Introducing Film Room, a segment where we break down a play from the previous week’s game, and get a player’s take on what they saw during the play. On the season’s first edition, we’re going to break down Johnny Sears Jr.’s first interception as a member of the Tiger-Cats, and the 75-yard touchdown return that followed.
Situation:
The play came on the Stampeders’ first offensive drive of the game, on the eighth play of the drive. Prior to the interception, the Stamps had moved the ball 61 yards on the drive. The play was run from the Ticats’ 42-yard line, on 2nd-and-7.
Pre-Snap:
The Stampeders lined up in a five-wide set, with three receivers in a tight bunch to the left of the offensive line, one receiver split wide left, and one wide right.
Quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell lined up in shotgun, with running back Jon Cornish directly behind him.
The Ticats line up with three on the defensive line, with Ted Laurent shaded left of the centre, while Bryan Hall and Justin Hickman lined up shaded slightly outside the tackles on either side.
Behind the line, Sam Scott, Taylor Reed and Simoni Lawrence were positioned as linebackers, while Erik Harris slid outside into a coverage role due to Calgary’s five-wide set.
Ed Gainey lined up in press-man coverage on Jeff Fuller, while Courtney Stephen occupied the other boundary corner position, lined up in off-coverage. Johnny Sears Jr., the man of interest on the play, was lined up nine yard off the ball, almost directly in line with the left offensive tackle.
Sears’ perspective: “They came into a bunch formation, and they had the receivers condensed, and from film they show that he [Bo Levi Mitchell] likes to hit Marquay [McDaniel] on a crossing route because he’s a fast guy. So I made sure I had nice leverage inside and was prepared for him to go either inside or vertical.”
The Play:
Off the snap of the ball, Cornish enters pass protection to the right of his quarterback, who takes the snap and makes his first read to the left side of the field.
On that side of the field, Joe West and Eric Rogers each run fly routes and are picked up in coverage by Courtney Stephen and Erik Harris. Simon Charbonneau runs a route into the flat, where Emanuel Davis is in short zone coverage. The coverage on the fly routes is tight, and Mitchell quickly moves along in his reads.
The Stampeders’ goal of the play appears to be to open up either Marquay McDaniel or Jeff Fuller on a crossing route. McDaniel comes from the left of the field to the right, running a 5-yard crosser, while Fuller runs the same route at a 4-yard depth.
The idea is to ‘pick’ one of the defenders in man coverage (black circle), freeing up his receiver to catch the pass and run into the open space created by the clearout routes (red rectangles).
On the defensive side of the ball, some thoughtful play design from defensive coordinator Orlondo Steinauer and defensive line coach Dennis McPhee manufactures pressure on the quarterback. Ted Laurent bull rushes up the middle, occupying the centre and right guard, while Justin Hickman attacks the right tackle before working his way behind Laurent and into the gap between the centre and left guard.
This maneuver by Hickman has a two-fold effect: it gets the right tackle sliding to his left, opening up a lane for Taylor Reed to work through, and it forces the centre to disengage from Laurent to engage with Hickman, which allows Laurent to break through the line.
The pick play by the Stampeders works to an extent; at the time of Mitchell’s throw, both Sam Scott and Ed Gainey have been removed from the man they are covering; however, Sears has not been accounted for in the plan.
Sears shadows McDaniel across the field, a yard-or-so deeper than Scott. The defensive line is able to put pressure on Mitchell, forcing a hurried throw off of his back foot. Because he is forced to make a rushed decision, Mitchell has no chance to see Sears lurking behind McDaniel, who appears to be open.
Sears’ perspective: “He [Marquay McDaniel] ended up going across the field, so I made sure to stay on his top shoulder. Mitchell threw the ball, and when the ball’s in the air, I feel like it’s my ball, not the receiver’s.”
The pressure by Lawrence, Reed and Laurent forces an inaccurate pass, well ahead of Marquay McDaniel. Seeing his opportunity, Sears steps in front of the receiver, nabbing the ball in mid-air and bolting towards the opposition’s end-zone.
After intercepting the pass, Sears bolts to the sideline, skips over an attempted tackle by Stampeders lineman Dan Federkeil, and proceeds to outrun the rest of the Calgary players for a 75-yard score.
Sears’ perspective: “When I caught the ball, at first I thought it was going to be wide open and I was going to have to worry about somebody from behind. Once I looked up, I just saw the big guy and all I thought was ‘beat him with speed’. I had to give him a little hop so I didn’t get tackled or I’d have heard so much grief from my brothers and nephews back home if I had got tackled by a lineman.”
Sears perspective: “Man, it was surreal. It felt like a movie, like a dream in a way. I’m running, but once I got past T-Reed I’m like ‘oh okay, I’m really about to score, this is not a dream, this is for real.’ I kind of got stuck, I didn’t know what celebration to do, that’s why I kind of paused for a minute. It had to set in like ‘this is the game, this is for real, I’m not dreaming anymore.’
