Baiting Defenders

Offensive coordinators are constantly looking for ways to set up defenders for big plays. Sometimes, it’s just a matter of using double moves on iso routes. Other times, they’ll play off of their own tendencies, breaking them at the right time.

There are also times when they’ll specifically target certain aggressive defenders, baiting them to abandon their responsibility or jump a route before pulling the rug out from under them. Below are two great examples of this that resulted in touchdowns.

This first play comes from a 2022 Week 12 game between the Jaguars and Ravens.

The Jaguars were in an empty formation, but let’s focus on the 2-receiver side to the boundary. That’s where cornerback Marcus Peters, who is notorious for taking chances and jumping routes, was aligned:

The Jaguars put wide receiver Christian Kirk in the slot and running back JaMycal Hasty on the perimeter. Kirk would run an out-route, and Hasty would run a go:

The personnel choice wasn’t an accident. It was essential to the play, in fact.

Putting a running back on the perimeter provided a pre-snap indicator of the coverage. Since Peters aligned over him, it meant the Ravens were almost certainly in some kind of zone coverage.

However, it also meant that there was a good chance Peters would be quick to dismiss the running back’s route and try to jump the receiver’s route if he came in his direction.

After all, running backs are often just put on the perimeter to provide an indicator of the coverage for the quarterback. They’re rarely thrown to with a cornerback aligned over them.

Sure enough, Peters was doing something before the snap indicating his interest in Kirk in the slot. Maybe he was trying to make a call and switch with the linebacker inside? Maybe he was giving him a signal to be aware that he might jump Kirk’s route:

Either way, he was uber aware that the greater receiving threat was inside on a linebacker, and he was left on the outside to deal with this peasant running back who likely wouldn’t be getting the ball.

Trevor Lawrence was clearly aware of Peters’ tendencies and pre-snap movement.

Whether the Ravens were playing cover-2, cover-4, or cover-4 “palms” out of this 2-shell look, Lawrence knew he could look in Kirk’s direction initially and get Peters to jump or sit on his route.

So at the top of his drop, Lawrence gave a slight shoulder roll in the direction of Kirk’s quick-out. And it worked. You can see Peters leaning below:

That allowed Hasty to run right by him.

The safety looked like he was not expecting Peters to sit on Kirk’s route from the slot, as he stayed inside the numbers. There was no one to account for Hasty down the sideline as a result:

That’s an excellent design and an even better throw.

It’s hard to know for sure exactly what the coverage was or who was at fault, but just check out Peters’ reaction after the play from the end zone angle:

That looks like, “Dang it, they got me.”

This next example was from Week 5 of the 2023 season with rookie QB C.J. Stroud and the Texans taking on the Falcons defense.

The Texans trailed 18-12 with 1:54 remaining and faced a 3rd-and-9 from the Falcons’ 18-yard line. You can hear Stroud talk about this play here. He had spotted something in his film study about safety Jessie Bates in another “big-time 3rd-down situation” when the Falcons were playing some kind of quarters coverage: