Kliff Kingsbury gets Commanders run game going vs Lions
Breaking down how Kingsbury's schemes helped spark the Commanders run game to life vs Detroit.
The Washington Commanders got their run game going for the first time in a few weeks in their playoff victory over the Lions on Sunday. Starting running back Brian Robinson rushed for 77 yards and two touchdowns on 15 carries at an average of 5.1 yards per carry. Austin Ekeler played his part too, picking up 47 yards on six carries at 7.8 yards per carry. It was a pleasant surprise given the Commanders have struggled to run the ball (outside of Jayden Daniels scrambling ability) since the Titans game back in Week 13.
So what changed for the Commanders to suddenly be able to run the ball? Offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury and his staff put together a strong plan that worked perfectly against a vulnerable Lions defense. They knew the Lions were likely to try and blitz a lot. That’s what they like to do normally, but with the number of injuries they have, the Lions had been leaning even more heavily into blitzes to try and force mistakes from the opposition. So Kingsbury and his staff played into that desire to blitz with run-pass options (RPOs).
This was Brian Robinson’s first carry of the game. You can see the Commanders call an RPO with two separate plays packaged together. The primary option here is the run scheme. The Commanders use a sweep scheme, with both guards pulling to the edge while the rest of the offense looks to pin the defense inside. On the outside, the Commanders have all three receivers in a bunch set to the right of the formation. Those three receivers execute a tunnel screen, with the outside receiver working back inside to receive the screen pass while the other two set up blocks for him.
The read for Daniels is simple here, he just has to play a numbers game. He has to count the number of defenders in the box and compare that to the number of defenders over the tunnel screen to decide if he should hand the ball off or throw the screen. On this occasion, you can see the Lions start with three defenders over the tunnel screen, but also have linebacker Jack Campbell walked out towards that bunch formation. He’s not quite all the way out there, but he is far enough out of the box that the Commanders can count him out.
That means the Lions only have six defenders in the box against six blockers, which is a good box count for the offense. Daniels snaps the ball and just keeps his eye on Campbell, who does step inside towards the run, but isn’t fully committing to it. With the run being a sweep scheme to the other side of the line, Daniels knows Campbell is unlikely to be able to work all the way across the line and make the tackle, so he hands it off to Robinson.
The run scheme is a good design. Left guard Nick Allegretti pulls and kicks out the edge defender while right guard Sam Cosmi pulls and wraps around for the cornerback that is down in the box. Tight end John Bates then works back down the line to block the linebacker and pin him inside. The scheme is blocked beautifully and Robinson works untouched into the secondary. He even makes a nice cut to avoid Campbell trying to catch up from the back side in order to extend the run before eventually being brought down for a 14-yard gain.
That scheme set the table for the Commanders. I think the primary reason for the scheme was to try and uncover some of the Lions’ blitz packages. You’ll noticed that the bunch set was aligned a bit wider than we’ve typically seen from Washington this year. That was on purpose. The Lions love to blitz their slot corners and safeties off the edge, so by aligning the bunch that bit wider, it forces the defense to uncover their blitz intentions. If the slot corner wants to blitz, they can’t start from that wide or they’ll never get to the quarterback in time, so instead they have to show their intentions early, making it easier for Jayden Daniels to identify the blitz threat and change the protection to get it picked up or just throw over it.
This is precisely what happened on the Terry McLaurin touchdown. The Commanders called the same sweep/tunnel screen RPO we just saw and it uncovered a slot blitz from the Lions.
This is the exact same scheme we just saw, but flipped. This time the bunch set of three receivers is aligned to the left of the formation rather than the right, but you’ll notice they maintain that wider alignment out by the numbers. The Lions have a nickel blitz called, with defensive back Brian Branch blitzing off the slot. With the alignment of the bunch so wide, he can’t afford to stay outside to disguise the blitz because he knows it’s too much ground to make up. So instead, he shuffles inside and makes it obvious he’s blitzing before the snap. Before Daniels even snaps the ball, Branch has gotten well inside the defensive end, making it extremely obvious he’s blitzing.
With that information, Daniels receives the snap and immediately fires the ball out to McLaurin on the tunnel screen. The Lions are left with just two defenders against the three receivers outside. Receivers Olamide Zaccheaus and Dyami Brown both make their blocks and Terry McLaurin bursts in between them to break free down the sideline. From there, it’s a foot race and McLaurin turns on the jets to go 58 yards to the end zone for the touchdown.
Once the Commanders hit that screen to McLaurin for a touchdown, things opened up in the run game significantly. Whenever they called an RPO, the Lions were forced to respect the screen threat and thus were left light in the box against the run.
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