FILM ROOM: Tyler's Play of the Week - NFL Week 7, 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 7 of the 2024 NFL season.
Saquon Barkley, 55 Yard Rush - Philadelphia Eagles @ New York Giants
Did somebody say revenge game?
When I was watching Redzone on Sunday, there seemed to be an endless stream of highlights from one man popping up every 20 minutes or so. That highlight reel came courtesy of Saquon Barkley, as he left his fingerprints all over an undoubtedly satisfying win on the road against his old team at MetLife Stadium.
After all, it would take a pretty special performance to encourage me to choose my first ever Play of the Week that isn’t a touchdown… And that isn’t a passing play.
Alright then, let’s take a look at what happens when you let the best player your franchise has drafted for years walk away for free to one of your arch-rivals in the division.
Now, yes, a few years ago Saquon might have been odds-on to make that play a house-call, but I won’t have anything bad said about a 27-year-old American Football player who isn’t very fast – for personal reasons. That being said, it was still a beautiful run, behind some beautiful blocking, worth a breakdown.
So, let’s jump into said breakdown.
Pre-Snap Look
The Eagles came out in the Shotgun here on 2nd and 10, with a Wide Trips Bunch formation, and Saquon lined up on the Strong Side.
This Strong Trips look to the field side lured the defensive strength across to the offense’s right. This formation is very deliberate, to pull the defense out of position, and open up the left side for Saquon to exploit.
When NFL teams see a bunch, the first thing they look out for is a WR screen, it can either come in the form of a smoke screen to the 1 receiver with 2 and 3 blocking, or it can be a bubble screen to the 3 receiver with 1 and 2 blocking. The threat of this quick hitting screen forces the outside linebacker to widen himself. As soon as the QB shows any intention to throw that screen, his job is to immediately break outside to rally for a tackle, evening the numbers in a 3 vs 3.
You can also see that the single-high free safety has positioned himself a good two or three yards outside the field-side hash mark, overlooking the bunch, to provide support over the top, Once again, this is another defender who won’t be able to make it to the point of attack when Saquon runs the ball outside to the left.
If New York hadn’t made the adjustments they did, and just had a balanced two-high look, for example, they could have thrown the Bubble screen.
The X's & O's
As you can see here, the defense put a lot of its resources into stopping the bunch from winning that numbers game with either a quick screen or a deeper passing concept.
The Giants match up to this lopsided formation with a split-field coverage. They’re in a Cover 6 shell over the top but with man principles at the snap. This means when the play starts, the defense is keyed in on the quick throw or run, but if it’s a longer-developing pass play, they still have their deep zones covered. Boundary-side safety Tyler Nubin and cornerback Deonte Banks have a Cover 4 Quarters setup, while Jason Pinnock is outside the left hash sitting over the top in a deep half that you’d usually see in a Cover 2 (Cover 2 + Cover 4 = Cover 6).
Nubin is sitting very intentionally in the slant window, to prevent A.J Brown from tearing the defense in half on an RPO, and both he and Banks are essentially playing double-X man coverage at the snap, until they’re shown a reason to drop back deeper.
So, how did the Eagles design this beautiful run which made all of that pointless?
This is a fantastic play call, with a lovely blocking scheme, unleashing centre Cam Jurgens outside on the pull, while the sole boundary-side receiver crack blocks down to wash the strong safety inside. This combination means that Jurgens gets to block a cornerback one-on-one. Easy.
Quarterback Jalen Hurts doesn’t even have to look at the bubble screen to his right, as the defensive alignments play perfectly into this design.
The most likely breaking point that could have limited this play (or at least put someone in a position to do so) would have been a more aggressive force responsibility from Azeez Ojulari, who is the defensive end to the side of the run. If he had beaten the left tackle to the outside, the pulling centre would have had to block him, and the cornerback would have had an opportunity to make a play. Admittedly this would have involved tackling Saquon in the open field, but that would have been more likely than him avoiding a block from Jurgens with a head of steam.
What ended up working out perfectly is that the Giants had flipped the usual responsibilities of Ojulari and Nubin, so the safety had the D gap (outside) responsibility, and the defensive end was aggressive inside. This made AJ Brown’s crack block even more powerful, and set the offensive line up to wash everything down while their pulling centre went to work.
Execution
This play was so satisfying. The first few times I watched the film back, I simply found myself watching the center – and don’t get me wrong, that never gets old. But, when you get past this block, which is the most exciting, you realise that this design is much more than that.
We’ve already highlighted the inside-out combo of Jurgens’ pull and Brown’s crack block, but the other four offensive linemen had plenty of work to set that up. This is not an easily schemed run, requiring three very difficult blocks.
The most difficult block is that of the right guard, #56 Tyler Steen, who has to reach all the way to #41 who is shaded to the inside of the opposite guard at five yards of depth. This requires you to be incredibly fast, and disciplined to avoid a holding penalty if he starts scraping before you can get your hands on him. The second reach block is the left tackle (on the right from this perspective), Fred Johnson. He has to ensure that he’s able to wash down Ojulari so that there’s no traffic in front of the pulling Centre. Finally, Lane Johnson has to essentially block two people on his own, one of which is lined up in a 5 technique just inside his leverage, and one that’s in a 7 technique outside. He doesn’t have to block them for very long because Saquon is running away from him, but it’s still a key assignment, because the guard next to him doesn’t have time to hand off the 5 tech – he’s just sprinting off the line to get his own man.
With that break down in mind, watch this beautiful rep.
This is what offensive linemen dream of when they go to sleep on a Saturday night before a game, this really is a perfectly blocked run. All five offensive linemen do their job and
Like I said earlier, it takes a pretty special play for me to want to break down a run instead of a pass – especially one that doesn’t finish in the endzone – but Saquon deserved his flowers after several mouthwatering runs on his way to a 176-yard game on the ground, with a touchdown to cap it off. This was a gorgeous run and a deserving first entry of its kind to my Play of the Week series.
Tyler Arthur
NFL Film and Prospect Analyst
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.