New York Giants Football 101: The 2 Minute Drill
The MetLife Stadium crowd is quiet as a mouse, hoping their New York Giants can complete the miracle comeback against the Philadelphia Eagles. The Giants offense is backed up on their own 10 yard line with 1:44 remaining on the game clock. They need a touchdown to win the game.
It is up to Eli Manning to pull off the late game heroics and you’re going to be right in the action. This is an exciting spin off of football 101, because it takes you through the concepts as they happen in our exciting but fictional two-minute drill.
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The offense lines up in 11 personnel. Shane Vereen is the running back in the backfield while Larry Donnell is flexed out in the slot. Victor Cruz and Odell Beckham Jr. are on opposite sides with Rueben Randle in the slot opposite to Donnell.
Since the Giants are going to run a no-huddle attack, this is the package that will have to finish the game; the Giants have only one time out remaining.
Aug 16, 2014; Indianapolis, IN, USA; New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning (10) throws a pass against the Indianapolis Colts in the first half at Lucas Oil Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Brian Spurlock-USA TODAY Sports
The Eagles defense appears to be in a soft zone coverage. They know that time is not the friend of the Giants so the defense is content to give up short gains to chew out the clock. Manning takes the snap from under center and drops back.
He hits Vereen over the middle who ran a Texas route (Out diagonally and sharply back to the middle of the field). The linebackers dropped back in a zone coverage allowing Vereen to pick up 10 easy yards, with the shallow middle of the field without defenders.
The Giants hurry to the line, Manning is as poised as ever. He barks out direction as he rushes to the line. Just a few hand signals and the Giants got to the new line of scrimmage without wasting any time. This time Manning is in the shotgun and Beckham Jr. is in the slot while Vereen and Donnell are lined up in the backfield.
Dec 28, 2014; East Rutherford, NJ, USA; New York Giants wide receiver Odell Beckham (13) gets past Philadelphia Eagles free safety
Malcolm Jenkins(27) to score a touchdown during the game at MetLife Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Robert Deutsch-USA TODAY Sports
Beckham Jr. receives the football on a quick bubble screen. With great blocking by Cruz on the outside and Donnell he is able to get 17 yards and scamper out of bounds to stop the clock. The Giants are now on their 37 yard line with exactly one minute remaining on the clock. Once again the Giants have taken advantage of the Eagles passive defense. To the Eagles disappointment, they’ve done it without wasting precious time.
The Giants offense knows that eventually they will need to take shots down the field. There isn’t time to nickel and dime the Eagles down the rest of the field. The Giants can’t win with a field goal, they need the touchdown to win the game.
The Eagles defense makes an adjustment. They are no longer willing to let the Giants pick them apart, they can’t use their prevent defense any longer. The cornerbacks line up facing the receivers, which is a tell-tale sign of man coverage (though not a guarantee). The safeties are lined up deep, splitting the halves of the field. Manning reads Cover 2 Man Under.
With the defense playing man to man, with the security of two deep safeties, Manning makes an audible. The play he changes into is a Cover 2 beater. He has Randle run a deep post route from the slot. Beckham Jr. and Cruz run go routes. This attacks the vulnerabilities of a Cover 2 defense, the deep middle and the down the sidelines.
When Manning takes the shotgun snap and drops back, he sees exactly what he wants to see. Randle burns by the nickel cornerback. The safeties are stretched out too wide, they have to respect the 2 superstar receivers out wide. Randle is wide open in the middle of the field. Manning launches a bullet and completes the pass. Randle makes it to the end zone. The Giants take the lead with less than a minute remaining.
What we learned:
Aug 9, 2013; Philadelphia, PA, USA; New England Patriots running back Shane Vereen (34) during the second quarter against the Philadelphia Eagles at Lincoln Financial Field. The Patriots defeated the Eagles 31-22. Mandatory Credit: Howard Smith-USA TODAY Sports
11 personnel: This simply indicates that there is 1 running back and 1 receiver. Therefore there has to be 3 wide receivers to make the 11 player offense.
Texas Route: This is a route that is critically dear to the west coast offense. The running back runs out diagonally and cuts back to the middle of the field. The linebacker comes towards the running back and the running back runs past him in the other direction. In this case the linebacker vacated the middle of the field giving Vereen an easy first down.
Prevent Defense: The concept is constructed so that the offense burns time that it does not have to burn. The defense allows short passes and rallies to the football. The problem is that if the defense gives up chunks of yards like in this example, it does not burn the necessary time off the clock.
The Construction and Vulnerabilities Of Cover 2: The Cover 2 defense is used often because it is relatively conservative. Two deep safeties help prevent the deep pass. The defense is not perfect however. While it is often a great defensive coverage it has vulnerabilities. The deep safeties have a lot of ground to cover. This makes the deep middle of the field and the deep sidelines hard to cover.
Basic Clues Of Coverage: It makes sense that the position of the defensive backs indicates coverage. If the cornerback is looking towards the quarterback he is worried about the football and not the receiver, indicating a zone coverage. If he is facing the receiver it usually means man coverage because he has to run with the receiver. The position of the safeties indicates how many deep defenders there will be and where they will be covering.