Some serious research needs to be done on play action pass protection.
The evidence is obvious. This year play action is being successfully run at a MUCH lower rate this year. And it because of poor protection.
What really needs to researched, is the speed of the pass rush on these plays in comparison to dropback pass plays.
You literally feel like the rush speeds up A LOT on these plays, take that, along with
- Poor targeting
- Defensive line abilities activate more often than offensive line abilities
- Check and release assignments blocking men instead of gaps, running right by free rushers while they go into routes.
- Not being able to make changes to protection on quite a few of these plays (usually locked into base)
- Leaving edge rushers completely unblocked (not talking about bootlegs...straight back play action)
- The fact that lineman don't "look for work" much like defenders in coverage do. (Much needed btw)
It's a complete disaster making these plays extremely unreliable.
The intent of these plays is to SLOW the rush. Not speed it up.
