Anatomy of a Play : WK16 Weems TD at Saints

Anatomy of a play : Wk16 Weems TD at Saints

Dirk Koetter calls up a good one in the red zone giving the Falcons a lead they will not relinquish

1^st & Goal, 0:08 left in the half

Atlanta send in one-back personnel and line-up in the shotgun with TE Toilolo (#80) split out to the right. They line-up receiver Weems (#14) in a slot back position behind left tackle with Douglas (#83) and White (#84) out left with White in the slot at the line of scrimmage. Julio is on the sidelines, so their biggest endzone target is Toilolo at 6’7

The Toilolo split declares the Falcons going with only 5 blockers and helps ensure the Saints go man-to-man. The two corners line-up on Douglas and White, the weakside safety or the MIKE are man-to-man on Weems with the Strong Safety deep enough to show coverage duties on the strongside not run support/blitz.

Upon the snap, Freeman (#24) heads immediately out into a catching route in the flat with Ryan (#2) showing rollout towards Freeman and Toilolo as what appears to be reads 1 and 2.

This is great misdirection as this clears out the SAM and Safety into coverage as the corner moves up and wide to get over to Freeman. Two key elements to note here – a fantastic block from Ryan Schraeder at right tackle who takes out the MIKE and an inside stunt from Douglas behind White holding the weakside safety in place as Weems cuts back behind the line of scrimmage.

With Weems inside the shovel pass is sent from Ryan. There are some great seal-off blocks ahead of Weems from Blalock (#63) and Carimi (#68). With James Stone and Jake Matthews double teaming Cameron Jordan (#94) this does offer a potential opportunity for Junior Galette (#93) to make a play.

Fortunately Weems just has the speed to get past Gallett, Schraeder maintains his fantastic block on the MIKE and Douglas’ route has held off the weakside safety just enough for Weems to have a free path to the endzone

TD Weems and 13-7 going into half-time