Commanders coverage and pass rush in sync against Texans
Breaking down how both units helped each other as the defense dominated the Texans.
The Washington Commanders had their most complete and convincing win of the season on Sunday against the Houston Texans. There were plenty of legitimate concerns that this team might have laid an egg against the one-win Texans after an impressive win over the Eagles last Monday night, but the Commanders quickly put any doubts to bed with a Kendall Fuller pick-six on the Texans second play of the game followed by a shutout first half.
The Commanders’ defense dominated across the board with the coverage unit and the pass rush unit helping each other out throughout the game. Typically for Washington, it’s been one unit struggling which hurts the other, often the coverage failing to hold up long enough for the pass rush to get home, but in this game they were both consistently helping each other and that led to a strong performance. It started with the coverage unit getting on the same page.
The Commanders have often struggled to adjust their coverages and get everyone on the same page when teams motion or use bunch sets, but this play shows how the unit has improved in recent weeks. With a settled five of Kendall Fuller, Benjamin St-Juste, Kam Curl, Bobby McCain and Darrick Forrest, the group has been able to smooth out some of the communication issues that had been plaguing them with other personnel on the field. We start this play off with St-Juste isolated to the left of the formation while Curl and Forrest both work in the box, aligned over the two tight ends to the right. However, the Texans then motion one tight end across the formation before the receiver on the outside then follows suit.
The Commanders initial adjustment to the motion is simple. Curl follows the tight end in motion and sets up to defend him man-to-man. But with the receiver motioning across, there appears to be a little bit more confusion. Fuller makes a signal to McCain, who rolls up from deep, but then Forrest also shifts across the formation. McCain pauses when Forrest works across but then they both continue to follow the motion. But despite the confusion, the Commanders manage to sort everything out correctly as the ball is snapped. St-Juste peels off outside to cover the receiver motioning out to the flat, Curl covers his tight end man-to-man, and Forrest and McCain both sink back deep to bracket the deep receiver. This gives the quarterback nowhere to really go with the football and his throw ends up incomplete.
With the coverage unit playing much better and more in sync, the pass rush effort from the defensive line is reaping the rewards. The Commanders defense generated five sacks against the Texans, and three of them came as the result of strong coverage.
Here on third and 10, the Commanders drop back into a basic quarters coverage, which is one of their primary coverages. The two deep safeties play the inside deep quarters while the outside corners fall back to cover the outside deep quarters. The remaining three defenders play underneath zones, with McCain in the slot working out to the flat to match the tight end and Jamin Davis doing the same to the running back on the other side. Curl sits in the middle of the field and looks for threats working inside. The slot receiver ends up running a deep hook over the middle and Curl identifies the threat and sinks back to match it and take it away.
With the three underneath defenders matching routes effectively, that leaves the two outside receivers trying to get open against the four deep defenders. Neither can do so and the quarterback is left with nowhere to go with the ball. Up front, Montez Sweat and Jonathan Allen look to run a stunt with Allen widening his rush to the edge and Sweat looping around him inside. The Texans manage to pick it up initially, but because the coverage is strong, the rush is given more time to get home. Sweat spots a chance to work back outside, especially as the quarterback begins to slide to his left with no receiving option available, and ends up chasing him down for the sack.
They didn’t just rely on quarters coverage either. Whatever coverage was called, the coverage unit held up well and the rush was given extra time to get home.
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