Breaking down all 6 sack given up by the Commanders vs the Giants
Evaluating what went wrong for the Commanders on all 6 of the sacks that the Giants’ defense managed on Sam Howell
Another week, another terribly disappointing defeat for the Commanders in a game that was very much winnable. Quarterback Sam Howell looked completely out of sorts for the vast majority of the game as the Giants sent blitz after blitz at him. We all know about Howell’s tendency to take sacks by now and this game will only add fuel to that fire. Howell was sacked five times in the first half and six times in total.
Howell’s issue with sacks entering this game has been that he tends to hold onto the ball too long when he has an available receiver to throw to. Against the Giants, that wasn’t necessarily the case. To find out what exactly did happen and how much Howell was responsible for each sack taken, I thought I’d break down each sack. Let’s take a closer look:
Sack 1
Situation: 2nd & 9, 13:32 remaining in the 1st quarter.
It didn’t take long for the first sack of the game to occur. On just the second play of the game for the Commanders offense, Howell was brought down. On this play, the Commanders call a shallow cross concept with a post-wheel combination on the outside too. I actually did a full breakdown on this concept and the terminology involved in it during the offseason, so click here to check that out in more detail.
The Giants have five defensive lineman up on the line of scrimmage before the snap and they do indeed end up rushing five, but not the five defensive lineman. The edge rusher outside the left tackle drops back into coverage while the linebacker blitzes inside. The Commanders keep running back Brian Robinson in to protect, giving them six blockers against five rushers, which is sound from a numbers perspective. They also get Robinson to pick up the blitzing linebacker, leaving the four defensive lineman to be picked up by the five offensive lineman, which is exactly how you’d want to scheme it up.
However, where this play goes wrong is center Nick Gates against defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence. This was a matchup the Giants clearly liked and you’ll see it plenty in this post as the Giants lined up Lawrence directly over Gates for large parts of the game. Lawrence gets the better of Gates here and starts to rip through. Gates does manage to delay Lawrence and lose the block slowly, allowing Howell to reach the top of his drop before the pressure arrives.
Now Howell’s priority throw here is likely the shallow cross. To hit that throw in rhythm, he probably wants a hitch step at the top of his drop, but Lawrence won’t afford him that. Howell could try and anticipate the throw and float a pass out in front as soon as he hits the top of his drop, but Lawrence gets his hands up in the throwing lane and probably would have batted down any pass. What Howell could have done is stepped up in the pocket and allowed Gates the chance to run Lawrence by him, but there was no guarantee Gates would have been able to do that.
Sack 2
Situation: 3rd & 4, 4:42 remaining in the 1st quarter.
Here, the Giants rush just four while bailing into a Tampa-2 coverage. The Commanders were clearly expecting more pressure given it’s third down and so they use chip blocks on both edge rushers. Antonio Gibson looks to help right tackle Andrew Wylie with a chip while receiver Dyami Brown in the slot chips the defensive end on the other side to help out Charles Leno at left tackle. After chipping, both Gibson and Brown work out to the flat as checkdown options.
Where the issue occurs for the Commanders is handling a stunt by the two defensive tackles. Lawrence lines up directly over Gates again but looks to stunt towards Sam Cosmi at right guard, looking to take Gates with him and open up a gap for fellow defensive tackle Leonard Williams to loop around him. Left guard Saahdiq Charles slides to the right side off the snap, looking to help Gates. He gets a big shove on Lawrence which starts him going to ground as Gates and Cosmi finish him off. However, while Charles is busy trying to help secure Lawrence, Williams is looping around him. He fails to get back and Williams has a free run at Howell.
Howell had no real opportunity to get the ball out here. His two outside receivers run fades which get disrupted by the flat defenders and then should have safeties over the top, while the slot receiver is breaking over the middle into the zone occupied by the Mike linebacker. A checkdown throw underneath to the flat is what is required, but both of those options were late to get out because they were chipping to try and help protect. That leaves Howell staring down the barrel with no other choice but to eat the sack.
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