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Fooling Patrick Mahomes into an interception isn’t simple, but it surely isn’t not possible. With 10:42 left within the third quarter of the Chiefs’ 17-14 Week 16 win over the Falcons, Mahomes had third down on the Atlanta seven-yard line. He tried to sneak a slant to tight finish Travis Kelce via Atlanta’s Crimson-2 goal-line zone protection, however linebacker Foyesade Oluokun (No. 54) had different concepts.
The neat trick Oluokun confirmed Mahomes on this play was to deceive him into considering that Oluokun was dishonest to the three-wide aspect of the formation. Had this been the case, Mahomes would have had a simple pitch-and-catch to Kelce as Oluokun vacated his space.
As a substitute, Mahomes took the bait, and the outcome was an interception which may have been a 99-yard pick-six have been it not for receiver Tyreek Hill, who turned on the jets and caught Oluokun from behind, forcing a fumble out of bounds.
Cool little nuance right here. That is the Foyesade Oluokun choose the place Tyreek Hill chased him down and prevented a pick-six. Watch how Oluokun appears to be like Mahomes off pre-snap as a QB would look a security off. Mahomes takes the cheese, and Oluokun jumps it. pic.twitter.com/mSffxyjvHs
— Doug Farrar (@NFL_DougFarrar) January 18, 2021
“That’s the center and the championship swagger you want on a crew,” Mahomes said of Hill’s tackle. “Battling although harm already to be on the market in that sport, and to make that sort out on that little choose… it’s important to have these varieties of guys in your crew if you wish to win soccer video games.”
Properly, yeah, that helps. DK Metcalf would agree.
The All-22 angles of DK Metcalf’s tackle of Budda Baker are truly epic
However if you happen to can put your quarterback in conditions the place he’s not throwing crimson zone picks and forcing his high receivers to run 4.2-second 40-yard dashes to forestall defensive touchdowns, that’s additionally good.
And that is the place Mahomes is likely to be in a little bit of bother, as a result of the Payments — the crew Mahomes will face within the AFC Championship sport this Sunday — have a knack for fooling quarterbacks into pick-sixes with route-jumping prowess. Particularly, we’re speaking about nickel cornerback Taron Johnson, the 2018 fourth-round pick of Weber State whose earlier declare to fame was because the man who obtained hit within the head with a soccer throughout his scouting mix drills.
Taron Johnson went viral for getting hit within the head on the mix in 2018.
Final evening, he obtained a pick-six off Lamar Jackson to seal a playoff win.
Not the way you begin 💯 @brgridiron
(through @thecheckdown, h/t @MySportsUpdate)pic.twitter.com/ZqEeFmKMZ6
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) January 17, 2021
Oof. In any occasion, issues have gone a lot better for Mr. Johnson of late. This season because the Payments’ main slot defender, per Professional Soccer Focus, he’s allowed 65 receptions on 90 targets for 681 yards, 297 yards after the catch, one landing, two interceptions, and an opponent passer score of 88.2. And sure, each of his interceptions this season have been pick-sixes.
There was this 51-yarder in opposition to Ben Roethlisberger in Week 14…
Very nice play design on Taron Johnson’s pick-six in opposition to the Steelers. “Inverted pyramid” in opposition to bunch left, make it seem like man however go it off as zone, and provides Johnson the again cowl to leap the path to JuJu Smith-Schuster. Increase. pic.twitter.com/R88GY1AOnK
— Doug Farrar (@NFL_DougFarrar) December 16, 2020
Initially, Johnson is protecting tight finish Eric Ebron as the highest goal in Pittsburgh’s bunch formation, which has Roethlisberger believing that he’s obtained Smith-Schuster beneath. However Johnson does a superb job of working right down to Smith-Schuster and leaping the route, and that’s your ballgame.
Then, there was this 101-yard pick-six of Lamar Jackson with 58 seconds left within the third quarter of Buffalo’s divisional spherical win over the Ravens — the sport that took them to Mahomes within the first place.
“Coach made a great name, and I’m simply studying the eyes of the quarterback,” Johnson said after the game. “I’ve the seam within the protection, and he took me to the again aspect, and all I did was cheat. He didn’t see me, so the ball got here to me. I took it, and made the play.”
Right here, the Payments are taking part in “Crimson 2” — as ESPN’s Matt Bowen explains it, a five-across crimson zone protection by which the cornerbacks open and sink to hold the surface routes, the safeties shuffle via their run-pass keys and drop down on any shorter routes, the Mike linebacker opens to the passing power and matches to the within vertical seam, and the nickel defender (Johnson) reads the quarterback — as Johnson stated.
Mahomes will little question get his pictures within the crimson zone in opposition to the Payments — within the common season, per Professional Soccer Reference, he threw 23 touchdowns to 2 interceptions within the crimson zone, and 21 touchdowns to at least one interception contained in the opponent’s 10-yard line. However when he’s within the crimson zone in opposition to Taron Johnson, he could need to bear in mind how Foyesade Oluokun faked him out in Week 16 for that one choose, and the way Taron Johnson has change into a pick-six machine by hiding his intentions till the final second, studying the quarterback, and leaping the route.
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