How to Gameplan for Richard Sherman
Richard Sherman is undoubtedly one of the best, if not the best cornerback in the NFL right now. His mix of athleticism, ball skills, and football intelligence make him a force to be reckoned with in the Seattle secondary, and he’s a big reason why the aptly-named “Legion of Boom” has set the standard for NFL defenses the past several seasons.
When you’re preparing to play a team with a defender in the secondary with Richard Sherman’s caliber, obviously a large part of your preparation should focus on how to avoid, attack, or neutralize his effects on your game plan.
Before a coaching staff develops any sort of detailed plan of attack it’s important to figure out where the guy lines up and why.
Some questions that need to be asked include:
- Does he tend to line up on one side of the field more than another?
- Is it a left/right thing, or maybe a strong/weak thing? — In college, it’s common for defensive coordinators to align their secondary according to the hash marks. In other words, they’ll have a corner who always lines up to the short side of the field (the boundary), and the rest of the secondary follows a similar pattern. The NFL is a different animal, however, and because the hash marks are so close together at the professional level, the offense for all intents and purposes, has the ball in the middle of the field on every play, eliminating the field/boundary dynamic that’s so important to the college game.
- If he tends to only line up on one side of the field, what formations, motions, or personnel groupings cause him to make an exception to that tendency?
- If he moves around from play to play, is he following a specific receiver around because of the game plan that week?
- How does he respond to motion? — Obviously this is heavily dependent on several factors, including the coverage call, the formation, etc, so it must be examined in context. Yet, with careful film analysis, it’s possible to detect tendencies when it comes to the defense’s reaction to motion, and take advantage of them.
Now that we’ve talked generically about how to analyze the play of a game-changer at the cornerback position, let’s talk specifically about how a coach would go about planning for Richard Sherman.
Sherman makes his living lining up to the offense’s right side, rarely leaving that spot except in special situations.
So for offensive coordinators, the question becomes how do you move him, or how do you find other ways to attack that side of the field without directly challenging one of the best in the business?
In the 2014 season opener, the Packers famously didn’t even attempt to throw to their right for almost the entire game, giving Sherman an enormous amount of respect, and basically ceding the entire right side of the field to the defense without much of a fight.
For a team like Green Bay, with an ultra-accurate quarterback and a roster full of speedy and elusive receivers that may be an option, but that doesn’t mean it’s an optimal strategy.
Even though teams aren’t in a hurry to challenge Sherman directly, they still need to be able to get the football to his side (in the passing game) enough so that they aren’t predictable.
So that’s what we’ll be talking about in this article, some specific strategies teams have used to, not necessarily attack Sherman himself, but instead, move him out of the way, and limit his effectiveness whenever possible.
Playaction Concepts
In this first play we’ll be examining a playaction concept from Green Bay in the infamous “Fail Mary” game, where the Packers lined up with 22 personnel on the field in an I-Formation “wing” formation, both tight ends lined up to the right side and the single receiver to the opposite side of the formation.
We’ll also take a look at a hypothetical scenario where the defense doesn’t react like Green Bay had hoped, and what Rodgers would do next.
Play #1
As you can see from the diagram below, the Packers hope that by lining up with both tight ends to the right side, and putting #88 Jermichael Finley in motion from right to left, they can force Sherman to go with him, since that’s been the tendency in the past.
Green Bay hopes that by removing Sherman from the right side, they can run their other tight end on a little wheel route and get him matched up on a linebacker in pass coverage, which would be a huge win for them.
At the same time, to the left side of the play, the offense will run what’s often referred to as a “dagger” concept, with a dig route by the outside receiver at ten yards and a post breaking into the middle of the field at the same depth.
Finley’s job on the post route is to go opposite of where the free safety Earl Thomas ends up. If he drops extra deep, then Finley should flatten out his route a bit, coming on a more horizontal angle across the middle to find the open space to the opposite hash mark. If Thomas stays shallow, Finley should try to beat him over the top, for no other reason than to open up space for the dig route coming across the middle at ten yards.
So let’s see what happens…
Here’s the down and distance situation:
As both teams begin to line up we see Sherman in his expected alignment to the right side, sitting outside of the wing alignment, and in position to backpedal quickly to take away any expected vertical routes from that side of the formation.
When Jermichael Finley goes in motion, Sherman goes with him (as expected) and Packers Head Coach Mike McCarthy knows he’s going to get the matchup he was looking for.
Finley comes to a stop a split second before the ball is snapped, and the defense hasn’t made any changes to their look except for letting Sherman chase the motion. The basic structure of the defensive front stays exactly how it’s always been.
Here’s another look at the pass play from the wide angle, drawn up before the snap.
At the snap, the tight end #84 DJ Williams runs his assigned route with Rodgers looking for him the whole way.
Unfortunately for Green Bay, the pass is just a bit too high for Williams. Rodgers had to float the pass a bit high to get it over the reach of the Sam linebacker, but Williams was open, and the message has been sent to Seattle.
But what’s the protocol if the defense doesn’t react the way Green Bay was hoping and Sherman stays exactly where he is?
Below is a hypothetical scenario involving the same offensive playcall in the same situation, with a noticeable difference.
Play #2
Once again the Packers line up with the same 22 personnel on the field as before, the same formation as before, etc.
Now let’s assume that instead of doing what the Packers anticipate and use Richard Sherman to chase the motion of Jermichael Finley, they use another prominent member of the secondary, Kam Chancellor. In addition to his excellent coverage skills, Seattle often takes advantage of Chancellor’s speed and athleticism by using him down in the box as an extra run defender, almost like a fourth linebacker, and he’s often the “adjuster” to motions like this one.
As a result, it’s perfectly normal to see him move with the motion like he’s doing in the diagram above. The Sam linebacker would likely bump into Chancellor’s former spot in the middle of the defense, and Sherman would stay pretty much in exactly the same place he started.
But what about Rodgers and his progression?
A lot of times Aaron Rodgers faces difficult reads from the defense.
This is not one of those times.
In actuality, his progression stays the same. He’s still reading the play from right to left, and with Sherman sitting to the right side of the field, he knows even before the football is snapped that the tight end is taken out of the equation, but the offense still has a chance to the “twins” side of the formation with the dagger concept.
He’ll read the deep middle of the field, working long to short depending on how Earl Thomas reacts at the free safety position, and if the play breaks down, he’s still got the checkdown underneath.
The principle here is simple, but important: Put your players in a position to succeed, even if the defense doesn’t do what you thought they would.
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