Anatomy of a 1st and Goal Fail...

Tour2ma

Just finished 1st half's O-line grades and thought our failed effort to TD from the 1-yd line deserved its own thread... If not, merge away mods...

First down:

I-backfield set with 3TEs-2right. Erving, the lone TE to the left, has reported as eligible. OAK is in goal-line D with 5 hands in the dirt. Note that the NT is head up on Alex Mack.

Bito pulls left and kicks out Aldon Smith. Erving and Greco have both down blocked to seal in the D-line's left side. Backside both Greco and Schwartz are cut-blocking inside D-line to prevent pursuit. All five have done their jobs. M.Johnson is in good shape leading Crow into the hole and is already looking for a filling ILB.

The developing problem above is there are two ILBs moving to fill the hole. The reason there are two free to do so is that our Mack, seen going to the ground in the endzone, could not get to the off ILB. The OAK NT offered too much resistance to Mack's attempted release. It's a tough assignment, but one I've seen Mack carry out.

The two ILBs combine to stone MJ and Crow in the hole. Mack can only watch from the ground...

Put this down on the O-line.

Second Down:

Out of the identical formation shown in our first down, we run a PA-left-Boot-right. Things to note in the image below...

1. The play worked... the boot is clean and Josh is poised to throw.

2. Erving, at the left edge of the image, is running a route, but has a faster LB underneath.

3. MJ, closest to the top of the image, is blanketed at the goal-line.

4. That leaves two TEs from which to choose...

Barn seems the obvious choice, and indeed he is, but we know the backer on MJ comes off to jar the ball loose at the goal-line.

The tougher choice, but ultimately the easy TD is a lob to Dray who is releasing into the endzone. The LB and DB both "on" him have their sights on Barn and their shoulders tell me there's no way they can react to Dray slipping deeper in the endzone.

I do not know how many, if any, QBs in the league pass up Barn for Dray in this set up, but it was there...

Maybe this down is on Josh... or maybe it was just a damn good defensive play.

Third down: The pinnacle of this fail...

Pre-snap I was doing the formation notes and box count...

I-formation, 2TE-right, 1WR-left... 9 in the box...

What's wrong with this picture???

Did you catch it? Yup... OAK had only 10 on the field. I told you this was bad...

Our next and last look at the play is after the handoff at Crow's decision point. He has two holes before him. Bottom to top we have:

Thomas driving Aldon Smith out;
Bito escorting his opposite out of the play altogether;
Mack and MJ (to this side) in a double-team that drives the NT into the endzone.
Greco sealing off two in the endzone; and
Mitch reverse sealing the right side of the D.

One D is unaccounted for... an LB that is stacked behind the NT being double-teamed. Which hole do you choose? Crow chose to cut into the right-hand hole where the ILB can meet him head on... which he does, standing Crow up until help comes from the right side's mosh pit.

The left hand hole not only provided an angle to power through the ILB it was away from almost all potential help. It seemed to me to be the better choice. Might even burrow in behind the double-team.

At any rate Crow went right... I put this one on him. This was not the only questionable vision displayed Sunday by our RBs.

Fourth Down:

I know... it was negated by a penalty, but if by now you're as numb as I was after the first three downs, then you can do this... Suck it up people...

Pre-snap we're Shotgun with 1TE-split-right and 3WR-2reft.

Duke, the single back, goes in motion. Note that he has a step on the LB shadowing his motion. Josh is about to call for the snap.

Next we see the entire line moving... except Alex. Duke is turning upfield.

Finally as Josh is retrieving Alex's flub of a snap we see Duke flattening a two-step lead on his shadow and turning to receive the ball. Top corner could be a threat, but the WR did not go until the snap, so both should have been further removed from Duke's route. Barn also appears to be coming open after an inside release.

Point is.... we had this...

Another on the O-line I guess... in both cases the O-line represented by our Mr. Mack...

I'm worried about Alex...

calfoxwc

I love that detail, man. I thought for sure they would run a bootleg

and throw the ball or run it in...or something. And at the 1 yrd line,

I think they should have gone for it, but the plays played right into

the defense's strengths.

Still haven't watched the game on record. I'm steelin myself up on it.

Tour2ma

Glad you enjoyed, cal... You're made of stern enough stuff to handle viewing the game.

Pet confirmed in his 9/28 Presser that Crow chose the wrong hole on 3rd down... so I got one right.

Mike H

Should have drafted Sammy Watkins, obviously

letsgojackets

I really like these threads. Too bad they usually end awful.

Tour2ma

@letsgojackets said:
I really like these threads. Too bad they usually end awful.

Someday...

@mike-h said:
Should have drafted Sammy Watkins, obviously

Yup I was a Sammy guy, right up until Khalil Mack was available at #4. I did not see that coming.

Weren't you a Greg Robinson guy?

darubes

Want to here the worst of it??? On one of the downs (I forget

which one) the Raiders only had 10 men on the field and we

STILL could not punch it in.

TexasAg1969

Quite frankly for very short yardage inside the 5, I would have had a real dual threat QB running the show with no stupid sneak plays allowed for that little leprechaun. The fact that he presents a threat to the outside takes away some of the inside defense stacking.

calfoxwc

@texasag1969 said:
Quite frankly for very short yardage inside the 5, I would have had a real dual threat QB running the show with no stupid sneak plays allowed for that little leprechaun. The fact that he presents a threat to the outside takes away some of the inside defense stacking.

Exactly !!

Opal312

So Crowell blew it by not following the block. Mack called for penalty. Your pics are the most I've seen of the game. If they clean this up what are the chances of a win in San Diego?

Tour2ma

Opal, this is going to sound really dumb, but after finishing grading the OAK game... I'm optimistic about San Diego.

Tour2ma

@darubes said:

Want to here the worst of it??? On one of the downs (I forget

which one) the Raiders only had 10 men on the field and we

STILL could not punch it in.

I know... it was third down... it was in my write up...

I know it's a long post, but sheesh...

Mark O

@tour2ma said:
Opal, this is going to sound really dumb, but after finishing grading the OAK game... I'm optimistic about San Diego.

We are beating San Diego...bet the house on it.

TexasAg1969

@tour2ma said:
Opal, this is going to sound really dumb, but after finishing grading the OAK game... I'm optimistic about San Diego.

I see the 2nd half has "biased" the grader.

PS-haven't seen the grades yet, but I'm sure it will reflect how much better it was than the 1st half. That was my "live" take on it.

hoorta

Tour, we need to get you a job on ESPN- thanks for the play by play breakdown.

hoorta

@mark-o said:

We are beating San Diego...bet the house on it.

Not with the Geezer at quarterback.

Hey- Pet- you afraid to use a couple "Johnny Packages"?

Canton Dawg

@texasag1969 said:
Quite frankly for very short yardage inside the 5, I would have had a real dual threat QB running the show with no stupid sneak plays allowed for that little leprechaun. The fact that he presents a threat to the outside takes away some of the inside defense stacking.

The Raiders were over pursuing the entire game, I was thinking Johnny on a naked bootleg would've worked.

TexasAg1969

@canton-dawg said:
The Raiders were over pursuing the entire game, I was thinking Johnny on a naked bootleg would've worked.

With an option to dump it to one of our TE's should they try to come up on him.

Tour2ma

@texasag1969 said:

I see the 2nd half has "biased" the grader.

PS-haven't seen the grades yet, but I'm sure it will reflect how much better it was than the 1st half. That was my "live" take on it.

Should be up by noon... 2nd half was almost all pass blocking, and we're better at pass blocking right now.

@hoorta said:
Tour, we need to get you a job on ESPN- thanks for the play by play breakdown.

lol... I will never give up my amateur status. Look what doing so did to Mikey...

@canton-dawg said:
The Raiders were over pursuing the entire game, I was thinking Johnny on a naked bootleg would've worked.

@texasag1969 said:
With an option to dump it to one of our TE's should they try to come up on him.

That play has not worked this year. Neither was in the goal-line series, but we ran naked boots twice more on Sunday and the backside OLB stayed home both times. Results were a sack and an incompletion.

Khalil Mack got the sack on a Boot right. Aldon Smith forced an incompletion on a boot left. JM's added mobility might have made some difference in the latter... and he showed a better sidearm in Week 2 than McCown has.

OldBrownsFan

First and goal on the one wouldn't 3 qb sneaks get you into the endzone about everytime? Not real creative but just don't see it not working most of the time. You are at least not going to lose any yardage like you could with running the ball and the runner getting tackled behind the line of scrimmage.

Well maybe not if you are concerned about an older qb who is just back from a concussion.