The first flakes of red and blue confetti hadn’t yet been fired out of stage-side leaf blowers and yet social media was abuzz with criticism of Winnipeg’s defensive play call on Montreal’s Grey Cup-winning touchdown.
That’s football in 2023.
Entire seasons are reduced to a single play call and, if the play in question was even slightly unconventional, people want to put a face on it. That’s what happened to Richie Hall, Winnipeg’s defensive coordinator, late Sunday night. Instead of missed tackles, costly turnovers, or the fact that Winnipeg scored only once in the second half, Richie Hall’s last-second blitz became the reason the Blue Bombers lost.
On the game-winning touchdown, Hall called a cover zero blitz. Obviously, it didn’t work. If it had — and it very well could have — he’d have been hailed a hero, an aggressive coordinator going for the win instead of watching Montreal take the Cup.
Let’s take a closer look at that game-winning drive.
The Alouettes had the ball at their own 27-yard-line trailing Winnipeg 24-21 with under two minutes remaining in the game.
Against a three-man rush on the first two plays, Cody Fajardo hit Tyson Philpot on back-to-back Z-quick receiver screens. The first went for 13 yards after a missed tackle by Evan Holm, and the second for eight yards when Malik Clements, Deatrick Nichols, and Holm were locked up by three Montreal receivers.
Caleb Evans then broke through an attempted tackle from Willie Jefferson and carried Redha Kramdi for seven yards on a quarterback sneak.
On first down from midfield, Winnipeg ran eight men up to the line of scrimmage. Seeing off-man coverage against a blitz, Fajardo looked immediately to Philpot on a four-yard hook but Winnipeg backed almost everyone out, leaving Kramdi in his throwing lane and Clements racing out to undercut Philpot. Shayne Gauthier slipped past left guard Philippe Gagnon for the sack.
On second-and-eighteen at the Alouettes’ 47-yard-line, Hall dialed up two-man with Kyrie Wilson spying Fajardo behind a three-man rush. Fajardo couldn’t find anyone open, but as he stepped to the outside, Wilson slipped and fell to the ground, and with everyone else’s back turned, the athletic quarterback took off, evading Brandon Alexander’s poor angle en route to a 13-yard scamper.
It was third-and-five from Winnipeg’s 50-yard-line with under 40 seconds remaining. A first down would put the Alouettes in game-tying field goal range, and a stop would win the Grey Cup for Winnipeg.
The Blue Bombers pressed six men to the line of scrimmage with a cover one look overtop but at the snap, Clements and Brian Cole fanned out on what I suspect was supposed to be three-match coverage, but I can’t tell with certainty since an assignment was blown.
With trips to the field on Fajardo’s left, from inside-out, Tyler Snead had a hook at the sticks, Austin Mack had a speed out, and Cole Spieker had a go route. Fajardo focused in on Mack and Spieker, who had drawn an intriguing defensive alignment against this concept. Holm was lined up over Mack, but ten yards deep and dropping, while Jamal Parker was in very tight on Spieker.
All Fajardo had to do was read Parker. If Parker dropped back, Mack would be open on the speed out, and if Parker sat, Spieker would be open along the rail. Instead, it was a bust.
Parker and Holm both broke on Mack’s short route, leaving Spieker with over five yards separation. An accurate throw from Fajardo would have resulted in a touchdown, but he released the ball falling away and it sailed high and short. Spieker brought it down just as Parker arrived.
From Winnipeg’s 19-yard-line and with 15 seconds remaining on a running clock, Richie Hall probably felt he needed to do something drastic and called an all-out blitz. Fajardo saw the blitz in time and called in Jake Harty to help Jeshrun Antwi with max protection.
Philpot was the only receiver to Fajardo’s left and, with the middle vacated, his post route would be wide open if he could get inside leverage on all-star cornerback Demerio Houston. The receiver angled his stem inside, attacking Houston’s technique, which receivers often do to set up out-breaking routes.
With half the field to cover, Houston reacted to Philpot’s jab step to the outside and lost his inside shade as Philpot broke to the post. Houston somehow recovered, but Fajardo’s ball was on the money, missing Houston’s outstretched hand by inches.
On the TSN postgame show, Bo Levi Mitchell criticized the cover zero call.
“In that moment right there, cover zero, a sack does nothing for you. You’re up a field goal,” said Mitchell. “You drop nine guys, you get him to hold the ball a little bit, you get them to kick a field goal and tie the game.”
I get Mitchell’s line of thinking, but I don’t think it takes context into consideration. Fajardo was on fire, completing six of his last seven passes for 77 yards and a touchdown, and there he was on Winnipeg’s doorstep. Without Adam Bighill on the field, Hall’s players were missing tackles, losing their footing, making mental errors, taking bad angles, and getting beat. His defence was rattled.
Fajardo had sliced up their deep zone, bought time against their three-man rush, shaken their spy, and burned their press coverage. Hall wasn’t blitzing to get a sack, he was blitzing to prevent a touchdown. He’d shown pressure twice on this drive and backed out both times. This time he was sending everyone.
Unfortunately for Winnipeg, they showed their hand too early and Fajardo saw it coming. It’s moot now, but if Hall had rushed only three on that play and Fajardo had thrown a touchdown, he’d be getting torched for standing idly by against a hot quarterback.
As I said, that’s football in 2023.
