12 men on the field
Then, I broke down Trubisky’s OT pass. Vintage Rodgers...
It’s overtime in Baltimore, and the Chicago Bears are nearing the end of an epic meltdown. The Bears are self destructing, and all we can do is expect the worst. Fortunately for us, Mitchell Trubisky was just licking his chops.
It’s 3rd and 11 at the Ravens 41 yard line, and it’s no where near field goal range for Connor Barth. It’s up to Trubisky to make a play against a tough defense with a great secondary. To add to the difficulty level, it’s an obvious passing situation. Big advantage to the Baltimore defense.
Trubisky is in the shotgun with Jordan Howard to his right. Center Cody Whitehair points in the left direction, indicating where the protection needs to go. The bears have 4 receivers set, going up against press man to man coverage across the board, with one deep safety in Tony Jefferson. From top to bottom, it’s Tre McBride (yellow)
across from CB Justin Smith, Kendall Wright (red) across from CB Lardarius Webb, Zach Miller (blue) across from safety Eric Weddle, and Tanner Gentry (black) across from CB Brandon Carr.
The Ravens have 6 defenders line up at the line of scrimmage. From left to right, you have Massie protecting the edge against #55 Suggs. You have Kyle Long responsible for #97 defensive tackle Pierce. #41 A LB/S hybrid Levine is lined up in the gap between Long and Whitehair as a potential free blitzer, that is Jordan Howard’s responsibility. Whitehair is taking on #57 LB CJ Mosley. Sitton has #90 Zadarius Smith, and Leno has to deal with #99 LB Matt Judon.
Right before the snap, Leno taps on Sitton to point out a potential blitz from Eric Weddle. Sitton turns to Trubisky and relays the information.
As the ball is snapped, Kyle Long stumbles coming out of his stance. He loses his balance and almost falls on his ass.
The Ravens send 5 defenders at Trubisky. Terrell Suggs does not release. Instead, he stays on the perimeter as a spy on Trubisky strictly in case he tries to scramble. The left side of the line holds up, and Howard picks up the lb/s blitzer Levine. Unfortunately, because he lost his balance initially, Long let’s Pierce get past him. By the time Long regains his balance, it’s already too late.
This is not the first time Long gets beat badly in this particular game. On the Trubisky touchdown pass, DT Wormley made Long look very foolish...
Long Wormley #1
Long Wormley #2
To avoid the immediate pressure from Pierce, Trubisky steps up in the pocket. Unfortunately, as he steps up, Zadarius Smith bull rushes Sitton right into him. This forces Trubisky to move again laterally out of the pocket entirely.
Amidst all of this chaos and confusion, Trubisky somehow manages to keep his eyes downfield looking to throw.
As Trubisky runs out of the pocket, he is met by another wall right in front of him. He realizes that time is up, and he decides to fire. Here is what Trubisky sees at that exact moment. Mcbride (yellow) and Miller (blue) are completely covered on the left side of the field, and Gentry’s (black) route has not even materialized yet. He notices that Wright (red) has inside positioning on his man, and that’s where he goes.
Now, because Trubisky has the backs of two of his linemen and 2 defenders right in front of him, he has no room to step up and throw. So instead he improvises by throwing the ball much like another great UNC alum, Michael Jordan, and releases what resembles a fade away jumper. This pass was all arm, and it even looked as if he short armed it to get it out even quicker.
Here’s a look at what is going on as Trubisky releases the ball. The cornerback Webb actually recovers somewhat and gains ground on Wright. Also, the Gentry route has finally materialized. He actually ran a great route on this play and buckled CB Brandon Carr’s knees as he broke to the inside. If this particular play was not ruined by the immediate pressure from Pierce, this could have possibly been a touchdown to Gentry with all that space in front of him.
When Trubisky releases the ball, it looks as though he floats it up there. It doesn’t look very pretty. Some of it is due to the fact that he is falling backward. But he also has to get it over the line without it getting deflected. And the trajectory of the pass made it impossible for the defender to make a play on the ball. This is absolutely key because of the fact that Webb did recover and was right on Wright as the pass was in the air.
Real time tv clip of the play...
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Real time All-22 clip of the play...
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Angle #2
