CJ Anderson’s role in the 2018 Panthers’ offense appears to be far smaller than many anticipated going into the season, at least based off the first three games – while he hasn’t been loaded with touches in the season’s early going, he has at least done a lot with the touches he has received. On the ground, Anderson has been as efficient as expected and then some, averaging 25 yards a game on just four carries, but by far his most memorable play of the season thus far came on a screen against the Bengals that he took 24 yards to the house.

While the replacement of Jonathan Stewart with Anderson was expected to improve the Panthers’ passing game, this particular play had a lot more to do with Norv Turner than with the running back himself; so how did the Panthers manage to engineer a screen to allow Anderson run 24 yards to the end zone untouched?

The Set Up

A lot was made of the extent to which Christian McCaffrey was used as a receiver against the Falcons, and while he saw far fewer targets against the Bengals, he was able to make an impact on the passing game as the very threat of him as a receiver forced the Bengals defense to adapt, thereby creating other options for the Panthers – such as on the play in question. As soon as he lines up out wide, the Bengals’ defenders can clearly be seen identifying his position on the field, and then as he motions from out wide behind the quarterback pre-snap, the near-side safety can be seen coming down to the line and the Bengals’ linebackers shifting towards the near side of the field:

 

This is important for two reasons, as not only does this demonstrate the threat that opposing defenses view McCaffrey to be, but it also identifies to Cam Newton that the defense is in some form of zone coverage. This is crucial to the success of this play, as should this play be run against man coverage, the defender assigned to Anderson would likely be able to undercut the screen and either attack the ball in the air or at the very least limit Anderson’s ability gain yards after the catch. It isn’t clear what the Panthers would do if the Bengals gave a man indication when McCaffrey motions across, but by motioning into the screen the Panthers give themselves a chance to check out of a doomed play.

The Run Fakes

Once the ball is snapped, the Panthers initially fake the handoff to Anderson while initially leaving the end unblocked before faking the pitch to McCaffrey on the near side. This is mean to simulate the triple-option plays that the Panthers use so succesfully:

 

By initially unblocking the read-side defensive end before running the left guard across to trap him – or appearing to prevent Moton’s mistake from blowing up the play – the idea is to deceive the linebackers into believing that Newton has simply misread the defensive end, therefore drawing them into crashing the pitch-option on the read-side:

 

The other thing to note here is how the Panthers’ offensive line looks to work the tackles towards the read-side of the play in order to prevent them from reading the fake and turning to chase the screen. Moton would ideally do a better job of staying in front of his man, as the tackle gets closer to Newton than likely planned, but this is ultimately irrelevant. Similarly, Clark’s block to send the screen-side tackle to the floor allows the Panthers to run Kalil, Larsen and Clark himself out in front of the running back.

Ultimately, the success of this run fake can be seen at the point where Newton fakes the pitch:

With Thomas running in front of McCaffrey as the lead blocker and Newton always posing the threat himself as a ball carrier the Bengals have the near-side safety and the two nearest linebackers running towards the pitch, and the high safety is also looking to move towards the near side of the field as insurance.

 

Up Next: The Execution

Vincent Richardson on Twitter
Vincent Richardson
Managing Editor at Riot Report
Fan of zone coverage, knee bend and running backs running routes. Twitter: @vrichardson444