Drew takes a look at Avery Johnson’s interception against Arizona State
Avery Johnson, despite his obvious physical talent, has struggled with throwing the ball to the wrong team this season. Every Kansas State loss has featured at least back breaking interception (some more than one). His early game penchant for giving the ball to the other team has resulted in the Wildcats chasing games instead of controlling it.
I’ve got a few interceptions I want to look at this week, because I’m picking up on a troubling pattern of Avery making the same mistake multiple times, and compounding that with sloppy footwork.
Arizona State Interception
This is a called deep shot from Connor Riley out of K-State’s normal 3-wide look. There is a token play fake, but it’s for show. The tight end and running back (orange triangle) both stay in the pocket to provide Johnson with “max protection” for a deep shot. That limits Johnson’s options but gives him a clean pocket to throw it down the field.
Getting the read correct on this play is crucial. Max protection means the Sun Devils are covering 3 receivers with 5 or 4 defensive backs (depending on a blitz). Arizona State is in man coverage with what looks like 2 high safeties. Unfortunately, the field safety (blue circle) and boundary safety (purple safety) run a basic game that Avery fails to identify.
I’ve highlighted the Jayce Brown (yellow box) and Dante Cephas (red box). Avery locks on to Brown and never looks at Cephas. Locking onto Brown has been an issue multiple-times this season. Several of his more baffling interceptions end with me going, “what made him think Brown was the best option on this play.”
Cover 1 Robber
Avery is reading the field safety (blue circle) first and sees him step up into the second level He doesn’t see the boundary safety (purple circle) playing “robber” coverage.
Congrats to Arizona State’s defensive staff. They set a trap, and Avery took the bait without hesitation. If he sees the robber safety, then Dante Cephas (red box) is the correct read. The boundary safety is replacing the field safety, leaving Cephas in man coverage on the boundary. Avery has 3 options, and Arizona State tricks him into throwing it to the double covered receiver.
Max Protection
I mentioned it above, but I wanted to show Kansas State in max protection. The tight end and the running back are deployed to Avery’s blind side to help out with the pass rush. Blocking 5 with 7 should give Avery time to read the defense and make the right read, but he never comes off of Jayce Brown.
Terrible Footwork
I’m not an expert on all things quarterback, but I’ve played and coached multiple sports, and the footwork (or lack thereof) Avery uses on this play doesn’t work in any of them.
Check out his front foot (yellow circle) and back foot (black circle). The ‘Cats have the center of the line blocked up. He has plenty of room to step into the throw and deliver a strike, instead, he does this:
I … I don’t know what to call this.
I’ve never seen a follow through requiring a pronated ankle.
Some of Avery’s problems come from over-confidence in his ability in his ability to snap a pass off with nothing but arm, Pat Maholmes style. The problem is, Pat Maholmes is able to break the rules because of his unique ability to generate power with nothing but an elbow and wrist snap.
Avery doesn’t have that ability.
He has solid arm strength but doesn’t have the type of arm strength that allows him to get away with lazy footwork at this level. The problem is, he had the ability to get away with it in high school, but hasn’t adjusted to better, faster defenders on the college level.
Brown Wins the Route
Avery sees Jayce (yellow box) with inside position on the post route but does not see the robber safety. Still, he probably gets away with this throw if he puts it on a line (might get Brown killed by the safety), but the ball flutters on him because of poor footwork.
Not only did he make the wrong read; he didn’t put enough on the throw to sneak it in despite throwing it to the wrong receiver.
If I had the entire field view available, you would see Cephas all alone with the corner on the boundary. That has to be the throw 10/10 times.
Not That Type of Receiver
Even though Avery made the wrong read and floated the pass, he could still come out of this with 3rd and 7 if he wasn’t throwing to Brown. The only way this thing works is to a physical receiver capable of keeping the corner on his back. That’s not Jayce Brown. He’s fast, but he’s not physical like Ben Sinnot (who Avery liked on this route last season).
The ball floats and the Arizona State defensive back plays around Brown and gets a hand on the ball, causing a deflection.
Was this pass interference? – Probably
I wasn’t mad about the non-call though. This was a bad throw by Johnson, and the Arizona corner was making a play on the ball. If the refs are going to let any type of “probably interference” go, this is the one K-State needs them to allow because they play through receivers on defense as well.
Can’t Make a Mistake in the Middle of the Field
Even though Avery makes a bad read and delivers a bad pass to receiver not adept at boxing out defensive backs, he still gets away with this if it’s a corner route to the sideline instead of post route to the middle of the field. You can’t make these mistakes in the middle of the field because that’s where the defense is hanging out. Deflections cause more interceptions than anything else, and Johnson keeps tossing up hospital balls in the middle of the field.
That’s something he’s got to correct moving forward.