The Opening Drive 12/10: Revisiting That Miserable Two-Point Play
It was so bad it looked humorous, but on rewatch you can see the concept.
As the Browns culminated their comeback Sunday against the Titans, they needed to find a way to tie the game late. After botching the quarterback-center exchange on the first attempt earlier in the 4th quarter, they needed to turn to a scheme that would get them the two points and tie the game late. They turned to a the “wildcat” formation that had worked well for them throughout the year, but the scheme blew up. I paid close attention to how and why the scheme blew up in the way it did.
Kevin Stefanski spoke about the play and decision following the game. “Yeah, during the week, you talk about two-point plays in total, plays that you like in those moments. And obviously the first one, we didn’t get off exactly how we wanted to. Second one didn’t get off how we wanted to.”
Stefanski also spoke on Monday about the play, and how it resulted in Quinshon Judkins throwing a late cross-field panic throw after what appeared to be a failed reverse exchange with receiver Gage Larvadain. “Listen, when you come up short like you do, you think about everything and what you could do differently.” Stefanski continued: “Obviously, when you get in those moments you have the calls ready to roll and plays that you’ve talked about pre-game and throughout the week. There are going to be times where you want a call back. There’ll be times where you have success, and it didn’t come off exactly how you wanted it, but bottom line is, we came up short in both those tries. And that’s where I have to look at it and say, are there things that we can do better? And that’s my job, to look at it constantly.”
What perplexed me was how a player of Judkins quality could just forget to hand the ball off on a reverse — its the primary role of the play. But when you dig deeper, the answer for the blunder is obvious.
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The Browns basically run two formations when it comes to their “Wildcat” package of plays. The will run it most often with three tight ends, or two with an extra offensive lineman. The will use the tight wing formation for the tight end to get good angles on same-side runs or for those power/counter schemes pulling guards to the opposite side,
The Browns tried this look in their first wildcat run of the game Sunday on the goal line but the Titans blew up the run by destroying the down blocks and making a hit on Judkins in the backfield. So that result ruled-out a return to this look.
They will also throw out a more balanced look where they occasionally use a tight end in the backfield for lead blocking. Against the Raiders they also used the wide receiver to sell the JET sweep possibility. It was the first time I noticed that usage this year.
So, that takes us to Sunday’s second attempt with the formation. You will see the tight end in the backfield again and they tweak things some. The backfield tight end will go opposite Judkins run side and it appears he’s blocking for the reverse. But watch Judkins’ helmet/eyes. He’s reading that cornerback covering Larvadain.
If that cornerback travels with Larvadain over the top of the defense to meet him on the other side, Judkins can keep the ball and race to the pylon without a contain defender. If the cornerback squats, then he hands it off on the reverse. The problem is that the corner starts to travel with Larvadain and then squats at the last second. That momentary move causes confusion for Judkins and by the time he realizes the cornerback is staying home, it’s too late when he turns back to hand it off.
It’s possible Judkins made that decision all on his own to read the cornerback, and I started to question that based on the reaction of his teammates. But I don’t think Judkins would act on his own like that. He follows scheme and does his job.
Larvadain confirmed this after the game in the locker room when asked about the play. “Why y’all keep saying (RB) Quinshon (Judkins) was supposed to pitch it, y’all know something I don’t? Nah, we called a play and he tried to make a play. He’s arguably the best player on our offense, you know what I’m saying? So he did what he was supposed to and tried and make a play.”
While we can never totally be certain without the call sheet, my football experience and looking at how the process of that play ordinarily works tells us a pretty clear story. It’s a bummer it couldn’t all come together and look as clean as it could have. The play was set up quite well.
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Great review of what happened on the play. To me, that just begs the question about how smart it was to ask a rookie RB to run a read option play like that? Even with "practicing" it during the week, it seems like a lot to ask of Judkins to make that read, where the timing has to be perfect to have a chance.