Hard as it may be to believe now, there was actually an inordinate amount of skepticism surrounding Philadelphia Eagles wideout Jeremy Maclin from offseason to opening day. He had never been a feature receiver in the NFL before, never so much as eclipsed 1,000 yards receiving in a season, and he was coming off a torn ACL to boot.
As we reach the midway point of the 2014 campaign, Maclin has emphatically eliminated any doubt as to whether he could serve as the focus of Philadelphia’s passing attack. With 45 catches for 790 yards and eight touchdowns in eight games, the sixth-year veteran is well on his way to a career year, his first trip to the Pro Bowl and quite possibly some franchise records as well.
The past two games in particular have been two of the best performances of Maclin’s professional career. The 26-year-old torched the Arizona Cardinals and Houston Texans defenses for a combined 18 receptions, 345 yards and four touchdowns, cementing this as a breakout season in the process.
Even many folks who were enthusiastic about Maclin as the Eagles No. 1 receiver must be wondering where all this is coming from—and most likely see it one of two ways.
Either it’s head coach Chip Kelly’s offense, or Maclin was always better than people realized.
Undoubtedly, the truth lies somewhere in the middle, which is not to take anything away from Maclin. Frankly, his skills are finally being put to good use.
After a promising 70-catch, 970-yard, 10-touchdown effort in his second NFL season, ’11 and ’12 were disappointing for Maclin, Philadelphia’s offense and the Eagles as a whole. He posted respectable numbers, just not necessarily anything living up to his status as a first-round draft pick.
The ACL tear at training camp last summer was uncertainty icing on the narrative cake. Assuming he could make a full recovery at all, would Maclin ever be the same player, much less the one the front office envisioned when he was selected?
One thing is absolutely for certain, and that is the injury isn’t slowing Maclin down at all, as evidenced by his five receptions of 40 yards or more—second in the NFL. For all the talk about the Eagles losing the threat of the deep pass when the club released DeSean Jackson, Maclin has shown he will flat-out run right by defensive backs, as he’s about to so ably demonstrate for us.
This is a fairly basic look from both the offense and defense. Maclin will run a deep post—get used to that. The cornerback has man coverage, while the safety is supposed to provide help over the top.
By the time the safety even realizes Maclin is coming, the receiver is already running by him. There’s nothing overly complicated going on that should freeze the tight end, just a couple of short routes in the flat. Maclin is simply on top of him that fast.
As you can see, the corner has good coverage even without the help he expected. However, it’s a perfectly placed pass hitting the receiver in stride for a 53-yard touchdown.
Let’s see that again, only this time against what looks almost like a straight double-team on Maclin. The defensive backs are even respecting his speed, leaving a nice cushion.
What’s the old expression? “If he’s even, he’s leavin’?” Maclin’s burst has both the corner and the safety on their heels this time.
If this ball isn’t slightly underthrown, Maclin has nine touchdowns right now instead of eight. As it stands, this was a 52-yard completion, while two men were apparently covering one no less.
That’s all Maclin…or is it? While the safeties especially are clearly caught off guard by his speed, Kelly is also doing a good job setting up the secondary with the play-calling.
Here we have the exact same post route from Maclin, again with man coverage by the corner with single-high help over the top. Look familiar? That’s because it’s very similar to the first play we showed—only this time there’s a wrinkle.
Slot receiver Jordan Matthews is going to be coming across the middle, and the impressive second-round rookie out of Vanderbilt probably warrants some attention, too.
The safety is caught. If he hangs back and helps with Maclin over the top, Matthews is wide-open and going for a big gainer anyway. If he picks up Matthews, the corner is on his own. The safety abandons his wing man, who is already in the process of getting beat deep, and the quarterback connects with Maclin for six from 59 yards out.
The defense can’t win. With or without help, Maclin is defeating the coverage, so why not just have the best cornerback shadow him all over the field? Furthermore, why not take that darn post route away?
Arizona tried that. This is Patrick Peterson, widely considered one of the best covermen in the game, going up against Maclin without help and thinking post all the way. Pay careful attention to where Peterson lines up on this play—outside the numbers.
Notice where he is now—inside the numbers. Maclin hasn’t made a move yet, but Peterson is running to a spot.
Peterson pays dearly when Maclin winds up going in the opposite direction, a 29-yard completion that moves the offense into scoring position. Too easy.
Once again, this is really set up by Kelly and the sheer frequency with which he’s used an otherwise very successful route. With one very simple wrinkle, it became an entirely different play—and almost equally as damaging.
As much as Kelly deserves credit for Maclin’s breakout year, you still have to hand it to the player who’s on the field. His speed is creating advantages at other levels of the defense, too.
Get a load of the cushion Maclin is getting here. What would you call that? Eight, maybe 10 yards? The cornerback is basically conceding the first down.
Maclin runs a simple out pattern past the sticks, and there’s just no way the defensive back is going to be able to break on this pass fast enough.
Jamming him isn’t a much better way to go, either. Maclin may be listed at 6’0”, 198 pounds, but he plays very strong for his size. On this out pattern, the cornerback presses the wideout two years off the line of scrimmage.
Maclin basically just fights through the contact until he reaches his spot and then disengages from the defender at will to go chase down another first-down catch.
We’ve seen that strength come into play in the red zone, as well, most recently on the game-clinching score in Houston. The cornerback is doing everything he can to keep Maclin from getting open to catch this touchdown—including what looks very much like illegal contact way beyond five yards of the line of scrimmage.
Even with the defender still all over him, Maclin hauls this one in. Maclin has always been underrated as a red-zone weapon, with 17 of his career 34 touchdowns over 67 career games coming from inside of 20 yards.
Then again, Maclin has always been underrated in every aspect, it would seem. Yes, the Kelly’s schemes has really opened things up for all of the Eagles receivers, but Maclin was still posting 800-yard seasons when the Eagles were going through eight- and four-win seasons where offense could hardly get out of its own way.
Now that he’s healthy and had an opportunity to step out of Jackson’s shadow, Maclin is proving he has what it takes to be a Pro Bowl-caliber receiver in the NFL. That’s good news for him as he prepares to test free agency for the second offseason in a row.
If Maclin were to depart Philadelphia, he may not put up the kind of numbers he is right now. There’s no denying now, though, that wherever he winds up, Maclin is always going to produce.
from Bleacher Report http://ift.tt/1uuMEgw
via IFTTT November 05, 2014 at 12:45AM
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