by Cian Fahey

Perusing reaction pieces to the San Diego Chargers' victory over the Seattle Seahawks will provide you with many different voices suggesting that the Chargers developed a rigid plan that can expose the Seahawks defense.

The intimation of this reaction suggests that the Chargers found a blueprint in their offensive gameplan that could exploit weaknesses in the Seahawks defense.

"Blueprint" is a word that is being given too great a significance in today's NFL. A blueprint is a rigid plan that is designed to instruct its readers how to carry out specific actions. It is derived from its usage in architecture and design. It is essentially a synonym of strategy when it comes to sports, but its impact is much greater in a game such as chess rather than football.

In chess, there are just two major variables. Each opponent has the same number of pieces and the same quality of pieces. In football, there are at least 22 variables on every single play. Each side has the same number of pieces, but those pieces not only aren't of the same quality but they don't have the same impact. The quarterback position has a greater impact than any other in football, so when one team has a very talented quarterback who is playing at his very best, the individual performance can make the overall strategy of the team irrelevant.

This is what happened when the Chargers beat the Seahawks.

Philip Rivers, with significant help from Antonio Gates, took over the game by playing as well as anyone could ever expect to play. Rivers threw the ball an incredible 37 times, completing 28 passes for a 75.7 percent completion rate. He only had 284 yards, but 284 yards against this defense is more impressive than 400 yards against most defenses. Last year, the Seahawks gave up an average of 172 passing yards per game and were the top-ranked defense in pass DVOA by a huge margin.

Pete Carroll's defense is so good at suppressing quarterbacks because it boasts a flurry of impressive pass rushers with two of the best defensive backs in the NFL as part of its secondary. Any quarterback who wants to have success against the Seahawks needs to make precision throws into tight coverage while being harassed in a tight pocket. The Chargers negated this somewhat with a greater emphasis on shorter throws, but Rivers still needed to consistently make impressive plays under pressure from the pocket.

His three touchdown passes to Gates highlighted how difficult his task was.

Rivers' first touchdown pass was his easiest of the day, but it definitely wasn't easy. It's third-and-goal from the 8-yard line. The Chargers have three receivers to the left side with Gates in a receiver stance relatively tight to the formation on the right side. Of significance, Richard Sherman is in the slot to the top of the screen, so safety Kam Chancellor is in man coverage on Gates.

Predictably, at the snap, Earl Thomas moves to the right side of the field where the Seahawks are playing press man coverage across the board. The other safety stays in his original position and keeps his eyes on Rivers. Rivers is looking directly at him as he drops back into the pocket, giving him nothing to read for his positioning.

To the bottom of the screen, Chancellor is in tight coverage on Gates and the other defender, linebacker Bobby Wagner, is moving towards Danny Woodhead, who immediately ran into the flat.

When Rivers gets to the top of his drop, Seahawks left end Cliff Avril is pushing the Chargers right tackle right into him, while Michael Bennett at left defensive tackle is coming free against the right guard. Save for one very slight turn of his shoulders, Rivers lets the ball go as soon as he gets to the top of his drop. As he begins to throw the ball, the safety over the middle of the field is still stuck in no man's land because Rivers didn't lead him to Gates at the snap.

Rivers' quick release nullifies the pass rush, but he also has to control the trajectory of his pass to get it over the defenders who time their jump to be in a good position to tip the ball at the line.

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Gates runs an incredible route to lose Chancellor. As soon as Rivers releases the ball, Gates begins to fade towards the back pylon for a short moment. This takes Chancellor out of a position to cover Gates when he works back infield to catch Rivers' pass down the seam. Despite being forced to rush his actions in the pocket because of the pass rush, despite having to throw over a wall at the defensive line, and despite having to manipulate the coverage during his dropback, Rivers still throws a perfect pass for Gates to comfortably catch.

Rivers was given essentially no margin for error on this play. He couldn't make a mental error, or the safety would have been in position to get to the ball. He couldn't take time to survey the field in the pocket, because his offensive line was failing. He couldn't take an easy throw, because the Seahawks dared him to throw the ball into the end zone for any potential score.

For San Diego's second touchdown in the same quarter, the Chargers came out with the same formation and the Seahawks only slightly altered their alignment.

The major change for Seattle's defense on this play is the defensive back lining up further off the ball to the top of the screen. This allows Earl Thomas to line up on the other side of field, closer to Gates. Rivers always has to be wary of where Thomas and Sherman are on the field. Thomas closes space too quickly to be treated like any normal safety, while Sherman's ball skills make him a turnover magnet.

With Thomas in this position and Chancellor as the deep safety, Rivers will be forced to hold the ball for longer to diagnose the defense.

Because Rivers is forced to hold the ball slightly longer, Bennett (who this time lined up at left defensive end) is able to disrupt him at the top of his drop. Bennett is eventually pushed out of the play, but he does get a hand onto the ball to knock it loose. Furthermore, when that happens, the interior of Rivers' pocket protection is being pushed back into him.

For many quarterbacks, this interior disruption and Bennett's hand on the ball would cause the quarterback to simply fall to the ground in an attempt to protect the ball. For Rivers, that wasn't an option.

Rivers is far from a mobile quarterback, although he did use his legs well to extend plays outside of the pocket in this game. He doesn't need to be mobile, though, to cover for his offensive line. On this play, he was like a boxer trapped in the corner of the ring who was able to bob and weave his way out of trouble.

To make this play even better, Rivers throws Gates open in the end zone with a perfect, and very difficult, touch pass.

Lofting the ball to a spot in the end zone where only Gates could touch it after the tight end was perfectly covered underneath is difficult to do from a clean pocket. Doing it after being disrupted, while throwing under pressure, on the move is the kind of throw that very few players in the NFL can make.

One of the things that hurt Peyton Manning in the Super Bowl last year was his lack of arm strength. Arm strength against the Seahawks defense is less about throwing the ball down the field and more about fitting the ball into tight windows while throwing from awkward platforms.

For his third touchdown, that is exactly what Rivers did.

Before the snap, the Seahawks come out in a Cover-2 look with both safeties deep. Immediately after the snap, they rotate their safeties into a Cover-3 look with Kam Chancellor as the safety deep down the middle of the field. It's important to note that it's Chancellor and not Thomas, because the difference between the two's range is vast.

Because of this post-snap adjustment from the defense and the Chargers' route combinations, Rivers must hold the ball at the top of his drop.

Rivers has one option, Woodhead underneath, but he likely can't see the running back and it would be an exceptionally difficult throw for curtailed gain. Once again, Rivers is facing almost immediate pressure from his right side. Avril, at left defensive end, gets around the outside of the Chargers' right tackle with relative ease, while Bennett, at left defensive tackle, destroys the right guard. Both offensive linemen can only attempt to push their assignments down or past Rivers.

Rivers is very quick (though not graceful) to climb the pocket by shuffling his feet forward. He negates the pass rush from the right side while keeping his eyes downfield. While Rivers climbs the pocket, Gates is leaning into the linebacker trying to cover him down the seam. Gates is doing this to get inside position on him before he breaks to the end zone.

Rivers recognizes this without stopping to reset his feet.

Rivers throws the ball from an unstable platform. He is fading to the right while throwing the ball back across his body without his feet planted in the ground. He needs to do this to evade the defensive tackle reaching out to grab him. Gates hasn't broken down the field yet, but he is about to as Rivers releases the ball. As the green arrow shows, Chancellor is in a good position to close on the ball from the deep safety spot.

But Chancellor isn't Thomas, so Rivers knows he can give Gates a chance if he puts the ball on his outside shoulder.

Gates made a great one-handed reception, but Rivers' throw was still perfect. He flighted it over the defender, dropping it on Gates' outside shoulder, giving his tight end the time to catch the ball and get down before Chancellor could close on him. Having the ability to control the trajectory and velocity of this pass speaks to Rivers' impressive arm talent.

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None of Rivers' three touchdown passes came easily. Suggesting that the Chargers' victory was the result of some newly-uncovered blueprint diminishes the quality of his performance.

Therefore, unless your team has a quarterback of Rivers' caliber who can play at his very best on command, there is no blueprint to exposing the Seahawks defense. Even with Rivers at his best and an effective running game, the Chargers still needed to play the Seahawks at home in an intense heat while recovering multiple fumbles both on offense and special teams to score 30 points.

30 points isn't a huge score in today's NFL. It may be unusual for the Seahawks to give up 30 points -- they have given up at least 30 points on three occasions since the start of 2012 and never more than 34 including the playoffs -- but every team in the league has combined for 296 30-plus-point games since the start of 2012.