 THE ATLANTA GAME: ANATOMY OF A DRIVE, BY FAST
EDDIE (Sept 29) |
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17 plays... 10 minutes and
13 seconds. The fireworks that were to come were very exciting and very fun for all of
us... but it was that masterful opening drive that set the stage, established the
momentum, and inspired the adjustments to a very formidable Falcon defense, that would
make the 2nd quarter explosion possible. I don't know if you can appreciate what was going on throughout those 17 plays... the continuity that was scripted into the gameplan...except by looking at that drive under a microscope... it transcends all the talk about the Rams awesome stable of weapons, the great performances by the skilled players, and the gamesmanship by and beautiful deep balls by Kurt Warner... this is MIKE MARTZ... 1st down and 10 from around the Rams 25 after the opening kickoff return by Tony Horne... Tom Nutten is beaten badly in pass protection allowing instant pressure, but Warner releases the ball very quickly to his first read... Torry Holt nine yards up the right sideline. 2nd and 1. Holcombe runs a quick hitting counter play to the weak side on the right. Fred Miller handles two guys on the right end without the aid of a tight end and this frees Timmerman to get up the field and take out a linebacker and spring Holc. for a nine yard gain. Remember this play. 1st and 10. Freddie Miller whifs on his man and Faulk is caught in the backfield for a loss of two. 2nd and 12. Bruce comes in motion to the left and avoids the jam, he just runs out into the flat and curls and Warner has the ball there on his first read before Buchanan can come up. 3rd and 1. Marshall Faulk easily picks up the first down on the same counter play. Once again it's run to the right side, but this time it is the strong side as well---Miller blocks down alongside Timmerman to the inside and Roland Williams does a good job of sealing off the outside linebacker on the top. 1st and 10. Faulk in motion, screen pass to the strong side. Roland Williams releases upfield forcing the strong safety to take the initial step back, leaving Faulk time to make the catch. 2nd and 7. Now it starts to get really good. Watch the shift on this play. They come to the line with one WR split to either side, two H-backs flanking the QB and Faulk as the lone setback. Before the ball is snapped they will have trips left and Faulk in the slot on the right side with an empty backfield! The two H-backs who are actually the 3rd and 4th WR, slide down to the left in unison, overloading that side and giving Faulk single coverage when he comes up to the line on the other side of the field. Faulk does a quick hook in the flat and Timmerman pulls to pickup the linebacker for a 5 yard gain. Already we see what makes Faulk such an outstanding receiver out of the backfield. He never catches the ball without his body turned parallel to the defender and the line of scrimmage. When his feet hit the ground and he is facing a safety or linebacker one on one, he is immediately in position to make the initial cut and break that tackle. 3rd and 2. Here is a variation of the same set with trips left, empty backfield, and Faulk in the slot. This time, Bruce comes in motion and there is a quick snap, reverse handoff. Faulk traps the LB at the line of scrimmage and Timmerman pulls so quickly that he's leading Bruce down the field picking off defensive backs like flies on the windshield. 11 yards and it would have been more if Ike hadn't gotten caught between his lead blocker and the sideline. 1st and 10. Back to the I, but this time it's Holcombe set deep. Faulk makes a great cut block on Archambeau at the line, but the play doesn't work because Nutten stumbles in the backfield trying to pull and lead the fullback sweep to the right. Actually Holcombe's not even playing fullback on this play---he took the handoff from the tailback position. This is the versatility they have with Holcombe (and Faulk). 2nd and 10. Holcombe is the single back with Roland Williams offset at H-back. Simultaneously, Williams steps forward into a standard TE set and Holcombe slides over to H-back lined up behind him. Williams releases straight down the center of the field, and Holcombe slides right into the flat and is wide open in the space cleared out by Roland. Williams' pattern actually opened up two guys on this play as the left cornerback bit on Warner's pump fake and cheated up on Williams, leaving Ricky Proehl wide open on the deep slant in the end zone. Warner saw Holcombe and he saw the coverage collapsing on Williams and he went for the deep route to Proehl... who dropped it of course. Great job by the line---this is the first time they've had to block past the first read, and Warner's pocket lasted forver. Should have been 6. 3rd and 10. 4 wide, Faulk single back stays in to block, but the pressure never comes. Falcons drop everyone into coverage and they get no rush with 4 men. Warner has days. Bruce is the first read, but he stumbles off the line. Warner looks at two more guys downfield before coming back to Ike who has seperated from Buchanan in man coverage. 1st down of course. Anytime Warner has this much time to look for Bruce in single coverage it will be a first down. Write that down Kurt:) 1st and 10. Rams run the counter play to Faulk once again. This time he's the lone back. This is not an accident and it isn't Marshall Faulk reading the field in a split second, this is the rushing gameplan. The entire offensive line is trap blocking against the pursuit and obviously the plays are designed to work this way. Mike Martz scripts these plays and what he saw was Carter and Brooking cheating to the point of attack. They were counting on Keith Brooking cheating out of the hole and he obliged every time. 2nd and 2. Straight up I formation. The Rams finally play this one straight, running Faulk behind Holcombe's lead to the left side with the Falcon LBs expecting the cutback again. Nutten and Gruttadauria do a great job of driving Hall out of the play and Holcombe levels Tuggle at the line of scrimmage. But Orlando Pace could not seal off Chuck Smith on the top side or this may have been 6 points. It goes for just a yard. 3rd and 1. Same play, but this time they slip it to the lead back Holcombe who runs the counter. The Falcons are finally wise to this stuff and Crockett hits him at the line of scrimmage. Holcombe puts his head down and powers for the first down. I'll take him in most matchups with a linebacker. He runs too low to keep him from that yard. 1st and Goal from the 9. Two tight end set with Faulk the single back. Robinson is split just wide on the right side and Williams comes in motion and settles down in the hole between Robinson and Miller, overloading the right side. Robinson cuts straight across the field, freezing Tuggle and giving Williams single coverage with Brooking on his outside shoulder. Warner puts it right where he has to and this is a touchdown. But they mark it at the 1. 2nd and Goal from the 1. Short yardage goalline formation with 3 TEs and an I backfield. Holcombe leads the sweep to the right and Timmerman pulls. The blocking is there, but the play takes too long to develop against the Falcons linebackers who are very fast. Faulk is stopped short. 3rd and goal from the 1. OK, crunchtime and now it gets real cool:) 3 TEs again and this time Faulk goes in motion wide to the right side, leaving Holcombe alone in the backfield. Robinson runs in motion to the left and settles down outside of Williams and Pace, stacking the point of attack with 2 TEs. Meanwhile, the 3rd TE (yes that's Ryan Tucker!) takes two steps to the right, pulling the two safeties, Carter and Robinson, out into no-man's land... it's a goalline set and the safeties are way out on the weak side covering an OFFENSIVE LINEMAN:) Holcombe drives it in over the strong left side with Nutten pulling once again and making a nice block on the outside linebacker. TOUCHDOWN! 10 minutes and 13 seconds. Somehow I don't remember Jerry Rhome doing any of this stuff! Look at the sets and the motion... especially the movement involving the tight ends and the fullback. That's what created confusion and put a very good defense on its heels initially and would later bring the safeties up to compensate, leaving our speedsters in man coverage down the field and opening up the D for the Rams second quarter explosion. The key here is that comparing what Jerry Rhome was doing last year to what Mike Martz is doing this year is like comparing apples and oranges... or a blind man to one who can see. |
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