Cutup Friday: 2022 Miami Dolphins PA Dagger
The following breakdown is from The 2022 Miami Dolphins Complete Offensive Manual.
The Dagger concept is a three level vertical stretch over the middle of the field. The Dig route is the intermediate route in the concept, and is the primary focus of the play call.
The Dig is paired with a Thru route on the inside. A Thru route is similar to a Post route. It aims to cross the near safety’s face. So against single high, it will bend further inside. The Thru is meant to occupy the near safety, protecting the dig.
Checkdown distribution is critical for this concept. In its strongest versions, there is a flat threat and a near hook threat. Both of these routes can materialize late.
The 4th diagram shows a fats motion Rail route as the flat presence. This adds a nice Alert for the quarterback and beefs the concept up against man coverage, forcing defensive backs to communicate.
The 6th diagram shows a variation called in week 10. The Pylon route replaces the Thru route in this version, to attack a cornerback who matches the dig route tightly. The Dolphins wanted to take a shot in this clip.
Why it Worked: The second clip in week 5 shows Thompson getting to his checkdown over the middle of the field. The cover 3 hook defender gets depth and covers up the dig window. The next image shows how it played out.
In week 2, Tua rips the Dig route. The flat defender works wide with the running back, and the hook defender stays low on the play fake and tight end releasing late to the middle of the field.
Why it Didn’t Work: Dagger off play action was too big of a boom or bust play for the Dolphins. I general, if the Dig window is cloudy, the checkdown distribution should account for it, and the quarterback needs to have the willingness to get to the checkdown on time.
In the first clip in week 5, the Jets bring a corner blitz away from the play action. In the Shanahan offenses, they usually make this the responsibility of the running back to abort the fake and work opposite. The corner is not the responsibility of the offensive line or tight end as he is not included in their count.
The following 7-minute cutup shows the Dolphins Dagger clips from 2022:
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