Film Breakdown: Analyzing Joe Burrow's Magic in the Pocket

The 25-year-old is making game changing plays for the Bengals' offense.

Author:
Mike Santagata
Publish date:
Feb 3, 2022 9:41 AM EST

The Cincinnati Bengals are going to the Super Bowl for the first time since the 1988 season.

For reference as to how long ago that was, let’s look at the halftime show. It was titled “Be Bop Bamboozled in 3-D” and featured an Elvis impersonator. Yes, they passed out those red and blue 3-D glasses to everyone in attendance. It’s been 33 years since the Bengals were in the Super Bowl and one of the main reasons that they have gotten to the big game is their quarterback, Joe Burrow. His pocket movement is one of his best traits. Everything that he does in the pocket is rare for a quarterback at his age. It was fully on display in the AFC Championship Game, so let’s watch and see how Burrow moves and manipulates the pocket.

Burrow was pressured 16 times in the game against Kansas City, but they only came away with one sack. This equates to a 42% pressure rate against him which is about as high as the game against Tennessee where he was sacked nine times. The difference is the feel and movement that Burrow used within the pocket to turn these pressure plays into positive gains.

There were six plays specifically that really highlight what he was able to do in the pocket against the Chiefs.

First, Burrow has to catch a low snap which he makes look easy. It’s a small thing, but extremely important so that he can quickly get into his drop and read the defense. By the time he finishes a 3-step drop, there is a free runner coming at him. This is not because of a miscommunication however, this is because the right guard is immediately beaten by the nose tackle. The center has to slide to Chris Jones because he’s an All-Pro. This is a quick, 3-step concept, so all the right guard has to do is get in the nose tackle’s way, yet, he doesn't even do that. The nose is not only pressuring Burrow, but he isn’t even blocked. Normally you can slide and avoid the pressure which allows the guard to re-leverage and get back into position, but Hakeem Adeniji is just chasing after him. It’s not a missed assignment either. Adeniji puts a 2-hand strike into him off of a jumpset. He is just completely and embarrassingly defeated. Burrow does an incredible job to escape to his right and find Joe Mixon for a two-yard gain. This should have absolutely been a sack. There is a free runner down the A-gap giving pressure before Burrow can even finish his drop. He does a great job of avoiding the rush and finding a way to get the ball out for a positive gain.

That two-yard gain on second down in the previous play sets up a 3rd-and-5. The Chiefs are playing Cover 1 double No. 1 which is an old Belichick play to get a bracket on the other team’s best player while keeping a safety over the top. On the front end, the Chiefs are running an N-T stunt with the nose and tackle from an overload front.

The center is going to slide to the overloaded side so that they can pick everyone up. The stunt creates a one on one with everyone over the left side. The protection on this play is not really all that bad. The end gets way too much depth trying to get pressure around the pocket on this 3-step drop and this creates an opening. The issue with the coverage is that the only player with eyes on Burrow is about 20 yards down the field. Everyone else has their backs turned in man coverage. Burrow takes advantage of this once he finishes his drop. He escapes through the opening that was created by the end and picks up 8 yards for an easy first down.

Here is a great example of turning a negative play into a positive one. The Chiefs get pressure with a Tampa 2 fire zone, bringing No. 55 and No. 22 off of the right while No. 24 drops as the middle runner. The Bengals do a good job picking this up so there are no free runners and no one loses immediately.

The issue is that the pocket is condensing and this is a longer developing dagger concept. It’s the perfect call to beat this coverage, but Burrow does not want to risk sitting in the pocket and getting sacked. He notices that Jones tried to go inside to win against Jackson Carman. He uses that against him by escaping off of that side. This works because the end (No. 24) dropped into coverage so there is no one outside of Jones rushing the passer. While sprinting, Burrow keeps his eyes downfield and finds Tee Higgins for an 18-yard gain. Burrow’s ability to not only know he can escape out to that side, but also to throw an accurate strike while sprinting at full speed is something we should not take for granted. That’s an extremely high level play from the quarterback.

Burrow drifts a little bit away from where the pressure is coming on this play so that he can give more room for Joe Mixon to pick up the slot blitz. The issue is that Jones and Melvin Ingram are starting to come free. Burrow attempts to avoid them by taking two steps to his left before planting and trying to run to his right. This gets Ingram, but Jones is able to grab onto Burrow. With two hands on the ball, Burrow fights through the arm tackle and escapes out to his right. Somehow, he kept his eyes down the field on this play and was able to find Ja’Marr Chase for a 22-yard gain. This is the definition of making something out of nothing. Almost every quarterback in the league would be sacked here or throw an incomplete pass, but Burrow turns what should have been a disaster into an explosive play.

This play is textbook pocket movement from Burrow. The T-E stunt comes in and is not perfectly picked up. The slide to his right with two hands on the ball is what every quarterback coach will teach their guy when they get high and inside pressure. Once Burrow makes that move he can see that there is an opening for him to run. It’s 3rd-and-7 so he just needs to pick up eight yards on this play to move the chains and keep the drive alive. He picks up the first and then tries to go down, but takes a shot to the ribs anyway. Great job from Burrow to use his legs to pick up this first down to keep the drive alive. He noticed how far away the defense had dropped and took advantage of it. Not to mention that this was in the fourth quarter in a tied game. This is an absolutely clutch play from the Bengals' signal caller.

Finally, we have reached the penultimate example of Burrow’s ability to work off script and turn negative plays into positive plays. This is on 3rd-and-6 on the same drive. The Chiefs get into their overload front with a backer walked up over the left guard. This forces the Bengals to get into a 3-man slide to the right so they can pick up the overload and account for both of the potential rushers on the left side.

It is once again a 3-step drop from Burrow because they simply cannot run anything else. Despite this, the right guard gets tossed to the ground before Burrow finishes his drop. He oversets Jones who easily beats him to become a free runner down the pipe. Unlike the technical aspect of the last play, this play is all backyard football. Burrow somehow escapes the sack from Jones and sprints to his left with his eyes downfield so he can pick up this first down. Just before disaster, Burrow notices that Jones is going for a shoe-string tackle. He lifts his feet just in time to escape a second sack by the star defensive tackle. Knowing that he is running at full speed, Burrow realizes that he can pick up this first down with his legs. He extends the ball just over the first down marker and keeps the drive alive.

This play is one of the greatest out of structure plays that we've seen from Burrow. To escape not just one, but two sacks from an All-Pro defender is incredible. It’s a 3-step drop again on this play. These pressures aren’t coming because Burrow is slow to process what's happening. These pressures are immediate once he hits the end of his drop. Burrow can just overcome it with his ability to move and escape the pocket.

A very disappointing performance once again from the offensive line, although I will say that this was mostly on the rotating right guard position. Against Tennessee, the issue was everyone, but here it’s at least singled down to two players for the most part. They will need these guys to step up in the Super Bowl, but the competition is getting tougher with Rams star defensive linemen Aaron Donald and Von Miller waiting for them.

The more likely outcome is that they are once again a liability. Burrow's magic in the pocket will have to continue if the Bengals are going to win Super Bowl LVI.

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