My Monday mornings during the football season follow a predictable pattern. After getting the kids logged into school and myself ready for the day, I retreat to my office to watch hours and hours of football. It is a rather charmed life, I know.
This Monday I began with another viewing of the Buffalo Bills’ win over the Indianapolis Colts, to see what worked, and what did not, for the Bills on both sides of the football. Two plays early in the game stood out to me, instances where the Colts were able to get Josh Allen off his initial read due to mugged looks up front, where one or more defenders are showing a blitz. On these occasions not only did the Colts find a way to take away Allen’s first read, they found ways to pressure him while doing so.
That sent me down a film rabbit hole, and hours later I had cut together different examples from throughout the season where such defensive fronts forced mistakes and even near-interceptions from the Bills passer. In this video breakdown you’ll see some of those examples, building to the two plays from early in Saturday’s contest:
Of course, just because Allen has faced these looks before it does not mean that the Baltimore Ravens will automatically employ them on Saturday night. So that necessitated a trip down a second rabbit hole of film.
Interestingly enough, the Ravens do employ these looks but when they do, most often they are just bringing pressure. This clip dives into three examples of Baltimore getting after quarterbacks with these kinds of fronts:
Interestingly enough, after using these kinds of packages early against Allen this past Saturday, the Colts became a bit more static up front later in the game. The Baltimore Ravens would be wise to use these pressure fronts early and often Saturday night to force the Bills offense to think before each snap. Simply lining up and playing might not be enough to slow down this offense.
