kerouac9
Klowned by Keim
Hello, all. It’s a lot more fun watching these tapes in the week following a win than (I imagine) the week following a loss. This week, I’d like to focus on the eight sacks that Kevin Kolb received, as well as a couple of the tackles for loss in clear run-down situations with Ryan Williams—not so much to assign blame (although I’m sure I won’t be able to help myself), but to figure out of Bobby Massie to a huge step backward on Sunday, or if something else was going on.
Let me preface these remarks by saying that this idea that Kolb wasn’t productive for the first half because he was getting sacked over and over is hokum. Kolb was sacked 3 times in the first three quarters of the game, and every time it was not in an obvious passing formation except because the Cards telegraphed “pass” by formation.
Also, Ryan Williams only had 1 negative run in this game. Most of his runs were really productive, and kept the Cards out of obvious passing situations. I’m sure that some of the abandonment of the running game is because we only had one NFL-quality back, and he’s continuing a recovery from a serious injury, and half of an NFL-quality tight end, but we should’ve either signed a back who actually could play and dumped WiPo, or just kept feeding Ryan Williams the ball.
1Q 3-6-MIA 35 (10:54) (Shotgun) 4-K.Kolb sacked at MIA 42 for -7 yards (91-C.Wake).
Offense lines up 1RB/4WR on narrow splits. Fitz and Floyd on the right, Doucet and Roberts on the left.
Miami has four down linemen and two safeties deep. RB (William Powell—WHY???) is on Kolb’s left.
Roberts motions across the formation to outside of Fitz. Floyd is on very narrow split.
Miami shows blitz with 6 men on the line of scrimmage.
Floyd then motions outside of Roberts. LCB is pressed on Doucet.
Five man rush with one linebacker jumping out to cover Floyd. Both safeties drop into deep coverage, man underneath.
There doesn’t seem to be a hot route on the play. Kolb definitely had time to get rid of the ball, but takes the sack instead. Counting the RB, there’s six blockers to block five rushers.
Sendlein blocks no one at all. WiPo gets a body on the blitzing linebacker. There is a pocket to step up into. Kolb instead chooses to continue to back up and gets sacked.
Batiste gets himself turned around and doesn’t do a good job getting inside of Wake’s frame.
The first down is probably not available, but there was room for positive yardage.
2Q 3-6-ARI 35 (10:30) (Shotgun) 4-K.Kolb sacked at ARI 28 for -7 yards (91-C.Wake).
Cards line up in 2TE/3 WR personnel with everyone split out. King’s alone on the right, Housler, Roberts, Fitz, and Doucet split left.
Miami has three down linemen and one safety deep on the WR side of the field. Six men in the box.
Fitz motions into the backfield on Kolb’s right at the snap.
Three man rush and Massie is just destroyed off the snap. Kolb does have a good pocket to step up into, because there’re only two more rushers.
It looks to be a kind of screen pass. King jumps out and looks to engage Dansby, and Fitz runs into the flat behind him. Doucet and Housler cross within 5 yards of the LOS with Doucet running a 3-yard cross and Housler running a deep in (10 yard depth). Roberts is running a comeback to the sticks.
This is the play where Kolb gets his foot caught on Wake, but escapes only after the refs blow the whistle.
Kolb is watching Fitz the entire way. If he takes two slide steps up and to the right, he can wait for all the routes to develop. That being said, Wake is just too quick for Bobbie Massie right now.
2Q 3-5-ARI 36 (6:27) (Shotgun) 4-K.Kolb sacked at ARI 27 for -9 yards (91-C.Wake).
Cards have 1TE (Housler)/1 RB (Powell again—this guy is a total waste of space). Fitz is in the backfield on Kolb’s right, WiPo on his left. Before the snap, Fitz motions into the right slot.
Miami has eight men in the box, press coverage on the outside WR and one safety very deep (15 yards deep of the LOS).
Five man rush with a linebacker blitzing from the left side. Everyone gets picked up, and Kolb has an escape route from the pocket right up the middle of the field.
Fitz runs a quick slant, but the safety didn’t blitz, so he’s bracketed in the middle of the field. The right side WR runs an in route at the sticks, and has separation. Housler might be running a post. Roberts on the other side seems to be going vertical.
Massie gets his hands on Wake and pushes him as much as he can, but he gets a little over-powered. Kolb feels the heat coming and instead of standing tall in the pocket or moving up, turns his back to the right side of the play and collapses. (See Exhibit A below)
3Q 1-10-ARI 3 (6:33) 34-R.Williams up the middle to ARI 1 for -2 yards (58-K.Dansby).
So… Obviously this is a dangerous situation. Cards line up in “Jumbo” formation—2RB/2TE—with Fitz split well onto the right side of the field.
Miami has 4 down linemen, 3 LBs, 2 safeties deep with one safety over the top of Fitz.
We’re lucky that this wasn’t a safety. Williams gets hit 4 yards into the backfield, and makes a great second effort to get back to the goal line.
The Miami NT slants to the left, which should open up the hole. But Sendlein can’t get his body on him, and he’s the guy who disrupts the play enough for Dansby to come in and finish the job.
Great second effort by Williams to prevent the single deuce.
4Q 2-10-ARI 42 (14:07) (Shotgun) 4-K.Kolb sacked at ARI 33 for -9 yards (58-K.Dansby).
Cards in 11 formation with Williams on Kolb’s right and Housler split on the left with Doucet. Fitz is split wide right with Roberts in the slot.
Miami has four down linemen in a WIDE split with four corners more or less in press and two VERY deep safeties. I’m unclear why we don’t run the ball here.
Five man rush with Dansby on a delayed blitz.
Roberts has immediate free release with outside leverage. The middle of the field is completely empty. Williams slides left in the pocket to block.
Roberts gives up his advantage by running a flag route to the inside, going from open to covered. Doucet is on a deep comeback, but is covered. This is more or less a four-verticals concept.
Ryan Williams blocks no one, and is looking back as Dansby comes in and cleans up Kolb. It’s possible that Williams was supposed to be the outlet receiver, and that Sendlein didn’t watch for the delayed blitz to pick up Dansby.
This play could’ve been BIG if Kolb had audibled to a run play.
4Q 3-19-ARI 33 (13:31) (Shotgun) 4-K.Kolb sacked at ARI 27 for -6 yards (91-C.Wake).
Cards are in 11 personnel again with Doucet by himself on the left, Williams in the backfield on Kolb’s left, Housler in the slot and Fitz on the outside.
Miami has 3 down linemen, 2 safeties 17 yards deep, 4 LBs.
Fitz motions into the formation, so it looks like it’s going to be a pick play.
Five man Miami rush with a deep blitzer on right side. Williams stays in to block.
Kolb continues to drop back from the shotgun snap—three BIG steps. That’s right where Massie had driven Wake—which is what he’s SUPPOSED TO DO.
Kolb’s 8 yards back from the LOS when Wake gets to him—don’t know what more Massie is supposed to do.
Ryan Williams does a good job of standing Karlos Dansby up in pass pro.
This is a dumb play design. No one’s open; I have no idea where Kolb is supposed to go with the ball, but the route tree doesn’t really develop.
4Q 1-15-ARI 15 (7:05) (Shotgun) 4-K.Kolb sacked at ARI 6 for -9 yards (98-J.Odrick).
Cards in 4WR/1RB with WiPo on Kolb’s right, Fitz split right, and 3 WR left.
Miami has 4 down linemen, 2 deep safeties, 6 men in the box.
Doucet motions into the backfield on Kolb’s left.
Fitz’s corner is in press coverage, with the two left cornerbacks in off-man.
Five-man rush, but there’s no free blitzer. The WR in the backfield runs a nifty wheel route (he must be subbing in for LSH), but he’s only at 5 yards depth. No other WR are open.
Kolb double-clutches on Doucet, and that’s what leads to the sack. Kolb has time to throw here.
4Q 1-10-ARI 49 (2:51) (Shotgun) 4-K.Kolb sacked at ARI 44 for -5 yards (55-K.Misi).
4WR/1RB personnel with WiPo(WHY!?!?!) on Kolb’s right. Fitz alone on the right, three WR left.
Miami four down linemen on a neat split—Wake is on Massie’s outside shoulder, the RDT head-up on Snyder, NT shading Sendlein’s left, and the LDE in a wide-9 (Exhibit B).
Outside corners playing press, 2 deep safeties, slot CB playing off-man.
Five man rush with the MLB as the fifth rusher.
Fitz runs a quick slant and can’t get off the press. Doucet runs a similar inside slant and finds the ROLB waiting for him. Roberts runs a deep in and has space, but the pocket is breaking down, and Floyd is running a comeback to the sticks.
Again, Kolb HAS a pocket to step up into. Doesn’t feel the rush coming at all. He has time, but this is another play where he makes his OTs look worse than they are. Bad Kolb.
4Q 2-15-ARI 44 (2:18) (Shotgun) 4-K.Kolb sacked at ARI 41 for -3 yards (sack split by 55-K.Misi and 91-C.Wake).
Cards line up in 4WR/1RB with WiPo in the backfield. Fitz is by himself on the left, the other 3 WR right.
Miami has four down linemen with one linebacker showing blitz. Fitz’s corner is playing off-man looking into the backfield, the other outside corner is playing trail technique, and the nickel corner is playing off-man. Two very deep safeties.
Five man rush with the LOLB on the blitz.
All four receivers get free release off the line. Slot WR runs a quick out at 3 yards. Other interior WR runs a deep in at 15 yards. The outside WR is WIDE open. Outside WRs both run verticals.
Kolb again takes steps back from the shotgun, and still has room to move up, but doesn’t until Misi has his hand on his back.
It doesn’t look like Kolb has time to throw, but that’s because he’s waiting to get sacked before anyone’s in their route. WiPo loses his helmet in pass pro and keeps blocking. Snyder gets a good punch on his man. This sack is on Kolb.
-----
My final analysis on this is that the book on Kolb is probably back out—if you pressure him, he’ll start to make some bad decisions. More blitzing in this series than I’d maybe seen in the last three games combined. Massie is going to look bad against Cameron Wake; I don’t know why you don’t protect him a little bit. To be fair, the personnel problems were such with injuries that there wasn’t much the Cards could do with tight ends and running backs to help him out.
Let me preface these remarks by saying that this idea that Kolb wasn’t productive for the first half because he was getting sacked over and over is hokum. Kolb was sacked 3 times in the first three quarters of the game, and every time it was not in an obvious passing formation except because the Cards telegraphed “pass” by formation.
Also, Ryan Williams only had 1 negative run in this game. Most of his runs were really productive, and kept the Cards out of obvious passing situations. I’m sure that some of the abandonment of the running game is because we only had one NFL-quality back, and he’s continuing a recovery from a serious injury, and half of an NFL-quality tight end, but we should’ve either signed a back who actually could play and dumped WiPo, or just kept feeding Ryan Williams the ball.
1Q 3-6-MIA 35 (10:54) (Shotgun) 4-K.Kolb sacked at MIA 42 for -7 yards (91-C.Wake).
Offense lines up 1RB/4WR on narrow splits. Fitz and Floyd on the right, Doucet and Roberts on the left.
Miami has four down linemen and two safeties deep. RB (William Powell—WHY???) is on Kolb’s left.
Roberts motions across the formation to outside of Fitz. Floyd is on very narrow split.
Miami shows blitz with 6 men on the line of scrimmage.
Floyd then motions outside of Roberts. LCB is pressed on Doucet.
Five man rush with one linebacker jumping out to cover Floyd. Both safeties drop into deep coverage, man underneath.
There doesn’t seem to be a hot route on the play. Kolb definitely had time to get rid of the ball, but takes the sack instead. Counting the RB, there’s six blockers to block five rushers.
Sendlein blocks no one at all. WiPo gets a body on the blitzing linebacker. There is a pocket to step up into. Kolb instead chooses to continue to back up and gets sacked.
Batiste gets himself turned around and doesn’t do a good job getting inside of Wake’s frame.
The first down is probably not available, but there was room for positive yardage.
2Q 3-6-ARI 35 (10:30) (Shotgun) 4-K.Kolb sacked at ARI 28 for -7 yards (91-C.Wake).
Cards line up in 2TE/3 WR personnel with everyone split out. King’s alone on the right, Housler, Roberts, Fitz, and Doucet split left.
Miami has three down linemen and one safety deep on the WR side of the field. Six men in the box.
Fitz motions into the backfield on Kolb’s right at the snap.
Three man rush and Massie is just destroyed off the snap. Kolb does have a good pocket to step up into, because there’re only two more rushers.
It looks to be a kind of screen pass. King jumps out and looks to engage Dansby, and Fitz runs into the flat behind him. Doucet and Housler cross within 5 yards of the LOS with Doucet running a 3-yard cross and Housler running a deep in (10 yard depth). Roberts is running a comeback to the sticks.
This is the play where Kolb gets his foot caught on Wake, but escapes only after the refs blow the whistle.
Kolb is watching Fitz the entire way. If he takes two slide steps up and to the right, he can wait for all the routes to develop. That being said, Wake is just too quick for Bobbie Massie right now.
2Q 3-5-ARI 36 (6:27) (Shotgun) 4-K.Kolb sacked at ARI 27 for -9 yards (91-C.Wake).
Cards have 1TE (Housler)/1 RB (Powell again—this guy is a total waste of space). Fitz is in the backfield on Kolb’s right, WiPo on his left. Before the snap, Fitz motions into the right slot.
Miami has eight men in the box, press coverage on the outside WR and one safety very deep (15 yards deep of the LOS).
Five man rush with a linebacker blitzing from the left side. Everyone gets picked up, and Kolb has an escape route from the pocket right up the middle of the field.
Fitz runs a quick slant, but the safety didn’t blitz, so he’s bracketed in the middle of the field. The right side WR runs an in route at the sticks, and has separation. Housler might be running a post. Roberts on the other side seems to be going vertical.
Massie gets his hands on Wake and pushes him as much as he can, but he gets a little over-powered. Kolb feels the heat coming and instead of standing tall in the pocket or moving up, turns his back to the right side of the play and collapses. (See Exhibit A below)
3Q 1-10-ARI 3 (6:33) 34-R.Williams up the middle to ARI 1 for -2 yards (58-K.Dansby).
So… Obviously this is a dangerous situation. Cards line up in “Jumbo” formation—2RB/2TE—with Fitz split well onto the right side of the field.
Miami has 4 down linemen, 3 LBs, 2 safeties deep with one safety over the top of Fitz.
We’re lucky that this wasn’t a safety. Williams gets hit 4 yards into the backfield, and makes a great second effort to get back to the goal line.
The Miami NT slants to the left, which should open up the hole. But Sendlein can’t get his body on him, and he’s the guy who disrupts the play enough for Dansby to come in and finish the job.
Great second effort by Williams to prevent the single deuce.
4Q 2-10-ARI 42 (14:07) (Shotgun) 4-K.Kolb sacked at ARI 33 for -9 yards (58-K.Dansby).
Cards in 11 formation with Williams on Kolb’s right and Housler split on the left with Doucet. Fitz is split wide right with Roberts in the slot.
Miami has four down linemen in a WIDE split with four corners more or less in press and two VERY deep safeties. I’m unclear why we don’t run the ball here.
Five man rush with Dansby on a delayed blitz.
Roberts has immediate free release with outside leverage. The middle of the field is completely empty. Williams slides left in the pocket to block.
Roberts gives up his advantage by running a flag route to the inside, going from open to covered. Doucet is on a deep comeback, but is covered. This is more or less a four-verticals concept.
Ryan Williams blocks no one, and is looking back as Dansby comes in and cleans up Kolb. It’s possible that Williams was supposed to be the outlet receiver, and that Sendlein didn’t watch for the delayed blitz to pick up Dansby.
This play could’ve been BIG if Kolb had audibled to a run play.
4Q 3-19-ARI 33 (13:31) (Shotgun) 4-K.Kolb sacked at ARI 27 for -6 yards (91-C.Wake).
Cards are in 11 personnel again with Doucet by himself on the left, Williams in the backfield on Kolb’s left, Housler in the slot and Fitz on the outside.
Miami has 3 down linemen, 2 safeties 17 yards deep, 4 LBs.
Fitz motions into the formation, so it looks like it’s going to be a pick play.
Five man Miami rush with a deep blitzer on right side. Williams stays in to block.
Kolb continues to drop back from the shotgun snap—three BIG steps. That’s right where Massie had driven Wake—which is what he’s SUPPOSED TO DO.
Kolb’s 8 yards back from the LOS when Wake gets to him—don’t know what more Massie is supposed to do.
Ryan Williams does a good job of standing Karlos Dansby up in pass pro.
This is a dumb play design. No one’s open; I have no idea where Kolb is supposed to go with the ball, but the route tree doesn’t really develop.
4Q 1-15-ARI 15 (7:05) (Shotgun) 4-K.Kolb sacked at ARI 6 for -9 yards (98-J.Odrick).
Cards in 4WR/1RB with WiPo on Kolb’s right, Fitz split right, and 3 WR left.
Miami has 4 down linemen, 2 deep safeties, 6 men in the box.
Doucet motions into the backfield on Kolb’s left.
Fitz’s corner is in press coverage, with the two left cornerbacks in off-man.
Five-man rush, but there’s no free blitzer. The WR in the backfield runs a nifty wheel route (he must be subbing in for LSH), but he’s only at 5 yards depth. No other WR are open.
Kolb double-clutches on Doucet, and that’s what leads to the sack. Kolb has time to throw here.
4Q 1-10-ARI 49 (2:51) (Shotgun) 4-K.Kolb sacked at ARI 44 for -5 yards (55-K.Misi).
4WR/1RB personnel with WiPo(WHY!?!?!) on Kolb’s right. Fitz alone on the right, three WR left.
Miami four down linemen on a neat split—Wake is on Massie’s outside shoulder, the RDT head-up on Snyder, NT shading Sendlein’s left, and the LDE in a wide-9 (Exhibit B).
Outside corners playing press, 2 deep safeties, slot CB playing off-man.
Five man rush with the MLB as the fifth rusher.
Fitz runs a quick slant and can’t get off the press. Doucet runs a similar inside slant and finds the ROLB waiting for him. Roberts runs a deep in and has space, but the pocket is breaking down, and Floyd is running a comeback to the sticks.
Again, Kolb HAS a pocket to step up into. Doesn’t feel the rush coming at all. He has time, but this is another play where he makes his OTs look worse than they are. Bad Kolb.
4Q 2-15-ARI 44 (2:18) (Shotgun) 4-K.Kolb sacked at ARI 41 for -3 yards (sack split by 55-K.Misi and 91-C.Wake).
Cards line up in 4WR/1RB with WiPo in the backfield. Fitz is by himself on the left, the other 3 WR right.
Miami has four down linemen with one linebacker showing blitz. Fitz’s corner is playing off-man looking into the backfield, the other outside corner is playing trail technique, and the nickel corner is playing off-man. Two very deep safeties.
Five man rush with the LOLB on the blitz.
All four receivers get free release off the line. Slot WR runs a quick out at 3 yards. Other interior WR runs a deep in at 15 yards. The outside WR is WIDE open. Outside WRs both run verticals.
Kolb again takes steps back from the shotgun, and still has room to move up, but doesn’t until Misi has his hand on his back.
It doesn’t look like Kolb has time to throw, but that’s because he’s waiting to get sacked before anyone’s in their route. WiPo loses his helmet in pass pro and keeps blocking. Snyder gets a good punch on his man. This sack is on Kolb.
-----
My final analysis on this is that the book on Kolb is probably back out—if you pressure him, he’ll start to make some bad decisions. More blitzing in this series than I’d maybe seen in the last three games combined. Massie is going to look bad against Cameron Wake; I don’t know why you don’t protect him a little bit. To be fair, the personnel problems were such with injuries that there wasn’t much the Cards could do with tight ends and running backs to help him out.