The Passing Chronicles: Doubs TD off a Constraint (aka, Shield Return)

Last week we got to look at a really fun play: a ricochet TD to Romeo Doubs off an RPO with the Shield tag. This week we get to see the counter to that play. I love it when a plan comes together.

The main difference between these plays is that the TD against the Broncos came off an RPO, while this is a straight pass call. So let’s dig in.

We’re looking at the call itself and the responsibilities. As a reminder, this is how the Packers structure their calls:

1. Motion/Shift
2. Formation & Strength
3. Formation Variation
4. Motion
5. Run Concept or Pass Pro
6. Pass Concept

Playcall: Shift Gun Crush RT Z RT 365 Shield Return

Motion/Shift: Shift

Just the initial wording to let everyone know that a shift call is included in the call.

Formation & Strength: Gun Crush RT

This is the same formation we saw last week, but flipped. Crush RT is a 1×3 formation, with the Y in-line as the lone receiver to the right and a bunch on the left.

Shift: Z RT

Informing the Z (Christian Watson [9]) in this case) that he is to shift to the right and end up in the same alignment he was on the other side: off the ball and 3 yards from the end of the line.

Pass Pro: 365

This is a 7 man slide protection. Against this goal line front, the offensive line is sliding away from the strong side of the formation, with the right tackle, right guard and center stepping up to engage the blocker, while the left tackle and left guard fall back into more of a traditional pass block set. The Y blocks the widest man on the line, while the H will pick up inside the Y, reading from the C-to-D gap.

Pass Concept: Shield Return

As I mentioned at the top, the pass concept of this play should look pretty similar to last week. Last week we looked at the Shield concept as an RPO tag: a tight, two-man concept consisting of a clear-out route and a slant behind it. 

When I went through this last week, I mentioned how it’s one of my favorite concepts in the low red zone because it’s so hard to defend. I talked about how one of the ways to defend against this kind of play would be for the defensive backs to play “Banjo”: that is, switch assignments. That’s what the Vikings are doing here, and this concept does a great job playing against that.

(As always, I used Dan Casey’s Play Caller’s Club book as a template for the above image. It’s a really fun book to mess around with.)

When Watson shifts to the right, the corners line up right next to each other over the stack of Jayden Reed [11] and Romeo Doubs [87]. This certainly feels like a, “You’ve been watching film, huh? That’s cool, watch this,” moment. The Packers had just run this last week, so the inside corner steps up and they’re looking to switch off receivers at the line.

That’s exactly what they do. Reed fires off the line and drags the outside corner into the end zone with him, while the inside corner looks to pick up Doubs on the Now Slant. Doubs takes a few small steps to the slant, then breaks back out into open space.

The outside corner falls off Reed and tries to pick up Doubs in the flat, but it’s already too late. The ball is out and the Packers pick up 6.

A really fun play, and a great counter to something they had shown only a week prior.

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If you want to go back through the rest of this series, I thought I’d gather all the links up here. Hope you’re learning half as much reading this as I am writing them.

Week 1: Gun Trio RT Open 2 Scat H Choice Buffalo
Week 2: Motion Sink LT Zoom Z Fly P19 Waggle Z Dagger
Week 3: Shift Gun Trips RT G Open H D 3 Scram Z Shot Bow
Week 4: Gun Dyno RT 2 Jet Coco Stitch
Week 5: Bunch LT FK 19 Keep LT
Week 6: Shift Crush LT Z Insert 12 Dos Shield

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Albums listened to: St. Vincent – All Born Screaming; Iron & Wine – Light Verse; Thom Yorke – Condidenza; Owen – The Falls of Sioux; Newmoon – Temporary Light