Establish the Fun: Commanders football is fun again

Plus, the Fighting Irish gear up for the biggest test of the season and CJ Stroud is locked in.

It’s Friday. You know what that means (shoutout Brodie Lee).

We’re back with another installment of Establish the Fun, where fun levels remain at maximum output. We’re almost through the first quarter of both the college and NFL season, and you can start to see some trends picking up league wide. We also are noticing whether some teams are real or not. By this time, there’s been just a bit of attrition and each team has played a semi-competent opponent at least once.

We got a big week coming up on the college football landscape, and the NFL is humming along with more crucial games this week. So lets have some fun and get down to business, starting with…the Washington Commanders?

Washington Commands your attention

Through two games this season, the Washington Commanders are (/squints):

16th in EPA/play on offense.

15th in passing offense.

And most importantly…

The Washington Commanders are 2-0.

For a team many pegged to be near the bottom of the NFC at the beginning of the year, the Commanders have jumped out to a 2-0 start, and it’s behind a passing offense that has not only is effective, but fun as hell. Offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy has installed an offense that not only accentuates the strengths of his receiving core, but allows young QB Sam Howell to maximize the talent that he has. Let’s look back at the passing game’s performance in their comeback win over Denver to really get into what they’re doing so well to start the season.

One of my biggest questions for Howell and the Washington offense going into this season was how his play would dip now that he’s being asked to make full field reads and run NFL concepts. While in college at North Carolina, then-OC Phil Longo didn’t do much of that, and he only played in one NFL game going into this season.

What Bieniemy has done is not turn him into only reading half the field, no. Bieniemy has asked him to make big boy reads, but simplifying it so Howell doesn’t have to do a lot of work post-snap. One way he’s done that is through motion. Through two games, the Commanders have used motion before the snap on 39 of Howell’s dropbacks, 12th most in the NFL. Now, I’m not saying every team needs to motion on every play (glares at Matt Canada), but a proper motion combined with the post-snap concept will help a young QB decipher what the defense is running and where his answer is.

Let’s take this big first down to Jahan Dotson for example. Dotson goes in motion from right close to the RT, to left, then right again before the snap but he’s spread out in a true slot spot now. The Broncos adjust by walking a nickel over him and having one high safety. To Howell, this looks like Cover 3 or Cover 1. He’s really keying in on the defender over the second receiver. He is the guy that has to be moved if it’s zone, but if it’s man, that means he’ll have the deep sail route to Dotson open potentially.

This is where Bieniemy comes in. The number 2 receiver to that side runs a deep over route, with the goal of taking the intermediate guy with him as well as the safety. The outside receiver runs a pivot route, and when Howell is looking to that side, he sees the outside corner trigger down on it quickly. That should determine man coverage, and the sail to Dotson is wide open (might’ve also been helped by a coverage bust. Who’s to say.)

This play is an Andy Reid coordinator tree staple. Trips to the right side, and the third receiver is going to run a deep sit route, attacking the backside safety. Why? Because a common adjustment to 3×1 formations in the Vic Fangio tree is called TRIX, where the defense will play quarters to the backside of the formation and essentially call it man, while to the frontside the defense will play Cover 2. What this play is doing is giving Howell an easy read, based on that backside safety. If he triggers hard downhill on the third receiver running a deep sit, then the second receiver is basically running into the void that the safety left. If the safety doesn’t come down hard, the sit route will be open.

Against Denver, the backside safety triggers hard, but there’s enough of a window to get the ball to the third receiver to get the first down.

If you think that play looks familiar, then you might remember the touchdown Jaguars QB Trevor Lawrence threw to WR Zay Jones in their comeback victory over the Los Angeles Chargers in the Wild Card last year.

Howell’s 6.5 Intended Air Yards is nowhere near the tops of the NFL at this point, but he’s always been a confident deep ball thrower who throws a very pretty ball. His touchdown to WR Terry McLaurin was a great example of throwing with anticipation and extreme confidence. On this play, the Commanders are once again in a 3×1, but this time it’s a bunch with the TE close to the LOS, like an H-back. Before the snap, Howell can see S Justin Simmons’ body language. His butt is towards McLaurin, with eyes to the trips side. He’s looking to poach or take care of anything breaking inside towards him. To Howell, this means that he’s going to have McLaurin against a corner 1v1 if he wants to take it. The frontside safety is too slow over the top, and watch where this ball is put. Only where McLaurin can get it.

Now, there are still some issues with the Commanders offense and Howell. His pocket management is still a problem. Howell is one of only five starting QBs with a Sack Rate of over 11 percent, per Sports Information Solutions. Even worse, when he is pressured, 37% of the time that pressure is turning into a sack, the highest number among all starting QBs. The Commanders are about league average in pressure rate allowed when passing, so that means for every big play Howell is creating through the air, he’s creating catastrophic ones by taking bad sacks. That’s going to be put to the test on Sunday, as the Commanders play the Buffalo Bills. If Howell and the Commanders offense is real, then this should be a very exciting game.

Notre Dame bashes teams into submission

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish are ranked ninth in the country ahead of a massive showdown with the Ohio State Buckeyes, and for good reason. They’ve dominated their competition on both sides of the ball, and head coach Marcus Freeman has gotten his offense up to full speed in year 2.

How did he do that, you might ask? Well, they have one play and one play only:

Among all teams with at least 80 carries, the Fighting Irish are 11th in the country in rushing yards per carry, 15th in first down rate, and run for over 200 yards per game. They have a blistering 54.7 percent Positive Play Rate on the ground as well.

In layman’s terms, they’re hauling ASS on the ground and I LOVE IT. One of the ways they can do this is by forcing teams into bigger personnel on the ground. They lead all of college football in runs out of 12 personnel (1 RB and 2 TEs) and are fourth in the nation in runs out of 13 personnel (1 RB and 3 TEs). In 12 personnel they average 5.8 yards per carry and 5.5 yards per carry out of 13 personnel. These aren’t simple runs like inside zone either. The Fighting Irish are getting into gap scheme runs and wiping teams off the face of the Earth.

One of their staple runs is Duo, or power without a puller. You can tell it’s Duo because the run is always working towards the Y, or whichever TE is on the line of scrimmage. The center and guard are doubling on the nose or DT with the guard coming off to block the LB. Duo is all about double teams and vertical displacement, getting to the LB. The backside is doubling on anyone in a filled gap as well.

Watch the movement the Notre Dame OL gets on this rep of Duo. Watch C Zeke Correll get hands on the nose with the help of RG Rocco Spindler and haul absolute ASS, and be rewarded with an emphatic pancake. RT Blake Fisher does his job as well, taking the end and pushing him into the next state. RB Audric Estime follows the gap and you have an 11 yard run with some extra stank on it. That’s peak football right there.

They’ll also run this power play out of shotgun, with a TE motioning across the line of scrimmage before a guard comes in pulling. What I like about this play is how the motion creates a better blocking angle for the TE on the EDGE defender. If the EDGE stays wide, then the TE can kick him out easier with his angle being right off the left tackle’s butt. Or, in this case, the EDGE type slants inside, and all the TE has to do is mash him in and it creates the angle for the guard to wrap tighter if he wants.

The end zone angle of this play is super pretty as well. Everyone has got a hat on a hat, and Estime has a lane you can drive a Chevy Impala through.

One of my favorite runs the Fighting Irish have in their playbook is a “Super Counter” play. Why is it called “Super Counter”, you might be asking. Well, the answer is simple. It’s “Super Counter” because EVERYONE ON THE TEAM IS PULLING.

Ok, not literally everyone, but the backside guard and both tight ends will pull towards the backside of the formation, just like a regular counter play. The Irish’s tight end play has been really good so far in the run department, and they like having all those guys on the field at the same time. They ran Super Counter really well against NC State a couple of weeks ago, but this time they used WR Jayden Thomas as the final puller. They catch NC State slanting away from the counter side, and again get a hat on a hat. Beautiful.

However, the reason Notre Dame went and brought in Sam Hartman from Wake Forest was for the passing game, and being more efficient in that area. So far, not only has he been able to keep the ship upright, but he’s made them more of a threat downfield. Per SIS, on all throws 15 air yards or more downfield, Hartman is seventh in the entire country in Positive Play Rate (min. 15 attempts) and has thrown six touchdowns on throws of that variety. Oddly enough, most of those passes aren’t out of the bigger personnel. It’s when Notre Dame spreads it out that Hartman really gets cooking. On this play, the Irish are in 10 personnel and Central Michigan comes out in their nickel defense. The Irish run a dig and post combination to the field side of the play, known as Mills, then a vertical on the backside and a drag as the checkdown. The defense is in Quarters, and in very aggressive defenses, the safety will come off his landmark hard on the dig route. This is to stop the hi-lo’s that you see a lot in the game now. However, that leaves the corner exposed because he has no inside help. Hartman sees the safety come down, and then puts a rainbow up for his receiver to fall under.

Let’s take a look from the end zone view. We can see Hartman’s head key the safety, then uncork the rainbow like a Skittles commercial. Maybe he throws it a bit better it’s a touchdown, but believe me, there are more where that came from.

A formation the Irish love to pass out of is with three receiving options to one side, and a tight end tight on the line of scrimmage on the other. This is a “nub” formation, and the Irish like going downfield with their passing out of it. Against NC State, they had a couple of big plays out of it. They started in a 2 tight end set to one side, and two wideouts to the other, but then motion the tight end off the line of scrimmage (#13 Holden Staes) across the formation. This creates the 3×1 nub, and now the Irish are cooking. Against NC State, they were on fire with switch routes and hit a big one here. The second receiver occupies the eyes of both safeties in quarters, and Staes runs a wheel right behind it into the void. Big 20+ yard gain.

The Irish will need to pull out everything from their bag of tricks if they want to beat the Buckeyes Saturday night, but best believe they’ll be ready to run through a motherf*****’s face.

C.J. Stroud chops and screws with the Colts in the passing game

Expectations were high for Texans rookie QB CJ Stroud. As the second overall pick, he was expected to show the goods early, and despite being 0-2, he’s shown that he’s got the goods. Against the Indianapolis Colts, Stroud threw for 384 yards and 2 TDs and proved why he was my QB1 entering the NFL Draft.

One of the things I loved about Stroud coming out was his touch and precision as a pocket passer. His ability to layer passes over LBs but before a driving safety could get to his target was unlike any other QB in the class, and that hasn’t changed in the NFL. He throws with capital A Anticipation and it helps he and the Texans so much in their offense. On this play, he’s executing a Dagger concept: the inside receiver runs a go route, and the outside receiver runs a dig right where hopefully the intermediate defender was vacated. Watch Stroud manipulate the second level defender with his eyes and body, making him think he’s throwing it to Nico Collins in the first window, but moved him away from his own landmark to get Collins wide open. That’s NFL quarterbacking 101, and he’s got it down.

The end zone angle is downright nasty, too. Watch 44 for Indianapolis, that’s the guy Stroud wants to move:

Even without the use of play action, Stroud was dialed in on the in breaking routes. This one looks like a little mirrored skinny post action vs. Cover 3 (Gus Bradley special), and watch how balanced Stroud is when he goes to throw this ball. One, two, three, BOOM. Ball is out the hands and into the hands of the receiver, like a JUGS machine. But while he’s dropping back, he has his eyes to his left, keeping the safety from jumping that skinny post to his right, then as soon as he plants his right foot, that ball is out. Textbook QB play.

Again, the end zone angle:

Again, another in breaker that Stroud just rips, this time with a hj-lo. Collins is running a dig, and the slot receiver runs a pivot route, aimed at drawing the eyes of the intermediate defenders, for this snap it’s the LB. This is such great anticipation by Stroud that Collins goes to throw his hand up to say he’s open and the ball is there. Just beautiful.

End zone angle, for your viewing pleasure:

As Stroud goes into his third game with the Texans, the objective has to be keeping him upright. The Texans are seventh in the NFL in pressure rate allowed, and when pressured Stroud’s On-Target Rate as a passer is 27th among qualifying QBs and his Positive Play Rate is 26th. When he’s kept clean, his Positive Play Rate jumps to tenth. This is going to be difficult going against a Jaguars defense that’s playing out of their minds right now, but if Stroud is kept up, he’s got a chance to slice and dice on Sunday.