After the pounding and cultivation of the Raiders, Titans and Chieftains defensive front, the Tigers offensive front finally survived the Super Bowl, but these five people must prepare for the biggest challenge to date: the Rams defensive front, including Aaron Donald, von Miller and several other future Hall of Fame-level rushers.
While the Super Bowl is likely to present a tragedy of being brutally killed by the Rams on the Tigers' front, from the tactical level of the game, Joe Burrow can solve these counterpoint weaknesses in a number of different ways.
It's no secret that the Tigers' offensive front line is now in a mess. Although Burrow was only killed once in the American League final against the Emirates, the offensive group's mistakes and potential missteps were caused by the offensive front.
In the divisional match against the Titans, Boro was captured by the "Nine Sons Denko", and the offensive front was responsible for seven of them; a week later, in the American League final, they had the Chiefs create 16 more pressures - 13 hasty passes, two impacts, one tackle.
The Tigers' front released nine tackles, four impacts and 24 hasty passes in three playoff games.
The reason the numbers didn't get any worse was that Burrow quickly realized the situation during the game against the Chiefs and shot as fast as he could — firing a gun at the first opportunity.
In the second half and overtime of the American League Finals, Boro passed an average of only 4.3 yards in 15 non-fake real passes, non-screen short passes, and non-RPO passes, and it was precisely these passes that laid the foundation for victory.
This front line could not protect Borrow at all, he knew it himself. So his aim was to shoot the ball as much as possible, even if he didn't feel the pocket collapse.
In the GIF above, Burrow reads Chiefs Centerback 53 Anthony Hitchens. After the kick-off, Hindkins moved to the right to assist in the Tiger's left side, and Burrow immediately chose to look to the right of the route to cooperate with a quick shot, hitting the target of the right high and low coordination.
As we can see, Burrow did not wait for the route to continue to develop, but hit the near end as soon as he had the opportunity.
However, the Rams' defensive style is different from most of the defensive styles seen by the Tigers this season. Most teams used four players on the defensive front; however, the Rams had five in the initial defensive set.
Von Miller, Donald, Greg Gaines, Ashhorne Robinson and Leonard Freud are lined up, and every point of personal ability can easily complete the Tigers attacking the front line. However, the Tigers will still hit quick passes on the Super Bowl to avoid pressure, which may be the only way they want to win.
Who are the key people on the Rams Front? Not Teacher Tang, but Ashurne Robinson. When he plays, the Rams are the five-man defensive front line mentioned above; after Robinson leaves, the Rams evolve into the traditional four-man front.
Robinson is undoubtedly a reliable player. So far in the playoffs, he has a PFF defensive rating of 78.2 points, but the Tigers may need him to play. He played in 85 of the Rams' 179 defensive blocks in this year's playoffs, with Robinson playing in 57 of the 79 first tackles released by the Rams.
Since five defensive fronts are listed on the front lines, that means there are only six defenders in the linebackers and backcourt. When all five of them carried out the rush pass, a huge vacancy would leak out on both sides of the Ram line guard.
This is perfect for the Tigers' quick passing routes and coordination. The harvest of Burrow's quick passes in the regular season ranks fourth in the league, so the Super Bowl is sure to be the offensive focus of the Tigers.
When the five-man front came on at the same time and only four people rushed the cross, it meant that von Miller or one of Freud retreated into the defensive pass. That makes sense, Miller and Freud, who are the go-to-passers, aren't good at preventing passes.
Compared to the Tigers, who are extremely good at fast pass offense, the regular season Rams' fast pass-resistant EPA is the seventh-to-last in the league. Therefore, once the Rams defend the front line, the Tigers should seize the opportunity to play short passes and quick passes, and move the ball efficiently to defuse the Rams defense.
When the Rams use a five-man defense to defend the front, their security guard rotation positions are even more unique. When Robinson comes on this season, the Rams will use the double high before kick-off more often, or the play that suddenly becomes a single high after kick-off, which accounts for 73% of all anti-pass slots. They don't usually use five defensive front +two linebackers in the base configuration, more often than not they use 5+1.
In the following defensive cross against the Seahawks, the Rams try to keep both security guards in the deep position. Even though they let Fu keep an eye on the running back, there was still a huge amount of space to catch the ball.
When they tried to rush the five people, leaving only one security guard in the deep position, there was also a lot of space in the shallow area of the middle road:
The Rams want to keep five capable players on the pitch in the first gear, but the Tigers have a quick pass to punish the Rams.
As the season progresses, the Tigers' initial passing rate is getting higher and higher. However, in the American League final with the Chiefs, their initial rush rate was as high as 60%, 13% higher than the previous two playoff games. When the Rams' five fronts are adapted to the defensive run, the Tigers need to reduce the initial rush rate to 30% to 40%, and more passes to deal with the Rams' big lineup.
On paper, the Rams defensive front will eat the Tigers alive to attack the front line, but in the face of the Rams' powerful five-man front, the Tigers do not have to hold the ball for a long time to find a long pass, but increase the cooperation of fast passes, a seemingly disparity in the duel, the Tigers can not concede defeat.