Breakdown: Flacco’s Interception Against the Colts

On the opening drive of the second half against the Colts, Joe Flacco threw his third interception of the season. Let’s breakdown the interception against the Colts to understand what Flacco saw before he threw the ball.

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Pre-Snap Read: Cover 1

In the first half, Flacco was sacked 3 times with an Offensive line that was very shaky against the Colts pass rush. On 3rd and 11 on the Baltimore 45 yard line, the Ravens line up with their Posse personnel consisting of 3 WRs, 1 TE and 1 RB. Flacco is in the shotgun formation since the down and distance dictates a passing down.

On defense, the Colts give a cover 1 look to the Offense. This look is key to the interception. Against the cover 1 defense, the Ravens call a ‘High-Low Opposite’ passing concept playcall. This passing concept calls for two receivers to run routes that break toward the center of the field at different levels in order to vertically stretch the defense. The High-Low passing concept typically run against Cover 1 defenses. Each Cornerback will be in man position and will trail the receiver as they break into the middle of the field. The Free Safety will be takes out of the play by the Slot Receiver, Brown, running a vertical route.

Post-Snap Read Cover 2

After the ball is snapped, the Colts move into their actual defense – 2 Man Coverage. In this defense, there are two safeties. Each Safety will cover half of the field in deep coverage. The Safety will give help to the Cornerback up top. This allows the Cornerback to undercut a route that breaks towards the middle of the field.

By disguising their coverage during the Pre-Snap read, the Colts were able to intercept Flacco as he attempted to pass the ball to Torrey Smith breaking toward the middle of the field. It is also worth noting that Torrey Smith did not run a crisp route on this play and this may have factored into the interception.