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Paint Analysis: the play that concussed Trent Edwards

I know you don't want to re-live it; I didn't much enjoy it myself.  But in my desperate search to find someone to blame, and thus loathe, in regards to Trent Edwards' concussion suffered in Sunday's loss, the following analysis proves that the blame may lie on the shoulders of an unsatisfactory player.  Rumblers, it's our first ever Paint Analysis - and if you like the glorious crappiness of this exercise, perhaps it could become a more regular feature...

The Situation
Buffalo ball, 3rd and 6, BUF 30, early first quarter

Presnap_medium

* Buffalo comes out in a three-wide set.  Edwards (5) is in the shotgun with Marshawn Lynch (23) to his left.
* Arizona counters with a dime look - three corners, three safeties.  Adrian Wilson (24) is lined up essentially in no-man's land; it's apparent that he's going to do as he pleases on this play.
* Hardy comes in motion, eventually settling to the right and slightly behind Robert Royal (84).  Simultaneously, Chike Okeafor (56) and Karlos Dansby (58) cheat up to the line of scrimmage, and Wilson comes up to, apparently, take Hardy in the slot.  Everything the Cardinals are doing to this point screams "blitz up the gut", including Wilson's actions.  The Cards appear to be playing man in the slots behind this blitz.  Appearances, as it turns out, can be deceiving.
* Other relevant notes: Eric Green (25) is lined up across Josh Reed (82) in the slot; Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie (29) and Antrel Rolle (21) have Lee Evans (83) bracketed on the left side of the formation; Aaron Francisco (47) and Roderick Hood (26) are clearly in a zone shell behind Wilson.

The Snap

Snap_medium

* Surprise!  Arizona's blitzing, but it's from the edges.  Dansby (58) and Okeafor (56) drop off into zone coverage, and Green (25) and Wilson (24) blitz off the edges.
* The actions of Arizona's defensive linemen make this play.  LaBoy (55) and Antonio Smith (94) rush on the interior, pinching the Bills' line into an even more tight-knit group.  It's compounded by the disguised interior blitz.  As a result, there's a pileup, and Langston Walker ends up assisting on Smith when he really didn't need to.  Wilson runs by unscathed.
* Marshawn (23) easily picks up Green, the other edge rusher.
* Reed (82) and Royal (84) are essentially decoys for the guy running the hot route, Hardy (81).  Reed draws coverage from the dropping Dansby.  Okeafor, meanwhile, is stuck in no-man's land between Hardy and Royal, who run an excellent route combination on the converted defensive end.  The problem, however, is two-fold: Hardy doesn't run it quick enough, and Wilson's untouched.
* Edwards reads the blitz and immediately knows Hardy is his guy.  Kid's sharp as a tack.  Here comes Wilson, however...

The Hit

Edwards_wilson_medium

* Trent starts drifting backwards, waiting for the Hardy/Royal route combination to develop.  He makes the throw quickly; the ball is out a split second before Hardy turns his head.  The problem is, Edwards has to hold the ball a touch longer than he'd like, and he ends up throwing the ball off his back foot.  He's essentially ripe for Wilson's picking.
* Edwards delivers the first down throw, but at an awful expense.  Wilson hits high to try to knock the ball out; Edwards is too quick on the draw, but Wilson hits under Trent's shoulder and drives his helmet - in a non-dirty fashion; it has more to do with momentum than anything - up into Edwards' chin.
* As the pair go down, the back of Edwards' helmet hits the turf first.  He's very clearly going to have a sore neck and a rung bell.  Wilson - mostly because of Edwards' drifting and his own explosiveness - drives through Edwards and lands on the quarterback with his full body weight.  If Wilson gets fined, it'll be because of this last detail - he wasn't playing dirty, as many Bills fans have unfairly claimed.

The Aftermath

Where should the blame lie?  It's spread out a bit; part of it is on a great blitz scheme by Clancy Pendergast, part of it is on Langston Walker for pinching in when he should have fanned out and tried to knock Wilson off course (though, admittedly, he wouldn't have had much time to do this), and part of it on Edwards for being a smart, gritty, loveable guy.

Will Wilson get suspended?  Almost certainly not.  Will he get fined?  If he does, it won't be for a large amount, and it shouldn't be; it won't be for a dirty hit, either.  If Wilson has to pay up, it'll be because he landed on Edwards with all of his weight.  My guess?  Wilson won't get fined, either, and he probably shouldn't.  He was just playing football.

The good news: Edwards is reportedly doing well - or, rather, about as well as can be expected at this point.  With the bye week upon us, Edwards has plenty of time to shake off the cobwebs, get plenty of sleep, take a little vacation and get ready for San Diego.  It's far too early to speculate on his availability for that game, but to this point, signs are far more encouraging than they are discouraging.  Get well soon, Trent.

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Great analysis Bri.

He did everything right essentially but avoid the hit. I think this is an example of where Edwards can be a bit more creative and try a pump fake to get the blitzing defender in the air or at least do something that will make the defender hesitate and give him the time he needs to make the right read.

by gatornation on Oct 7, 2008 7:59 AM EDT reply actions   0 recs

glorious crappiness

It is both crappy and glorious and I thoroughly enjoyed this exercise.

by gabefarkas on Oct 7, 2008 8:59 AM EDT reply actions   0 recs

very nice breakdown.

but I wonder how many of the posters here would have said the Qb held the ball to long if that Qb was JP instead of Trent. After all Wilson wasn’t coming from Trents blind side and while I admire TE for standing in there and taking that brutal hit while still delivering a strike, I wonder if that was necessary. Drew Bledsoe used to be a good Qb too!!

by jimkutica on Oct 7, 2008 9:19 AM EDT reply actions   0 recs

I would think

that had JP been in there he would have hung on to the ball and taken the sack (maybe avoid the injury by bracing for the hit) and it would have resulting in a long 4th down and a punt…plus even though it wasn’t from the blind side I still think that JP would not have seen the sack coming (he has no pocket awareness what so ever)…yeah JP is a good athelete with a strong arm but he is not the QB of this team…I mean for god sake Holcomb beat him out, come on people start realizing the truth JP needs to be traded and we need to trust Edwards…even if TE gets injured beyond playing we need some one other than JP to win plain and simple

by Lion Alum on Oct 7, 2008 11:40 AM EDT up reply actions   0 recs

You missed his point completely, Lion Alum. He was talking about the discrepancy between Edwards “hanging in there” and Losman “holding the ball too long”. It wasn’t meant to start yet another JP vs Trent debate, but alas, it has.

The JP vs Trent crap needs to stop, people. One is our starting quarterback, one isn’t. One is clearly better than the other. Embrace the fact that both are part of this team and move on.

by Brian Galliford on Oct 7, 2008 12:14 PM EDT up reply actions   0 recs

Great Breakdown

I really enjoyed this analysis. Helps me learn my x’s and o,s a lil better.
I’ve seen the hit several times, and I wholeheartedly agree with you. It was a clean hit that ended up bad. Wilson should not be fined.
I gotta commend Trent for hanging in there and putting bombs on target.
I guess this confirms that he (TE) is injury prone? (sarcasm)

by MonStarr_716 on Oct 7, 2008 9:33 AM EDT reply actions   0 recs

Agreed, and as for Holding to Long vs. Tough Guy making the play

Its all dependent on how the PLAY finishes up people, nothing else. If TE gets the play off like he did, he gets plaudits for being tough. If he pulls the ball down and turtles, people claim he held the ball to long. It doesn’t matter WHO the QB is, in this situation whether it is JP, TE, Peyton Manning or Big Ben, they all would get tagged that way at the end of the play.

Fear the mighty helmet wearing gopher, he is coming for your soul....

by WABillsfan on Oct 7, 2008 3:46 PM EDT up reply actions   0 recs

Nice...

Nice work Brian…thanks for putting the time into breaking this down.

I know we all admire Edwards for his willingness/ability to stand in there and deliver the pass with the heat coming and he had to have known this hit was coming yet he still kept his poise. I hope this hit and the injury don’t change that about him, as I am sure it could. Then again, I don’t want to see him take a hit like this again…step up, tuck the ball and absorb the hit when the hardest hitter on the field is barreling at you untouched.

by BuffaloWill on Oct 7, 2008 10:11 AM EDT reply actions   0 recs

Very nice

May I suggest downloading a Photoshop type program, haha. It worked well though here.

Trent may even be worth a small portion of the blame as well, though it seems the Cards disguised the blitz as well as a blitz can be disguised. If he had been able to recognize it early, maybe this would have been avoided. I don’t know if it would have been possible for that though. Jaws said something along the same line. Unfortunately, it was probably an avoidable hit unless Trent had audibled to something else, but that was unforeseen.

One thing in the future I’d like to see when a blitz up the middle looks apparent is the swing to a RB. I see a lot of teams do this where when under heavy pressure a RB just slips out and the QB lofts a pass to him with room to run. Something to consider…

~K

by Kurupt on Oct 7, 2008 10:59 AM EDT reply actions   0 recs

That link was funny...

Love the “new” format. Anytime you get to use the two words (glorious crappiness) in the same sentence, chances are you might be on to something good.

I would love next to see animated stick figures.

by krytime on Oct 7, 2008 7:50 PM EDT up reply actions   0 recs

Believe it or not, animated stick figures might be within the realm of possibility.

Glad everyone enjoyed this; or, rather, everyone who spoke up did. :)

by Brian Galliford on Oct 7, 2008 8:01 PM EDT up reply actions   0 recs

You do animated stick figures....

And I start sending you money for a subscription to this site.

by krytime on Oct 7, 2008 9:54 PM EDT up reply actions   0 recs

Possibly K, but hard to say with this situation

Yes they could have had Lynch due a chip and swing route off that blitz, but the way it was desgined, even if TE got that off to him, I think he still would have gotten rung up by Wilson. I can’t say the hit would have been any better or worse, but I’ve been ear holed a couple of times on the field and it leaves you like TE was regardless more times than not.

Fear the mighty helmet wearing gopher, he is coming for your soul....

by WABillsfan on Oct 7, 2008 3:49 PM EDT up reply actions   0 recs

Great stuff, Brian

If football has degraded to the point that hitting a stretched out player is levying fines no matter what, the league ought to just have everyone wear flags. Flags? Flags.

We all leave footprints in the sands of time, just watch out for the discarded fish hooks!

by Hawkwind on Oct 7, 2008 11:52 AM EDT reply actions   0 recs

Best options to prevent

Given this, was there any better choice that could have been made? I don’t know how players think or make adjustments, but ideas could be:

(1) Walker glances right at the snap to confirm Wilson is not blitzing before doubling down. Of course, if it’s a blitz up the middle with the linebackers and Wilson is man-to-man, he ends up blocking no one.

(2) Royal chips Wilson on the way out (which makes him a less effective decoy).

Is that how they could have read the play? Or do they need direction from the QB or center to do so?

by cajunasian on Oct 7, 2008 1:16 PM EDT reply actions   0 recs

Depends on how the O is set up

Some teams have a threat scheme in place for the Oline and TEs to check the area around them and then make on the fly adjustments without a QB telling them too. Others its a combo of the QB and Center telling the line what to look for, usually the Center is telling the Guards what interior stunts or blitzes might be coming and the QB lets the Tackles, TEs and RBs know whats coming (Peyton and Saturday of the Colts are known for this).

Many teams for their RBs run the same blocking scheme. Look to the interior first for LBs blitzing, then scan out to the edges on thier side of the field (L or R depending on where they setup after the snap) and look for and edge rusher, if none there, then scan to the far side and check again.

For TEs many times a chip block is called either in the huddle or audibled to while on the line of scimmage. If TE thought Wilson was going to fall back into coverage on Royal, then he might not have called for it. Also, Turk may never have called the play with the chip block to occur anyhow, and Royal may have just forgotten to do it OR just not done it in an attempt to get open more quickly to keep the interior blitz from getting to Trent.

Who knows for certain? Only Turk, TE and Royal do and none of them are saying anything, so its not really worth it to dwell on it eh?

Fear the mighty helmet wearing gopher, he is coming for your soul....

by WABillsfan on Oct 7, 2008 3:55 PM EDT up reply actions   0 recs

I really like this format

Nice to see how it happened. The blame seems to rest mostly with Hardy and/or the design of the play vs a well designed blitz. If Hardy throws a block and Royal runs a square in, then we would have completed the pass and not have lost Edwards on that play anyway.

by Joe P. on Oct 7, 2008 6:47 PM EDT reply actions   0 recs

Edwards may have been able to prevent the hit.

Had Edwards recognized that Wilson was blitzing he could have alerted the team. Someone would then have been assigned to block Wilson.Perhaps he recognized the blitz but felt he could get the short pass off and take the hit. Hopefully this hard lesson will make Trent a better quarterback. Go Bills!!!!!

by gjv on Oct 7, 2008 7:03 PM EDT reply actions   0 recs

Look out, Jaws

There’s a new kid on the block. Nice work, Brian. You didn’t happen to consult with Ron Jaworski, did you?

Who’s got the cobweb cleaner? Glad Trent’s got the bye week coming…

Get the Bills back to the big game!

by Blitz on Oct 8, 2008 2:25 PM EDT reply actions   0 recs

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