A few have asked for some animated gifs of the direct snap play to Pittsburgh Steelers rookie running back Chris Rainey against the Washington Redskins on Sunday, so here you go. I will lay this one out by players to watch as there is a lot going on here and it is best to watch a different player each time through the animated loop.
I do not have the all-22 look just yet, but it appears that the Redskins are showing cover-0 at the pre snap with the inside linebackers showing blitz. This one will be fun to see on the all-22 as well. The Steelers are in 11 personnel and in a trips bunch right formation out of the shotgun with Rainey serving as a weak-side side car to Ben Roethlisberger.
Ben Roethlisberger – Roethlisberger does a great job at carrying out the fake of a bad snap which holds defensive end Stephen Bowen and linebacker Lorenzo Alexander long enough to prevent them from chasing the play backside.
Max Starks – Starks attempts to cut linebacker Perry Riley. He gets enough of him to slow him down, but had he got him completely off of his feet, Rainey might have scored as Riley makes the tackle at the end of the play.
Willie Colon – Colon pulls right, but really is just a body running a little interference as he can not get out front of the play.
Mike Adams – Adams pulls out wide and he is the lead offensive lineman blocker on the play. He gets a body on linebacker London Fletcher, but is not able to keep him out of the play all together. Had Adams pancaked London, Rainey likely scores. Still, some good athleticism shown by the rookie tackle on the play to get out front.
Ramon Foster – Foster gets off and out just enough to cut off Barry Cofield from having an angle.
Maurkice Pouncey – Pouncey pulls out behind Adams and gets downfield to bury cornerback DeAngelo Hall, who had deep outside contain.
Heath Miller – Miller has one simple job and that is to block down inside on outside linebacker Ryan Kerrigan.
Jerricho Cotchery – Cotchery has responsibility of the slot cornerback Cedric Griffin, who he keeps outside of the lane.
Emmanuel Sanders – Sanders job is to seal off safety Madieu Williams on inside, which he does.
Little plays like this, especially when they are successful, give upcoming defensive coordinators one more thing to think about in regard to Rainey, whose role in the offense is slowly expanding. This play was executed almost perfectly outside of a few blocks that could have been finished better. That being said, it was the perfect call on 3rd and 3 against a defense that was most likely expecting pass out of that formation and personnel grouping.
