Last season, when the winless Orlando Guardians bested the unbeaten D.C. Defenders, I broke down the offensive changes the Guardians had undertaken that led to the upset of the year in the XFL.
San Antonio knocking off Birmingham last weekend may not have been the upset of the year in the UFL, but it did break a Stallions win streak that stretched over 15 games and an entire calendar year. It also announced the Brahmas as a legitimate UFL Championship contender.
The most impressive part of Saturday’s performance was that of the San Antonio defense. A defense that was constructed from the ground-up this year by head coach Wade Phillips and defensive coordinator Will Reed held the vaunted Stallions offense, number one in the UFL at 361 yards and nearly 30 points per game, to a mere 278 yards and nine points.
I took a second look at the TV copy of the game to analyze how this defense was able to neutralize the many weapons on Birmingham’s offense. The following is a look at each level of defense as well as a breakdown of what happened on a few of the key plays.
Defensive Line
I went into this project expecting to find that the Brahmas used a lot of stunts, varied fronts, and other window dressing to confuse QB Adrian Martinez. In reality, they kept things very vanilla. The most exotic the Brahmas got was having two linemen in a three-point stance and two standing up on the edge. The majority of plays saw San Antonio utilize a four-man front. Sometimes it was three down with one edge, sometimes it was two and two, and sometimes it was all four with a hand on the ground.
A couple of the more common defensive fronts run by San Antonio against Birmingham.
The only time they blitzed, or rushed more than four, was on the final play of the game. Where the linemen succeeded was staying in their rush lanes and not giving Martinez a chance to climb the pocket and take off.
A few examples of San Antonio’s line creating a pocket that prevented Martinez from finding a lane to run
While Birmingham’s offensive line has excelled this season, the Brahmas won in the trenches. The fourth quarter sack, shared by former Stallion Jaylen Twyman and second-year Brahma Delontae Scott came when they beat their man at the snap. The top three graded defenders for San Antonio in this game came along the defensive line.
Linebackers
A good team will go into a game against Birmingham NOT with a plan to stop Martinez, but rather, to contain him. Martinez is going to get his yards on the ground, but a defense can’t let him beat them. That’s the job San Antonio’s linebackers were tasked with. Martinez indeed got his yards (56 rushing), but he did not beat them. Tavante Beckett and Jordan Williams both played 40 of the 51 snaps and contributed to limiting the damage caused by Martinez. Both were utilized as spies on the QB on third downs at different points of the game.
The linebacker, identified by the crudely-drawn arrow, covers the short game and also acts as a spy on Martinez on this third down.
The linebackers were aggressive and flowed to the ball.
On this screen to CJ Marable, count how many Brahmas defenders are in the picture compared to Birmingham blockers.
They participated in a handful of effective run blitzes in the third quarter. They also showed blitz in the pass game a few times before ultimately backing out, giving Martinez another look to consider at the line of scrimmage.
Defensive Backs
Using the TV copy of the game film limits how much we can read into the performance of defensive backs, since the cameras tend to not focus on them during the plays. For the most part, it appeared that the DBs played a zone concept, which helps protect against Martinez breaking off huge chunks in the run game. With a few exceptions, the defensive backs were able to limit Birmingham’s receivers from gaining a lot of yards after the catch. Like the linebackers, they flowed to the ball quickly, even in the pass game. It was a blitz from the defensive backfield that put Martinez on the run and helped cause the game-clinching interception. The Brahmas predominantly gave a single-high safety look, frequently starting with two-high safeties, then walking the second one down into the box pre-snap.
San Antonio showing a two-high safety look pre-snap, then walking one of the safeties (signified by the arrow) into the box.
Key Play: First quarter, 3rd-and-1 on San Antonio 45-yard line, 0-0 game
What has become a signature play for the Stallions was thwarted for the first time this year.
The pre-snap look of Birmingham’s Wing-T package.
There’s an old saying that at the line of scrimmage, “low man wins.” In this case, the Brahmas defensive line submarined the offensive line, preventing Birmingham’s big uglies from getting to the second level of San Antonio’s defense and thus being unable to clear a path for RB Ricky Person, Jr.
At the snap, the entire left side of San Antonio’s defense went low while others simply stood up the line.
Person ended up bouncing the run to the outside, where a gaggle of Brahmas were waiting for him. Delontae Scott, BoPete Keyes, Jordan Mosley, Jordan Williams and Darius Phillips were not about to let Person get his one yard, stringing him out for a loss of two.
Forced to go laterally, a bunch of yellow jerseys await Person.
While this play came early in a scoreless game, it set the tone for the physicality and intelligence with which San Antonio’s defense would play the rest of the game.
Key Play: Fourth quarter, 2nd-and-5 on San Antonio 22-yard line, 18-9 Brahmas lead
The last defensive play of the game for San Antonio came with Birmingham threatening late. With their backs against the red zone, the Brahmas blitzed for the only time all game, sending Jordan Mosley, the league’s top tackler. He walked up to the line of scrimmage pre-snap and came off the edge.
The look shown pre-snap, with Mosley’s position indicated by the arrow.
Throughout the game, the Brahmas would show this look before ultimately backing out of it. This time, Mosley got into the backfield untouched.
Mosley beats the right guard to get into Martinez’s grill.
He rushed off the defensive left side, flushing Martinez to his left, a much harder throw to make for a right-hander on the run. Nevertheless, Martinez had time to set himself, but forced the ball down the field into double coverage and into the hands of Teez Tabor.
Final Analysis
I wouldn’t go so far as to call this a blueprint for beating the Stallions. Especially if you believe in the “players, not plays” mantra: That is, you can have the best plan of attack as coaches, but if you don’t have the players to precisely execute those plans on the field, it will all be for naught. San Antonio’s coaches put the right players in the right positions to succeed against Birmingham. We’ll see if other teams have the…ahem…horses to do the same.
