Greg Cosell’s NFL Classroom: Sometimes, the defense wins

I don’t like when a quarterback’s interception numbers are used with no context to criticize that player.

It’s too simple. Not all interceptions are the quarterback’s fault. And it doesn’t take into consideration that just like how the offense can beat the defense with scheme and execution for a long touchdown, the defense wins sometimes too. There are fantastic coordinators in the NFL who design brilliant defenses that can confuse even the best offensive players. When you go back and watch film of a game, or even as you watch live, try to figure out if and how the defense may have just won on the play.

I want to show two examples of interceptions against Indianapolis Colts quarterback Andrew Luck last season in which the defense won. I didn’t pick two of Luck’s interceptions to criticize him. He’s a very good quarterback and that’s why I like these examples — it shows that a well-designed defense can get the best of anyone.

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I love this first example. It came against the Cleveland Browns in Week 14. People talk about baiting a quarterback into an interception, and this is a prime example of it.

The Browns ended up running “Cover 2 Trap” to the wide side of the field, to Luck’s right. That’s a defense designed to look like “Cover 2” zone, but one cornerback will look inside and wait to jump on a route. They matched up man-to-man to the boundary, to Luck’s left. They wouldn’t play man coverage to the wide side because there is too much ground to cover. So they played the trap to the wide side. Cornerback Justin Gilbert, to Luck’s right, is the “trap” defender. He just waited for Luck to throw his way, and the Browns encouraged that throw by the rest of their coverage.

Luck dropped back and he’s 100 percent certain he had this throw to Reggie Wayne, because he saw linebacker Craig Robertson dropped out to play Wayne. Luck thought there was no way Robertson could cover Wayne on an out-breaking route. And Luck was right: Robertson can’t cover that route.

Here’s a quick look at what Luck saw before the snap, and it’s clear he knew Robertson (53) wouldn’t be able to cover Wayne (87) on the route that was called.

The brilliance of the defense is that the Browns knew Luck would see that Wayne-Robertson matchup and that he would throw it exactly where they wanted him to.

Luck was throwing to Wayne. So Gilbert sat and waited, and Luck didn’t see him. He didn’t account for Gilbert being a trap player. The Browns knew Luck would anticipate Wayne being open on an out-breaking route, and Gilbert would be right there to defend the pass. This was an unbelievable defense. They fooled Luck. It’s the intellectual side of the game at work. I love this stuff. All you can do is tip your hat to the defense.

On television does this look like a terrible interception? Sure. But there’s a reason it happened. It’s because it was a great defensive concept. They caught Luck. It’s always worth it to look back at the film of interceptions and try to figure out what might have caused something that, on first glance to the casual viewer, looks like a bad pick.

Here’s another example of well-coached and executed defense against Luck, and it came against the New England Patriots in Week 11.

Based on the keys we look for before the snap, we know this is man coverage. The corners were pressed up. The linebackers were hugged up to the line, too. It looked like man. And the Patriots last season were predominantly a man-coverage defense. The Colts had called a route combination that can beat man coverage, with T.Y. Hilton running behind Wayne, with a natural rub element to take the cornerback covering Hilton out of the play. (That’s a common concept against man; it’s basically what the Seattle Seahawks ran on the Malcolm Butler interception that finished the Super Bowl). And the Colts’ route combination worked just as expected.

Inside linebacker Jamie Collins did a great, great job against it though.

The Patriots are playing “man free lurk,” and Collins is the “lurk” defender. If Hilton ran outside, the cornerback who lined up across from him at the snap would take him. But as soon as Hilton went inside, the cornerback dropped off and he became a free defender. Because the cornerback knew Hilton was running to the lurk defender, Collins. The Patriots adjusted the defensive assignments in an instant.

It was a great concept. It was “man free lurk” but within the man concept there were variations depending on route concepts. You can see Collins looked to his left, the three-receiver side, because he knows his responsibility could change based on the route concept by the Colts. As soon as he sees somebody coming at him, he knows he needs to pick him up.

It takes a lot of coaching and intelligence by the players to run this as well as the Patriots did. 

Luck thinks he had Hilton on the crossing route because his defender in man defense has been screened by Wayne; that’s the route concept. Luck pulled the ball back at the last moment because he saw Collins was right there with Hilton.

Luck unloaded the ball to Wayne, who was covered very well, and Darrelle Revis tipped the ball and Devin McCourty picked it off. But if you just quickly look at the play, in which Revis tips a pass to Wayne and McCourty picks it off, you’d never know that Collins’ coverage — due to coaching and his execution of the defensive concept — was the key to the entire play.

This is the kind of thing Patriots coach Bill Belichick and his staff talk about with players during the week. I’m sure someone told Collins during that week, “In our man free lurk, you have to look to the three-receiver side.” It was no fluke Collins looked right there after the snap. It looks like Luck just forced a pass that was picked off, but really it’s a great defensive scheme and the defense won. And after this play, the Colts probably came to the sideline and changed up their route concepts because of how the Patriots played it, because those are the types of adjustments that are made during an NFL game.

The old joke goes that the defensive players get paid too in the NFL. Just keep that in mind when you see a quarterback throw an interception. Sometimes the explanation might be that the defense did a great job to create that interception.

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NFL analyst and NFL Films senior producer Greg Cosell watches as much NFL game film as anyone. Throughout the season, Cosell will join Shutdown Corner to share his observations on the teams, schemes and personnel from around the league.