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2015
Phil McConkey Jerseys Stitched , Week 17Filed under:New York Giants NewsNew York Giants mandatory mini-camp Day 1 — live updatesNew,135commentsFollow all of the
day’s action at mini-camp right hereEDTShareTweetShareShareNew York Giants
mandatory mini-camp Day 1 — live updatesNoah K. Murray-USA TODAY SportsEAST
RUTHERFORD, N.J. — The New York Giants begin their three-day mandatory mini-camp
on Tuesday. Practice starts at 10:10 a.m. ET, followed by coach and select
player media availability. Follow all the action right here.Big Blue View is on
site and will be providing first-hand updates both here and on Twitter. You can
also follow the Twitter list below for updates from a variety of
writers.Mini-camp takeaways, Day 1: Competition, and a QB with wheelsDaniel
Jones showed his running ability, both the offense and defense made plays during
a competitive practice, and we learned that Jabrill Peppers brings the energy
and trash talk to practice. [Full story]Players speak to the mediaGiants make
roster moveKeion Adams was a seventh-round pick by the Pittsburgh Steelers in
2017. Jeremiah Harris was an undrafted free agent outside linebacker from
Eastern Michigan.A Twitter List by bigblueview How, and why, Evan Engram was
able to turn a short pass into a big gain" New York Giants NewsSummer
School:Anatomy of a play — How Evan Engram goes for 27 yards against the Colts
New,28commentsHow, and why, Evan Engram was able to turn a short pass into a big
gainEDTShare this storyShare this on FacebookShare this on TwitterShareAll
sharing optionsShareAll sharing options for:Summer School:Anatomy of a play —
How Evan Engram goes for 27 yards against the Colts
TwitterFacebookRedditPocketFlipboardEmailPhoto by Joe Robbins/Getty ImagesFor
the last few years, we have taken advantage of the summer doldrums to go to
school and learn more about football, the game we all love. In year’s past we
have looked specifically at individual ideas and concepts, such as the inside
zone running play or coverage shells. This year we will be getting contributions
from Mark Schofield, Pat Traina and Dan Pizzuta
Youth Mark Bavaro Jerseys , as well as myself. For my own additions to the series, I’ll be taking individual plays from the Giants’ 2018 season and putting them
under the microscope. Rather than breaking down various concepts on the white
board (as it were), I want to look at them in action on the field, then break
them down to see what happened and why.The PlayAt the start of the fourth
quarter, the Giants were holding a slim 24-21 lead over the Colts. They have the
ball in a third-and-1 situation, which had typically been a running down for the
Giants. Instead they throw the ball, resulting in a big gain for the offense.
The Giants line up in in the I formation using 12 personnel (one running back,
two tight ends). Specifically, they line up with a bunch formation on the
offensive right and the “X” receiver close to the offensive line on the left.
The Giants showed little hesitation to run the ball when faced with a stacked
box throughout the 2018 season, and faced with a third and short, showing a
heavy personnel grouping, it was a fair assumption that the Giants would run the
ball. So when the Giants condensed their formation, the Colts obliged and
condensed their defense in response, creating an 8-man box with the corners and
deep safety in position to help in run support. Instead, the Giants throw to
Engram, who uses his speed advantage over the WILL linebacker to turn a 5-yard
pass into a 27-yard gain. But what, exactly
Mark Bavaro Jerseys Stitched , did the Giants do, and why did it work so well?Why This Play WorkedTo find out why this worked, let’s take a look at the route concept
in a still.This play appears to be a variation on the Y-Cross concept. The
Y-Cross originated in Air Raid playbooks back in the 1990s. Originally run from
a spread formation, the play looked like this, from Mike Leech’s 1999 Oklahoma
playbook:Just by looking at the play diagram, we can see how the Giants changed
the concept. First, they moved the fullback (F) up to the line of scrimmage as
an H-Back (Rhett Ellison in the Giant’s play), weighting the strong side of the
formation. Combined with moving the running back to behind the quarterback, the
Giants made the play look like a running play. While we can’t say for sure
without getting a look at the Giants’ playbook, it appears as though the “Y”
(Evan Engram) is the primary read and to focus of the play. The Giants use
play-action to play on the defense’s expectations of the run, slow down the pass
rush, and create the opportunity for Engram. It also shows how the Pat Shurmur
took an Air Raid concept and adapted it using West Coast principles. Bill Walsh
simply loved play-action (or Play-Pass, as he called it), believing it to be the
safest way to attack the defense. “The Play-Pass is the one fundamentally sound
football play that does everything possible to contradict the basic principles
of defense. I truly believe it is the single best tool available to take
advantage of a disciplined defense. By using the play-pass as an integral part
of your offense you are trying to take advantage of a defensive team that is
very anxious very intense and very fired-up to play football. The play-pass is
one of the best ways to cool all of that emotion and intensity down because the
object of the play-pass is to get the defensive team to commit to a fake run and
then throw behind them. Once you get the defensive team distracted and
disoriented, they begin to think about options and, therefore, are susceptible
to the running game.”In action above
Color Rush Darius Slayton Jersey , the Giants use play-action to draw in the Colts’ defense, with the linebackers crashing down to fill their gaps and stop
the run. Defending the run when the quarterback hands the ball to the running
back is baked in to the DNA of every defense. The Giants did not need to
“establish the run” for it to work — they only rushed for 89 yards that game, or
a paltry 2.9 per attempt. But because they sold the run well through alignment
and aggressive steps by the offensive line, the defense bit anyway. This does a
couple things which help ensure the success of the pass play. FIrst and
foremost, it slows down the Colts’ pass rush so Eli Manning can execute his
7-step drop. The Giants keep Saquon Barkley back in a 6-man protection (in the
original Y-Cross, the running back runs a flat route) to help give Manning time
to find Engram as he clears the middle of the field. Secondly, by forcing the
defense to honor its assignments in the running game, it created a free release
for Engram and plenty of running room after the catch. Their alignment did one
more thing for the play. By concentrating players who could be blockers or
receiving threats on one side, it forced the defense to shade to that side. If
we bisect the defense using the left hashmark (where the ball is lined up), the
have seven defenders on the right side of the Giants’ formation and just four to
the left — where the play ultimately goes.Shurmur creates even more running room
for Engram by changing the post “Go” route run by the “X” receiver (on the left
side of the formation to more of a “Post” route, angling back to the offensive
right. That draws the corner and free safety to the deep middle of the field,
then right. Manning helps by using his eyes after the play-fake to hold the
defenders on the right side of the field while Engram clears. Engram is able to
get separation almost at the snap of the ball, and when he finally clears the
crowd at the line of scrimmage it is a safe throw which he is able to turn
upfield. Engram easily outpaces the Colt’s linebacker and turn pick up a full 22
yards after the catch. Concepts In Use12 PersonnelBunch FormationPlay-action
passEye discipline by the quarterbackModified Y-Cross route conceptWhy I Like
ItIn short, this play did a lot of what the Giants failed to do often enough
throughout the 2018 season. It put one of their premier playmakers in position
to maximize his athletic ability and create a mismatch against the defense. It
used deception to scheme around the offensive line’s issues in pass protection
(in fact, this was the only game the entire season in which Eli Manning wasn’t
sacked). Perhaps most importantly, this play featured the Giants’ offense
playing against expectations. This is a lesson the league at large has been
learning at different rates. For most of the 2018 season, the Giants largely did
what their personnel package indicated they would. And while they used
12-personnel more than league-average
Youth Darius Slayton Jersey , they frequently ran when faced with heavy boxes (Saquon Barkley saw 8+ man boxes on 23 percent of his carries). By contrast, The
Los Angeles Rams schemed Todd Gurley to a season which had him in the MVP
conversation by running out of spread looks. They used the 11-personnel package
on nearly every down (though with far more variety in alignment and route
concept than the Giants saw under Ben McAdoo), forcing defenses into smaller,
faster subpackages to compensate. As a result, Todd Gurley and C.J. Anderson
both enjoyed more blockers than defenders on the majority of their runs, and
Gurley had the third-lowest percentage of attempts with eight or more defenders
in the tackle box (8.2 percent), per NextGenStats.Meanwhile teams like the San
Francisco 49ers and New Orleans Saints used heavy formations, usually 21 (two
backs, one tight end) personnel to force defenses into respecting the
possibility of the run and use heavier subpackages. But then those teams would
exploit the bigger, but slower, defenses by throwing the ball. And that was
exactly what the Giants did here. They created an expectation through alignment
and personnel, then exploited the defense’s reaction. These are the kinds of
plays need to be featured in the Giants’ playbook and game plans going
forwards.
