2nd half Offense and the importance of 4 verticals
Picking up where we left off last time, it’s clear the Gator offense had significant execution problems in the first half of the Alabama game. Now, we’re going to take a look at the second half, when the game went from oh so close to blowout seemlingly in a flash. We’ll follow the same format, looking at every single play the Gators ran, identifying the play concept and progression, the result of the play whether it was executed correctly, and diagnosing exactly why it succeeded or failed according to the play’s design. Just like last time, we’ll start with the raw data for the half.
Q | Series | Clock | Down | Dist | Concept | Progression/Read | Throw to | Result | Comment |
3 | 1 | 13:20 | 1 | 10 | Inside Zone | N/A | N/A | 2 yd gain | Awful attempt at slice kickout of the backside EMLOS by Burton; no read on play |
3 | 1 | 12:53 | 2 | 8 | QB Draw | N/A | N/A | 19 yd gain; TD | Well executed all around + good play call. Great downfield blocking by Burton, Pittman, and Taylor. Thurman stonewalled DT on a solo block |
3 | 2 | 5:27 | 1 | 10 | Inside Zone | N/A | N/A | 5 yd gain | no read; Thurman missed 2nd level block |
3 | 2 | 4:52 | 2 | 5 | Power O | N/A | N/A | 3 yd gain | Jones broke outside instead of following Burton. Tackled by LB Burton could not get to |
3 | 2 | 4:29 | 3 | 2 | Inside Zone | N/A | N/A | no gain | Well timed frontside overload safety blitz. Jeff did not see, should have checked out of play or called timeout. |
3 | 3 | 0:15 | 1 | 10 | PA bootleg Strongside Flood | Deep-flat-crosser | Crosser | 17 yd gain; correct read | Backers bit bigtime on play action freeing Dunbar. |
4 | 3 | 15:00 | 1 | 10 | 3 verticals | weak safety | fade | Pass interference; correct read | 7 man protection, Read weak safety. If MOFC throw fade, if MOFO, throw post |
4 | 3 | 14:53 | 1 | 10 | 3 verticals | weak safety | fade | thrown away | 7 man protection, Read weak safety. If MOFC throw fade, if MOFO, throw post; Jeff gets happy feet and throws away rather than working in pocket |
4 | 3 | 14:47 | 2 | 10 | QB Draw | N/A | N/A | 2 yd loss | Chaz beaten inside into Thurman, freeing Trip’s block to make tackle. |
4 | 3 | 14:12 | 3 | 12 | 4 verticals | Pick a side and read across | Weak Seam | Intercepted; Bad Read | Forced pass to Dunbar. Locked on without noticing middle safety and threw late. |
4 | 4 | 10:04 | 1 | 10 | Follow | Fade-shallow-dig | N/A | scramble; 18 yd gain | Trip beat on twist, Chaz releases inside rusher. Nice job by JD making something out of nothing. |
4 | 4 | 9:45 | 1 | 10 | Inside Zone | N/A | N/A | 3 yd gain | high snap, may have been a read. Jones danced and should have cut backside |
4 | 4 | 9:16 | 2 | 7 | Follow/Seam-hook | MOFC: Seam-comeback | Hook | 9 yd gain | MOFO: Shallow-Dig-Flat, MOFC: Seam-comeback; unable to determine safeties but seam was not there. |
4 | 4 | 8:55 | 1 | 10 | Shakes (3 verts) | Corner-Seam-hook | Seam | Incomplete; dropped; wrong read | Should have thrown the corner to Fulwood against Cover 2; still almost got away with it but dropped by Burton. |
4 | 4 | 8:49 | 2 | 10 | spacing | flat-Curl-spot | Curl | Incomplete; batted; correct read | Triangle to strong side; read correct. |
4 | 4 | 8:44 | 3 | 10 | Smash/Seam-curl | MOFC: Seam-Curl | Seam | Incomplete; all covered | Nothing there |
4 | 4 | 8:39 | 4 | 10 | 4 verticals | single side across | single side go | Incomplete; covered | Driskel looked to Fulwood and nowhere else; Goolsby disrupted and never got into route |
4 | 5 | 3:00 | 1 | 10 | Post-hook/dig-out | MOFO: hook-post | Hook | Complete; correct read | Good read, good throw |
4 | 5 | 2:41 | 2 | 1 | Follow | Shallow-Dig | N/A | scramble; 9 yd gain | Driskel saw open grass in front of him and took off. |
4 | 5 | 2:25 | 1 | 10 | Curl-flat/fade-curl | fade-curl-outlet | outlet | complete; 2 yd gain | Checkdown; fade may have been open against cover 2 between the corner and safety but can’t tell |
4 | 5 | 1:58 | 2 | 7 | 4 verticals | Pick a side and read across | Strong Seam | Incomplete;dropped | Should have looked to outside against 2-high in hole between corner and safety |
4 | 5 | 1:50 | 3 | 7 | Levels | Shallow-square in-dig | N/A | Scramble; 4 yd gain | Sharpe beaten, pocket collapsed |
As was the case with my last column, going to need to break this down further. The biggest problem so far has been the play of Jeff Driskel, responsible for 12 out of the 35 plays in the first half failing and showing remarkable inconsistency in all aspects of his game. Let’s see if that trend continues or if Driskel turns things around. We will again isolate just those plays he had a direct impact on a positive or negative outcome.
Q | Series | Clock | Down | Dist | Concept | Progression/Read | Throw to | Result | Comment |
3 | 1 | 12:53 | 2 | 8 | QB Draw | N/A | N/A | 19 yd gain; TD | Well executed all around + good play call. Great downfield blocking by Burton, Pittman, and Taylor. Thurman stonewalled DT on a solo block |
3 | 2 | 4:29 | 3 | 2 | Inside Zone | N/A | N/A | no gain | Well timed frontside overload safety blitz. Jeff did not see, should have checked out of play or called timeout. |
3 | 3 | 0:15 | 1 | 10 | PA bootleg Strongside Flood | Deep-flat-crosser | Crosser | 17 yd gain; correct read | Backers bit bigtime on play action freeing Dunbar. |
4 | 3 | 15:00 | 1 | 10 | 3 verticals | weak safety | fade | Pass interference; correct read | 7 man protection, Read weak safety. If MOFC throw fade, if MOFO, throw post |
4 | 3 | 14:53 | 1 | 10 | 3 verticals | weak safety | fade | thrown away | 7 man protection, Read weak safety. If MOFC throw fade, if MOFO, throw post; Jeff gets happy feet and throws away rather than working in pocket |
4 | 3 | 14:12 | 3 | 12 | 4 verticals | Pick a side and read across | Weak Seam | Intercepted; Bad Read | Forced pass to Dunbar. Locked on without noticing middle safety and threw late. |
4 | 4 | 10:04 | 1 | 10 | Follow | Fade-shallow-dig | N/A | scramble; 18 yd gain | Trip beat on twist, Chaz releases inside rusher. Nice job by JD making something out of nothing. |
4 | 4 | 9:16 | 2 | 7 | Follow/Seam-hook | MOFC: Seam-comeback | Hook | 9 yd gain | MOFO: Shallow-Dig-Flat, MOFC: Seam-comeback; unable to determine safeties but seam was not there. |
4 | 4 | 8:55 | 1 | 10 | Shakes (3 verts) | Corner-Seam-hook | Seam | Incomplete; dropped; wrong read | Should have thrown the corner to Fulwood against Cover 2; still almost got away with it but dropped by Burton. |
4 | 4 | 8:49 | 2 | 10 | spacing | flat-Curl-spot | Curl | Incomplete; batted; correct read | Triangle to strong side; read correct. |
4 | 5 | 3:00 | 1 | 10 | Post-hook/dig-out | MOFO: hook-post | Hook | Complete; correct read | Good read, good throw |
4 | 5 | 2:41 | 2 | 1 | Follow | Shallow-Dig | N/A | scramble; 9 yd gain | Driskel saw open grass in front of him and took off. |
4 | 5 | 1:58 | 2 | 7 | 4 verticals | Pick a side and read across | Strong Seam | Incomplete;dropped; wrong read | Should have looked to outside against 2-high in hole between corner and safety |
4 | 5 | 1:50 | 3 | 7 | Levels | Shallow-square in-dig | N/A | Scramble; 4 yd gain | Sharpe beaten, pocket collapsed |
Again, plus plays in lime, minus plays in red. While there were 9 plusses to 12 minuses in the first half, Driskel appears to have made some improvement in the second half, with 9 plusses but only 5 minuses. Again, though, you’ll notice Jeff really didn’t ever seem to get going and string any sort of consistency together, despite getting fairly good protection and receivers finding open grass. Aside from the forced interception and a couple of bad reads, Jeff seemingly improved at running the offense. How, then, do we explain the lack of results on the scoreboard? Third downs.
Q | Series | Clock | Down | Dist | Concept | Progression/Read | Throw to | Result | Comment |
3 | 2 | 4:29 | 3 | 2 | Inside Zone | N/A | N/A | no gain | Well timed frontside overload safety blitz. Jeff did not see, should have checked out of play or called timeout. |
4 | 3 | 14:12 | 3 | 12 | 4 verticals | Pick a side and read across | Weak Seam | Intercepted; Bad Read | Forced pass to Dunbar. Locked on without noticing middle safety and threw late. |
4 | 4 | 8:44 | 3 | 10 | Smash/Seam-curl | MOFC: Seam-Curl | Seam | Incomplete; all covered | Nothing there |
4 | 4 | 8:39 | 4 | 10 | 4 verticals | single side across | single side go | Incomplete; covered | Driskel looked to Fulwood and nowhere else; Goolsby disrupted and never got into route |
4 | 5 | 1:50 | 3 | 7 | Levels | Shallow-square in-dig | N/A | Scramble; 4 yd gain | Sharpe beaten, pocket collapsed |
After benefitting from a short field and punching the ball in on the second play of the second half, the Gators started their remaining 5 drives in Alabama territory in the second half. The lack of big plays meant the Gators would have to string together multiple play drives for each of series 2-5, but the offense never managed more than 7 plays (on drive 4). Each of those drives would stall due to an inability to make a positive play on third or fourth down. In the half, Driskel graded out 1 for 5 on these critical downs, with his only “plus” being a 4 yard scramble on 3rd and 7 due to a collapsing pocket. Part of this was due to facing 3rd and 10 or longer on 3 of the 5 attempts, mainly due to getting little help on downs 1 and 2 from those around him.
Why is 4 verticals so important?
The long and short of it is that the entire reason spread offenses are successful is that with a running quarterback, you can keep 4 vertical receiving threats on the field and outnumber a defense that goes to some form of single safety coverage shell in order to drop an extra man into the box to cover all gaps in the run game. Let’s look at how this works:
When a defense drops a safety into the box in run support, there are only 3 defenders to cover the deep zones of the field. The the red voids between these defenders up the hashmarks are called the seams. Thus, what an offense wants to do is send 4 defenders on vertical release routes that are spaced evenly to force these three defenders to cover 4 receivers.
While the pattern is called “4 verticals,” it really is a horizontal stretch as much as anything. Most often in modern man and zone coverages, the free safety is the one put in conflict, as he can’t play both seams. Thus, many defenses like Alabama’s have begun to integrate pattern reading and will try to disrupt these seam routes with the linebackers and safeties walling off to the inside, then dropping deep. Still, the offense usually has an advantage in this case. The read for the quarterback is to pick a side (typically preferring a side where the coverage is rolled up if there is one) and read it across the field. He’ll take a 5 step drop and by the end of the drop, treating the outside receiver as a “glance” route and should be able to identify which seam to throw to by the end of his drop. He’ll throw in rhythm 18-22 yards down the field. It’s the seam receiver’s job to hold proper spacing but try to get inside and behind whoever is running with him.
The other great thing about 4 verticals is its versatility. It can be run from either standard 2×2 formations or 3×1 trips formations, which is especially good when teams go to to a split safety 2 deep look to attempt to take away the seams.
What most spread offenses are finding is that teams are now dealing with them primarily through quarters looks because they are so afraid of the 4 verticals threat but they still want to be able to defend the run. This opens up entirely different ways of attacking defenses to put safeties into conflict that will likely be another column in and of itself in the future. That said, the importance of being able to hit 4 verticals when it is there cannot be understated dropping a single safety into the box is the most effective way to defend the spread run game for a team that does not have to worry about defending the seams.
The Gators failed miserably at attacking the seams against Alabama, and though Nick Saban’s teams typically are some of the best at defending 4 verticals from a middle of the field high safety look, opportunities were there and the Gators and Driskel must improve for this offense to really work.
So what can we make of this enigma that is Jeff Driskel?
It’s clear that Jeff’s weaknesses lie in recognizing defensive stunts off the edge pre-snap and in throwing down the field. It’s also clear that what he does well are triangle stretches and other single-defender reads up to about 15 yards. Oddly, he’s better throwing to the intermediate outside than over the middle. While we can be functional, the offense will continue to be held back until he can show he is a threat in the vertical passing game. He’s also going to see more pressure in both the run and pass game from blitzing defenses until he can show that he can pick up a blitz off the edge. No doubt Kurt Roper has seen this also. It is my hope that we used the bye week to both prepare Jeff’s backup to get some snaps and evaluate his prospects for improvement in these areas in game conditions and that we will see a much improved Jeff Driskel who shows us the Alabama game was the exception and not the rule.
Go Gators! Beat the Vols!
Very simple; at halftime Muschamp was interviewed and he stated ” we need to run the ball more in the second half”..The first 5 plays in second half were “RUNNING” plays—GAME OVER , he is still controlling the offense and NOT allowing Roper to coach. There is a reason why he is on his 3rd Off coordinator in 3 yrs…..Same QB who has “no feel” in the pocket and is not consistent -it’s NOT going to change..When are people going to understand this ?? Muschamp micro- manages and will NEVER win big in the SEC !!