FILM ROOM: Tyler's Play of the Week - NFL Week 5, 2024

By Tyler Arthur

Welcome to the first instalment of my Play of the Week series. I am going to deep dive one snap from every week of the NFL season, to try and bring you an inside look at what happened on my favourite play of that weekend’s games.

There is no set formula for what would make a play the best; it could be fascinating from an X’s and O’s perspective, it could be an exceptional piece of play design or just amazing execution from an individual player.

The one thing that every play will have in common, however – it will be awesome.

Let’s take a look at my Play of the Week for Week 5 of the 2024 NFL season.

Ja'Marr Chase 70-yard TD Reception - Cincinnati Bengals vs Baltimore Ravens

For the second time in a row, we’re looking at an explosive play that started (and ended) a drive in epic fashion…

This, however, was a big play that wasn’t designed to go for 70 yards, which makes it even more interesting to break down.

As you can see, this isn’t your typical big-play touchdown. In fact, Ja’Marr Chase is one of a very short list of players who even have the chance to break this off for a gain like this. However, while the Chase factor is obviously a big part of this play, and we’ll get to that in the ‘execution’ section later, this is still a fantastically designed play, too.

And, it all starts with the pre-snap motion.

The Set-Up

The Bengals come out to start the drive in an empty set, with running back Chase Brown switching his usual place in the backfield for a wide alignment towards the boundary, the two Cincinnati superstar receivers Chase and Tee Higgins are stacked together on the same side, and there are two more receivers to the field side.

Prior to the snap, Burrow motions Chase across the formation to go and line up as the 3 receiver (the one nearest the centre) to the right side.

This motion is absolutely key. If the offense came and lined up in Empty Trips Right, the defense could have lined up differently and ruined the alignment for the WR screen. By motioning the screen receiver from left to right, they force a defender to work from inside out instead of reacting from a heads-up position lined up right in front of him.

If you watch the clip again and focus on linebacker Roquan Smith, you can see that he does slightly reposition to keep an eye on Chase, but he is nowhere near close enough to make an actual play on the ball. It’s not clear whether the play call was supposed to be man coverage or they just had a man-alignment and were planning on dropping out, but either way, Smith wasn’t in a position to impact the screen at all. Ja’Marr is 2 yards further outside and much faster to begin with.

One final very crucial thing about this set up: the two receivers to the right side, where Chase motions over to, are both tight ends… Drew Sample and Eric All Jr. are lined up outside, primed to block the hell out of their respective defensive backs. If Cincinnati came and lined up in Empty Trips right immediately with two tight ends lined up next to the best wide receiver on the team, alarm bells would have undoubtedly started ringing and Baltimore would have probably expected a screen.

This motion and alignment for the opening play of this drive are incredibly important in setting up this picture-perfect results, but now let’s look at why it worked out so perfectly on paper.

The X's & O's

Nothing complicated, nothing fancy. Just a pre-snap shift and a well-executed WR screen.

This play design is very similar to the increasingly popular Bubble Screen that everyone is running in the NFL at the moment to give their superstar players manufactured touches behind the line of scrimmage, allowing them to get yards after the catch. What makes it different, though, is that they put Ja’Marr on a flat route instead, running toward to the line of scrimmage rather than starting backwards and giving himself more work to do before he gets back to where the ball started.

The best thing about running the flat screen over a bubble screen is that it significantly increases both the safety of the receiver and the football – with the WR in between the ball and the defenders, even a perfect jump from a defensive back won’t give them a play on the ball.

Plus, it also gives the two blocking receivers (or in this case, two tight ends) two different possible ways to spring the play, they can block inside out and create a lane through the middle, or they can both block down and send him outside to the sideline.

On this occasion, they opened up the gap in the middle, and Chase expertly navigated the hole to burst through before Roquan Smith had any chance to make a play.

The Ravens brought a five-man rush on this play, but they had absolutely no time to affect Burrow, who was throwing the ball instantly after he received the shotgun snap, meaning nobody could react before the ball was in his receivers hands.

Execution

As I said earlier, there aren’t many players who could have turned this play into a 70-yard touchdown, but Ja’Marr Chase did just that, thanks to a combination of his incredible athleticism and his beautifully carved run between his two blockers.

When Chase catches this ball he’s facing the quarterback with his body mid-turn. However, by the time he’s gathered the ball he has already squared his hips to the line of scrimmage and is instantly reading his blocks. As soon as he’s got his feet under him, he accelerated lightning fast through the gap made by Drew Sample and Eric All Jr..

What a play.

Not only was this a great call and simple but incredibly effective play design, it also showcased the sheer talent of one of the best young receivers in the game. X’s and O’s are important and the chess game is the thing that made me fell in love with this sport in the first place. That being said, though, sometimes you have to step back and just applause a player making an explosive play out of nothing. And I’m doing just that this week, by naming this satisfying touchdown my Play of the Week.

Tyler discovered American Football when he went to university and became obsessed with it. Since then he has played, watched and written about it, while on a mission to attain as much knowledge (and win as many fantasy football championships) as possible.

He currently plays Wide Receiver for the Northants Knights.

Tyler loves nothing more than watching the All-22 to break down the film and teach people about the sport he loves.