Play Action

[scs787]

A couple articles just kinda hit me here. In this first article it talks about how big the play action game is in a wide zone system. Last year the Bears ran the 2nd fewest play actions. Soooo it got me thinking,  how was Fields running the play action in college? Turns out he was one of best.... 

 

https://www.elevenwarriors.com/ohio-state-football/film-study/2020/06/114445/film-study-from-bootlegs-to-shots-downfield-justin-fields-was-one-of-the-nations-best-play-action?amp

 

Encouraging sign for his transition into the new offense. Also perhaps another point for the Nagy didn't properly use Fields argument.  

[jason]

This something numerous people brought up, and it goes back to before Fields even. But the retort is always something like, “Yeah, they’re NFL coaches and you’re not,” even though any fool can see and understand why play action would benefit a young, mobile QB. But these genius coaches think they’re smarter than the history of football, and that their system is the best.

[AZ54]

4 minutes ago, jason said:

This something numerous people brought up, and it goes back to before Fields even. But the retort is always something like, “Yeah, they’re NFL coaches and you’re not,” even though any fool can see and understand why play action would benefit a young, mobile QB. But these genius coaches think they’re smarter than the history of football, and that their system is the best.

I have been a proponent of this going back to Trubisky's days.  There is one caveat in that play action takes the QBs eyes off the defense.  To keep QBs looking forward I think coaches fell in love with the RPOs and it had initial success when it was new.  On those plays the QB has a simple read for a run/pass option to one side of the field but that is extremely limited in terms of what a defense must defend against.  Defenses adapted quickly as they always do and now nobody really cares about RPOs. 

Where RPOs force the action into a narrow window I feel like play action opens up the entire field and allows a good OC to take advantage of weaknesses or bad tendencies of specific players (susceptible to double cuts, LB with coverage issues, etc.) which create more opportunities for big plays.  You have to coach the QB how to interpret the defensive shifts that happen while his back is turned, and he also has to read the rush package properly and be in sync with the Oline blocking assignments before the snap.  With athletic QBs like Trubisky and Fields you have options on moving the pocket, and hot reads if a guy blitzes to mitigate that.  I think all this takes more commitment and effort on the part of the players and coaches versus learning college-style RPOs but there's a reason it's lasted so long as an effective play call in the NFL.  It's going to be interesting to see this play out this year.  

[BearFan2000]

15 hours ago, AZ54 said:

I have been a proponent of this going back to Trubisky's days.  There is one caveat in that play action takes the QBs eyes off the defense.  To keep QBs looking forward I think coaches fell in love with the RPOs and it had initial success when it was new.  On those plays the QB has a simple read for a run/pass option to one side of the field but that is extremely limited in terms of what a defense must defend against.  Defenses adapted quickly as they always do and now nobody really cares about RPOs. 

Where RPOs force the action into a narrow window I feel like play action opens up the entire field and allows a good OC to take advantage of weaknesses or bad tendencies of specific players (susceptible to double cuts, LB with coverage issues, etc.) which create more opportunities for big plays.  You have to coach the QB how to interpret the defensive shifts that happen while his back is turned, and he also has to read the rush package properly and be in sync with the Oline blocking assignments before the snap.  With athletic QBs like Trubisky and Fields you have options on moving the pocket, and hot reads if a guy blitzes to mitigate that.  I think all this takes more commitment and effort on the part of the players and coaches versus learning college-style RPOs but there's a reason it's lasted so long as an effective play call in the NFL.  It's going to be interesting to see this play out this year.  

PA does take the QB's eyes off the defense but only for play action part of the play.  It's a very brief time.  I always found it crazy that under Nagy we hardly ever used play action even though our run game was having success and opponents didn't respect our passing game and were more often playing the run especially with Nagy's play calling being so predictable.  It's quite simple, if your run game is effective play action will be effective, but we didn't do that.  And play action is even more effective with a mobile QB like Justin.  Defense is closing down to stop the run, and have to react that the play is now a pass, but if they get back in coverage there's often lanes to run where Justin can pull it down and take off.  Under Nagy the league was playing chess and Nagy was playing checkers.  RPO's became the shiny new thing, but as you mentioned defenses adapted quickly and the RPOs aren't as effective anymore.   I want to see Getsy install a real NFL offense tailored to our players.  One that actually does the smart thing rather than being an OC who think's he's smarter than everyone else.  There's nothing out there that NFL defenses haven't seen, you just need to be flexible and be able to attack defenses in different ways and adjust in game.

[adam]

I thought I saw something about Fields being one of the best QBs using play action last season as well, yet Nagy basically abandoned it because it was too close to running the ball.