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The Anatomy Of A Play:
This play begins with the Ticats defence in one of their base fronts, with Stevie Baggs securing the weak side of the defensive line and Justin Hickman lined up over the right tackle. With Edmonton’s receivers in motion, the play begins to flow to the right of the defence.
As the Eskimos try to bring the flow of the play to their left, one of their receivers starts back across the formation to take the handoff from quarterback Ricky Ray. To induce Justin Hickman into following Ray, the offensive line leaves him unblocked to try and suck him in at an angle that will make it impossible to tackle the receiver in the end around. If he chases Ray, there is no way he’s going to be in position to make a play.
Instead of chasing the quarterback, Justin Hickman plays true to his gap responsibility and rushes up field before turning in to follow the ball. By doing this he cuts off the receiver and tackles him in the backfield for an 8-yard loss. When coaches tell players to “trust the guys around you,” this is what they mean. If Hickman tries to be a hero and abandons his gap to try and sack Ray on what looks like a rollout, the handoff takes Edmonton’s receiver right by him for a big play. By trusting that the players on the opposite side will do their job, Hickman does his and the result in a busted play and a big loss for the Edmonton offence.
This look by the “D” is a familiar blitz call. In a previous AOAP, we examined how the pressure from safety Dylan Barker cut off Toronto QB Cleo Lemon’s escape route and allowed Ticats linebacker Ray Mariuz to come up with a big play. So in this play, it’s Barker and Mariuz once again coming off the edge with the goal being to meet at the quarterback.
Mariuz basically comes unblocked right away and is the one that chases Edmonton’s quarterback Jared Zabransky from the pocket. The right tackle gets a piece of Barker, but because of the pressure from the other side he blocks Barker the same way as Zabransky is escaping.
Barker uses his closing speed to track Zabransky down and records the first sack of his young career. This play seems to work almost everytime it’s called but is contingent on the blitzers getting to the QB quickly because it leaves the receivers in single coverage.
In a week with a plethora of exciting plays from the Ticats these are two examples of how players find success by executing plays properly. With everyone doing their job, a defence is far more likely to find success than with players freelancing and trying to make a play.
