Were We Running Into a Stacked Box?

[st pete gogolak]

I’m not an All-22 guy and I’m genuinely curious to hear from posters who are whether we were running into a stacked box yesterday.  For one example, what defense was Miami in on the first drive 3rd and one?  
 

It seemed Miami’s mindset coming in was to stop the run and challenge Josh Allen to beat them with his arm, which is kind of insane when you put in down on paper.  I believe that going into the game, we were the only NFL team with more rushing attempts than passing attempts, which is also kind of crazy considering who’s playing QB for us.

 

it also drives me nuts that we don’t have variations on certain formations. The announcers said it during the game. Gilliam’s in, it’s a run, Kincaid is in, it’s a pass.  Why not play action when Gilliam is in?  Same thing last year. No variation on the tush push. Always over the left guard. Cost us against KC.  
 

At this point, I’m hoping for some sort of change-up. Move Coleman to big slot and move Shakir outside. Stop throwing bubble screens.  Something.

 

Sorry this turned into a rant. Anyway, were we running into a heavy box against the Dolphins? If not, why was the running game so bad?

[GolfandBills]

Yes

[MPL]

Yes. Dolphins sold out to stop the run. Dared WRs to win one-on-one matchups. WRs could not win one-on-one matchups. Josh didn't pull trigger on some short quick throws trying to look for bigger plays. Also, not many bigger plays open. 

[Goin Breakdown]

I already know the first few plays of the Tampa game. 
1- Cook up the guy for 3 yards

2- screen to Shakir 

3- back shoulder to Coleman

PUNT

[Virgil]

100%. The Dolphins rarely had a single high safety more than 15 yards off the line of scrimmage.  They were also pressing Coleman and daring us to beat them deep.  

[Goin Breakdown]

2 minutes ago, MPL said:

Yes. Dolphins sold out to stop the run. Dared WRs to win one-on-one matchups. WRs could not win one-on-one matchups. Josh didn't pull trigger on some short quick throws trying to look for bigger plays. Also, not many bigger plays open. 

This is what makes me sick. They dared our WR to beat there crew of practice squad DBs and no one was open. 

[Miyagi-Do Karate]

Yeah, but that is a little misleading. When we run 12 and 13 personnel, the box is always going to be naturally stacked. 

I think there were three problems with our run game:

 

1) too much inside stuff. Where were all the outside pitches?  We only ran that a few times, and it worked well when we did (and drew a penalty once). 
 

2) the Miami LBs just did a nice job. I don’t know if it was run blitzing or just shooting the gaps, but they really did a good job at getting stops. 
 

3) didn’t really commit to the run game and got off schedule too much. 

[JohnNord]

19 minutes ago, st pete gogolak said:

I’m not an All-22 guy and I’m genuinely curious to hear from posters who are whether we were running into a stacked box yesterday.  For one example, what defense was Miami in on the first drive 3rd and one?  
 

It seemed Miami’s mindset coming in was to stop the run and challenge Josh Allen to beat them with his arm, which is kind of insane when you put in down on paper.  I believe that going into the game, we were the only NFL team with more rushing attempts than passing attempts, which is also kind of crazy considering who’s playing QB for us.

 

it also drives me nuts that we don’t have variations on certain formations. The announcers said it during the game. Gilliam’s in, it’s a run, Kincaid is in, it’s a pass.  Why not play action when Gilliam is in?  Same thing last year. No variation on the tush push. Always over the left guard. Cost us against KC.  
 

At this point, I’m hoping for some sort of change-up. Move Coleman to big slot and move Shakir outside. Stop throwing bubble screens.  Something.

 

Sorry this turned into a rant. Anyway, were we running into a heavy box against the Dolphins? If not, why was the running game so bad?

There’s a good reason for this.  Teams cover the outside receivers M2M.  The middle my the field gets constricted when teams stack the box.  Part of the decisions are dictated by offensive personnel aka the WR’s on this team are really holding this team back and Brady isn’t creative enough to overcome 

[Charles Romes]

Just now, Goin Breakdown said:

I already know the first few plays of the Tampa game. 
1- Cook up the guy for 3 yards

2- screen to Shakir 

3- back shoulder to Coleman

PUNT

Honestly, I’m shocked we haven’t seen a defender sit on the little screen to Shakir and take it to the house - yet. 

[Billz4ever]

 

4 minutes ago, Charles Romes said:

Honestly, I’m shocked we haven’t seen a defender sit on the little screen to Shakir and take it to the house - yet. 

 

I'm waiting for it. It's coming.

[Roundybout]

Yes. They had five defensive linesmen quite often. They know we can’t beat CBs one on one, so theres no need for an extra defensive back. 

[Billz4ever]

Shakir leads all our WRs with 58 targets.

 

Coleman is #2 with 49, which pisses me off.

 

No other WR has more than 20, which pisses me off even more and demonstrates how bottom of the barrel this WR room is.

[BananaB]

11 minutes ago, Charles Romes said:

Honestly, I’m shocked we haven’t seen a defender sit on the little screen to Shakir and take it to the house - yet. 

It’s gonna happen at the worst moment 

[PayDaBill$]

Cooks seeing a lot of usage and while he’s managed to avoid most hard knocks, the seasons action is cumulative.  He’s a bit dinged now and I think it showed a bit  yesterday. Also Kincaid is down with a hamstring which is generally a nagging injury.  What’s left? Defense is thin, offense didn’t have much to start with, we’re in a rough spot.

 

 

Edited 1 hour ago by PayDaBill$

[26TrapDraw]

26 minutes ago, MPL said:

Yes. Dolphins sold out to stop the run. Dared WRs to win one-on-one matchups. WRs could not win one-on-one matchups. Josh didn't pull trigger on some short quick throws trying to look for bigger plays. Also, not many bigger plays open. 

that's why it's over. every DC in the league will leave their cb's one on one because our wr's can't beat coverage and they will stack the box. 

[MikePJ76]

From watching it so far in the first half, on plays when buffalo was in 13 or 22 personnel Miami has 7 or guys right there.  

 

New Orleans and New England put five lineman right on the line of scrimmage but miami has their linebackers right there.  

[dcinmuncie]

28 minutes ago, Goin Breakdown said:

I already know the first few plays of the Tampa game. 
1- Cook up the guy for 3 yards

2- screen to Shakir 

3- back shoulder to Coleman

PUNT

Um

 

almost correct

 

3) dumb jet sweep that either gets fumbled or loses 6 yards 

then punt 

[Ridgewaycynic2013]

30 minutes ago, Charles Romes said:

Honestly, I’m shocked we haven’t seen a defender sit on the little screen to Shakir and take it to the house - yet. 

 

25 minutes ago, Billz4ever said:

 

 

I'm waiting for it. It's coming.

Brady: "OK, they'll never expect us to try it again!"

*
And it's now 13-0!

Edited 1 hour ago by Ridgewaycynic2013

[Blackbeard]

Stacked box is absolutely the way they won.

 

At this point, we're past the trade deadline.  I'm not sure of any decent FAs that would help either at this point.

 

My thought is get Gabe healthy, and with him and Palmer, try to establish a deep threat.  This is a must.  

 

Lack of ability to stretch the field is the obvious issue imo.

 

I don't think we make the playoffs otherwise.  Even the Dolphins understand how to beat us.

[dorquemada]

Every team is going to put 9 on the  line against us.  It's easy money, and Brady/McD have no answer, especially with our only downfield (defined as 5-15 yards) threat is out again for who knows how long