The Debilitating Effect of Misdirection

[sushihorn 3248]

The Longhorns’ scripted opening drive was a buffet of misdirection, a virtual smorgasbord:

Play 1: LBs look to fill the A gaps while Texas runs sweep w/TE lead.  Defense has to play catch up.

Play 2: UGa brings 5, QB throws to the spot vacated by the blitzing LB.

Play 3: Zone run.  Aggressive LB over pursues, RB cuts back for +yardage.

Play 4: WRs run the coverage off deep, QB checks down.

Play 5: D brings 5 again, RB screen with 3 blockers.

Play 6: Play action, D rushes 5 plus a spy, 12 yard hook route single coverage

Play 7: Zone run for 2 yds

Play 8: QB counter for 1 yd

Play 9: Jerk or option route.  1st and goal at the 2.

Play 10: QB lead/power.  TD

 

Notice Georgia had no trouble with the straight ahead runs but they were abused by misdirection PRECISELY because they were too aggressive.  Then they couldn't stop the goal line run because the RB becomes an extra blocker and Sam has his choice of which gap to attack.

The Bulldog defenders looked like fools out of position constantly.  They started to doubt, to think instead of reading their keys and reacting.  This paid dividends down the road.  A classic example was late In the 3^rd quarter. 

At the 1:45 mark, Texas lines up with Beck as an FB and Watson at TB.  Georgia’s DL aligns with a 1-tech NT, 3-tech DT and both DEs in a wide 5-tech, almost a 7-tech.  With a clear gap between the OTs outside shoulder and the DEs inside shoulder there is no way the DE should EVER lose outside leverage in this alignment.

But at the snap you can see BOTH DEs standing there trying to diagnose the play.  The play side end freezes and allows Cosmi to reach block to his OUTSIDE shoulder and seal the defender inside while Watson runs right past the soft corner for 12 yards.  The backside DE also freezes instead of crashing down immediately to pursue the play.  He at least has the excuse of a ZR keeper threat but scrapes halfheartedly well after it’s clear the ball is gone.  Both of those guys were so confused they couldn’t see straight and refused to execute their assigned reads because they’d been fooled so many times before it's even clearer on the replay. 

 

[sushihorn 3248]

I was trying to think of a simpler summary.  That opening drive was like watching Jackie Chan chain punch some dude until he doesn't know where the punches are coming from.  Georgia's defense never fully recovered from that.

[BigBenBamboozle 1957]

We may well be the best contributor on this site this side of @Machinator.  Thanks for being here. 

[BrazilHorn 6795]

Thanks for posting this (and others). Love the write ups and video support etc

Just great info.

[runthebone 8322]

41 minutes ago, sushihorn said:

I was trying to think of a simpler summary.  That opening drive was like watching Jackie Chan chain punch some dude until he doesn't know where the punches are coming from.  Georgia's defense never fully recovered from that.

Or when he stops punching and the guy keeps trying to block him. 

[Machinator 32102]

The other side of the coin to this is that misdirection killed our defense all season long yet Georgia didn't bother with it. I saw maybe one jet sweep action from them the whole game.

[GoldAppleCorps 625]

The Texas defense suffered this exact confusion in both games against UMd. Once you start thinking instead of playing, you're finished.

Thanks, Sushi, for all  your work. Learning to watch things like this really increases my understanding of football.

PS: Watch Sam Cosmi work this play. From leaving his stance, to the short, choppy tap steps he takes (always keeping his base firm), and working hand over hand across his assigned target until he reaches position - then working downfield picking out n-ary level defenders to block. When fans see a QB that can't find open receivers or RBs who can't gain ground, in reality it's the OL that aren't up to the task. Herb Hand, Yancy McKnight, and the incredible dedication by guys who only hear their number called for penalties enable this type of production.

[texifornia 58808]

3 minutes ago, Machinator said:

The other side of the coin to this is that misdirection killed our defense all season long yet Georgia didn't bother with it. I saw maybe one jet sweep action from them the whole game.

That was Scipio's big point in his article about the offense - UGA thought they could roll out their vanilla offense and steamroller us, and hadn't prepped for that not working.

[Tex Long 4618]

1 minute ago, texifornia said:

That was Scipio's big point in his article about the offense - UGA thought they could roll out their vanilla offense and steamroller us, and hadn't prepped for that not working.

Right up there with "Colt will never get that same shoulder hurt again, we'll never need our freshman QB who can't even find his helmet..."

[jimmyjazz 46984]

Loved the way Cosmi shed the DE to continue down field.  I'll be real interested to see how he handles LT next year (if that's where he ends up).

[Zavala 1384]

23 minutes ago, jimmyjazz said:

Loved the way Cosmi shed the DE to continue down field.  I'll be real interested to see how he handles LT next year (if that's where he ends up).

I hope thats where he ends up. Smart and physical enough to run block well, but his work ethic and hopefully footwork improvement get him to that elite blind side pass blocker level too. Thats where the $ is.

[runthebone 8322]

36 minutes ago, Tex Long said:

Right up there with "Colt will never get that same shoulder hurt again, we'll never need our freshman QB who can't even find his helmet..."

The one we didn't give enough snaps to during the season?

 

Shit.

[sushihorn 3248]

1 hour ago, runthebone said:

Or when he stops punching and the guy keeps trying to block him. 

That's even better.  Captures the flailing about perfectly.

[SA-KC_Horn 1298]

1 hour ago, Machinator said:

The other side of the coin to this is that misdirection killed our defense all season long yet Georgia didn't bother with it. I saw maybe one jet sweep action from them the whole game.

That was my main concern going into the Sugar Bowl. But jawja thought secsecsec play calling was better.

[GoldAppleCorps 625]

How much misdirection did UGA run during the regular season?

You can't just decide to add those plays if you don't have a grounding in them. You end up with pulling tackles tripping over centers and WRs fumbling the hand off exchanges.

Their defense tried to add pass rushing wrinkles, and ended up getting tied in knots.

[Tex Long 4618]

54 minutes ago, runthebone said:

The one we didn't give enough snaps to during the season?

The one who was so obviously destined for greatness that we didn't recruit a QB the year prior and took only him that year. The one who got all the snaps that should have gone to the Junior backup QB? The one whose dad still holds the record for Super Bowl futility at backup QB? The one who couldn't see the signals from the sideline without squinting?

Yeah, that one.

[sushihorn 3248]

29 minutes ago, SA-KC_Horn said:

That was my main concern going into the Sugar Bowl. But jawja thought secsecsec play calling was better.

 

4 minutes ago, GoldAppleCorps said:

How much misdirection did UGA run during the regular season?

You can't just decide to add those plays if you don't have a grounding in them. You end up with pulling tackles tripping over centers and WRs fumbling the hand off exchanges.

Their defense tried to add pass rushing wrinkles, and ended up getting tied in knots.

Misdirection was way down the list of concerns for me.  Kirby is very conservative and conventional on both side of the ball.  He may be the most vanilla guy of his generation not named Van Winkle.

 

[SA-KC_Horn 1298]

Kirby and company are stubborn mofos, cuz they had close to a month to identify a weakness and didn't exploit it. 

Oh fucking well.

I have a feeling that L$U will stick to their guns and try to out muscle Texas.

[texifornia 58808]

19 minutes ago, SA-KC_Horn said:

Kirby and company are stubborn mofos, cuz they had close to a month to identify a weakness and didn't exploit it. 

Oh fucking well.

I have a feeling that L$U will stick to their guns and try to out muscle Texas.

Aranda is a fantastic DC who'll have watched this game. He'll have some wrinkles for us.

[texifornia 58808]

15 minutes ago, spit said:

I think the better comparison would be our bowl game against Arkansas a few years ago.  I remember Bielema saying something like he was surprised how vanilla we were and maybe even stubborn.

Speaking of, Pitt fired Shawn Watson today.

[Zavala 1384]

6 hours ago, SA-KC_Horn said:

Kirby and company are stubborn mofos, cuz they had close to a month to identify a weakness and didn't exploit it. 

Oh fucking well.

I have a feeling that L$U will stick to their guns and try to out muscle Texas.

Which will be hilarious. Because in the Big 12 this defense sees a thousand different innovative and aggressive offenses. LSU rolls in with that basic high school offense thinking it will just manhandle us - just like Gawgia. 

[Eternal Noob 29]

I remember that 3rd qtr run play well because I credited it to Watson's vision. Now that it's pointed it out, I see that it was intended to bounce outside all along. Rodriguez barely helps on the DT at all and moves forward to get the LB which helps add yards to the end of the run. To the OP's point, the misdirection is what froze the DT and the LB to allow Shack and Rodriguez to get to them. It's the sort of play that Texas got gashed with all year long. Very satisfying to see it work in our favor for once.

[Bama Llama 1505]

Kirby was right about one thing.  Georgia was outplayed, outoughed, and as explained abovevin great detail, outcorched.  What I don't get is where Jake Fromm's accuracy went in four weeks.  He was pinpoint accurate vs Alabama in the SECCG but in the Sugar bowl at times couldn't hit a bull in the ass with a bass fiddle.  Kudos to the Horns.  Hope to see you guys in NOLA again next year for the championship.

[bornbama1 106]

12 hours ago, Bama Llama said:

Kirby was right about one thing.  Georgia was outplayed, outoughed, and as explained abovevin great detail, outcorched.  What I don't get is where Jake Fromm's accuracy went in four weeks.  He was pinpoint accurate vs Alabama in the SECCG but in the Sugar bowl at times couldn't hit a bull in the ass with a bass fiddle.  Kudos to the Horns.  Hope to see you guys in NOLA again next year for the championship.

Saw a stat on Fromms passing, too lazy to look up but his numbers go way down when he has to pass the ball around thirty times or more. Keeping it under twenty five he has much better numbers. Texas came out and rocked Georgia early, slowed down their run game and got a big lead. He had to pass and couldn't do it. If I remember correctly the three games he passed thirty or more times were all losses.

[Dbeasy 15528]

We may well be the best contributor on this site this side of [mention=324]Machinator[/mention].  Thanks for being here. 

Agree. He is a surly national treasure.

[sushihorn 3248]

13 hours ago, Bama Llama said:

Kirby was right about one thing.  Georgia was outplayed, outoughed, and as explained abovevin great detail, outcorched.  What I don't get is where Jake Fromm's accuracy went in four weeks.  He was pinpoint accurate vs Alabama in the SECCG but in the Sugar bowl at times couldn't hit a bull in the ass with a bass fiddle.  Kudos to the Horns.  Hope to see you guys in NOLA again next year for the championship.

Saban uses pattern match to achieve tight coverage while maintaining most of the advantages of zone.  Orlando creates total confusion by moving pieces all over the field in unexpected ways, like dropping a DE into the middle as a robber cover man.  Pattern match creates a simple read but a difficult throw, which plays to Fromm's physically talented but limited reading comprehension of coverage.  He can make the throws if he can figure out where to throw it.

[sushihorn 3248]

1 hour ago, bornbama1 said:

Saw a stat on Fromms passing, too lazy to look up but his numbers go way down when he has to pass the ball around thirty times or more. Keeping it under twenty five he has much better numbers. Texas came out and rocked Georgia early, slowed down their run game and got a big lead. He had to pass and couldn't do it. If I remember correctly the three games he passed thirty or more times were all losses.

When Jake Fromm is forced to pass against a defense expecting it, his effectiveness declines dramatically.  That's why it was so easy to discount his pass efficiency numbers, which were built at the expense of opponents desperately trying to stop the run and distorting their defenses very badly in order to do so.  Also notice that a lot of "his" yardage is actually YAC by his very athletic receivers, especially against teams on the wrong end of a huge talent gap.  As a downfield passer he does not impress.  Partial exception in the Bama game.  Saban gave Fromm easy reads but he still made the tough throws.

[Bama Llama 1505]

8 minutes ago, sushihorn said:

Orlando creates total confusion by moving pieces all over the field in unexpected ways, like dropping a DE into the middle as a robber cover man.  

1 hour ago, bornbama1 said:

If I remember correctly the three games he passed thirty or more times were all losses.

 

Interesting analyses with merit, but I was referring to simple swing passes or stop routes, plays that could have kept the chains moving, where it appeared to me that Shemp Howard was throwing the ball, e.g., late, behind, high, low, or just "off."  Credit the Horns D for he was discombobulated much of the game.

[sushihorn 3248]

5 minutes ago, Bama Llama said:

Interesting analyses with merit, but I was referring to simple swing passes or stop routes, plays that could have kept the chains moving, where it appeared to me that Shemp Howard was throwing the ball, e.g., late, behind, high, low, or just "off."  Credit the Horns D for he was discombobulated much of the game.

In the LSU game, blitz pressure reset the clock in Fromm's head.  It also forced him to move around which severely degrades his accuracy.  Most QBs lose some, Fromm's drops off a cliff.  You can be sure Herman and Orlando watched what LSU did to him, including this gem:

 

[sushihorn 3248]

Video isn't queuing properly.  Play is at the 1:07:13 mark.

[taybo20 3008]

In the clip you describe the defense is confused and they out leverage themselves. The LBs shifted with Watson, and at the snap the 3 tech steps inside allowing a single block by Shack. This allows E Rod to get to the 2nd level immeadiately and take away the otherwise free hitter. The playside DE gets setup by Watson. While the block is beautiful, Watson sets up the DE with an inside step, which forces him inside, than as Watson goes outside, Cosmi has leverage. The DE doesn’t really play it that bad, he just has no support spilling over the top. It’s clear that the uga defense was not necessarily on the same page.

[Doc Reeves 6434]

On 1/4/2019 at 11:49 AM, Zavala said:

I hope thats where he ends up. Smart and physical enough to run block well, but his work ethic and hopefully footwork improvement get him to that elite blind side pass blocker level too. Thats where the $ is.

Like that idea too, hopefully he hits the off-season hard. He’s gonna get tested.

[VaLonghorn99 358]

17 hours ago, Bama Llama said:

Kirby was right about one thing.  Georgia was outplayed, outoughed, and as explained abovevin great detail, outcorched.  What I don't get is where Jake Fromm's accuracy went in four weeks.  He was pinpoint accurate vs Alabama in the SECCG but in the Sugar bowl at times couldn't hit a bull in the ass with a bass fiddle.  Kudos to the Horns.  Hope to see you guys in NOLA again next year for the championship.

The Texas D pressure got to their QB. It was amazing how well we played on both sides. It was a different Texas team than the one which lost 4 games. It was the team that Coach Herman says can play with anybody.

[henrygandorf 29223]

On 1/4/2019 at 8:20 AM, sushihorn said:

I was trying to think of a simpler summary.  That opening drive was like watching Jackie Chan chain punch some dude until he doesn't know where the punches are coming from.  Georgia's defense never fully recovered from that.

which one of y'all kicked me?

/christucker

[Bama Llama 1505]

5 hours ago, sushihorn said:

Video isn't queuing properly.  Play is at the 1:07:13 mark.

Watched it at the mark you listed on the YouTube.  Exhibit A to Fromm Flinching.  Point well taken.

[sushihorn 3248]

22 hours ago, taybo20 said:

In the clip you describe the defense is confused and they out leverage themselves. The LBs shifted with Watson, and at the snap the 3 tech steps inside allowing a single block by Shack. This allows E Rod to get to the 2nd level immeadiately and take away the otherwise free hitter. The playside DE gets setup by Watson. While the block is beautiful, Watson sets up the DE with an inside step, which forces him inside, than as Watson goes outside, Cosmi has leverage. The DE doesn’t really play it that bad, he just has no support spilling over the top. It’s clear that the uga defense was not necessarily on the same page.

All correct.  But in this situation I still think the DE needs to at least keep his outside shoulder free.  When aligned that wide, his primary responsibility has to be contain / C-gap.  Further, if Fromm was stunting and wanted to exchange responsibilities, the end should have crashed down rather than sitting there reading the play.  Last, while the DE has the best shot at the C-gap, the ILBs have the best chance to fill the B-gap.  Even if the playside LB gets blocked like here, the backside guy might be able to scrape to the playside B-gap.  As things stood, no way with a RB turning the corner quickly on a wide C-gap run and a DE with his shoulders turned and pushed back into the LBs' pursuit lane.

Your comment about Watson setting up the DE is especially salient.  In zone blocking most people know the RB picks a hole and reads his blocker.  But when really well executed it works like an option route - really tough to stop as long as the QB and WR are on the same page.  Not only were Cosmi and Watson on the same page, Tre's move was the equivalent of the QB looking off the safety then throwing the option route perfectly.

[deft 7047]

I could be wrong. Maybe I’m reading this the wrong way. Perhaps, just maybe, Fromm isn’t actually all that good.

 

He’s a statue that can’t make throws us pressure is in his face or a decent defense reads him. A qb that can’t make throws. Or run.

 

 

And no discredit to Orlando and our boys on D. They played balls out. It’s just that we were hearing from everyone else about this prolific sec offense and passing game (as well as running game) and they came out flat for 3.5 quarters.

[sushihorn 3248]

On 1/5/2019 at 4:09 PM, Bama Llama said:

Watched it at the mark you listed on the YouTube.  Exhibit A to Fromm Flinching.  Point well taken.

I know Saban doesn't like to blitz and doesn't do it a lot.  He might want to make an exception for Fromm because pressure in his face and forcing him to throw on the move really hurts his performance.  The other mistake I think he made in the SEC CG was to play so many light boxes.  6 men and often 5 in the box just invited Georgia to do what they do best - allow Fromm to throw from a clean pocket while stationary and run the ball.  It was no anomaly either.  UK and LSU also got good results crowding the line a bunch.  I'm sure Saban watched the Sugar Bowl and is already drawing a slightly different D in case Georgia makes the CG next year.

[deft 7047]

Exactly this. He’s happy he’s got new perspective on them for free compliments of Orlando and his crew. You best believe that saban puts a whoopin in that dawgs team next year.

[GoldAppleCorps 625]

On 1/5/2019 at 9:36 AM, Bama Llama said:

Interesting analyses with merit, but I was referring to simple swing passes or stop routes, plays that could have kept the chains moving, where it appeared to me that Shemp Howard was throwing the ball, e.g., late, behind, high, low, or just "off."  Credit the Horns D for he was discombobulated much of the game.

When you're unsure of your coverage reads, these are the exact type passes that put your heart in your throat. Deep balls mean you've got to find a safety or nickel that went over the top. A mistake ends up being a 40 yard punt type turnover.

In close, where the money is made, everyone is a candidate. Did the ILB rotate over? The DE drop and become a robber? An extra safety spin down? Anyone could be in that passing lane, and the only one between a defender and the endzone is the QB and some hapless Guard on swing duty. Goof that one up, and they're playing the fight song.

Fromme is a perfectly cromulent QB. He can make textbook reads and textbook throws by using textbook mechanics. The Texas Defense handed him a Tijuana Bible and asked him to freelance. With essentially 3 turnovers to open play, he got put in the worst possible situation - needing to change the momentum without benefit of an overpowering run game.

[BadgerHorn 147]

They swapped the ESPN coaches corner broadcast for some MNF commentator broadcast for tonight's game.  What channel is the Sushihorn corner broadcast going to be on?