Cheat Motion Week 4
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00:00 Titans fans, welcome to another Tic Tac Titans film breakdown.
00:03 I'm Tyler Rowland, host of the Locked on Titans podcast,
00:06 staff writer for Sports Illustrated over at alltitans.com.
00:09 I want to take a look at something cool the Titans were doing on offense in week 4,
00:13 and it was their utilization of cheat motion.
00:16 Cheat motion has become a big trend in the NFL through four weeks,
00:20 and the Titans are starting to add that in.
00:23 I want to look at six plays where they use cheat motion against the Bengals.
00:26 We're going to take a look at Tajay Spears here on this very first play.
00:30 He's the inside most guy on the right-hand side of the formation,
00:34 but he's just going to go in a quick lateral motion and short motion too.
00:39 Quick, short lateral motion,
00:41 and he's going to be in motion at the snap.
00:44 What it's going to do is it's going to get your fastest,
00:46 most explosive player on offense on the run at the snap,
00:50 which is a big advantage,
00:52 but also here we see it widen out the Cincinnati Bengals defense.
00:55 So it's going to take the cornerback out.
00:57 It's going to take this outside guy more out,
00:59 and if you want to attack in the middle or over the middle,
01:02 these inside routes, it's going to be easier to do that.
01:04 So not only are you getting your quickest,
01:06 most explosive player on the run at the snap,
01:09 but you're also widening out the defense with a short motion.
01:12 So the Titans just run a simple pass play here.
01:15 They're just looking to attack the Bengals zone defense.
01:17 There's nothing open, so Tannehill runs it up the middle and tries to get what he can,
01:21 gets smoked by the linebacker.
01:23 Be careful, Tannehill.
01:24 But either way, I like the idea,
01:26 and when you see how the Titans start to layer it on top of each other,
01:30 so that was a pass play there.
01:32 We're going to see cheap motion from Tajay Spears right here,
01:35 but instead of a pass play, it's a quick pitch to Derrick Henry,
01:38 and this is on a third and short,
01:40 and it could be blocked up just a little bit cleaner if Hubbard were able to get a better block here
01:45 to give Derrick Henry more room.
01:46 And then I want to focus on Colton Dowell here at wide receiver.
01:49 Where's NWI when you need him?
01:51 Colton Dowell here is at wide receiver,
01:53 and if he is able to get that block,
01:55 this is going to be a big play for Derrick Henry,
01:58 but Colton Dowell, a rookie wide receiver,
02:02 can't block a starting linebacker in Logan Wilson.
02:05 Kind of not shocked to see that.
02:07 That's why a guy like NWI is so important to the Titans,
02:10 but Derrick Henry is still able to get a first down for the Titans just fighting physical.
02:14 Marked him a little short.
02:15 I think they did give him the first down ultimately,
02:17 but the point is the Titans show the same exact formation,
02:21 same exact cheat motion, but instead of a pass play,
02:24 now they're running a toss sweep to Derrick Henry to get him out on the perimeter,
02:27 try to get him a one-on-one situation or even give him a clear lane to get to the end zone.
02:32 So here we go.
02:33 Cheat motion again for the Titans,
02:36 but instead of a pitch to the direction of the cheat motion,
02:40 we see Derrick Henry take the counter step,
02:44 and then we're going to have a counter back with two pullers.
02:47 So now we've seen the pass with the cheat motion.
02:51 We've seen a pitch to the outside following the cheat motion using Tajay Spears as a lead blocker,
02:56 and now we're showing a third type of play off of that,
03:00 countering it literally with a backside counter.
03:04 And again, this isn't the most productive play of all time,
03:08 but it's a solid run,
03:10 and just showing similar looks and then building plays off of that
03:16 is so important for NFL offenses
03:18 to trick NFL defenses and get good situations.
03:21 And look, if Derrick Henry is able to bounce this to the outside off Chris Moore's butt,
03:27 he's going to have a one-on-one with a cornerback.
03:30 So there is a good opportunity here nonetheless.
03:32 Derrick Henry just kind of runs into the back of the tight end and forces his way forward,
03:36 which is Derrick Henry football,
03:38 but, you know, it's all about layering similar looks on top of each other,
03:43 and we're seeing that here, and we see cheat motion now in a different way.
03:47 Instead of Tajay Spears being on the tight end side and cheating out this way,
03:51 we see Spears as the wing back on the other side,
03:54 and he goes this way.
03:55 And this play is incredibly ugly.
03:56 Let me tell you that early on.
03:58 This is ugly, and this play does not work,
04:01 but I think that the Titans can use this going forward,
04:05 and there's a chance for huge plays.
04:07 So Tannehill is going to fake the handoff here,
04:09 and I'm pretty sure the idea is to throw this pitch--
04:12 or throw a swing screen out here to Tajay Spears.
04:16 And look, Colton Dow one-on-one.
04:18 Tajay Spears, this cornerback comes in.
04:22 I think Ryan Tannehill is worried about this cornerback intercepting the ball
04:26 so he doesn't throw it,
04:27 but if he were able to get this ball out to Tajay Spears,
04:32 I mean, again, Colton Dow one-on-one with a guy,
04:34 this could be a big play.
04:36 Now, Tannehill ultimately keeps it, and it's an ugly play for sure,
04:40 but the design of it I think is really nice,
04:44 and I think the Titans can use it again and maybe hit a big play in the future,
04:47 but we're going to look at the next play here,
04:51 and here is another
04:52 toss to Derrick Henry.
04:55 So the Titans are going back to a look.
04:57 We're going to get the short motion and then the pitch out to Derrick Henry,
05:00 going back to a look that they used in the first quarter,
05:03 and this is late in the game.
05:04 This is in the second half.
05:05 Again, not as productive as you want it to be
05:09 because Tajay Spears misses a block there at the bottom of the screen,
05:13 and Daniel Brunskill is able to seal off his guy,
05:15 but the general idea--
05:18 and the Titans are in like second and forever,
05:21 and this one's like second and 20,
05:22 so, of course, the defense is going to be downhill, but
05:25 it's all about showing similar looks,
05:28 making plays off of it.
05:29 We see a double up there where the Titans throw the toss screen again,
05:33 and I love the idea of the toss screens,
05:35 and I know a lot of people don't, but look,
05:37 there are so many people
05:38 on this side of this line,
05:41 and the Titans have three blockers out here.
05:45 If they can get Derrick Henry on the perimeter,
05:47 there's just a ton of one-on-one opportunities outside
05:49 with the way teams are stacking inside against the Titans,
05:52 so I don't mind the toss sweeps here,
05:54 and especially doing it out of shotgun,
05:56 getting Derrick Henry downhill quicker,
05:58 having lead blockers, using that cheat motion,
06:00 and look, by this time, the Bengals are just neglecting the cheat motion entirely,
06:06 and this is where things can really, really get interesting for the Titans
06:11 because what the Titans do here is
06:13 we've seen the pass,
06:16 we've seen two pitches,
06:18 we've seen the wide receiver screen,
06:21 we've seen the counter play,
06:23 so now is where you can-- you can really get dangerous.
06:26 So what we're going to see from the Titans here is
06:29 they are going to fake the hand-- we see the cheat motion.
06:33 They're going to fake the counter.
06:35 So they did the cheat motion with a pass play.
06:38 They did the cheat motion twice with a toss to Derrick Henry.
06:42 They did the cheat motion once with the counter.
06:45 Henry takes the counter step.
06:46 The two pullers are coming back,
06:49 but what they do is they fake it to Henry,
06:52 and then Tannehill is on the quarterback run on an option.
06:55 And here's the thing.
06:56 That's not by itself.
06:58 So Tannehill has a good--
06:59 now, imagine if this wasn't Ryan Tannehill.
07:02 You know what I'm saying?
07:03 Like if this was like a quarterback with elite mobility and run ability.
07:08 Instead of the 35-year-old Ryan Tannehill who has been a good short yardage runner throughout his career,
07:14 but you're not going to have design runs for Tannehill in the middle of the field all the time
07:18 just on regular plays like you would other types of quarterbacks.
07:21 But go back just a little bit here.
07:23 Imagine if
07:24 you could throw that to Tajay Spears
07:28 and combine the wide receiver screen with the fake to the counter.
07:32 Like you have the handoff to Henry.
07:35 You can keep it yourself,
07:36 or you could throw it out to Spears.
07:38 That--
07:39 that is deadly.
07:41 Okay?
07:42 So really for me, more than anything,
07:45 I'm just so excited to see Tim Kelly,
07:48 a Tennessee Titans offensive coordinator,
07:50 incorporating trends from around the NFL,
07:53 from the best offenses in the NFL,
07:55 incorporating that into his offense.
07:58 Like that is--
08:02 that's a breath of fresh air for Titans fans right there from the last two years of Todd Downing.
08:06 And not only incorporating those things,
08:09 but layering them on top of each other.
08:11 Not just doing the simplest thing.
08:12 And I think that--
08:13 that's what's most exciting for me
08:16 in this situation.
08:17 So just wanted to show up from one last view here.
08:20 We get the short motion from Tajay Spears.
08:23 You fake the counter, which you ran earlier.
08:30 Now you got Tannehill one-on-one with a linebacker in the hole.
08:33 Unfortunately, Tannehill's 35,
08:35 so he gets brought down--
08:38 he starts to fall on his own really and gets brought down from behind by the defensive lineman,
08:42 but the design of the play and the things the Titans can do off of it,
08:46 absolutely beautiful.
08:48 Wanted to demonstrate how the Titans were using cheat motion.
08:51 Hope you guys enjoyed.
08:52 Hope we see it more from the Titans going forward for more analysis.
08:55 Make sure to check out the Locked on Titans podcast on whatever platform you do stream.
08:59 Check out the Locked on Titans YouTube channel.
09:02 and check out all my writing over at alltitans.com
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