Red Zone TD Presents Matchup Problems

Any time you can get four out to a side on offense it presents defensive coordinators with a headache. If you are playing zone coverage you have to get a defender to push to number four. This includes plays like this red zone TD.

Most of the time at least one of the receivers is going to be coming back inside and if you don’t wall him off, then that’s a problem. If you are playing man coverage then you can also run into matchup problems.

The Detroit Lions did a superb job with all of this on Sunday as they attacked Washington on this red zone TD.. Once they shifted DeAndre Swift out to #1 in the formation, the poor linebacker who went with him had to be thinking “oh no”.

What Does Your Red Zone Route Tree Look Like?

The Lions made it look like it was going to be some sort of “drive” concept with Swift following inside. This meant the Washington linebacker was going to have to get on his horse to catchup. Once Swift put his foot in the ground and burst back outside it was all over. Let’s look at this red zone TD.