Packers-Bengals Film Highlights, Part II: Rushing the Passer with Gusto

Second and 10, Bengals driving, 4:46 left in Quarter 2: Quietly, without really being noticed as such, Jarrett Bush has developed into Charles Woodson’s heir-apparent at the slot corner position. Now, Bush is not Charles Woodson. His ball skills are not in the same universe as Woodson’s. But Bush knows how to blitz, he hits like a man possessed and he’s good at finding the ball. On a running play where A.J. Hawk was being blocked into oblivion and the play might’ve ruptured into a first down, he shot in from the slot to limit it to a gain of six. Bush took a poor angle initially, but he pivoted and snatched RB Cedric Peerman as he passed by. It was a solid, heads-up play. Don't be surprised if Bush has a substantial role at slot corner this year, is all I'm saying.

3rd and 4, Bengals (same drive, next play in fact), 4:09 left in Q2: This is why Dezman Moses is on the 53-man roster. Lined up at ROLB as if to blitz, he dropped smoothly into a middle zone, saw WR A.J. Green coming into his zone and QB Andy Dalton looking to pass that way, closed on him as the ball was getting there and made a great form tackle short of the first down. You can’t play that any better then that.

3-2, Packers driving, 2:43 left in Q2: Another play-action fake to Cedric Benson produces results. The Bengals were in press coverage on the left wideout and zone coverage on the right one, which is just a bonehead idea on third and two vs. a right-handed QB. Aaron Rodgers executed a very quick fake and Jordy Nelson a very quick short out, and CB Terrence Newman never had a chance at preventing the first down. Nelson gave him one of his famous stiff-arms and almost got by him, but not quite. It’s still a first down with plenty of extra yardage. Nelson did a terrific job of catching the ball and turning his body at the same time, so he was turned upfield and was ready to go by the time the catch was over.

2-10, same drive, 1:56 left in Q2: The Bengals run a complicated blitz where the right D-tackle stunts onto the left tackle and the LDE drops into coverage; meanwhile, on the other side, the LDE stunts inside, the LDT stunts outside and a linebacker comes on the blitz. It’s insanely confusing. Marshall Newhouse handled the RDT with no trouble, while Josh Sitton gave up the inside shoulder to the LDE and Bryan Bulaga handled the LDT. But Jeff Saturday allowed the blitzing LB to get his shoulder, and the guy just fought his way through to eventually sack Rodgers. It was such a ridiculous blitz, it looks like a Rex Ryan number, but out of a 4-3 instead of a 3-4! Rodgers didn’t help his own cause by dodging to the left, then drifting back to the right where Thomas Howard (the LB) corralled him.

1-10, Bengals, 1:00 left in Q2: Here’s Nick Perry being a rookie. He had the brute strength to bull-rush the RT and knock him back a step, but didn’t follow through. The RT blocked him in the side instead. It didn’t matter, though, because Bush (blitzing off the corner) rattled Andy Dalton and forced him to scramble. This is what people talk about when they call Bush “physical”. He was blocked, no mistake, but he hit the RB so hard and walked him back so far towards Dalton that Dalton scrambled anyway. That allowed Perry to get the angle to come free and harass him into a throwaway.

3-10, same drive, 0:49 left in Q2: Jerel Worthy makes the first play I’ve seen him make all game. One-on-one with the LT in a three-man rush (how do you screw up that protection?), he bull-rushed Andrew Whitworth back and then shed him with a shoulder grab move. He got inside to dive at Dalton’s feet and miss, but the damage was done; he forced Dalton to dodge and reset his feet elsewhere, but by that time Mike Daniels had arrived to provide another threat and Nick Perry was catching up (an all-rookie line!). Dalton dodged both of them as well and took off running, but Perry covered him up after a short gain. That goes down as positive yardage for the offense, but it was an undisputed victory for the pass-rush on third down. That’s some of what the Packers need.

3-6, Bengals, 13:41 left in Q3: The Packers ran a variation on the famous “Corner Cat” from the NFC Championship Game, where a D-tackle drops into coverage and the safety, lined up over the tight end, blitzes instead. Dalton hung in there and delivered the ball when he was about to take a hard shot from the safety (M.D. Jennings), but the ball was well wide of an open receiver down the deep middle. Another victory for the pass-rush, although a better QB would likely have made the correct throw and paid for it with the shot (or else avoided it and scrambled). It’s possible that he didn’t see Jennings blitzing initially. In any event, he missed and took a heck of a shot. Jennings put his helmet right on the QB's left bicep and knocked him to the turf. Loved it.

Last play because I lost interest when backups commenced playing backups.
3-6, Packers, 12:08 left in Q3. Here’s one area where it looks like the QB screwed up. The Bengals put seven men on the line; Green Bay had Graham Harrell and one RB in the backfield and one TE on the line, Ryan Taylor, who was running a route and not blocking. Ergo, the Packers had six blockers against a potential seven blitzers. At the snap, six of them came and there was an unblocked blitzer coming off Harrell’s blind side.

Now, it becomes Harrell’s responsibility to account for the blitzer somehow. That means getting the ball out of his hand really quickly, which means a fast-developing route—a quick slant or out, for example—is what’s needed. But on the play, which has four wides, three of them are running deep and the fourth—Taylor—only makes his cut at about ten yards. By then, Harrell was being chased around in the pocket and eventually sacked. It seems to me like Harrell should have audibled pre-snap into a play with a shorter route that he could go to in a hurry. That’s an educated guess at what happened, and it would also be an Aaron Rodgers-level play. But it’s the kind of thing you need to do to be a successful NFL QB. Harrell just got a sack.