Jordan Washington and Audric Harris scored on long TDs while Zaydrius Rainey-Sale recorded an INT. Is it possible to take a touchdown from this week’s game and apply it retroactively to last week’s? Asking for a friend.

To the film.

Offense: Thunder Meets Lightning

This past weekend’s offensive explosion was a much needed boost after the demoralizing loss at the previous weekend when the offense couldn’t find its rhythm at all. It was so bad that the primary focus of last week’s Film Study was on how I didn’t think Jedd Fisch knew the right formula to shift the focal point of the offense away from the trio of Demond Williams, Denzel Boston, and Jonah Coleman. My point was that while they may be our best offensive weapons and it’d be smart to leverage them as difference makers, if all we know how to do is spam plays featuring them, then what happens when that’s what the defense is ready for, or worse, they aren’t available.

Last week’s Film Study probably left y’all with a pretty gloomy outlook for the Purdue game since it didn’t look likely that Boston or Coleman we’re going to be 100%, if available at all. To make matters worse, the pre-game availability report also listed center Landen Hatchett and right tackle Drew Azzopardi as out. However, in a somewhat surprising turn of events, this weekend’s game turned into what might be considered the next step in Washington’s youth movement. First and second year players like Jordan Washington, Audric Harris, Paki Finau, and Champ Taulealea each took their next steps toward being regular contributors with unique and dynamic skill sets that should get fans excited for the future.

Let me show you what I mean.

2nd Quarter – 7:15 – 1st & 10

The Purdue game was most fans’ introduction to Jordan Washington. The redshirt freshman has received spot carries this season, but he hadn’t been able to show off his tantalizing speed outside of a handful of garbage time carries. Washington’s speed, his personal best 10.3 second 100m in high school roughly translates to a 4.3 second 40-yard dash, has long been a point of intrigue. However, speed doesn’t always translate to the football field. Outside of his handful of carries, Washington’s mostly been confined to a gadget player role on Jet Sweeps or as a decoy. This 68-yard run was confirmation that Washington knows how to leverage his speed within the structure of the conventional offense, as well as a reminder to fans just how dangerous a true home run threat can be out of the backfield.

All we’re running here is a Mid Zone run out of 12 Personnel and a Slice action tag for Decker DeGraaf (TE, #86). We’ve seen versions of this concept in basically every game since Fisch has arrived on Montlake, and it probably accounts for the majority of our run play calls. Sometimes we run it with one TE, other times we pair the Slice action (TE pulling behind the line from the play side to the backside) with Inside Zone, and last year we ran a ton of Mid Zone without the Slice action. Regardless of the specific play call, this is a staple run play where the biggest difference between an 8-yard run and the longest TD run since Salvon Ahmed was the execution up front paired with Washington’s speed.

As you can see better from the replay angle, there are three key blocks on the play side that spring Washington to the second level. First, John Mills (RT, #72) gets a key kickout block on the play side EDGE. Despite losing his balance at the snap, he recovers well and walls off the outside of Washington’s run lane. Sidenote, I was extremely impressed by Mills’ performance in his first start as an offensive tackle, and I think he has tremendous upside out there moving forward. Second, Geirean Hatchett (RG, #56), someone who I’ve had my concerns about throughout the season, made an excellent seal block on the DT to wall off the inside of Washington’s lane. Getting the seal block on a “head up” lineman (lined up directly in front) isn’t the easiest thing in the world, and it’s even harder to get your hips all the way around to create a full seal on the run lane without getting strung out horizontally. Finally, shout out to Quentin Moore (TE, #88) who got a monster block on the play side CB and drives him all the way into the sideline. By completely eliminating the CB, Washington only had to beat the safety 1v1 to get a 20+ yard gain. Washington put a move on the safety and was off to the races.

For those at home, I want you to takeaway one thing from Washington’s performance on this play. Any speedy athlete can try to rely on their speed to bounce runs outside. A good RB though will trust their vision and make the right cuts. As you can see in the snippet below from right before Washington makes his cut up field, the blocking picture isn’t pretty. Mills is off balance, and the EDGE is disengaged bouncing outside in the hopes of outrunning the EDGE might be possible, but instead Washington trusts his linemen and sees Mills’ and Hatchett’s hips starting to point in opposite directions, indicating a crease is forming. That cut back inside is his part in setting up the whole play.

2nd Quarter – 14:25 – 1st & 10

Next up we have another carry by Washington that features a different way that we can leverage his speed in the run game. On the last play, we had a typically 0-15 yard inside run concept that his speed turned into a 60+ yard gain. On this play, we’re running Counter Read Bash where he’s acting more as a “constraint” option. On this play, Demond will read the backside just like any other Read Option concept, but the handoff/pull read is inversed with the blocking. If the EDGE crashes, like he does on this play, Demond will hand off to the RB to run around the backside EDGE away from the blocking. As the “constraint” option on this play, the RB’s job is to pose a threat to the backside EDGE that keeps them honest, or to punish them with a decent 5+ yard gain so that they play honest moving forward.

We’ve run similar Bash concepts in the past. The clip above is from the Washington State Film Study article when we first broke down the concept. Coleman and Mohammed each have enough wiggle in the open field to punish defenses on a Bash concept, but Washington brings a whole different dynamic to the picture. Both are more “thunder” options in a thunder-lighting RB duo. They can get yardage between the tackles and can excel in short yardage, but neither will give you the home run threat when they get into the open field. Bash concepts are more likely to get RBs into the open field because the rest of the defense is focused on the blocking’s point of attack (where the QB would be running to on Bash). All Washington had to do was shake the safety in the open field and he would’ve had another TD. That’s how much space he had to work with. You can’t get those results on every play, but the threat of his speed will certainly open things up for Demond on those Bash plays.

3rd Quarter – 13:56 – 1st & 10

I promise this is the last Washington carry we’ll breakdown in this week’s Film Study. On this play we have another nice chunk yardage play from Washington, but what I wanted to focus on here was actually the blocking. Like the first play, this is a Mid Zone run concept where Washington is aiming for the B-gap between Mills and the RG. The difference on this play, aside from the formation, is true freshman Champ Taulealea at RG.

Like that earlier play, the key blocks come on the play side. As with all Zone run concepts, the defense’s alignment and movement will dictate how the blocks develop and what crease the RB will go with the ball. Here, the defense leaves Champ uncovered, so it’s his responsibility to release up field to pick off a second level defender. If the ball is to continue through the targeted B-gap, then it’s up to Mills and center Zach Henning to wall off the two sides of the gap. Mills, as usual, takes care of business against the EDGE. Henning, in just his second game of extended snaps, makes a great seal block on the nose tackle to create the crease for Washington. Champ’s block at the second level is the key block that springs him to the third level with a 1v1 against the safety. Champ, at 6-5 and 330lbs, does a great job navigating up to the second level and getting the key block on the LB in space. For a lineman that big, it’s often tougher to make those blocks than against a DE or DT since it’s so hard to even engage the LB in space. That agility in space is a really good indication that he’s got the athleticism, when paired with his size, to excel at this level.

3rd Quarter – 12:08 – 1st & 10

Last play up this week on the offensive side of the ball, we have Audric Harris’ long TD catch from the second half. I wanted to have this play in this week’s Film Study because it addresses one of the ways we found passing production without Denzel Boston. Yes, we did have a lot of screen plays to Roebuck, Vines-Bright, and our RBs, but we were also able to generate explosives without Boston’s downfield contested catch abilities. More so, it proved that we can stretch the field using speed and route running mismatches that are set up by the scheme itself.

What sets this play up for success from the very beginning was the formation. This 2×2 formation with stacked WR alignments on both sides has been a staple deep pass set up formation for Fisch. Last year we got multiple TDs and long gains running vertical concepts out of this formation, including in the Apple Cup and the bowl game. The reason why this formation is so good at setting up deep shots is twofold. One, it often forces the defense into off coverages. Because both WRs in the stack alignment can break inside or outside on their routes, defenses often prefer to play their DBs off the line so that it’s easier for them to hand off coverage responsibility once the WRs make their break. This defensive response to the formation allows our offense to utilize smaller, faster WRs without having to worry about their ability to get off the line against press coverage.

The other benefit to this formation, and it’s related to the aforementioned defensive reaction to the stacked alignments, is that many defenses will check into Cover 4 against the 2×2 with stacked WRs. Cover 4 often keeps the CBs off the line, which is what we just mentioned is something that they want to do against those alignments, and it also allows the defense to maintain a two safeties deep as extra deep coverage support. The problem for the defense though, is that one of Fisch’s favorite vertical concepts is a Cover 4 killer, the Mills concept.

The Mills concept was popularized by Fisch’s coaching idol, Steve Spurrier. The key components of the concept were a skinny Post/vertical route paired with a deep Dig route run from the same side. It can work against multiple coverages, but it’s particularly dangerous against Cover 4 because of how it isolates the Post/vertical route in 1v1 coverage. As you can see on the clip from the replay angle above, Harris (#13) is running the vertical route and Omari Evans (#5) is running the deep Dig. In Cover 4, the DBs are taught to convert their zone coverage into man coverage if the receiver they’re responsible for runs their route vertically past 8 or so yards. As such, the deep Dig draws the safety away from deep coverage help and leaves Harris 1v1 against the CB. Harris puts a nice little move on the CB to get over the top despite the CB playing off coverage, and it’s an easy TD, the first in Harris’ UW career.

Defense: Stepping Up

On the defensive side of the ball, I think most fans are starting to come around on the defense. After some early season frustrations over its lack of year-over-year improvement, the defense has quietly improved week-over-week and is playing at a pretty high level now. Yes, Purdue’s offense isn’t good, but the defense has started to play more dominantly where they should, and it’s corrected issues that have been a focus of fan frustration. Things like improved TFL production, short yardage run stuffing, and underneath coverage are all starting to turn around for the Huskies.

Not so coincidentally, new players have stepped up in key roles to help the defense improve. Role players have elevated their game (Deshawn Lynch), newcomers are earning more time in key playmaking roles (Xe’ree Alexander), and freshman are starting to show off their talent (Zaydrius Rainey-Sale).

Let’s take a look at a few examples of that improvement.

1st Quarter – 2:54 – 1st & 10

First up we have a nice TFL from EDGE Deshawn Lynch. Lynch had a great game against Purdue getting a couple of batted passes and this TFL. After spending most of last season as a rotational EDGE playing mostly against the run, he’s stepped up his game this season as a player who can impact both the run and pass. The reason why I picked this play was in part because if highlighted Lynch’s unique athleticism (especially at 6-5 & 295lbs) and developing ability to disrupt the backfield, but also because this play features a couple of schematic tweaks that have also improved our ability to beat option attacks.

Here on this play, Purdue is running GT Counter Read towards the field side. On GT Counter Read, the QB is reading the backside EDGE, Lynch, with the thinking that the read will allow the QB to neutralize the backside while freeing up the guard and tackle to pull. The tweak that our defense made against these option plays is that we cleaned up our second level gap assignments to allow our EDGEs to attack the backfield. Here, Lynch doesn’t hesitate at the snap and flies into the backfield. In the past, Durfee has gotten caught attacking the backfield only for the QB to run around him for chunk yardage. However, on this play, we have Alex McLaughlin (#12) running a scrape exchange over the top to account for the QB run. McLaughlin playing backside contain ended up not mattering since Lynch was quick enough to make the tackle, but it’s a minor detail that might’ve gotten lost in the result of the play.

One other item to note that I really liked was Durfee’s play at the point of attack against the pulling linemen. Durfee, like Lynch, was playing aggressively to attack the backfield since we had coordinated to have fast flowing LBs behind him. The detail that I liked was that he was still playing under control and blew up the pulling lineman. Instead of getting washed out of the play and leaving a huge gap at the point of attack, Durfee recognized the pulling lineman and took him head on to squeeze the gap. That kind of play from Durfee guaranteed that even if the QB had handed the ball to the RB, there was no yardage to be gained.

1st Quarter – 1:23 – 4th & 1

Short yardage run stuffing has been hit or miss this season, but our defense did a great job against Purdue. Again, it’s well understood that Purdue’s offense isn’t good, but the quality of opponent hasn’t always made a difference in our run stuffing rate. The result of the play isn’t the only reason why I wanted to feature this play. I also wanted to shout out three key players who contributed to this play’s success: Lynch, Anterio Thompson, and Xe’ree Alexander.

On this play, Purdue is running Inside Zone right up the gut to get the 1 yard, and even with us running a twist with Bryce Butler (#92) for some reason, we still had enough backfield penetration to stuff the run. Thompson (#54) had an excellent get off at the snap, and he was able to effectively split the double team that was coming his way. His penetration reset the line and pushed the center back into the RB right at the point of attack. Lynch on the other hand made his impact by anchoring the line of scrimmage on the backside A and B gaps. Lynch shows excellent technique anchoring against the double team by dropping his backside knee, flipping his hips and generating extension from a solid anchor to shutdown the RB’s backside cutback lane.

Finally, Alexander shot his gap against a TE and made the clean up tackle in the middle of the scrum. Alexander’s slowly come on over the course of the season and has made his presence felt in the run game. At 6-2 and 242lbs, Alexander has the size to battle TEs and some linemen at the line as an on ball edge defender while also being agile enough to be adequate in coverage. Much like Alphonzo Tuputala in his senior season, Alexander has the size and versatility to play on-ball LB in our 5-man fronts as well as off-ball in our 4-man fronts, giving us the flexibility to kick Lynch in to DT and run both fronts without substituting our personnel. When paired with the 6-3 and 225lb ZRS, we may have found a deadly combination at LB.

3rd Quarter – 7:18 – 2nd & 9

Finally this week we have ZRS’ first career interception. I’ve been pretty impressed by his athleticism (especially given his size) and his feel for coverage. ZRS isn’t a guy who I’d want covering Wheel routes out of the backfield (he still doesn’t seem to be 100% back from his ACL injury), but he is more than capable of covering the underneath zones and providing support up the seams in zone coverage. Much like running backs in a Zone run scheme, LBs in zone coverage can be highly effective without elite athleticism by having a great feel for space and letting their eyes take them to the play.

On this play we’re running a disguised Cover 3 zone call where ZRS has underneath coverage responsibilities in the Hook/Curl zone but can drop deeper in coverage to help against Seam routes if there’s no threat underneath.

As you can see better on the broadcast angle, with the TE staying in to block, ZRS moves out to better position himself against the slot receiver’s vertical route stem. However, while he’s feeling out the slot receiver’s route, ZRS keeps his eyes in the backfield and instinctively floats back inside once the receiver clears his depth. Knowing that he has over the top help from the safety, ZRS knows he can under cut the route to make a play on the ball as long as he stays between the QB and the receiver. He allows the QB’s eyes to take him to the ball and maintains good positioning in the passing lane without keeping his eyes on the receiver’s route developing behind him. That instinctive feel for reading the QB and playing zone coverage is tough to teach but early indications are that he’s already got a good feel for it. In my opinion, ZRS has the talent and early grasp of the techniques to be the best LB we’ve had in quite some time.

Awgs’ Bonus Play(s) of the Week

This week’s honors go to Omari Evans for stepping up in Denzel Boston’s absence with this beauty of a catch along the sideline.

As well as Demond for making something out of nothing.

Fun fact: I (unfortunately) called that the snap would go over Demond’s head 2 secs before the play started. Coach B can attest to this.

Note from Coach B: Can confirm…