Cover 7 | Tuesday A daily NFL destination that provides in-depth analysis of football’s biggest stories. Every Tuesday, Ted Nguyen analyzes the best and worst coaching decisions he’s seen during the week’s games.
The good news for Josh McDaniels is that he can no longer make it into the “Dislikes” section of this column. His successor made it into the likes section! Aggressive defensive coordinators are so hot right now. Steve Spagnuolo of the Chiefs and Mike Macdonald of the Ravens are two of the best defensive coordinators and they gave it their all this Sunday. Your fellow offensive coordinators are struggling. All this and more in this week’s best and worst coaching decisions.
Likes
Pierce dissipates the McDaniels cloud
After McDaniels was fired as head coach of the Las Vegas Raiders, interim coach Antonio Pierce quickly corrected several mistakes made by his predecessor. Pierce’s first move was to name rookie quarterback Aidan O’Connell the starter. Jimmy Garoppolo played terribly, leading the league with nine interceptions before being benched despite only attempting 168 passes. O’Connell gives them more aggressiveness downfield, which will help open up the running game, but more importantly, he gives hope for the future. His 48-yard bomb to Tre Tucker on Sunday was by far the team’s longest performance this season. We know where Garoppolo’s ceiling is; We don’t know where O’Connell’s blanket is. He will have his difficult times, but giving him experience and finding out what he’s made of is absolutely the right decision.
Pierce immediately lightened the mood in the locker room and had the players bring a mini hoop. Offensive linemen engaged in spontaneous wrestling matches. There were smiles everywhere and that carried through to the game. The Raiders had fun. Yes, they beat the Giants’ third quarterback, but the offense scored more than 20 points for the first time this season against one of the better pass defenses in the league. I don’t think the Raiders will suddenly be a true playoff contender, but this team will play hard. Pierce is on the likes list for making football fun again for the Raiders, which led to a dominant 30-6 win.
GO DEEPER
The Raiders’ offense gets an emotional and playful boost from the win over the Giants
Spags take the fight to the Dolphins
Defenses are usually afraid to tackle Tua Tagovailoa because of his quick decision making and release. Teams are afraid to play a lot of players against the Dolphins because of their speed. Steve Spagnuolo does not share these fears. He stuck to his guns and attacked Tagovailoa and had his defensive backs pressure Tyreek Hill and the Dolphins’ receivers to disrupt their timing. It helps to have a great group of young and talented defensive backs who are quick and technical enough to keep up with Miami’s receivers. Tagovailoa had his worst game in EPA per dropback of the season and only one explosive pass.
Third-and-9 with 9:59 left in the first quarter
Here Spagnuolo had a corner kick in the third round. The lightning-quick cornerback, Jaylen Watson, was lined up over a receiver. Linebacker Drue Tranquill also took over the running back position. The secondary did an excellent job of maintaining stealth and rotating to prepare for the blitz.
After the snap, safety Justin Reid rotated to cover the receiver while free safety Bryan Cook moved him to the weak side and nickel Trent McDuffie dropped deep to play safety on the strong side.
With running back Raheem Mostert blocking the inside linebacker, Tagovailoa had no idea Watson was coming in unblocked.
Tagovailoa waited for Hill to make a move, but was sacked before Hill made his breakthrough.
Spagnuolo took the fight to the Dolphins and they wilted. They went scoreless in the first half and failed to play consistently when the holes were a little tighter, the catches were a little more contested and the pressure was relentless.
GO DEEPER
The Chiefs defense steals the show – and the ball – from Tyreek Hill, Dolphins in Germany
Mike Macdonald’s call plays like he knows what’s coming
Are there signs for former Michigan defensive coordinator Mike Macdonald? Is Connor Stalions on the Ravens staff now? Because this guy plays like he knows what’s coming. Of course I’m joking. I have great respect for Macdonald as a coach. He has a good sense of what the offense wants to accomplish and knows how to disrupt it. He calls for defense with the intent to attack. He turned everything into overdrive against the Seahawks, outscoring them with 21 percent of dropbacks, his second-highest percentage of the season. The Ravens held the Seahawks, who came into the game ranked 11th in points per drive, to just three points.
Third-and-11 with 4:01 left in the first quarter
On third-and-long, the Seahawks had tight end Noah Fant and running back Zach Charbonnet in the backfield for protection. They were on maximum defense, which meant they had seven blockers. The Ravens found themselves in a congestion front with three defensive linemen on the left side of center. On the backside, Roquan Smith invaded the B gap to get the attention of the backside guard who was supposed to block him. Linebacker Patrick Queen was outside the line of scrimmage.
Macdonald is great at creating numerical advantages for his defense. After the snap, Smith went into coverage. The Ravens only rushed six and the Seahawks only had three receiver run routes, leaving the Ravens with five defenders covering three.
Although the Seahawks had one more blocker than the Ravens rushers, that numbers advantage was negated by the scheme. Instead of rushing, Queen placed a pick at left guard to free Justin Madubuike.
While Fant and Charbonnet Queen blocked, the pick at left guard took out three blockers.
Fant didn’t see Madubuike in time and he overwhelmed Geno Smith with edge rusher Kyle Van Noy.
There were several calls from Macdonald in this game that were just perfect counters to the offensive play call. The Ravens are the model of what a modern defense should look like: They have enough tools in the playbook to checkmate any offense that tries to be thrown at them. It’s not as easy as sitting back for a few coverages and hoping you’re healthy enough to contain the offense. The game manager must remain vigilant and Macdonald is locked in like every other manager in the league at the moment.
GO DEEPER
By throttling the Seahawks, the Ravens claim to be one of the most balanced teams in the NFL
Dislikes
The Titans call for play in the fourth quarter
The Titans might have something in rookie quarterback Will Levis. He has shown some really impressive traits in his two starts. Last week against the Falcons, it was the arm talent that threw four touchdowns. This week against the Steelers his numbers weren’t nearly as eye-catching, but in some ways this game was more impressive.
Against the Falcons, many of his throws came in his first appearance. I included offensive coordinator Tim Kelly in my likes section last week because he was able to call plays where the first read was open. However, the Steelers forced Levis to sustain his progress and put him under constant pressure. The Titans’ struggling offensive line was outscored by TJ Watt and Co., but Levis showed pocket presence and toughness, staying in the pocket and making some tough throws.
Last week, Kelly let the rookie loose by calling shot after shot, but this week he became overly conservative late in the game, which cost the Titans. Trailing by four points with 3:56 left in the game and the ball near centerfield, Kelly called three runs in a row and eventually passed on fourth-and-4. The Titans failed to convert the ball and trailed by nearly two minutes. The Titans got another shot and pushed the offense all the way to the Pittsburgh 19, but they just didn’t have enough time and Levis had to field a shot into the end zone that was intercepted.
GO DEEPER
NFL Coach of the Year, MVP Candidates and Biggest Midseason Surprises: Sando’s Pick Six
Ken Dorsey gives up the pace
The Bills gave us a glimpse of the second comeback of the K-Gun offense last week due to their remarkable efficiency in using the no-huddle. This week they waited until they were down double digits to start the no-huddle.
“Exactly the game plan we had,” Josh Allen said after the game about not pushing the pace early in the game.
Last week against the Bucs, Allen told ESPN’s Kevin Clark that the no-huddle actually helped him slow the game down. Against the Bengals, the Bills didn’t get into their up-tempo offense until the end of the first half, when they got the ball with 1:37 left. They shot within field goal range but were called for a questionable intentional grounding. They scored a touchdown on their first drive of the game, but only managed three points the rest of the half.
In the second half they used more no-huddle and were able to move the ball easily again. They scored on two of four drives. On one of those punts, they drove into the red zone, but Dalton Kincaid fumbled the ball away.
I understand that it can be difficult to constantly change or adjust your signals, but this was a huge matchup against one of the top teams in the AFC. This game had playoff implications. Prior to this game, the Bills were 2-2 in their last four games. They had to win and the first half drought was costly. No-huddle should be a staple in Buffalo’s offense, especially when playing against top opponents.
GO DEEPER
Is it time to talk about Ken Dorsey’s job? Bills have big questions after loss to Bengals
Arthur Smith’s red zone offense
The Falcons offense ranks 19th in red zone efficiency. They only got into the red zone twice against the Vikings, but on their first play Smith made two questionable goal-line calls. On second down from the 1-yard line, he called a fly sweep to tight end Jonnu Smith, but it was stopped for no gain. On the next play (third down), he called an outside zone play for Tyler Allgeier, which was stopped for a 4-yard loss. Outside the zone is a great play, but it’s not often called in short-yard situations because offensive linemen operate horizontally rather than vertically. Also, I don’t understand not using Bijan Robinson in the red zone. He weighs 216 pounds and demonstrated the ability to squeeze through tiny holes in the red zone in college. The Falcons had to settle for a field goal and ended up losing the game by three points.
GO DEEPER
Schultz: The Falcons’ offense is failing, and that’s because of Arthur Smith, not the quarterback
(Top photo by Steve Spagnuolo: Stephen Maturen / Getty Images)
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