The Green Bay Packers intercepted Tampa Bay Buccaneers QB Jalon Daniels two times in week four and we covered one of them briefly in another article. They nearly had a third interception to end the game but it was overturned to incomplete in replay. It’s still worth breaking down and mentioning. Today we’ll go a bit more in-depth on those three plays and what led to them as the Packers defense dominated the Buccaneers offense.
Jalon Daniels made his first start for the Buccaneers in place of the injured
Baker Mayfield and went about as poorly as it could for the undrafted rookie quarterback. He made some plays with his legs but was generally off-target and flustered all game long by a defense and defensive coordinator with vastly more experience.
First play, 1st quarter, 1st and 10, 7:15 remaining
This interception came down to a missed pre-snap read by Daniels. Before the ball was snapped, the defense showed a single-high shell with clear man-coverage indicators, which almost certainly told Daniels he was looking at cover-1.
That’s a coverage he should feel comfortable attacking, with only one deep safety and man coverage underneath, he’d have leverage to work with on the outside.
The Packers weren’t really disguising their intentions either. Safety Evan Williams began creeping down toward the slot receiver, “capping” him from the top, while Brenton Cox was initially aligned over the slot as though he had him in coverage. That combination is a classic pressure tell.
When a second-level defender starts walking down to “cap” a receiver who already appears to be covered, it usually means the man currently lined up on that receiver isn’t staying there. Daniels should have recognized that Cox was likely coming as a fifth rusher off the edge and that Williams was rotating down to take over the slot.
That’s exactly how it played out. At the snap, Cox looped inside and got home, collapsing the pocket before Daniels could get through his progression. With pressure in his face, he couldn’t step into the throw and was forced to short-arm it. The ball came out late and without enough velocity, giving Williams the time to read it and undercut the route as the pass arrived.
The coverage forced a bad throw that was set off by a chain reaction that started before the snap. Had Daniels identified the pressure look and the likely fifth rusher, he could have adjusted the protection, gotten to a hot answer, or simply known where his free access throw was before the pressure arrived.
Second play, 2nd quarter, 2nd and 10, 00:41 remaining
This was more of a bad read by Daniels than anything. He was picked off by Edgerrin Cooper just before halftime. Cooper was sitting in the hook zone and didn’t gain too much depth as he read the quarterback.
The defense is in a straight cover-2 zone playing spot drop with vision on the quarterback. The Buccaneers are running a Y-cross pass concept.
Daniels took a quick 1-step drop back from shotgun and quickly fired the ball to his slot receiver on a short curl route. Cooper, with vision on the quarterback, broke on the pass as soon as Daniels raised his arm to throw. Cooper shot downhill quickly and undercut the pass as it arrived and returned it for 18 yards.
Third play, 4th quarter, 4th and 11, 1:34 remaining
On the final play of the game for the Buccaneers offense, Keisean Nixon nearly picked off the pass from Daniels as he chucked it blindly over the middle as he was about to be sacked. It was ruled an interception on the field but overturned in replay.
The defense is showing an all out pressure front again with single high coverage. It should be an indicator to Daniels that he’s getting some kind of pressure but not all out pressure because the safety isn’t aligned over any receiver.
The Packers zone drop out to a 3-under/3-deep zone coverage shell that gets Evan Williams off the left edge of the defense as the free rusher. Williams grabs hold of the quarterback but can’t bring him before Daniels lets go of the pass. Nixon made a diving attempt but couldn’t hang on. It didn’t matter though because it was fourth down.
