Scheme Session: a look at the Colts playbook

On Sunday night, down by three, the Colts had the ball at the Arizona 20-yard line. Knowing that the Cardinals are a Cover 4 team inside the red zone, Manning and the Colts came out with a classic Cover 4 beater--the scissors route--and the result was a TD pass from Manning to wide receiver Reggie Wayne. It was a perfect example of how game planning and film study can lead to the big play.

Here is a look at the route as it is drawn up on the chalkboard, and today I am going to take you through the play--why it worked, and how it could have been prevented.

Colts QB Peyton Manning has watched enough film on Arizona cornerback Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie to know that he is a player who will jump routes, so the scissors route sets up perfectly for this situation.

Let’s break it down…

The first thing to take notice of is the alignment of Reggie Wayne, No. 87. Why is he aligned inside at the slot position? That should be the first thing the corner and the safety should notice when they come out of the huddle—sparking an “alert scissors” call in the secondary, which tells the SS and corner to pass off routes to each other.

Because from their point of view it is pretty simple why Wayne is aligned out of position—he is getting the ball.

But, the Colts still have to beat the defense.

In Cover 4, or Red 4, down inside the 20-yard line, the four members of the defensive secondary play a quarter of the field, and in this case, with Indy going with a 3 wide receiver set, a Nickel corner is brought in to replace a linebacker—taking over the responsibilities of the Sam Backer. The Nickel corner and the Will LB play the flat to the curl, and the Mike Backer plays the middle hook.

APManning took advantage of the Arizona defense in the red zone.

Indy’s plan was basic, yet very effective against this coverage. On the back side, they ran a deep Dig- Flat combo to occupy the free safety and the weak side corner. By doing this, Manning has the option of throwing the deep post on the front side if the SS is beat—as the free safety is sucked down in the coverage by biting on the dig, creating a one-on-one matchup.

The underneath flat route by RB Joseph Addai, No. 29, is designed to draw the backer out of his zone and into the flat—opening up a window to throw the dig if Manning goes to his backside options.

On the front side, Indy sends TE Dallas Clark, #44, to the flat, and then runs the scissors route behind the Nickel that is now running to defend Clark.

And this is where scheme comes into play.

For this defense to work, Rodgers-Cromartie has to pass off the post to the SS, but as we saw on Sunday he bit on the post route, and when you take the bait against Peyton Manning—you lose. Manning hit Wayne on a 7-route and the Colts never looked back. The dashed lines show where Rodgers-Cromartie should have been to stop this TD from happening. As a corner in this coverage, he has to know that by having three receivers to his side (Z, W, and Y), he can't chase any route that breaks inside. But, Manning looked to the post, got Rodgers-Cromartie to jump on top of the post route, and because of that had a clear throwing lane--over the Nickle who is now in the flat--to Wayne.

Overall, this route is designed to beat the Cardinals Cover 4 in the red zone by giving Manning options. His No.1 read is the Post-7 combo on the front side, and the Dig-Flat combo on the back side. Without defensive discipline, against a quarterback like Manning, it is just too easy.

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