NFL Matchup’s Executive Producer shares notes from his study of the coaching tape of Week 14: Eagles offense versus the Dolphins defense.
- Vick continues to play with a lack of the fundamental discipline that defines high level QB play – Consistent high level QB play is a craft that demands precision and repetitive execution
- RT Herremans has not played well over the last month, He has particularly struggled in pass protection
- What stood out immediately was Dolphins pressure concepts featured 3rd level defenders, corners and safeties
- What Vick still struggles with is his drop, Tendency to drift off the midline and move into pressure – That does 2 things: Increases difficulty of throws since there are more bodies around him, and also forces him to move and disrupt the timing of the pass game
Michael Vick (AP)
- Vick again exhibited tendency to read the rush, Can’t do that – Must feel the rush but never drop your eyes and see it
- Eagles OL struggled, A number of players had problems both run blocking and pass protecting
- C Kelce continued to struggle with odd fronts, when a DT was aligned directly over him
- As the game progressed the Dolphins matched up to Eagles base personnel with their base 3-4
- McCoy 26 yds off throw back pass was a well designed play, It was misdirection and deception off play action boot
- McCoy 1 yd TD featured 6 OL, 2 TE and 2 RB – Commitment to run in the tight red zone
- Dolphins very cool concept on S Jones deep red zone sack in the 2nd quarter: Overload blitz out of nickel with Jones and Bell coming off the edge, 5 man rush with “man free” behind it – LB Dansby was the single deep safety
- Dolphins DL did a lot of moving right at the snap of the ball, Caused a lot of problems for the Eagles OL – Too much quick penetration in the run game
- Jackson 34 yd TD was great design v. “cover 2”, Stretch run action out of “12” personnel, Jackson screaming at S Bell on the back side in a mismatch
- The interior 3 on the Eagles OL struggled in the run game, Kelce and Watkins particularly struggled
- Smith interception resulted from double edge blitz pressure out of nickel, Vick left the pocket and lost his downfield focus – A poor throw across his body
- Dolphins defensive foundation was pressure from all levels and predominant man coverage concepts ; Miami challenged them with pressure and coverage and for the most won
Koa Misi blocks a pass thrown by Michael Vick (AP)
- Vick tendency to move up in the pocket into pressure, Leaves some throws on the field because of that
- Eagles have tendency to call too many shot plays in pass game, Not enough sustaining plays with shorter drops and quicker defined throws
- One play in the 4th quarter was a snapshot of Vick, 3rd + 11 with 9:23 remaining: Vick with no pressure never planted his back foot, He broke down immediately; Cooper wide open on 12 yd in-breaker but Vick had already left the pocket – Play ended with Vick taking a needless vicious hit
- Overall the Eagles offense made a few plays but was inconsistent and erratic, They were overmatched in the run game – McCoy needs space, Not a power runner that grinds out yards
Later today…the rest of Greg’s notes on Phila vs. Miami: The Eagles defense against the Dolphins offense.