I can imagine there is nothing more frustrating for a head coach than when they implement a new play/concept during the gameday week, call it, get the defense in the perfect position and then the execution lapses. This happened on Sunday night when the Eagles unveiled a new packaged concept.
Often times the Eagles' packaged plays can vary and include both pre-snap and post-snap reads. Foles will often look over the defense and if he sees a numbers advantage somewhere on the field, he can make his read there instead of post snap in the read-option. I believe that was the case on this particular play. The way this play was executed was not a packaged play with a post-snap read option, but based on the design you will see how the packaged concept is there for the next time they decide to call it.
The offense starts in 11 personnel. Look at the pre-snap alignment of the defense. There are 9 Giants defenders lined up in the red box up close to the line of scrimmage. Take a look at the wide side of the field on the bottom, there is a corner covering Jeff Maehl and one deep safety:
The Eagles are going to run what appears to be an outside run to Sproles. They leave the backside DE unblocked and Foles is in a postion to "read" that backside defender. However, in this case, I do not believe Foles is doing any "reading" because this play was called in the huddle to be a reverse to Josh Huff. However, the packaged concept is that the OL and RB action suggest a run to the outside. In the future we might see this same play dressed up with a read-option where Foles has the option to keep and run, or keep and roll out for a pass downfield. In this particular instance, Todd Herremans is pulling out to take another edge defender out on the outside. The Eagles were killing the Giants all game on these edge runs:
Foles hands the ball off to Sproles and you can see that backside DE in pursuit. Herremans is in a good position to lead block for Sproles:
However, Sproles flips the ball under his arm to Huff on the reverse. Unfortunately, the ball hits Sproles in the arm and hits the ground. Huff has to go down to secure the football and the result is a big negative play.
However, with the proper execution this shot shows the room Huff would have had to run:
Huff has not had many great opportunities so far to show what he can do the open field. This play really presented that opportunity but the exchange was not clean. Too bad.
Either way, while this appears to be a play called in the huddle before the snap, you can see the makings of the packaged concept. Chip loves to create a backside threat to keep that unblocked edge defender honest, especially considering Foles is not a major running threat. This is just another way to dress it up and spread the defense horizontally.
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