Breaking down the Commanders 3rd down defense
Taking a closer look at the Commanders 3rd down defense package
The Washington Commanders’ defense was fantastic against the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday. The Cardinals ended up with 16 points but the only touchdown scored came from Sam Howell fumbling the ball near his own end zone and the Cardinals defense recovering it in the end zone. That means the defense was only responsible for giving up three field goals, which can also be caveated with the fact that Howell’s interception gave the Cardinals the ball in field goal range. The defense forced a three-and-out giving up just one yard and the Cardinals kicked a 54-yard field goal.
So in reality, the defense only gave up two drives of more than 30 yards and those two drives resulted in just two field goals. Now it must be stated that the Cardinals’ offense was poor, with quarterback Josh Dobbs picking up just 132 yards on 21 completed passes while the running game managed a total of 96 yards on 25 rushes. However, the Commanders can only play the opposition on the schedule and they did a fantastic job keeping the Cardinals quiet.
A big part of their success was their third down defense. The Commanders had a rough start in 2022 but soon developed into one of the best third down defenses in the league by the end of the season. This year they appear to be building on that, holding the Cardinals to just four third down conversions on 12 attempts.
Defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio showed a wide variety of looks on third down against Arizona. Some of these looks I hadn’t seen from Washington’s defense before, so I thought I would highlight them, starting with a package of plays designed to look like Cover 0
Here on third and nine, the Commanders line up just about the entire defense on the line of scrimmage, showing a heavy Cover 0 blitz. Cover 0 is a blitz scheme where the defense plays pure man-to-man coverage against all five eligible receivers while every other defender rushes. It’s a risky strategy as it leaves the team with no safety help deep, but it also guarantees the defense can rush one more player than the offense can block, at least in theory.
Now, while this looks a lot like a Cover 0 scheme, it’s not quite pure Cover 0. You’ll notice that linebacker Cody Barton and safety Kam Curl are executing a read stunt over the center. Both players line up in the A gaps either side of the center. At the snap, they both step forwards as if they intend to rush, but they are both reading the center. Whoever the center slides towards will then peel off and drop back into coverage, forcing the running back to step up and block the other player.
This does multiple things for Washington. First, it ensures the running back has to stay in to protect, taking an eligible receiver out of the equation. It also guarantees a favorable matchup with either Curl or Barton working against a running back while the center blocks nobody. On top of that, it also allows the defender not rushing to pop up late into the coverage and surprise the quarterback. Many teams that face Cover 0 will try to beat it with a quick pass inside to a slot receiver over the middle, trying to give that receiver significant yards after catch potential. To help counter that threat, the Commanders get either Curl or Barton suddenly appearing in the middle of the field while still giving the effect of a Cover 0 blitz.
In the end, Dobbs opts to try and work outside to top receiver Marquise Brown, but Kendall Fuller is able to drive on the route from his off coverage position and undercut the pass, breaking it up.
This was far from the only Cover 0 look the Commanders ran. Del Rio certainly attempted to give the impression he wanted to blitz a lot on third down, but actually designed some nice bluffs and played more coverage.
This was one of the best Cover 0 bluffs the Commanders used. Before the snap, we can see seven defenders aligned on the line of scrimmage. The four defensive backs not on the line of scrimmage all show good body language to sell the fake blitz, particularly safety Percy Butler. You can see on the end zone replay angle how Butler angles his body towards the tight end and has his helmet deliberately angled towards him, trying to tell the quarterback he’s matching up man-to-man on the tight end as he would in a Cover 0 situation.
This look causes the quarterback to adjust his protection. When he sees Butler so intently focused on the tight end, he assumes that this is actually a Cover 0 blitz, so he signals to his tight end to stay in to help protect. However, this is exactly what the Commanders want him to think. They are actually in a Cover 2 structure with Butler sinking back to play a deep half while slot corner Benjamin St-Juste also drops back to play the other deep half. Three defenders on the line of scrimmage all bail out into underneath zones and the outside corners hold their positions in the flat.
I wonder if Del Rio got this look from studying Quan Martin during the draft, because Martin often had this exact same assignment as St-Juste does here, aligning in the slot before bailing deep to a deep half.
The result of this is that both the running back and tight end stay in to block, leaving just three eligible receivers out running routes against seven defenders in coverage on third down, an incredibly favorable look for the defense. On top of that, the protection adjustment means the tight end has to try and block Montez Sweat on the edge instead of having an offensive lineman pick him up, another favorable matchup for Washington. Dobbs does well to feel the pressure that arrives and scramble out to his left, but he’s ultimately forced out of bounds well short of the first down marker and the Cardinals are forced to punt.
The Cover 0 bluffs continued as the game progressed.
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