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<\/a><\/p>\nWe have our first bad pass play from this game, and it\u2019s a huge miss on the part of Marcus Mariota.\u00a0 Delanie Walker goes in motion on this play, and his defender follows him across the field, a good indication of man coverage.\u00a0 The Titans have a bunch receiver formation to the left of the line, and Mariota stares down Walker for the entire route.\u00a0 Rishard Matthews is wide open down the middle of the field for an easy conversion, but Mariota doesn\u2019t progress from his first read on Walker, even though the receiver was all but triple covered on this play.\u00a0 On a crucial third down play, Mariota has to do a better job of scanning the field, because Mathews is open for a major gain on this play.<\/p>\n
For this play, the majority of the focus needs to be on Rishard Matthews.\u00a0 Notice the position of the cornerback giving inside leverage on this play, which once again indicates that he has help the inside with safeties over the top and linebackers underneath.\u00a0 Matthews runs a straight route splitting the cornerback and the safety, and then notice when he makes his break.\u00a0 The cornerback and safety both turn their hips simultaneously on this play, which allows him the extra time needed to gain separation.\u00a0 It is vital that he splits the defenders for this to be effective, otherwise one of the defenders will be in position to drive on the route.\u00a0 Hypothetically, if Matthews ran towards the corner back on this route and then did the comeback route, the safety doesn\u2019t have to protect a crossing route and can drive towards him quicker.\u00a0 Since Matthews splits the defenders, the cornerback needs to be concerned about an out route, while the safety has to be concerned about a crossing route as they are turning their hips, which causes them to react slower.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 It\u2019s a good throw by Mariota as he faces pressure.<\/p>\n This is the first pass of the game, and it goes for 18 yards to Rishard Matthews.\u00a0 The Browns are in zone cover with two deep safeties, and this play is a very simple read for Mariota.\u00a0 The read on this play is the slot linebacker that is covering Eric Decker.\u00a0 If the linebacker falls back towards Matthews, therefore leaving the outside corner with the responsibility of covering the slot receiver, then the throw goes to Decker.\u00a0 The outside cornerback wouldn\u2019t be able to close the gap in time to cover the receiver, thus an easy completion.\u00a0 However, if the slot linebacker bites on the route to Decker, then Matthews has inside release on his cornerback with a deep safety, meaning he will be open in the intermediate area, which is exactly what happens.\u00a0 From Mariota\u2019s perspective, he is just reading the linebacker in this situation because he is the key to the decision-making process.\u00a0 It\u2019s a great read and throw by Mariota.<\/p>\n If you read the previous articles, we like Rishard Matthews, because he\u2019s an under-rated receiver in the NFL.\u00a0 If you are a Matthews fan, this play isn\u2019t for you, because it\u2019s a horrible drop from the receiver.\u00a0\u00a0 The receiver goes in motion and the defender doesn\u2019t follow him, but rather hands him off, thus indicating zone cover.\u00a0 That late motion means the defense has to switch responsibilities, which means the linebacker on the other end now goes into coverage instead of rushing the passer.\u00a0 That responsibility has now switched to the linebacker on this end (the one who handed off the motion receiver) which makes him a late entrant in rushing the passer.\u00a0 Once the defender rushes towards the line of scrimmage, the Titans have the Bengals right where it wants them.\u00a0 Once that defender moves, there are three receivers being defended by two cornerbacks, thus it\u2019s just a numbers mismatch. If the cornerbacks go back with the receivers, then the quick pass to the Adoree\u2019 Jackson, staying back is wide open.\u00a0 Therefore, Mariota just has to pick the best option, and he makes a great decision on the throw.\u00a0 It\u2019s a perfect throw from Mariota to Matthews, but it\u2019s just flat out dropped.\u00a0 A possible TD is taken off the board with this horrible drop.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n