FanPost

The new Bucs Offense (By MarchantWarchant, the non BN version)




The following is a Copy of the work of MarchantWarchant - for use here on TN (since BN hates Nole's fans)

The originals are found here:

http://www.bucsnation.com/2015/6/12/8774753/getting-to-know-koetters-new-buccaneers-playbook-the-4-vertical

http://www.bucsnation.com/2015/6/21/8819379/new-bucs-playbook-koetters-4-verticals-offense-part-2

All credit to MarchantWarchant on this great work!

PART 1:

I wanted to make a post about what kind of offense Dirk Koetter brings with him to Tampa. What it is, how it works, its strengths and weaknesses, and how Jameis Winston and other players fit into Koetter's scheme. I want to just cover the basics, but I highly suggest reading this more in-depth 2011 Koetter interview with X&O Labs of which I will be basing this post on (after you read mine!). I also encourage reading this year-old post from our friends at Falcoholic. If this post ends up popular I can try and go more in-depth in a sequel article.

The backbone concept of Koetter's passing offense is called 4 Verticals. It attacks a defense vertically by stretching it horizontally, specifically the safeties. It is schematically an aggressive and relatively explosive passing system.

4 Verticals

4 Verticals Concept

While some offenses are designed to move the chains at a 6-8 yard clip, 4 Verts is designed to eat up chunk yardage of 15 or more at a time, albeit at a less consistent rate. It's designed to have an answer for every look a defense can show: single-high safety, double high (cover 2), cover 3, and even cover 4 (quarters). For example, if a defense is in cover 2 each safety essentially gets split by two receivers, or as Koetter describes it, "two on one on the half-field safety." In other words, it stresses a safety horizontally and forces a choice on who to cover - the ball goes to whoever he doesn't, making them responsible for covering sideline to sideline in deep coverage. From here, the concept is tweaked in a multitude of ways giving the QB an answer for any coverage he sees, including stretching defenses horizontally in the intermediate and short areas of the field. It also consistently forces safeties to stay deep which can open up running lanes.

In some 4 Verts, the outside "hash" receivers will either run "go" routes or comebacks depending on how tight the coverage is from the cornerback, but Koetter prefers comebacks as a staple. Big receivers like Mike Evans and Vincent Jackson will be able to use their size to shield smaller corners from the ball as they break back towards Jameis for easy yardage.

The inherent weakness of this concept, and where the Bucs will run into trouble, is pass protection. The OL must protect the QB with only 5 or 6 man protections. You simply can't have enough players on the field to run 7-8 man protections and still get 4 receivers in the formation. The X & Z landmarks, or where they make their comeback cut is usually around 15 yards, but with a weaker OL it can be shortened to 10-12 yards. Often the only help the OL gets is from the running back chipping a DE before leaking out of the formation as a potential receiver. Because of this the RB is a very important part of this offense as shown below (please excuse my cave drawings):

2wh1oxu.0.jpg

4 Verts RB Leak/Angle/Hitch

The RBs in this system must be able to pass block consistently. You'll also notice the inside receivers can alter their routes based on the defense, sometimes referred to as benders. It can be a post route or a dig (crossing route), often with the goal of getting behind the linebackers, usually the mike, and in front of the safeties. The coverage that gives 4 Verts the most problems is quarters, since it basically mans up the defenders and receivers. Koetter states he prefers other sets against quarters but there are options, since it usually leaves the Z & X receivers one on one on the outside. In addition, the RB can line up in the slot and create a mismatch on the mike backer. The Z & X would run comebacks, the slot receivers would run verts, essentially clearing out space underneath for the RB for big gains.

In addition, the receivers on either side can switch or scissor their routes to create mismatches, putting the X or Z on a linebacker if the defenders don't switch their assignments properly. Another wrinkle is trips, like below:

f05kiw.0.jpg

4 Verts Trips

Again, the principle is attacking and reading the safety. Jameis needs to improve his eye manipulation to get safeties off of their spot, opening up lanes (he did do a good job of this against Oregon). If the FS shades the Z receiver the QB will throw it to the H receiver who will cross the face of the nickel corner or sam backer, behind the mike and up hashes, splitting the safeties & running wide open down the middle of the field. Because of this, the H receiver needs to be savvy and understand coverage and be able to recognize if it's a single high or cover 2 look post nap and adjust on the fly. Reportedly, in OTA's Vincent Jackson stated he was working some inside and I believe this is why. As a veteran Koetter trusts him to read the defense correctly and know where to be. Back to the cave drawing, if the safety plays it well the QB can just drop it quickly in front of the safety for a 15 yard gain. If the safety gains depth the QB takes advantage of the single coverage on the outside and drops it in hole between the defenders to the Z, ideally a sideline over the shoulder throw where only his guy can get it.

We all know the Offensive line isn't where it needs to be. Reportedly Koetter ran more curl/flat combo routes and shortened the landmarks when he was with the Falcons due to their poor pass protection, a staple of Jimbo Fisher's FSU offense. I would expect some of the same for the Bucs, especially early. Jameis is a rookie, but much of Koetter's playbook will also be thrown out because the OL simply won't give Jameis enough time to execute any of it, especially the deeper concepts. We all also know Jameis is aggressive, and I believe this offense can fit him perfectly; with a quality OL in front of him a veteran Jameis could be surgical. But early he will take chances he shouldn't. Some of them will be wow plays and some will be turnovers. Look for the offense to open up and blossom as the season goes on and Winston gets more comfortable, becoming more efficient and more explosive.

----------------------------------------------

PART 2:

Since the reception for part 1 went pretty well I thought I'd start mostly right where we left off and build on it and continue to familiarize you guys with what Koetter's offense might look like. I hope we can get a good conversation going in the comments and as long as you guys enjoy these and there's material to go through I will try to keep doing them. I want you guys to keep something in mind; so many fans are quick to blame the "play-calling" when oftentimes it's a lack of execution by the players instead. This is the first year of a new scheme and the players will make mistakes. I want to try and flesh some of this out so you can see what I mean. Thus, the goal of Part 2 is two-fold; I want to show you guys some mistakes that are bound to happen and I want to dive a little further into Koetter's offense, specifically general concepts on how he might try to schematically stretch a defense horizontally in the short, intermediate, and deep areas of the field.

I want to just take one quick short step back though and expand on how important the RB can be to this offense. It's a vertical, explosive offense, so where does the RB fit in? As I quickly noted in the first post the RB can be used to break Quarters coverage which is often used when the defense thinks the offense is in 4 Verticals. I wanted to quickly visualize that. Below, the RB is the T receiver:

2u6375s.0.jpg

Empty Set RB Cross vs Quarters

Right away you can see this is an empty set. This puts the RB one on one against the Mike linebacker since the Will and Sam backers (or Nickel corner) will most often try to play wide and reroute the H and S receivers. The slots, H and S, essentially clear out the underneath coverage. That leaves the RB, the Mike, and lots of empty grass. Because of the LB rerouting and the man coverage over the top the slot receivers are usually a low percentage play. The windows there can be really small and Jameis will need to be patient and understand what Koetter is trying to do here. If Jameis "dumps" it to the RB & it's successful it can force a defense to abandon Quarters pretty quickly. Koetter also likes the 15 yard comebacks vs. Quarters as well since one-on-one there is pitch and catch. But how exactly?

One interesting wrinkle to 4 Verticals, Koetter's version included, that you can't see from the diagrams is the outside receivers Z & X have really wide splits near the sidelines. This does two things: 1) it creates room for the slot or Seam receivers H and S (stretching the defense horizontally by making them defend the whole field) and 2) it means the CBs are usually going to play with inside leverage. Koetter's stop/comeback routes are normally at 18-20 yards but in Jacksonville, with Garrard, they were at 15 yards. As I mentioned last week they can also be around 12 yards, especially if the OL is really bad or the QB has a noodle arm or poor anticipation (neither of which applies to Winston).

It just depends on the players Koetter has to work with and shows he does adjust his offense to his personnel. Regardless, the receivers come back along their "stem", usually breaking inside as shown which cuts the corner off from the play. If the coverage is really tight it can be turned into a back shoulder throw. At Jacksonville and with Matt Jones they ran fades (against press coverage) more often since that's what Jones was good at. It's good to have an OC who understands what his guys do best and is willing to tweak his offense to fit their strengths.

Going back to my original point about players making mistakes. I'm going to outline three common ones vs different types of coverage.The diagram below shows what I mean vs. split safeties:

263cy9d.0.jpg

4 Verts Bender Error 1

The bender, or Seam Read, is supposed to aim for the area behind the LB & in front of the safety, usually 18-20 yards per Koetter, driving defenders off to open up room before breaking inside. Notice how he bends his route before the comebacks at 15 yards. It throws off the timing and gives the safety good leverage on the play to break on the ball, giving the QB a poor option. But now we're starting to see different routes emerge that can take advantage of different defenses.

Another common error comes against Cover 3/ Single high safety:

fom178.0.jpg

4 Vert Error 2 vs. Cover 3

You can see (my production value has apparently gone way up with color!) the defense trying to react and where the chess match of football comes into play. The blue outside linebacker/$afety and the corners swap coverage to overlap, but the blue defenders are doing several things here. 1) They try to physically run through the slots to disrupt their routes, 2) they run to cover the flat and 3) they try to get underneath the Z & X comeback routes. The mistake comes from the slot receiver(s) who overruns the zone coverage and into the space of the corner, or a safety with good range. This offense requires receivers who understand and can read zone coverage on the fly and understand where they need to be to help out their QB. If they aren't on the same page as their QB it can lead to bad things. It also requires a QB who can diagnose this post-snap and can adjust. If Jameis doesn't see it or panicks and makes a poor decision it could get picked off.

The third error comes against man coverage, or man free. There is no diagram for this because it's simple: the slot must do something to get free, usually a stutter step or a double move up the seam. Against man coverage the chemistry a QB has with his receiver becomes more important than ever. 2nd guessing can cause turnovers. This is just something that is going to take time.

I want to dive further into how 4 Verts can stretch a defense horizontally. Keep in mind this route combination can be run from multiple formations, even Ace formations with 2 TE's and a RB. Take the following diagram:

2ln97hl.0.jpg

4 Vert Slot Shallow Cross

Using a WR in the slot (or inline TE) to run the shallow crosser has it's physical advantages. The QB in 4 Verts usually has 3 reads since that's pretty much all he has time for. Oftentimes the RB is the dump route depending on whether the other routes are covered or if the rush is getting there quickly and the QB needs to get rid of it to avoid a sack. Here the H and RB cross and pull a defense horizontally stretching it. If any LB doesn't play their assignment correctly and trade receivers as they come into and out of their zone it's an easy pitch and catch. Against man the RB might even run a pick/rub route to get the H open.

Here we really start to get into what makes this offense so great. I know it's a cliche, but coaches really do want an offense that is simple and easy to understand for the players and with just a few adjustments looks complicated for the defense and can attack any coverage it sees.

29yr1x4.0.jpg

4 Verts Outside Shallow

Just one little adjustment by the Z receiver running a shallow cross and it gives the defense a totally different look but still stretches them horizontally. And instead of a linebacker having to just cover a RB it puts them on a difficult assignment asking them to cover an even more athletic WR streaking across the formation. Notice the T/RB and the S are basically running clear outs and the X can throw a block. This really forces a defense to defend sideline to sideline. Not to mention the Seam Read H receiver and the Locked Seam S receiver also stretch the safeties horizontally.

30muamh.0.jpg

4 Vert Version of Flanker Drive

What's really happening here is the offense has a base 4 Verts 2x2 look (we're totally ignoring trips!) and with just a few small adjustments the offense has a completely different look for the defense. Similar to the last diagram but anyone that knows a West Coast offense will recognize this as a Flanker Drive. Yet it totally works in a 4 Vertical offense. As I referenced in Part 1, this is how this offense begins to attack a defense horizontally at all 3 levels; short, intermediate, and deep.

Koetter also loves himself some screen passes which helps to slow down the pass rush. Expect a heavy dose of it this coming year, along with dig or post routes where Jameis can throw to Evans and VJax in open space with room to run. This post didn't even get into different Trips variations and the passing concepts that come with that; perhaps I'll tackle that in the next post. I am still trying to get my hands on all-22 film and I don't have any game snapshots to use. If someone finds some from the Falcons last year let me know. Lastly, as HD pointed out last week, Koetter wants to use a hurry up to try and force coverage busts. They should be there this year, but will the players know the system well enough to take advantage?

What do you guys think? What can we learn from Koetter's time in Atlanta that we might be able to use? Do you have any questions?

--------------------------

Outstanding work!

And again, all kudos to MarchantWarchant !

Fanposts are a section for the fans and do NOT reflect the views of Tomahawk Nation.