The Second Quarter
3rd and 10 at IND 33 (15:00) (Shotgun) A.Luck pass incomplete short right to T.Hilton (D.McCourty) [Cha.Jones].
3-2-6, 4 Rushers (MLB Blitz), Cover-2 Man
11 Personnel, 439 U-Vertical R-Release Flat
The Patriots opt for 6 Defensive Backs on 3rd and 10, bringing in an extra safety and removing one of their defensive linemen. With the off coverage on TY Hilton and the Vertical being run by Wayne, a natural pick is put into place on the CB covering Hilton. McCourty sees the pick happen and rushes downfield to get to Hilton just as Luck throws the ball. This should still be a catch, but Luck throws it behind Hilton as a result from being pressured in the pocket from two directions. Ninkovich drives RT Joe Reitz into Luck, due to Reitz getting his arms on him way too late, which makes him catch Ninkovich instead of engage him. On the other side, Jones drives LT Castanzo back with a bunch of short choppy steps and gets his hips to open way too early, then once he engages and starts moving to the outside he tosses away Castanzos arms and gets around him to put a hit on Luck as he throws.
1st and 10 at IND 7 (9:11) (Shotgun) A.Luck pass short middle to D.Allen to IND 16 for 9 yards (D.Hightower).
4-3-4, 3 Rushers, Cover-2 Man,
13 Personnel, 436 U-Post R-WR Vertical, Allen+
The Colts come out with 3 Tight Ends (Doyle is lined up as a full back) in the I formation and then switch out to an empty shotgun setup. The Patriots react by having Logan Ryan move to the outside to take Herron, LB Jonathan Casillas go over Hilton, Revis on Doyle, Hightower on Fleener and finally Ninkovich on Allen, which is one of the two matchups they want to create here. With Hilton being covered by a LB, Luck makes him the first read but sees Hilton is heading into a dead area and gets bumped off his route entirely. Ninkovich opts to try and bump Allen off his route, but Allen’s too big and has too good of a balance (compared to Fleener, who got bumped off way easier earlier in the game by Ninkovich) to be affected and manages to get Ninkovich in the position he wants him to be before breaking outside and making a good catch.
2nd and 1 at IND 16 (8:34) A.Luck pass short right to J.Doyle to IND 11 for -5 yards (J.Casillas; V.Wilfork). PENALTY on NE-V.Wilfork, Unnecessary Roughness, 15 yards, enforced at IND 16 - No Play.
4-3-4, 4 Rushers (1 OLB), Cover-1 Man, +Ninkovich
13 Personnel, 933 F-Flat H-Release Curl
The Colts keep the same personnel out on the field after seeing the success it had on the last play. They run all their routes to one side of the field and the Patriots have it covered well all over. Doyle comes out of the backfield for a checkdown and Ninkovich is ready for it. He just crashes down and stops any chance of forward progress, even though he can’t finish the tackle.
1st and 10 at IND 31 (8:01) A.Luck pass incomplete deep middle to T.Hilton.
4-3-4, 3 Rushers, Cover-1 Man
13 Personnel, 884 U-Block H-Out
The Colts must have seen something they liked from this personnel grouping because they keep it out there for the third play in a row. They move Fleener into the slot where he gets matched up with Revis. Hilton gets the right call for the double team that New England places on him here with Arrington and McCourty, as he is allowed to go inside by Arrington and then crosses McCourty with a break inside on the deep post. Again though, Luck overthrows his receiver, despite having plenty of time to set up and make the throw.
3rd and 8 at IND 33 (7:15) (Shotgun) A.Luck pass deep right to T.Hilton ran ob at NE 31 for 36 yards.
4-2-5, 4 Rushers, Cover-1 Man, Ninkovich+
11 Personnel, 419 W-Corner H-Release Curl, Luck+, OC+
The Colts have been committed for a majority of the game to try and get something over the top of this defense and with this play they finally get one. With Moncrief and Hilton on the same side, the Colts have both players release inside with Moncrief doing a vertical up the seam while Hilton breaks his post underneath him. This, like many of the other plays the Colts have run this game will create another natural pick, this time on McCourty who’s read the play and trying to get across. He’s blocked off by the Moncrief/Revis blur and this allows Hilton a chance for a one on one sideline catch. At the line of scrimmage, the Patriots rush four and again stunt Ninkovich and Jones, RT Reitz is completely oblivious to the stunt happening in front of him and just barely manages to turn around in time to push Ninkovich away from Luck but he still manages to pressure him into moving up in the pocket but it doesn’t stop Luck from throwing a perfect ball into Hiltons arms.
1st and 10 at NE 31 (7:05) A.Luck left guard to NE 28 for 3 yards (R.Ninkovich).
4-2-5, 4 Rushers, Cover-3 Zone
11 Personnel, 401 W-Flat H-Release Flat
The Patriots get caught in the middle of shifting their coverage, but thanks to Chandler Jones completely denying Tipton the cut block and pressuring Luck, Luck leaves the pocket to try and take the open space ahead of him. Unfortunately for Luck, Ninkovich is completely in the zone. Ninkovich delays his rush and instead watches Lucks eyes after seeing the entire Line shift towards him. He starts coming across the line and is ready to tackle Luck as soon as he takes off.
2nd and 7 at NE 28 (6:24) (Shotgun) A.Luck pass incomplete deep middle to T.Hilton.
4-2-5, 3 Rushers, Cover-2 Zone
11 Personnel, 374 W-Deep In H-Release Flat
Luck is in control for this entire play. He manages to make a read on every receiver on the field, starting with Wayne, moving to Fleener, then Nicks, and finally onto Hilton. Luck hangs strong in the pocket, even when Jones almost pushes Castanzo into him, and slowly begins stepping up. He throws a well placed pass to Hilton, but Hilton slows up on his route after Luck pump fakes to Nicks. Really unfortunate for Luck, otherwise it’s an easy catch on the run and possibly a TD right here. Worth noting how as soon as the Patriots switch to zone, the Colts have found a way to get open down the field.
3rd and 7 at NE 28 (6:17) (Shotgun) A.Luck pass incomplete deep left to D.Allen [Cha.Jones]. PENALTY on NE-J.Collins, Illegal Contact, 5 yards, enforced at NE 28 - No Play.
4-2-5, 4 Rushers, Cover-1 Man
11 Personnel, 948 W-Slant H-WR Vertical
The Patriots stunt a lot. This time, it’s Ninkovich stunting for Jones and Reitz still can not make this play. Jones manages to engage a blocker, disengage, rush outside and put on a hurry and hit on Luck that rushes this pass and forces it to be so overthrown purposely to throw it away. It wouldn’t have changed much though, the entire field is covered and a throw away was the likely end of this play.
1st and 10 at NE 23 (6:11) (Shotgun) A.Luck pass incomplete short left to Z.Tipton [J.Collins].
4-2-5, 4 Rushers (1 MLB), Cover-1 Man
12 Personnel, 444 U-Dig H-Wheel
Someone on the Colts offensive line makes some kind of mistake here, allowing a free rushing Collins come straight through the left B gap and gets a free hit on Luck. Luck tries to throw a quick ball to Tipton while he’s open on the Wheel route but throws it a bit too high due to the hurry. Tipton might still make this catch if not for Hightower hitting him.
2nd and 10 at NE 23 (6:06) (Shotgun) A.Luck pass short left to C.Fleener ran ob at NE 12 for 11 yards [R.Ninkovich].
3-3-5, 4 Rushers (1 OLB), Cover-1 Man, Ninkovich+
11 Personnel, 409 W-Vertical H-Out, Luck+
Reitz probably got chewed out for this game by the Colts coaches. Ninkovich begins with an outside rush, fully committed, his whole body pointing toward the outside as he runs from a very wide start. As he nears Reitz, he turns his whole body inside gets completely square with Reitz for just a moment before knocking away his hands and just running past him with a clear path to Luck, forcing him to start running outside of the pocket. Luck escapes, and throws a purposely high ball to Fleener, who’s been passed off by Browner to Hightower, in order to get the ball to him without giving Hightower having any chance of making a play on the ball. For a throw on the run, it’s pretty nice. Fleener route is nice too, after starting off in a slant, he bends his route down and takes the under side of Hightower in order to try to get him to come down as well as giving Luck a spot to throw to under the coverage.
1st and 10 at NE 12 (5:29) A.Luck pass short middle to C.Fleener to NE 1 for 11 yards (J.Casillas).
3-4-4, 4 Rushers (1 OLB), Tampa-2 Zone
13 Personnel, 748 U-Dig H-Release Flat
Since the last play the Patriots have switched to a 3-4. On this play, they go for a Tampa-2 where they sell out all the deep and intermediate routes and leave no one in coverage underneath allowing them to put 9 up in the box against the run look they’re seeing. They do however have Ninkovich and Jones jamming both of the Tight Ends before beginning their rush. Luck audibles at the line of scrimmage, changing it to the play we see. Despite Chandler Jones jamming Fleener for what seems like an eternity, Luck still finds him as he releases and gives him a chance to run straight for the endzone. He’s only a bit short.
4 Comments
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On the third play on page 2, how does McCourty make the decision to cover the deep-in and not the go route at the bottom of the screen?
I can’t give you a definitive answer, but i can theorycraft an answer.
First, The Deep-In needs to be covered because of the two underneath routes that are crossing trying to pull apart/hold the LBs. McCourty probably saw this play or a similar setup on tape and reacted to it over the go route, because he knew Luck wanted to hit this route more than the vertical.
Second, the go is ran by RB Daniel Herron and is covered by LB Jamie Collins. McCourty and the defense probably looked at Herron’s tape/skills and saw that his deep routes weren’t something to put too many resources towards stopping.
Third, McCourty might just be a bit too quick to dive down. On another play in this game, on Page 2 on the play marked as happening at :05, McCourty drops to get Hilton on an open Dig under the defense, leaving Luck an opportunity to take a 1v1 Nicks deep. I haven’t watched a lot of McCourty film to know if this is a regular part of his game.
From my point of view, the answer is probably #2 more than the others. They just didn’t care about Herron’s deep receiving ability.
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