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Nick O'Malley | nomalley@masslive.com

The 4-OL formation

Here's the much-discussed formation that the Patriots brought out against the Ravens. As you can see, there are only four actual offensive linemen on the field. It's an unbalanced line that spread out. So basically, the left guard is snapping the ball, and Shane Vereen is technically playing "right tackle." He's just split out very wide. This caused a good deal of confusion for the Baltimore defense.

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'Bama used it too, sort of

Variations of this play have come up before. It's similar in concept to the "Swinging Gate" play that teams use on kickoffs, and Alabama recent ran a similar concept against LSU.

It's close, but not the same. In the play to the left, Alabama has six offensive linemen on the field, using an excess of normally ineligible receivers to try and have a big lineman run free. Here, it works, but it's the sort of thing teams have done before.

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It's in NCAA '12

But one other place you can find this play is in the Auburn playbook in "NCAA '12." The play is called "Fight Song," and can be found in the Wildcat Tiger Trey formation.

It's very similar to the Patriots' look, with the "right tackle" split out and unable to go downfield. In this case, he merely drops back to make it look like he may take a lateral.

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Fight Song

Here's the formation from the Auburn playbook re-tooled to emulate one of the plays the Patriots ran (all go routes, with the left-outside receiver staying short). Here, I'm controlling the linebacker as if he were mixed up by the formation, like the Ravens were on Saturday.

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The difference

Here's a side-by-side of how the super-split tackle looks. The formations may be different, but the only difference is that the "right tackle" is split out much wider. It doesn't matter where he lines up, as long as it's on the line of scrimmage, and inside of the outside receiver who's also on the line.

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The right tackle

Here's what the split-out ineligible receiver does on the play. Whether it's a lineman (like it is here) or a runningback (like the Patriots had), all he can do is go backward like he was going to take a lateral. He cannot run routes downfield.

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The protection

The key feature of this formation is, of course, the presence of only four offensive linemen. When the Ravens saw this look, they only sent four rushers, similar to what happens here. Even with the limited protection, the QB has enough time to get rid of the ball. This is a key factor in the formation.

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The tight end

Here, the tight end lines up where the left tackle normally would. With five other players lined up as receiver-like positions. It's easy for this guy to get lost.

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Belichick's wrinkle

Here's what makes the Patriots' formation on Saturday unique. Rather than simply splitting their fifth offensive lineman out wide, they swapped that player out for another receiver who, on any other play, would be eligible.

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How the Patriots ran it

Here's what the formation looked like for the Patriots, with a running back and two receivers to the right and a tight end and two receivers to the right. Which one's not a real receiver? That's the question the defense has seconds to answer. (It's the running back, No. 37.)

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6 receivers?

This is where the deception comes in. Now, the offense has six "receivers" on the field, but only five can run routes. That player (No. 37, second outside receiver to the defense's left here) openly declares himself ineligible. And while it may not look like it, the offense's "left tackle," is eligible.

It's hard to coordinate this across a defense in the seconds provided. The entire secondary has to know who to cover, and who not to cover. The referees do give time, but it's hardly enough for defenders to see a running back and not cover him, going against every football concept that's ever been instilled on them.

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Mixing up defenses

Here, I take the role of a linebacker that's confused by the formation. With the defense playing man-to-man, he sees "Oh, there's a runningback uncovered over there), and goes to cover him. Meanwhile, the "left tackle" is wide open.

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RB dropping back

Here's the new look with the ineligible receiver. As you can see, it's a much better sell now that No. 37 is out there instead of No. 75.

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Dealing with pressure

It's not enough to just send more than four rushers. If the receivers get a free release (like the Patriots did against the Ravens), then the QB will have time to get the ball out quickly, like he does here.

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How to stop it, part 1: Press and pressure

The easiest way to combat this is to take advantage of the formations most obvious weakness: There's only four blockers.

In their confusion, the Ravens only send their normal four pass rushers, and dropped the rest of the defense back in a relatively safe coverage. Here, I walk six rushers up to the line of scrimmage, and have my secondary play press coverage so that the quarterback can't immediately sling it to a receiver going downfield. In this case, I get the sack.

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More press and pressure

Here's an extended look at that defense. I come out in a dime package (4 DL, 1 LB, 6 DB) because I know that the offense isn't running here with four blockers. I blitz both my safeties and have the four conerbacks and one linebacker play man to man. Here, the quarterback tries to buy a little time to let his receiver beat the press, but safeties tend to get into the backfield pretty quickly when no one blocks them.

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How to stop it, part 2, trust zone coverage

While the above scenario is the perfect one (the defense knows exactly who to man up against), it takes some coordination. If the Patriots try and pull this again next week, the Colts defense would likely be ready in this fashion.

The Ravens, though, were not afforded that time. In their case on Saturday, they should've done what former Patriots linebacker Matt Chatham suggested in his postgame column. Drop into a "safe" coverage, a straight-up zone play.

Here, that's a standard Cover 3 defense. See the colored marks on the ground, all each defender has to do is make sure that plot of land is covered, regarless of which receivers come out. Here, it works because the four-man O-line gets mixed up, but the coverage is there (OK, the safety I'm controlling should probably shade back to the middle to get that tight end, I personally messed up). Regardless, the defense is there.