Through the first four weeks of the 2023 NFL season, Matthew Stafford and the Los Angeles Rams were beating opposing defenses with bunch formations — triangle-shaped assemblages in which three receivers get off the line of scrimmage in combinations that are tough to stop. In those first four games, per Sports Info Solutions, Stafford was all about these cheat codes:
- Six completions on eight attempts for 60 yards, 30 air yards, two touchdowns, no interceptions, and a league-best passer rating of 135.4 on throws out of bunch left;
- Four completions on six attempts for 63 yards, 48 air yards, one touchdown, no interceptions, and a passer rating of 156.3 on throws out of bunch right.
But against the Philadelphia Eagles in a 23-14 Week 5 loss, Stafford was not ringing the same bells out of bunch to either side. He completed on of two passes for three yards and a touchdown on bunch left throws, and one of two passes for five yards on bunch right throws.
In this week’s “Xs and Os with Greg Cosell and Doug Farrar,” the guys discuss what the Eagles did to stop those bunches from killing them in… well, bunches.
As Greg pointed out, one way to cover bunch formations is to throw the box at the offense.
“There are five or six ways, and I’ve had these conversations with coaches, to play trips bunch. And one way is what we call ‘box.’ You play four [defenders] over three [receivers]. And it’s a good way to play it, because you’re not trying to match releases. Sometimes, teams get caught — and we saw this on Puka Nacua’s game-winning touchdown against the Colts — it was tight bunch, and they got stuck with both guys [cornerbacks Julius Brents and Kenny Moore II] playing the same guy [tight end Brycen Hopkins]. Because one guy was playing man coverage, and the other guy was playing the releases. But if you play four-over-three, you can just let the routes develop.”
Here’s the Nacua touchdown.
Well, with 8:37 left in the first quarter, the Eagles went with that four-man box against bunch left, and they were able to force an incompletion in Cover-1. Stafford saw that the bunch receivers were matched, so he tried a quick pass to tight end Tyler Higbee to the other side. Safety Justin Evans stopped that from happening.
The Eagles also did a nice job of matching the Rams’ frequent use of pre-snap motion with zone coverage rules, passing off the motion men from defender to defender, as opposed to selling out their coverages by matching across. We’ll see if other defenses pick anything up from this as they try to deal with Sean McVay’s offense.
You can watch this week’s “Xs and Os” video right here:
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