Welcome back to Coach’s Corner. We have plenty to choose from this week. It’s hard to pick just three plays from this past weekend. We saw a “not-actually-so-controversial finish”, a pressured yet composed Matthew Stafford, and Carolina’s use of the play action. Without further ado, let’s dive into these three plays from Week 15.
Pittsburgh-New England
A late-game touchdown and two-point conversion, led by none other than Tom Brady, put the Patriots in a position to play decent defense to win the game. After a huge catch-and-run (and many missed tackles) JuJu Smith-Schuster put the Steelers in position to at least tie the game. A correct call on a questionable rule stripped tight end Jesse James of a game-winning touchdown.
After the call was reversed, Mike Tomlin did his best Pete Carroll impression and ran a slant towards the inside of the end zone. While the rest of the play-calling would normally have gotten a touchdown on the fake spike, cornerback Eric Rowe tipped the pass for a Duron Harmon game-sealing interception.
Matthew Stafford’s Bomb
At least once a season Matthew Stafford finds a way to impress me. This season it was on a deep ball that looked 1000% intercepted by the Chicago Bears. While some of the impressiveness came from Marvin Jones timing a jump and catch perfectly, Stafford displayed some athleticism too.
Stafford quickly had his pocket collapse and was flushed outside. The Lions quarterback was able to remain composed and buy himself time. Just outside the numbers, Stafford was able to get his feet set, and throw to space to let Jones run underneath and make a play. Sometimes putting up a jump-ball like that is the best thing a quarterback can do for athletic receivers and for momentum from the crowd. Marvin Jones’ impressive timing and ability to high-point the ball is what electrified the crowd and gave Detroit a big emotional bump.
Carolina’s Use of Option-Play-Action
Cam Newton is easily the biggest triple-threat in the NFL, and the Panthers use that effectively in their offense. Carolina can run the option like no one else, which opens up another section of the passing playbook, option-play-action passes. Ron Rivera effectively used one such pass against the Packers this past week.
Newton faked a read-option to rookie RB Christian McCaffrey, and the Green Bay front-seven absolutely bit on the play. Newton had a free pass to tight end Greg Olsen who had about eight yards of room. Most entertaining though was Olsen grabbing the pass with one hand and taking off for a first down.
Tune in to next week’s Coach’s Corner for some exciting plays from the holiday weekend.