Cody Barton shines in Commanders win over Falcons
Breaking down the performance of linebacker Cody Barton against the Falcons
One of the biggest positives to come out of the Commanders victory over the Falcons was the performance of linebacker Cody Barton. Barton was signed in free agency to replace the departing Cole Holcomb and it’s no secret that he has struggled so far this season. He’s been ok in coverage after some early mistakes, but his run defense has been well below par, which has a significant knock-on effect because the Commanders typically run light in the box to keep two safeties back deep.
He’s playing the role of the Mike (middle) linebacker who has the responsibility of communicating the calls from the defensive coordinator to the rest of the defense and also making any adjustments at the line of scrimmage. So not only is he adjusting to a new defensive scheme with different run fits and coverage responsibilities from the one he played in Seattle, he’s also having to understand the bigger picture and make the correct adjustments to any motions, shifts or audibles from the offense.
All of that thinking has caused him to be slow to read and diagnose plays. Instead of just reacting and playing fast at the snap, he’s pausing for a moment to think about what the correct move is, allowing offensive lineman an advantage when it comes to blocking him. That has been apparent all season, with this play against the Eagles showing a perfect example of his troubles.
Here, the Eagles call a duo run scheme designed to create double teams up front. Fellow linebacker Jamin Davis aligns in the A gap between the center and left guard while Barton aligns in the B gap between the right guard and right tackle. At the snap of the ball, Davis is very quick to trigger on the run and force the left guard to peel off his double team early in order to pick him up. Barton, on the other hand, is a step or two behind Davis. While Davis takes on his block head on, Barton holds his position, allowing the right guard extra time to help secure the defensive tackle before peeling off to then climb and pick him up.
The difference between the two is clear to see and the impact of how they play the run is also clear to see. Davis is quick to fill his gap and works to try and break through the line of scrimmage, forcing the back to cut his run back. Barton, meanwhile, backs off and looks to work around his block instead of taking it on and shedding it. This causes him to give up ground, creating a lane for the running back to cut into. Had Barton played the run like Davis did, there likely wouldn’t have been any gap for the running back to work with, but instead the back ends up with a nice gain of seven yards.
That was Barton just a few weeks ago, and in fact he was just as bad against the Bears. However, against the Falcons on Sunday, a completely different Cody Barton showed up. He had by far his best performance of the season to date against one of the most run heavy teams in the league. So what changed? Let's take a closer look.
One of the biggest changes for Barton and the Commanders was the game plan to deal with the run. The Falcons are completely committed to running the ball, averaging 30 rushing attempts per game. With an emerging star in rookie running back Bijan Robinson, it was clear shutting down the run game was the priority for the Commanders. To help them do so, they committed to using extra bodies in the box to help defend the run. They consistently leaned on their five defensive lineman package, which they call their cinco package and sometimes even brought an extra safety into the box on top of that.
There’s multiple benefits to doing this. The first is obvious having an extra bigger bodied defensive lineman makes it much harder for the offensive line to run block. On top of that, for a heavy zone run team like the Falcons, it’s very difficult to run zone schemes against a five-man front because the opportunities to generate double teams and create movement up front is limited. I broke that down in detail in my preview of the Falcons game.
With it harder to generate double teams and having an extra body up front to worry about, it was tough for the Falcons to get their lineman off of blocks and up to the second level to block Barton, keeping him much cleaner than he typically is when they run with their base nickel package and a light box. On top of that, there are less gaps for Barton to have to concern himself with. When there's four defensive linemen on the field and no extra safety in the box, Barton is often responsible for multiple gaps, having to read the fits of the defensive lineman in front of him and adjust his fit based on how they fit their gaps. With an extra defensive lineman and sometimes a safety in the box too, Barton’s fits were much more defined, meaning he could think less at the snap and just attack his gap.
This is an early run from the Falcons with Bijan Robinson. Before the snap, the Falcons motion a tight end across the line towards Barton’s side of the field, inserting him into the blocking scheme to try and confuse the read. However, at the snap of the ball, you can see the clear gap for Barton to fill emerging. He reads it much quicker than we’ve seen him read run plays earlier this season. By reacting quicker and filling the gap earlier, he forces the offensive lineman to peel off his double team on Jonathan Allen early in order to slide across in time to pick him up.
While the lineman is able to get to Barton and stop him from making the play, the lineman had to come off Allen’s block early because of Barton’s quick fit. That left Allen one-on-one against a tight end, which is a matchup he’s always going to win. Allen break’s free of the block to make the tackle and keep the gain to a minimum.
The Commanders used a lot of this five man defensive lineman package early in the game to try and shut down the Falcons run game and it worked. It also helped Barton gain confidence and consistency in his play.
This time we see the Falcons use a wide zone run to their right with a jet sweep fake to the left. Barton starts the play aligned just slightly outside of Efe Obada, who kicks inside from defensive end to defensive tackle in this package. However, before the snap, the Falcons send a receiver in motion on the jet sweep, causing Barton to fall back a gap. The ball is then snapped with Barton potentially out of position and his momentum going away from the direction of the run.
This has been an issue plenty of times for Barton this season and it typically ends up with a lineman climbing up to the second level and cutting him off. But here, because he has Obada and nose tackle John Ridgeway in front of him, no offensive lineman is available to climb up to him. That allows Barton a free path to the running back and he shows off his athleticism as he bursts across to make the tackle.
Even on plays where he was having to read and diagnose a little more, this five-man front was really helping Barton.
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