After three weeks, we are beginning to see how teams want to fashion themselves schematically.
The Rams offense made drastic changes when the team traded for Matthew Stafford, but it’s back to the system Jared Goff ran in Los Angeles.
Under coordinator Kevin Patullo, the Eagles offense has been maddeningly conservative, but it might be turning over a new leaf.
The Browns defense looks like it could be a similar unit to the 2023 unit that got Cleveland into the playoffs in good and bad ways.
The Chargers defense is stout, but it doesn’t have a lot of blue-chip talent. How is Los Angeles doing it?
Why the Rams offense is going old-school, and has the Eagles offense figured things out?
The Rams ultimately lost a heartbreaking game against the Eagles in which they had a double-digit lead and had two kicks blocked, but the silver lining is that their offense looks like an elite unit with room to get even better. When Stafford got traded to the Rams in 2021, Sean McVay started to shift from the under-center, compressed formations, run-heavy offense that he ran with Goff. The offense became more spread out, used shotgun and pistol more, and passed at a higher rate because it had Stafford. The offense started to shift back last season to McVay’s original approach, going under center on 45 percent of plays, which ranked second only to the Detroit Lions.
So far, this season, they’ve shifted even more in that direction, going under center on 65 percent of snaps. Part of the reason for this shift is in direct response to Eagles defensive coordinator Vic Fangio, who has influenced the league’s 2-high meta. The trend of keeping two safeties deep to stop explosives left them vulnerable upfront, so McVay countered with more under-center, gap-scheme runs and using more play action when throwing. That shift worked exactly as intended against Fangio’s defense. The Rams had the second-highest success rate that any offense has had against Fangio’s Eagles defense (54.8 percent) and ran for the third-most yards against them as well.
Kyren Williams has a TD!
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In the second half, the Eagles got into base personnel and lined up in their 6-1 front to stop the run. The Rams still moved the ball efficiently, but didn’t execute in the red zone. Some of the blame should go to McVay’s lack of aggressiveness in the second half, but it is encouraging to see the Rams dominate the line of scrimmage in this fashion.
Offensively, the Eagles finally opened up the playbook and put the ball into Jalen Hurts’ hands. The Rams’ starting corners both weigh 180 pounds, and A.J. Brown weighs nearly 230 pounds. Their adjustment was simple: Have Brown physically dominate the Rams’ corners. Hurts’ early down pass rate (59 percent) and average air yards per attempt (8.6) against the Rams were the highest they’ve been all season.
A.J. BROWN IS TOO STRONG
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“Me, personally, I truly believe we’ve got so many good players on this team and at times you can feel like we’re being conservative and I don’t think it should be like that. … Let your killers do their thing and play fast and play aggressive,” Brown said after the game.
The Eagles did a much better job of blocking some of the Rams’ blitzes and simulated pressures after replacing tackle Matt Pryor, who was filling in for Lane Johnson, with Fred Johnson in the second half. Maybe Patullo was overly cautious in his first two games as coordinator, trying not to unravel a championship offense, but his approach was clearly holding back the Eagles. In basketball, sometimes, a shooter needs to see the ball go through the hoop a few times before catching a rhythm. Hopefully for Patullo, he just needed to see a pass-happy approach have success and he’ll be more comfortable mixing it up now.
This was a rare game in which I felt better about the prospects of both teams afterward.
Is the Browns defense elite again?
The Browns defense is back! They were among the best in 2023 but fell off in 2024 because of injuries. So far this season, they have put the clamps on a Joe Burrow-led Bengals offense and stifled the Packers. However, like in 2023, their home and away splits are wild.
2023 Browns defense home/away splits
| DEF EPA per dropback | Points per drive | |
|---|---|---|
|
Home |
0.38 |
0.92 |
|
Away |
0.02 |
2.03 |
As mentioned, they shut down Burrow and Jordan Love at home but got eviscerated by the Ravens on the road. Maybe crowd noise and forcing teams into a silent count are vital for Myles Garrett and the Browns’ pass rushers. Whatever the reason is, the pass rush was relentless against the Packers, who are dealing with injuries on their offensive line — right tackle Zach Tom, who just came back from an injured oblique, appeared to have reaggravated it and left the game early.
Defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz called an excellent game and confused Love into one of the worst games of his career. Love averaged 1.9 air yards per attempt, the lowest of his career, and was sacked five times, the most of his career. This is stunning because Love loves to throw the ball downfield and is among the best at avoiding sacks. His career average air yards per target is 8.7 and sack rate is 4.5 percent. It was 16.7 percent against the Browns, which is a career high.
The Browns are a man team, but played more zone than they typically do Sunday. Schwartz did a great job of mixing up his coverages and confused Love on third downs. The disguise they used on Love’s interception was inspired.
At home, this defense is a force to be reckoned with, but we’ll see if it can solve its away game woes this season.
What makes the Chargers defense so frustrating to play?
Chargers defensive coordinator Jesse Minter will rightfully get a lot of buzz during the hiring cycle next offseason. Los Angeles once again has one of the top defenses in the league and is doing it without a lot of blue-chip talent.
After three weeks, the Chargers rank seventh in DVOA, For The Numbers’ efficiency metric that takes into account the strength of schedule. That’s not to say they don’t have elite players. Derwin James is playing like one of the best defensive players in the league, and second-year linebacker Daiyan Henley is making the leap. Khalil Mack is still one of the better all-around edge defenders in the league, but he’s out with an elbow injury.
The Chargers have talent, but they are a sum of their parts. Minter’s ability to get the best out of players like safety Alohi Gilman and defensive tackle Teair Tart, who have had their ups and downs in the league, says a lot about the Chargers’ coaching staff. Tart, in particular, has been playing like a superstar in the middle of the defense. Last season, the Chargers had veteran free agents like Poona Ford play their best ball before signing with other teams.
Teair Tart pressures Bo Nix in the Chargers’ win over the Broncos on Sunday. (William Navarro / Imagn Images)
On early downs, the Chargers sit back in two-deep shells and force offenses to throw the ball underneath. They play match coverage in which defenders will aggressively latch onto players running into their zones, and they do it expertly as a unit. They squeeze routes and tackle well, making it difficult to throw underneath at times. To beat them, you have to be patient, run the ball, and eventually hit a double move. However, they make it tough to do all those things because of their technique. Then, on third-and-long, Minter is among the best at drawing up pressures to manipulate protection schemes.
These principles have played out perfectly against the Chiefs, Raiders and Broncos this season. Despite playing the second-highest rate of 2-high coverages (33.3 percent), they’re 10th in defensive rushing success rate (64.4 percent). They forced Patrick Mahomes and Geno Smith to under 7 air yards per attempt in the first two weeks. In Week 3, Bo Nix mostly threw underneath, but Broncos coach Sean Payton smartly had some double-move concepts in the game plan that were open. However, Nix missed on three downfield opportunities because of the pressure. Teams will inevitably try the same approach as the Broncos, but Minter will have calls that will keep the secondary deep. They’ll likely have a bad game or two against more talented offenses, but Minter’s system is incredibly frustrating to play against.
(Top photo: Eric Hartline / Imagn Images)