Hindsight 2023: Penn State Defense vs. Delaware
41 plays of suffocating dominance sans one 66-yard hiccup for six that we’ll dissect like it’s the freakin’ Zapruder Film.
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Formations
As you probably suspected given the quality (or lack thereof) of opponent, Penn State defensive coordinator Manny Diaz kept the fun stuff under wraps this week…so we’re working with scraps here. However, considering the FTB crew is comprised of top-notch content chefs, we managed to whip something up in lieu of publishing this blog post with a giant blank space in this subsection — a brief examination of the 2023 two-week evolution of Diaz’s signature 3rd down pressure package, The ‘Prowler’ Formation.
As Friend of the Blog/guy who knows a guy that can get you a Qboda franchise if you got an extra $800,000 lying around Thomas Frank Carr of Blue-White Illustrated keenly pointed out last week, West Virginia occasionally attacked anticipated Prowler situations on obvious passing downs by running tempo – an unexpected pace that made it difficult for Diaz to exit a lineman and a linebacker, insert two DBs in their place, and get properly lined up before the snap.
Diaz countered that counter this week, attaching a minor pre-snap addendum to Prowler…see if you can spot it.
Here’s a 2022 Prowler cut-up:
And here’s Prowler vs. Delaware:
When offenses operate at normal speed – which is common on 3rd and Longs since Tempo is generally triggered after positive plays and halted after neutral or negative plays (minimal gains, incomplete passes, sacks or TFL) – Penn State declares “Prowler” early in the play clock, affording opponents ample opportunity to check-to-the-sidelines and adjust. Because of this wait, Penn State’s non-DL (2 LBS, 2 DBs) start the play flat-footed at the line of scrimmage.
BUUUUT, as teams go up-tempo – yes, Delaware is going up-tempo here despite the play clock dipping below :20 – and snap the ball ‘On 1’, it appears Diaz has instructed his non-DL foursome to time up their blitz/drop. The short runway to the line of scrimmage provides advantageous forward momentum for the extra pass rushers, and makes backpedaling easier for the ‘bluffers’ (11-Adbul Carter, 23-Curtis Jacobs on this play) dropping into coverage.
We’re still not huge fans of having zone droppers stride forward and engage with an O-lineman before bailing – just seems too risky for minimal reward – but it works on this play as the linebackers erase the escape-valve underneath drag route for Delaware QB 14-Ryan O’Connor.
Substitutions
2023 ROSTER DUMP ROLL CALL!!!! (club airhorn SFX) Yo DJ! Insert that USB drive in your MacBook and drop that pre-recorded beat!
Here’s the participation list from Saturday. And reminder, parents, please hold your applause so that everybody can hear their name read:
DL – 18-Davon Townley Jr., 19-Jameial Lyons, 20-Adisa Isaac, 28-Zane Durant, 33-Dani Dennis-Sutton, 36-Zuriah Fisher, 39-Ty Blanding, 44-Chop Robinson, 51-Hakeem Beamon, 52-Jordan van den Berg, 58-Kaleb Artis, 91-Dvon Ellies, 94-Jake Wilson.
LB – 0-Dom “Sauce” DeLuca, 11-Abdul Carter, 13-Tony Rojas, 23-Curtis Jacobs, 24-Ta’Mere Robinson, 32-Keon Wylie, 41-Kobe King, 43-Tyler Elsdon, 48-Kaveion Keys.
DB – 1-Jaylen Reed, 2-Keaton Ellis, 3-John(ny) Dixon, 4-Kalen King, 5-Cam Miller, 6-Zakee Wheatley, 8-DaKaari Nelson, 9-King Mack, 10-Mehki Flowers, 12-Zion Tracy, 14-Tyrece Mills, 16-Elliot Washington, 21-KJ Winston, 27-Lamont Payne Jr., 29-Audavion Collins.
Frankly, I’m not sure which of these two notes is crazier:
• A grand total of 37 Nittany Lions defenders participated in at least three snaps on Saturday
Or….
• Of those 37, only three players (LB 11-Abdul Carter, LB 23-Curtis Jacobs, and 5-Cam Miller) were on the field for at least 20 reps, and none of them exceeded 25 plays.
In fact, through two weeks, Penn State’s top rep-getter on defense is All-Big Ten cornerback 4-Kalen King with 75 snaps. For comparison, Illinois – Penn State’s opponent this week – has 10 guys with at least 100 snaps through two weeks, topped by free safety 10-Miles Scott who has played deep centerfield on 161 plays thus far.
This scattered participation approach from Penn State should (hopefully) pay dividends down the road, especially if the season extends to a 14th and 15th game. But for the here and now, the limited sample size has made it difficult (borderline impossible) to form concrete opinions on any of Penn State’s established marquee defenders – namely King, Carter, Isaac, and Chop.
Which stinks for us.
Defensive Line
Slowly but surely, we’re developing a better understanding of what Diaz desires/expects from his defensive linemen…and just being 310 pounds for the sake of being 310 pounds isn’t it.
To thrive in Diaz’s dizzying, unorthodox, Cat’s Cradle string game system, you better be able to move, cross face(s), reach your assigned destination, and once there, penetrate and blow stuff up – missed tackles be damned. Off-season Champion of Exercise defensive tackle 52-Jordan van den Berg put this philosophy into practice late in the first quarter:
Shading over the center, JVDB dips and rips as he crosses face, providing limited target area for the blocker to strike as he punctuates the maneuver by uppercutting his left arm through to partially disengage from the lineman. By doing this, JVDB forces the running back to make a decision one or two steps shy of the point of attack, which takes away the guesswork from Penn State’s linebackers on where this play is gonna hit. No, JVDB doesn’t record the TFL (because, honestly, he’s being held) but his penetration sets up 11-Carter for success and puts Delaware off-schedule on 2nd down.
Speaking of big guys who can move…Zane Durant, ladies and gentlemen:
3rd Down non-tempo Prowler Pressure – so, as we explained 600 words ago, Penn State is set pre-snap. Play-Action bootleg takes Durant out of the play. Find him…he’s at the ‘A’ in Penn State when this ball is released, barely in the TV frame. But, man, watch him re-enter the picture and hunt down Delaware WR 17- Jourdan Townsend a couple feet short of the invisible yellow line. Ultimate hustle play. Delaware ends up punting on 4th down.
Finally, the lack of offensive flow from West Virginia and Delaware through two weeks has kept gamewrecker-in-waiting 33-Dani Dennis-Sutton under the radar nationally, but even in limited action his rare blend of athleticism and strength still manages to occasionally pop off the screen…like in this consecutive two-play sequence:
Linebackers
Let’s just rip the band-aid off, shall we?
Lots of moving parts…
…OK, first off, Delaware throws multi-directional eye candy at Penn State on this play – pre-snap jet motion one way by the receiver at the top of the screen, post-snap split-zone blocking the opposite way from the Delaware H-Back/Wing back.
The pre-snap movement, forces Penn State to rotate single-high safeties – 5-Cam Miller (originally the field-side corner) retreats to the abandoned centerfield post vacated by 21-KJ Winston, who now must crash down to account for the jet-sweep threat that never materializes.
Both weakside linebacker 11-Carter and defensive end 36-Zuriah Fisher bite hard upfield, hypnotized by the jet motion. We’re guessing Carter (though we can’t be sure) colored outside the lines a little bit here, trying to slap on a cape and play hero on 3rd and 1. Either that, or Fisher was supposed to pinch inside.
On the line, 91-Ellies crosses the face of the center, leaving the playside A-Gap for the backside A-Gap. 52-JVDB and 20-Isaac work a two-man stunt, exchanging gap responsibilities. As it stands, Penn State is gapped-up on the backside vs. 3 blockers – Ellies-A, Isaac-B, JVDB-C, Wheatley-D, with 0-DeLuca flowing over to account for the H-Back. Frontside, though, different story.
Yes, 43-Elsdon should suck down, ignore his eyes, and fit the A-Gap sooner. Not letting him off the hook. BUT, the width of the hole he doesn’t fill is more than a one-man job because Fisher and Carter are so far upfield, again drawn to the bluff jet-sweep.
At the snap, Miller hasn’t fully rotated back to proper single-high depth, which plays tricks on his pursuit angle. Winston, again hurrying to crash down to prevent the jet-motion receiver from turning the corner, can’t course-correct in time to stop the run.
Touchdown fighting Corporate Tax Havens.
Secondary
For the second week in a row, Penn State’s stellar secondary committed an egregious coverage bust.
Against West Virginia, the mix-up enabled the Mountaineers to connect on their lone “chunk” passing play of the game, a 37-yard arm-punt to Penn State transfer (sike) WVU transfer Devin Carter. Against Delaware, the Lions flub left a wide receiver WIDE OPEN but went unpunished (well, 6 yards of punishment, technically) because, Delaware.
So what happened? Simple answer: lack of communication.
Penn State is playing man coverage. That means, toward the boundary, 4-King has the No. 1 Delaware receiver (the guy closest to the sideline) and 21-Winston has the No. 2 receiver (the guy in the slot). At the snap, though, the Delaware wide receivers “switch release” – a concept we spent 1,700 words thoroughly detailing back in February. For the insufferable TL;DR crowd, a switch release is exactly what it sounds like…two receivers cross paths and exchange locations within the initial steps of their route. The goal is to A) cause confusion and B) create natural, organic, legal picks/rubs leading to separation.
To combat the latter, some defenses allow their DBs to “BANJO” receivers that might switch – in essence, if these guys cross, the outside DB exchanges his original coverage assignment for the guy who went from the slot to the near-sideline and vice versa. Because of that concept (which was used often in Brent Pry’s scheme) it’s impossible to know who goofed up here. If there was no BANJO exchange called pre-snap, blame Winston. If there was, blame King.
This play – same route concept, same man coverage – a quarter later leaves us a fairly convincing clue, though (cough, it was probably Winston, cough).
Moving on…
With the curtain falling on the “competition phase” of this “contest” around 1:10 p.m. EST, Penn State’s green- and yellow-lighters received plenty of run and left us with good and not-so-good first impressions.
First, the good…sawed-off safety 9-King Mack might just blossom into everything we hoped former first-team All-Infowars safety Lamont Wade would be but never was – an all-gas-no-breaks downhill destroyer on blitzes/run fits AND a capable pass coverer. According to PFF, the true freshman from Florida was the sixth highest-graded Lions defender on Saturday.
Conversely, fellow Floridian freshman 16-Elliott Washington got tagged for an iffy DPI in the 3rd Quarter, and unfortunately doubled-down on that borderline mistake with an inexcusable blunder on 3rd Down and Philipsburg. See below.
Predictable, conservative play call from a turn-the-other-cheek opponent determined not to find out if Beaver Stadium’s older scoreboards on the lower rims of both upper decks can handle triple-digit numbers.
Once the screen is caught, the Blue Hens have two O-lineman out in space, a receiver out in space, and another receiver rallying to join the fun from the bottom of the screen. Penn State rebuts with 5 defenders in position to make a tackle before the ball-carrier reaches the sticks. 5 > 4. Advantage Penn State. All Washington has to do is maintain outside contain, which would funnel this receiver into the unblocked arms of 32-Keon Wylie and 10-Mehki Flowers with five-ish yards of cushion before the line-to-gain. Instead, Washington floats too far inside, letting the Hen out the backdoor of the coop.
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