Oakland Raiders Film Room: OAK at SD

The Deep Ball

What’s the first big difference from the above picture and previous plays discussed so far? Single high safety. In the first play we discussed, the Raiders had an empty backfield and still faced two deep safeties. Same with the following run play. But San Diego was getting killed in the short game, so they adjusted.

With a single deep safety and MAN coverage underneath, Oakland was freed up to throw the ball deep and work those pick plays. On the Walford touchdown, they ran a double pick play on 2nd and 3 – a perfect time to take a shot at the end zone. The Raiders are in 12 personnel (1 RB, 2 TEs, 2 WRs) with both tight ends on the right side of the field.

Like any good pick play, Rivera’s route forces Walford’s defender, S Jimmy Wilson (#27), to cut underneath – losing leverage against Walford on the wheel route.

Carr and Walford have half the field to work with on this pass. Walford gets a few steps and Carr delivers a strike for easy TD. Beautiful.

Now San Diego’s defense has to respect the deep ball, too. But they don’t want to bring back a safety and get destroyed by the short pass either. Better start sending people after Carr to up the pressure, right?

Next: Oakland Nails the Screen Game