18 weeks’ worth of regular season games build up trends, tendencies, and preferences for coaches across the NFL. On the offensive side of the ball, playcallers gain comfort with their quarterback and find the concepts that best fit their personnel. For defensive coordinators, pressure packages and late coverage rotations start to have the smallest tells. In the playoffs, the best playcallers are adding just a bit of new flavor to the menu while balancing everything that was successful in the regular season. After going through the film from Wild Card Weekend, here is one scheme point that stood out for all six teams that are advancing to the second round of the NFL playoffs.
Jump to:
- Philadelphia Eagles: Zach Baun’s Versatility Fangio’s Turn to Cover 4
- Baltimore Ravens: Cover 2, Made to Order
- Houston Texans: Loading Up the Front
- Los Angeles Rams: The Sneaky Leak
- Buffalo Bills: 4×1 and 6 OL
- Washington Commanders: Jayden Daniels is a Magician
Philadelphia Eagles: Zach Baun’s Versatility and Vic Fangio’s Turn to Cover 4
Vic Fangio’s defense, one of personal fascination and many typed words, is made to meet the moment. It is flexible when dealing with star receivers, creating pressure when only sending four pass rushers, and can be undecodable for opposing quarterbacks. Fangio’s recent trademarks (holding two high safeties before rotating one to the line of scrimmage at the last second, unique route matches in zone coverage instead of just dropping to areas, and unique defensive fronts) have all been on display for the Philadelphia Eagles defense that finished the season second in EPA/play allowed.
Fangio’s evolution over a 45-year career is noteworthy; he consistently tweaks his core structures to match his personnel and deal with the newest movement of NFL offenses. This year’s evolution is thanks in part to the versatility of Zach Baun. Baun, a former special teamer and trained edge rusher, is nothing short of a revelation. He earned first-team All-Pro honors at linebacker in a season in which the response to him starting at the position was questions, doubts, and concerns. Baun ducks defenders in the run game, is instinctive in the pass game, and is the skeleton key for Vic Fangio’s unit.
Baun’s trademark this season is moving from his usual linebacker position to the edge of the defensive line. This can look like a simple movement, but it changes things for both the offense and defense. For the offense, they must adjust how they block the play on the fly while dealing with two defensive tackles lined up over the offensive guards. This can reduce the number of offensive double teams possible as the center works in one direction or the other. It doesn’t help that you have Philadelphia’s physical forces like Jalen Carter in potential one on one situations in this front.
Having Baun play the edge and morph the front is productive in the run game as Fangio can keep five defensive backs on the field and avoid allignment staleness. Using the same exact front over and over lets the offense draw up their best plays as predictiability can lead to pain for a defense. Even as an impressive run stopper, Baun’s coverage ability is the reason why he should be considered for Defensive Player of the Year. Against the Packers, Baun did all of the fancy bumping to the edge stuff I mentioned above, but also calmly and cooly dropped into pass coverage to deal with a crossing route from the other side of the formation:
Vic Fangio has moved Zack Baun around to change the front throughout the season, but Baun has also shown comfort in coverage
Here Baun starts as an edge defender and uses his vision well to collect the underneath route from the opposite side of the formation pic.twitter.com/SvG0hKKLTa
— Shawn Syed (@SyedSchemes) January 13, 2025
Baun is playing the low and outside piece of what looks like cover 4 above. Cover 4, a call that generally calls for four deep defenders (both cornerbacks and both safeties) and three underneath defenders (two linebackers and the nickel in five defensive back sets), has been something that has popped up consistently on Fangio’s film this year. An unspectacular fact for some, it stands out for Fangio because his history shows a lean towards cover 3 and combination coverages like cover 6 more than cover 4. From 2019-2023, Fangio’s four coached seasons led to just a 10.2% cover 4 rate. This season it is all the way up to 19.9%, and against Green Bay it peaked at 55.6%. It paid off big time with our beloved Baun for a goregous interception:
Awesome interception from Zack Baun as the quarters hook player here
There is an underneath route from the TE, but Baun can play off the QB to undercut the in-breaker. Really nice feel in zone coverage pic.twitter.com/HvDoDyWoC5
— Shawn Syed (@SyedSchemes) January 13, 2025
Cover 4 can be better equipped to deal with the modern passing game than cover 3 as coaches across the Mike Shanahan tree feel extreme comfort conflicting lone safeties in the middle of the field. The two high safeties are in a better position to deal with deep crossing routes than if one safety was running back in a panic from near the line of scrimmage.
Fangio’s cover 4 can play out more like tight man coverage at times as outside cornerbacks lock up outside receivers and safeties deal with vertical threats from the inside. The specific match coverage rules within Fangio’s cover 4 make it look and feel different than what you might see another team run. Those same rules also make the coverage look different on a play-to-play basis because different plays can trigger a different response, all within the same call. Cover 4 faces the downside of requiring high-level coverage from players that can find themselves on islands based on the offense’s route combinations.
Most importantly, though, cover 4 fits with Fangio’s players. Those players, including key coverage players like Quinyon Mitchell, Darius Slay, and Cooper Dejean, deserve immense credit as Fangio finds the balance between flexibility, comfort, and offensive destruction. Fangio pulls the right levers to make adjustments, his position coaches help his players execute the exact techniques needed for success, and the players are answering the call. It is a combination that has led to the league’s best defense.
Baltimore Ravens: Cover 2, Made to Order
The Baltimore Ravens have made the large leap to defensive dominance through a combination of role clarity and creative disguise. The Ravens have the best defense in the league by EPA/play since Week 11 (they were 27th through Week 10!) and have streamlined responsibilities for Kyle Hamilton and Ar’Darius Washington at safety and Roquan Smith at linebacker. They were able to build off their secondary’s skill set against Russell Wilson and Pittsburgh’s downfield passing attack with every cover 2 variation you could think of.
Cover 2 is a zone coverage that often positions cornerbacks in the face of outside receivers at the line of scrimmage with safeties over the top. This combination lets the cornerback be aggressive in disrupting the timing of the receiver’s release while feeling comfortable that a deeper part of the coverage would be able to assist on a vertical route. This is a smart approach to deal with Russell Wilson who entered the playoffs with the sixth highest percentage of pass attempts traveling 20 or more yards down the field.
The fun here comes in how the Ravens got to cover 2. Instead of your usual cornerbacks disrupting on the outside and safeties playing the top of the umbrella, Baltimore presented man coverage with a safety moving to the middle of the field, three high safeties, one high safety, and even played a bit of defensive back musical chairs all before players hit the eject button to get to their cover 2 responsibilities.
Ravens threw a ton of cover 2 variations at the Steelers: presenting as man coverage, 3 high cover 2, 2 invert, nickel rotating to the middle of the field, from pressure drop out looks, and more pic.twitter.com/sjE6bR52hU
— Shawn Syed (@SyedSchemes) January 12, 2025
Cover 2 does have some weak spots, though, as there can be a small area on the deep outside area of the field that requires a safety to cover every blade of grass to the sideline while a cornerback may not climb to that same depth. The Steelers occupied the safety with an inside vertical route while Wilson threw a beautiful pass to George Pickens for a touchdown that highlights the stress:
Russ dropped it in. George did the rest. pic.twitter.com/OKEIwfKPRl
— NFL (@NFL) January 12, 2025
Houston Texans: Loading Up the Front
A Load front places three defensive linemen to one side of the center and another defensive lineman isolated to the opposite side of the center. DeMeco Ryans is known for adding a linebacker to this mix for a defensive front that can maximize mayhem:
Load front with Warner mugged, becomes a 4 man rush game pic.twitter.com/7x2yGJD052
— Shawn Syed (@SyedSchemes) July 29, 2023
This specific alignment opens up stunts and twist to the three defensive linemen side while giving a true isolation away from it to take advantage of a positive matchup. Ryans has sent Fred Warner on long paths, Nick Bosa on twists, and has taken advantage of offensive lines that are unable to pass things off inside at a high speed.
Ryans has carried this package over to his time with the Houston Texans and for good reason: his defensive line can ruin a game and is second in the league in pressure rate. On Wild Card Weekend against the Chargers, the Texans brought out this front to create issues for the Chargers and used the single linebacker on stunts with the isolated defensive end. Houston’s defensive line is a cheat code as is and combining it with schematic creativity feels unfair for a quarterback.
The Texans tallied a pressure on more than half of Justin Herbert’s dropbacks, and they had success running games from this Load front pic.twitter.com/eWuXReVbGB
— Shawn Syed (@SyedSchemes) January 12, 2025
Los Angeles Rams: The Sneaky Leak
Sean McVay’s offenses are known for motion, disguise, and conscious play sequencing that throws defenders for a loop. To close off Wild Card Weekend, McVay added a small wrinkle to a play that led to a big result.
On plays where the quarterback fakes a handoff before rolling out the other way, running backs are almost never thrown to as they continue along to the sidelines or jog a route that helps with the overall spacing of the play. McVay took that commonality and instead snuck the running back through the line as Matthew Stafford rolled out and turned back inside to throw to a wide open running back.
Nice wrinkle from Sean McVay to have the RB open up for a touchdown back over the middle. On boot/keeper plays the RB often just works to the flat away from the roll, as in the second example here pic.twitter.com/WjwWovSGvD
— Shawn Syed (@SyedSchemes) January 14, 2025
Okay fine, maybe it was all just an accident. Who cares, it looks cool!
Buffalo Bills: 4×1 and 6 OL
When you look at a defensive install sheet, you see diagrams for a specific defensive call against particular offensive formations. You will see how players should align against 2×2 sets, 3×1 sets, possible changes against empty formations, and which players should move if the offense uses motion. The formation you are least likely to see on a defensive install is one that places four eligible receivers to one side of the formation and just one to the opposite side. Across the league, FTN charted a whopping 1.07% of plays across the league as 4×1 sets.
4×1 sets mess with a defense’s spacing in zone coverage as the offense can overload one side of the formation while having an isolation to the other side. A defense may opt for man coverage instead, but the Bills used a bit of motion along with a running back aligned wider than usual to create just enough hesitation for Denver’s secondary on the way to a touchdown:
Some things Joe Brady and the Bills love:
*Creative 4×1
*Alec Anderson as a 6th OLBills use a 6th OL at a 15% rate compared to the league-wide rate of 3.5% pic.twitter.com/cJrYnuINha
— Shawn Syed (@SyedSchemes) January 14, 2025
Another offensive oddity is bringing a sixth offensive lineman onto the field. Though this can be popular on the goal line or in short yardage situations, the Bills use it as a regular part of their offense. The league-wide six offensive lineman rate sits at 3.51% while the Bills are up over 15%. They use it to move people in the run game with heavier bodies but can also use it in the pass game when the defense gets into less advantageous single high safety looks.
Bills bring out a 6th offensive linemen and the Jaguars match it in base on this touchdown pic.twitter.com/nHWJR3ofdo
— Shawn Syed (@SyedSchemes) September 26, 2024
Washington Commanders: Jayden Daniels is a Magician
There is a time to write about scheme, use silly terms that have no inherent meaning, and be in awe of the genius of the best football coaches. There is also a time to recognize when you are witnessing magic. Jayden Daniels and the Washington Commanders are toeing that line as they have now sealed wins in the last offensive snap in the last five games. I, much like you, could not believe that so I had to confirm the list: a field goal against the Buccaneers, Marcus Mariota to Terry McLaurin against the Cowboys, an overtime touchdown against the Falcons, a touchdown pass against the Eagles, and a stopped two-point conversion against the Saints.
The Commanders late game magic also extends to late downs. On third and fourth downs, Washington’s offense ranks first in EPA/play and third in success rate. Dan Quinn’s willingness to trust the available information and go for it on fourth downs has paid off as defenses haven’t been able to reign in Jayden Daniels in must stop situations.
Jayden takes it himself!! 1st down and in FG range with less than :40 to go 👀
📺: #WASvsTB on NBC
📱: Stream on @NFLPlus + Peacock pic.twitter.com/YFb1x4TrHq— NFL (@NFL) January 13, 2025
Daniels faced questions about his ability to throw over the middle of the field, but he has shown effectiveness on thos throws this season. He has scrambled at a high rate and has a high pressure to sack ratio, though he was able to deal with most of the pressure Tampa Bay created. A roller coaster season full of Hail Mary passes, late down success, and escaping defenders now takes the loop to Detroit for a matchup against the NFC’s top seed. Between Dan Quinn going for it on fourth downs and Dan Campbell’s aggressiveness, both the punters in this matchup may be able to take the day off.
