How Tebow and His Helpers Beat Man Coverage - NYTimes.com

How Tebow and His Helpers Beat Man Coverage - NYTimes.com:
Andy Benoit writes: "In his biggest game as a pro, Tebow disproved (at least temporarily) his legions of naysayers by connecting on throws against man coverage. That’s what all the experts – including, apparently, the Steelers defensive coordinator Dick LeBeau – decided he couldn’t do. Don’t blame the experts. They were simply going by what they’d seen on film the past two weeks. Credit Tebow for finally “pulling the trigger” and playing with pocket poise against the Steelers’ intentionally soft pass rush. More than that, credit his offensive coordinator, Mike McCoy, and top receiver, Demaryius Thomas.

McCoy designed some very shrewd routes against the Steelers’ coverages. Instead of going with the tight bunches and myriad crossing patterns that most coaches use to beat man coverage, he went with a barrage of outside fly routes. Those patterns ensured one-on-one coverage – as safety help is irrelevant outside in man coverage – and allowed Tebow to heave the ball downfield rather than make precise, timing-based throws to moving targets through tight windows. When McCoy did go to crossing routes, he put in wrinkles like fly patterns up the seams off the crosses or deep hooks on the outside. The idea was to use Troy Polamalu’s aggressive decision-making against him. It worked masterfully."

Great analysis of the playcalling by Mike McCoy and creativity invoked to upset the Pittsburgh Steelers

'via Blog this'