Bucs Film Room: The Kupp TD
The Tampa Bay Bucs defense played, for the most part, a lights-out game against the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday. Holding a Sean McVay offense to 13 points is no small feat for a Todd Bowles-led defense. And there is plenty of credit to go around.
But the defense did not pitch a perfect game. There were a couple of deep shots the Rams were able to draw up that the Bucs had difficulty matching. That included the 69-yard touchdown pass to Cooper Kupp. How did the Rams receiver get so wide open? How were the Rams able to set up the play in the first place? Let’s take a look and see how this big shot came to be.
The Pre-Snap Look
The touchdown came off of a 3×2 spread look with Kupp lined up in the slot on the short side to quarterback Matt Stafford’s right. Bucs fans will tell you that Kupp is the lone guy you don’t want to beat you here. They have good reason. He had a historic season last year. And he is on pace to post similar numbers this year. And of course, there was the catch from last year’s heartbreaking playoff loss.
On second-and-11 on the third drive of the game, this was not the first time the Rams had gone with a look like this. As a matter of fact, this was the fourth time the Rams had run a look like this already in the game and it was only a minute-and-a-half into the second quarter. McVay had been setting this play up.
The First Look
On the opening play of the game the Rams came out in shotgun with a 2×2 set. The Bucs countered with a two-high look pre-snap.
Post-snap the Bucs rotate into a Cover-3 Sky. To the defense’s right cornerback Jamel Dean is responsible for the deep third and protects against it, but the route concept to that side doesn’t call for a vertical element. Safety Keanu Neal is the rotates down to cover the flat on the right side. This is what makes it a “Sky” concept. Sky refers to a safety coming down to the flat. On the defense’s left side cornerback Carlton Davis III is responsible for the deep outside third to his side while safety Mike Edwards rotates to take the middle third.
The underneath zones are covered through spot drops by linebackers Devin White and Lavonte David as well as cornerback Sean Murphy-Bunting. All three drop to relatively short zones. Stafford ends up trying to get the ball to the flat after getting uneasy from the Bucs pass rush. But prior to that Stafford’s gaze ran left to right. It appears his first read was to Van Jefferson (No. 12) on a quick hitch. With David finding Jefferson on his drop and Neal in close proximity on his path to the flat, Stafford came back to his right.
Stafford looks for Allen Robinson (#1) on his own hitch, but Robinson had Murphy-Bunting and White all over him. What Stafford over-looked or did not get to in his progression was Kupp coming over the middle on a crosser in a hole in the zone underneath Edwards. The pass fell incomplete as Stafford was unable to set his feet correctly.
Second Look Of The First Drive
Two plays after that initial look the Rams faced third and five at their own 32. They came out in a spread look from shotgun, motioning tight end Tyler Higbee from the offense’s left to right. David follows Higbee across the formation, giving Stafford important information that the Bucs are most likely in Cover 1. Post-snap this proves to be true. The Rams tried to get Higbee the ball in the flat, but Stafford and Higbee weren’t on the same page with regards to the depth of Higbee’s route or Stafford’s ball placement.
One More Time In The Second Drive
The Rams showed one last similar look prior to the touchdown on their second drive. On third and three from their own 32 the Rams came out in empty with a 3×2 look with the heavy side to Stafford’s left.
The Bucs show single-high once again. The Rams don’t run pre-snap motion but given how the Bucs match personnel (Devin White lined up outside on the running back and Carlton Davis in the slot), the Rams probably assumed Cover 1 once again. Stafford makes an impressive throw into great coverage by Davis to Allen Robinson to pick up the first down.
Back To The Touchdown
Now on second-and-11, after showing a shotgun spread-like formation three times prior, McVay goes back to the empty look. At this point when calling the play in, McVay can assume he is going to get a single high look from the Bucs defense. So, he calls a play that will stress the free safety up high. The Rams run four vertical routes coming from the No. 2 and No. 3 to Stafford’s left and from both No. 1 and No. 2 to Stafford’s right.
McVay’s hope is to line up Kupp in the slot on the short side and get a one-on-one in either event the Bucs came out in Cover 3 or Cover 1. The reason for this is that the safety up top is going to naturally shade to the heavy side of the field. And that’s exactly what happens. Let’s take a look at what Stafford sees pre-snap again.
Edwards is lined up by himself up top. He can also see Neal in the slot to the short side. This most likely tips Stafford off that he is facing Cover 3. The reason being that the Bucs most likely aren’t going to line up arguably their worst coverage defensive back against the Rams (and arguably league’s) best receiver.
Stafford has to be keying in on this. Presuming Cover 3 he knows he is going to have two vertical routes being run against a deep third with the middle third defender (Edwards) shading away. This is exactly what he is hoping for. Now let’s watch how it plays out (I know the title kind of gives it away…).
Kupp gets vertical. Carlton plays the No. 1 (outside receiver) and starts to cut his deep drop to stay on top of the comeback. This allows Kupp to get behind everyone for the easy catch and run score. You can see Neal early in the route try to motion to Davis or Edwards. It appears he is trying to alert to Kupp’s nine route. Davis doesn’t catch it. And with Edwards shading to the heavy side of the play he isn’t able to try and get on top of Kupp until Stafford is well into the throw. Edwards had no shot.
When asked about the play during his postgame press conference, head coach Todd Bowles said, “It was a bust – let’s just say that.”
Who had the bust? My assumption is that it was Neal, who should have carried the seam route. He would have known Edwards was shaded away from his side and he should have known Davis could have easily been put in conflict. On second-and-11 risking the No. 1 on an underneath where the Bucs defense could rally to him is a much more preferable result to allowing a route to get loose behind the defense.
There is a chance the bust could be attributed to Davis. Perhaps he was supposed to read the play from two-to-one, but I find that highly unlikely. In certain Cover 4 situations the outside corner can read No. 2 first, but to my knowledge I haven’t heard of a Cover 3 responsibility reading that way.
This isn’t the first time the Bucs have had trouble with the Rams running vertical seams against Cover 3. Take a look at this play from last year’s playoff game.
That time it was Higbee running the vertical. The deep safety Antoine Winfield Jr. was shaded away from Higbee’s side. And Jordan Whitehead is the slot defender who struggles to carry the seam route.
This is a pattern. It’s one the Bucs will need to continue to work on or it will become the book on them. The Bucs defense did a stellar job for the most part on Sunday controlling the Rams running game. They did a superb job covering the Rams horizontal passing game. But the Bucs still struggled with the Rams’ vertical passing attack.
