The Chip Wagon

Extra! Extra! 'READ' All About It: 2014 Preseason Game #1

Last season we tried to maintain a weekly feature where we highlighted the use of the read-option after every game to illustrate how much we use it, and it's impact on different defenses. If preseason game #1 showed us anything, it showed us that the read-option will continue to remain a key staple of the 2014 offense as all 4 quarterbacks used it in some fashion on Friday night. 

Quick refresher for new readers who haven't been regular readers of the blog. The term "read-option" does not solely refer to the simple play where the offensive line leaves an unblocked defender on the line, reads him, and chooses to keep the ball and run, or hand off to the running back in the other direction. Looking at our stable of QBs this year, and other than GJ Kinne, that's not a play that should regularly be featured in this offense. Instead, we refer to the read-option as a play that has several options built-in and the QB will read a key defender (or two) to make a decision on where the football should go. 

So let's have a look at some familiar looking concepts:

The Emory and Henry Philly Phlashback

Credit goes out to commenter MIT who reminded me in the comments section the other day that this wasn't the first time the Eagles have run the Emory and Henry formation. Turns out Andy Reid rolled it out back in 2009 when Kevin Kolb made his first career start in place of an injured Donovan McNabb. 

For those of you who have access to NFL Game Pass or Rewind, this game is still in the archives and I recommend checking out at least the first half for entertainment purposes. Heading into that game as a big underdog, we saw one of the more creative game plans from Andy Reid utilizing the wildcat formation several times and yes, even the Emory and Henry Formation. Recognize this?

There is it is. The same  3 x 3 x 3 formation we spoke about when highlighting play #8 on the ChipWagon Top 25. 

#13- Meshing in the Red Zone

For #13 on the list we re-visit the mesh concept that we highlighted back at play #22. There, we focused on the mesh concept underneath that is combined with a wheel route out of the backfield. It's a concept Chip went to a lot through the regular season and it is unlikely to go away with the addition of Darren Sproles in the backfield. 

Last week Sheil Kapadia and  Villanova coach Brian Flinn (@Coach_Flinn) did a really nice piece on the mesh concept. Check it out here. As Sheil mentioned in that post, it didn't take long for opposing defense to switch to man coverage against the Eagles offense in 2013. And based on recent comments from Chip, he expects we will continue to see that in 2014 and beyond and it's impacted our roster decisions particularly at WR. One of the things Chip employed to counteract the man coverage were mesh or rub concepts that are designed to create traffic on shallow crossing routes underneath. The idea is that the coverage player ends up getting caught by a natural pick underneath freeing up one or both of the crossing WRs. 

#14- Polking the Bear

#14 on the ChipWagon Top 25 features Chris Polk's 2nd career TD and introduced a new wrinkle to the evolving rushing attack deployed by Chip Kelly:

Read more here. 

Here Comes the Boom!

The Eagles running game has been a revelation this year. It's no secret now that Lesean McCoy has been crowned the 2013 NFL Rushing Champion. We've covered the majority of Chip Kelly's run concepts this year (reviews here and here.) For a large portion of the season, Chip Kelly relied heavily on his 5 OL to set the tone in the running game. With all the 2, and sometimes 3. tight end sets we run, Chip does seem to prefer to send out a number of pass options on every play. In other words, I wouldn't exactly call the Chip Kelly running offense a smashmouth, power offense. 

But a funny thing started happening in December. As the weather got colder, Kelly adjusted and stopped leaving so many "unblocked" defenders and started to put more TEs on the line to block. James Casey has transitioned from a special teamer only, to a key cog in our running game.