Break It Down: Clay Matthews and how the Green Bay Packers defend the zone-read

After weeks of hearing Clay Matthews say he was going after the quarterback on zone-read plays, we finally saw it in action, and he delivered. On nearly every running play, Matthews was running full-speed into the 49ers backfield. While it didn't necessarily make that huge of an impact (San Francisco did more damage in the air more than on the ground), there's some key take-aways from the performance on Sunday.

Why would you take the quarterback every time?

1) The quarterback has to make the right read. Many are talking about slow-reading the play so the quarterback doesn't know what to do, but Matthews was penetrating so fast, that a quick decision had to be made in what seemed like half usual time. If the quarterback makes the wrong read (ie: keep it), then it's a huge tackle for loss.

2) The defense really doesn't need to worry about the quarterback side of the option. Obviously you assigned a man to him, but if he's getting hit in the backfield every time he keeps it, there's no reason to focus on anything but the running back. One of the biggest reasons the zone-read produces big plays is because the two runners are running in opposite directions, meaning that defenses could actually flow in the opposite direction of the ball. This will not happen if one option is completely taken out of the equation. Clay gets the quarterback, now, defense, you get the running back.

Play 1: Clay Matthews stops Frank Gore in the backfield

[1] An unintentional result of Matthews rushing into the backfield is him making plays on non-zone-read snaps. Here, the fullback is supposed to lead block Matthews to open a hole outside for Gore.

[2] Unfortunately for Miller (fullback), he missed Clay, who's penetration as fast as possible. So, Matthews nails Gore in the backfield for a huge loss of yards.

Play 2: Clay Matthews stops Colin Kaepernick in the backfield on a zone-read

[1] San Francisco's running a typical zone-read play. Clay (highlighted in the yellow box) is the read, meaning he won't be blocked. The rest of the front seven has been assigned blockers, and Miller, the fullback, is lead blocking outside, in case Kaepernick pulls the ball to run himself.

[2] At the mesh-point, Clay is gaining ground in the backfield, meaning that the ball should go to Gore, who's got a lead blocker leading him into the hole.

[3] Instead, Kaepernick keeps the ball, and has to beat a one-on-one situation with Matthews before seeing the open space to his left.

[4] Clay doesn't lose many of those battles.

Play 3: Washington's triple-option vs Cincinnati

[1] Unlike San Francisco, Washington runs a lot of packaged plays and triple options off of their first zone-read action. Here's an example of a triple option against Cincinnati, a team who played the zone-read in 2012 much like Green Bay will do in 2013. Instead of the key 34 OLB being the read, Washington read Cincinnati's key 43 DE, Michael Johnson.

[2] At the mesh-point, Johnson is gaining speed after starting a little slow. It looks as if he is going to the running back.

[3] But he changed directions quickly, leading him right to Robert Griffin III, who will pitch it to the third option right before he gets hit.

[4] The issue is this, the quarterback has to be clean enough to pitch the ball; otherwise, it's going to be a fumble. That's what happens when they make the wrong read (doesn't happen here, the read just changed directions during the mesh-point) with the read running full speed at them. So, instead of Matthews getting tackles in the backfield, there's a solid chance that if Griffin makes the wrong read this Sunday, he'll be forcing fumbles.