Odell Beckham Jr. has taken the league by storm totaling 53 receptions, 757 yards and 5 TDs in the 8 weeks leading up to the Redskins game. Needless to say, Beckham represented a major challenge for the inept Redskins’ secondary. On the defensive side, Bashaud Breeland has shown a lot of promise as a starter as well, and this post will analyze their match-up as well as Beckham’s other receptions.
Stats:
Beckham (Total) - 12 receptions on 15 targets, 143 yards, 3 TDs
Beckham vs. Breeland - 3 catches allowed on 6 targets, 33 yards, 1 pass deflection
Beckham vs. Amerson - 5 catches allowed on 5 targets, 38 yards, 1 TD
Beckham vs. Biggers - 3 catches allowed on 3 targets, 51 yards, 2 TDs allowed
Right as soon as the game started and even before the first pass was thrown Breeland and Beckham get into a shoving match seen here:
This is the first of Breeland’s four penalties on the afternoon.
Play 1
Situation: 3rd and 2 at NYG 49
Description: Q1 - (13:16) (Shotgun) E.Manning pass incomplete short right to O.Beckham.
Beckham motions from the outside left to the outside right wide receiver position. After the snap, Beckham runs a quick out route underneath Breeland’s off-man coverage. Breeland closes in on Beckham to prevent him from staying in-bounds.
A quick out route is a good route underneath off-man coverage that the Redskins love to run. Good coverage by Breeland to prevent the gain on the play.
Play 2
Situation: 1st and 10 at NYG 44
Description: Q1 - (6:38) (Shotgun) E.Manning pass incomplete short right to O.Beckham (B.Breeland).
Beckham on the right outside runs a comeback route against Breeland’s man-press coverage. Breeland does a great job staying with Beckham the entire play and not getting his hips turned around once the Beckham cuts back.
Manning overthrows Beckham who can’t haul in the pass.
Play 3
Situation: 3rd and 4 at 50
Description: Q1 - (5:58) (No Huddle, Shotgun) E.Manning pass short middle to K.Ogletree to WAS 35 for 15 yards (P.Thomas, D.Amerson).
Beckham on the right outside runs an inside hitch route. Breeland does a great job of sticking with him the entire play in man-to-man coverage. Look how quickly Breeland turns his body to stay with Beckham on his route.
Manning goes elsewhere to Ogletree with the ball. Great coverage by Breeland again.
Play 4
Situation: 2nd and 10 at WSH 35
Description: Q1 - (4:58) (No Huddle, Shotgun) E.Manning pass short left to P.Parker to WAS 23 for 12 yards (D.Amerson).
Breeland is covering Ogletree on this play. Manning looks to Ogletree first, but Breeland has tight coverage on the go-route run by Ogletree.
Beckham is running a go-route as well from the left slot which is covered well by Biggers’ off-man coverage.
Play 5
Situation: 1st and 10 at WSH 23
Description: Q1 - (4:17) (No Huddle, Shotgun) E.Manning pass incomplete short right to P.Parker.
In this play, Redskins’ Kerrigan gets good edge pressure on the right tackle, forcing Manning to roll outside the pocket to his right. Redskins secondary is in cover 2 with four underneath zones.
Once Manning leaves the pocket he finds Parker running a deep-in route across the screen who is trailed by CB39 Amerson in tight press-man coverage. On the opposite side of the field both Beckham and Ogletree are running go-routes up the middle of the field which pulls Breeland inside as FS25 Clark is not looking at Ogletree breaking through the underneath zone coverage.
Clark shortly after realizes this and finds Ogletree but by this point Beckham is already behind Breeland for an easy touchdown if Manning sees this breakdown.
The Redskins were very lucky Manning threw to the underneath WR and did not see Beckham waving his hand in the endzone wide-open or this would have been an easy touchdown.
Play 6
Situation: 3rd and 5 at WSH 18
Description: Q1 - (3:29) (No Huddle, Shotgun) E.Manning pass short middle to C.Washington to WAS 14 for 4 yards (C.Okoro, R.Clark).
Beckham in the twins stack right runs a post route that completely burns CB30 Biggers. Watch the precision in Beckham’s route.
Beckham steps outside off of the line of scrimmage that completely turns around Biggers when Beckham cuts back upfield. Perfection.
Play 7
Situation: 3rd and 8 at WSH 10
Description: Q1 - (1:45) (Shotgun) E.Manning pass short right to O.Beckham for 10 yards, TOUCHDOWN. Penalty on WAS-D.Amerson, Illegal Use of Hands, declined. J.Brown extra point is GOOD, Center-Z.DeOssie, Holder-S.Weatherford.
Beckham runs a wheel route from the slot right wide receiver position. Watch WR83 Parker not even attempt to get open. This a designed interference play where Parker’s goal is to get Breeland to interfere with Biggers to lose man coverage on Beckham.
Manning throws the ball to Beckham’s back shoulder for the touchdown. Biggers does not even turn around to locate the ball and attempts to play Beckham. Beckham hauls it in for his first of three touchdowns on the day.
Play 8
Situation: 1st and 10 at NYG 20
Description: Q2 - (8:19) E.Manning pass short right to O.Beckham to NYG 36 for 16 yards (B.Breeland). Penalty on WAS-B.Breeland, Defensive Holding, declined. PENALTY on WAS-B.Breeland, Taunting, 15 yards, enforced at NYG 36.
Beckham on the right outside runs a deep comeback against Breeland’s off-man coverage. At the top of the route Breeland grabs Beckham’s arm getting the defensive holding penalty as Beckham was attempting to turn for the comeback route. Beckham still catches the ball for a large gain on the play.
Immediately after the play, Breeland gets in Beckham’s face and gets called for another personal foul penalty for taunting seen here:
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The NFL actually released a statement that said that he should not have been flagged for this. I agree with them.
Play 9
Situation: 3rd and 7 at WSH 46
Description: Q2 - (6:46) (No Huddle, Shotgun) E.Manning pass incomplete short right to R.Randle (B.Breeland).
Breeland is covering WR82 Randle on the right outside in off-man coverage. Randle is running a curl route to the sideline. The curl route doesn’t fool Breeland who shuts down the route and stops the reception.
Beckham is being covered by Amerson in off-man coverage and Beckham runs an in-route over the middle. Amerson has good coveage the entire play.
Overall the credit goes to Breeland for the good coverage on the play.
Play 10
Situation: 1st and 10 at NYG 40
Description: Q3 - (9:37) (Shotgun) E.Manning pass incomplete deep right to O.Beckham. PENALTY on WAS-B.Breeland, Defensive Pass Interference, 17 yards, enforced at NYG 40 - No Play.
Breeland is in off-man coverage on Beckham on the right outside. Beckham runs a hitch-and-go route which Breeland bites on. Instead of giving up a big play Breeland interferes with Beckham pushing him from getting any further down the field.
Great route by Beckham to sell the hitch initially as it completely fools Breeland. This is the only case where a defensive pass interference penalty is deemed acceptable as it stopped Beckham from burning the Redskins deep, so good understanding by Breeland to prevent that at all costs.
