Cornerback is one of the toughest positions to excel at in football. The transition from playing cornerback in college to playing it in the NFL is also a difficult one, due to major schematic differences, along with the massive jump in talent level.

So it wasn’t surprising to me at all when Torrey Smith, one of the fastest and most athletic wide receivers in the NFL, caught a fairly easy 28 yard touchdown catch against rookie Panthers cornerback James Bradberry in the second quarter of the Panthers game against the 49ers.

But is Bradberry really to blame for this touchdown? I decided to take a closer look at the film to find out what really went wrong.

Here’s a look at the play:

It’s second and nine from the Panthers 28 yard line. The 49ers are in 11 personnel (1 RB, 1 TE and 3 WR’s) and are in a 2x2 formation with two wide receivers at the top of the formation, and tight end Vance McDonald inline on the opposite end. Torrey Smith is at the bottom of the screen, isolated in one on one coverage against James Bradberry. The Panthers are in their 4-2-5 nickel formation with 3 cornerbacks.

The Panthers appear to be playing Cover 6 in their secondary. Cover 6 (also called quarter-quarter-half) is a more complex combination coverage mostly used in the NFL. It’s a combination of Cover 2 on one side of the formation, and Cover 4 on another side. On this play, the Panthers are running Cover 2 to the top of the formation (notice how Kurt Coleman takes the deep zone immediately behind the cornerback who takes the flat), and Cover 4 to the bottom.

The 49ers send five players on routes, attacking the field both horizontally and vertically. They have their slot receiver and running back run to opposite flats, and run a double post concept with tight end Vance McDonald and wide receiver Torrey Smith.

McDonald’s poste route is designed to go right behind the zone responsibilities of Thomas Davis and Luke Kuechly. Because of this, safety Tre Boston is forced to come down and help defend the route. This is a rule in Cover 4. The safety’s responsibility is to first read the inside receiver, and determine if they are running a vertical route or not. If so, they are in man to man coverage with the inside receiver. If the inside receiver is not running a vertical route, the safety is expected to help the outside cornerback bracket the outside receiver.

With no safety help, James Bradberry is easily beaten by Torrey Smith for the touchdown.

Here’s a closer look at Smith and Bradberry’s matchup:

Smith does a good job stemming his route by slightly shading it to the outside, causing Bradberry to slightly hesitate.

Smith then uses his elite athleticism to explode into his cut inside, leaving Bradberry a good two yards behind him.

Smith accelerates away is able to make an easy touchdown catch.

This is a great example of an offense using a particular route combination to attack a particular defensive coverage shell. The double post combination used by the 49ers was the perfect way to attack the Panthers defense, because they were able to isolate their best receiver against the Panthers rookie cornerback, while taking away any safety help by using their tight end to occupy Tre Boston.

If I had to place the blame, it would be 80/20 on Bradberry and Boston. As an outside cornerback in Cover 4, you are expected to play in man to man coverage without any help. Getting safety help is only a bonus if the safety is not occupied with an inside receiver. Bradberry should have been more aggressive and better prepared for a potential inside breaking route. He seemed completely unprepared and confused when Smith suddenly cut his route inside.

Tre Boston also deserves some blame on this touchdown, because he should have aligned himself a bit deeper and not bit as early on McDonald’s route. In Cover 4, a safety should generally wait until 12 yards before playing the receiver. Before that, the inside receivers (in this case the tight end) are the responsibility of the underneath defenders. On this play, Boston already intends to engage McDonald at a depth of just five yards. Look at Boston’s hips and how they are already parallel with the sidelines. Boston quickly made up his mind and had no intention of helping Bradberry on this play.

A young secondary will obviously have some growing pains. The Panthers coaching staff knew this when they decided to start a second round rookie cornerback on the outside, and an inexperienced and inconsistent Tre Boston at safety. This will be a good learning experience for both players.

All GIF’s and images courtesy of NFL.com