Cutup Friday: 2021 Rams Duo
Lots of love for Duo this week. 11-personnel Duo is a bread and butter concept for the Rams, and has been for a while under Sean McVay. Here is my breakdown from The 2021 Los Angeles Rams Complete Offensive Manual. A 25 minute(!) cutup of the concept can be found at the end of this breakdown.
Duo, out of 11 personnel in a 3x1 formation, is the Rams’ bread and butter base down run call.
Duo is a downhill run with the ability to bounce the ball if no vertical movement is gained. The running back will press the play side (strong side) A-gap first. If the linebackers fill fast and prevent the double teams from getting vertical movement, the play will bounce out the strong side.
In 11 personnel, the offense most often sees an over front. One of the benefits of running your offense out of 11 personnel is you end up getting simplified fronts from the defense. Consistency for the offensive line.
The offensive line and tight end will block the four down, the Mike, and the Will. The PST and PSG combo the 3 tech up to the Mike, and the center and BSG combo the Nose up to the Will. Most of the diagrams in this section show this.
One element that can be difficult with 11 personnel Duo is the tight end 1 on 1 with the defensive end. This can often be a mismatch in favor of the defense. A key coaching point for the tight end can be to “take his where he wants to go”. IF the end wants to stunt C-gap, wash him down the line and the ball will bounce outside. If the end wants to stay wide and get up the field, wall him off vertically and the ball will cut C-gap.
One way to mitigate this 1 on 1 block for the tight end is to motion/shift the tight end over, and if the defense doesn’t adjust, they are now in a de-facto Under front. With no play side 3 tech, the PST can now help the tight end initially. The next image shows the run against an Under front.
The receivers will account for the secondary players. The #2 receiver will block the nickel, and the #1 receiver will take the most dangerous man between the corner and strong safety.
The next image shows the concept against an Over front cover 2. The PSWR will end up on the corner back.
If the nickel is tight on the #2 receiver, the #1 receiver will insert for the most dangerous man. The insert is to prevent the safety from having a better angle if he triggers hard for the C/D-gap.
The Rams liked this play call particularly as a check against the two high/cover 2 teams they faced. Specifically the Colts, Texans, and Lions. With all of the line stunting cover 2 teams do to stop the run, outside zone weak can struggle. Duo is the natural complement for this. The struggles of outside zone are detailed in that section, specifically against these defenses.
Duo out of 3x1 (with tight receiver splits) can better wall off the stunts and the second level defenders flowing over the top. The tempo of the running back can also help. Wait out the movement and find the crease.
The vertical movement of Duo helps prevent run throughs that can occur with line stunts on outside zone too.
The next image shows one of these stunts from week 2. This particular stunt aims to get quick penetration from a down lineman or to create space for a linebacker to flow into a gap with a good angle on the blocker.
Patience is the key for both the running back and offensive line when a defense stunts to try and gain a gap back in the run game from a two high structure.
Against single high, the #1 receiver is responsible for the strong safety. If the strong safety is tucked inside the box, with a wide defensive end, short motion is needed to give the receiver a good angle for this block. The next image shows the motion in action.
The Z receiver will work off the tight end’s block. If the defensive end stunts inside instead, the Z will insert into the D-gap.
Why it Worked: Having Cooper Kupp and Robert Woods as the play side receivers can give an offense a sense of calm if the ball has to bounce outside. Kupp and Woods are two of the smartest receivers in the league, who happen to be two of the best blockers as well.
The long run in week 4 shows the ball bouncing outside against single high. The 6-tech defensive end stunts into the C-gap and the tight end washes him down.
Why it Didn’t Work: In the Super Bowl, the PSWR’s have some confusion on who to block, and a secondary player comes free off the edge into the backfield.
In week 5, the Seahawks line up in a Bear front and stunt the EMOL inside the tight end. This stunt essentially “picks” the play side double team and allows the Mike linebacker to run free over the top. From a Bear front, the Seahawks rotate weak late. If the nose can stalemate or win vs the center, the late rotation can clean up any runs near the line of scrimmage. This is a good front/stunt to run against the Rams 11 personnel. The next image shows how this looks.
The 3rd and 2 clip in week 5 shows the EMOL winning against the tight end in a 1 on 1 block. The EMOL gets extension, then sheds inside once the ball carrier commits.
If you want to keep going down the Duo rabbit hole, here are some more articles/cutups I have on it:
The 25-minute cutup can be found below:
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