It looks pretty on paper, but it was better live Tip to Tyler who passes on this look at the Wayne TD catch diagramed out.
For this defense to work, Rodgers-Cromartie has to pass off the post to the SS, but as we saw on Sunday he bit on the post route, and when you take the bait against Peyton Manning—you lose. Manning hit Wayne on a 7-route and the Colts never looked back. The dashed lines show where Rodgers-Cromartie should have been to stop this TD from happening. As a corner in this coverage, he has to know that by having three receivers to his side (Z, W, and Y), he can’t chase any route that breaks inside. But, Manning looked to the post, got Rodgers-Cromartie to jump on top of the post route, and because of that had a clear throwing lane–over the Nickle who is now in the flat–to Wayne.
Overall, this route is designed to beat the Cardinals Cover 4 in the red zone by giving Manning options. His No.1 read is the Post-7 combo on the front side, and the Dig-Flat combo on the back side. Without defensive discipline, against a quarterback like Manning, it is just too easy.
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