Three Championship Schemes to Watch for in the Super Bowl

The Chiefs and Eagles have some of the top football minds employed on their coaching staffs. Kansas City has Andy Reid, a future Hall of Fame head coach, self-proclaimed football historian, and nerd. Reid will watch games from decades past or even high school programs to steal ideas from.

Defensively, the Chiefs have arguably the best playoff defensive coordinator ever: Seve Spagnuolo. Spags is a schematic mastermind with an uncanny ability to call the correct pressure or scheme at the exact moment it is needed. Consider the 4th and 5 CB pressure he used to seal the game against the Bills. Until then, he hadn't blitzed Buffalo, but he did just that in the most critical down.

As much as people want to hate on Philadelphia's Head Coach Nick Sirianni, this will be his third consecutive double-digit win season and second trip to the Super Bowl in three years. In the offseason, he hired two from both critical pieces to his staff.

Kellen Moore is seen as a wunderkind of sorts at 36. Dallas tabbed him as their offensive coordinator, only one season removed from being Dak Prescott's backup. Moore amplified the schemes in Philly and allowed Sirianni to step into a 'full-time' head coach role. The offense has exploded this year behind the legs of Saquon Barkley and Moore's ability to call plays.

Vic Fangio was always the guy the Eagles wanted to hire to run their defense. In '22, he was a consultant on their Super Bowl run. In '23, he balked at working with the Eagles full-time and took his talents to South Beach. After one season, Fangio was on the move again, and the Eagles finally brought him home. The defensive explosion has been nothing short of impressive. With two rookies in the secondary and a forgotten LB talent in Zack Baun, Fangio has developed the top unit in the league.

This year's Super Bowl is a schematic dream, with Andy Reid facing off against Vic Fangio and Kellen Moore going against Steve Spagnuolo. Let's examine a few plays from the Championship Round that give insights into how these systems work and why these coaches are considered geniuses by their peers and pundits.

Utilizing Personnel to Create Space

Xavier Worthy is fast. He set the record at the combine for the fastest 40-yard dash ever. Most pundits felt Worthy would be used as the deep threat in Kansas City's re-tooled receiving corp. Then injuries hit.

Hollywood Brown, another speedster, couldn't go for much of the year. Then, Rashee Rice was lost for the season with a knee injury. DeAndre Hopkins was brought in to win iso-balls outside, which left no one in the critical intermediate spot opposite Travis Kelce. Reid turned to Worthy and quickly developed him into more than a gadget player, even using him to create space for other players.

Kansas City is in 11 personnel (3 WRs/1 TE) but aligned in a 12 pers. (2 TEs) formation. Worthy is in a slotted position at the bottom of the box. Bills LB Matt Milano is pointing at Worthy, ensuring the Safety walking down outside of him knows where he is.

Worthy will most likely 'slice' across the formation and work to the flat in this setting. Milano is communicating with the Safety to be alert for the 'push.' Safety Demar Hamlin is stacked on top of Worthy to ensure someone is there to cap him if he goes vertical.

The Chiefs love to use short motions with Kelce to create space and identity coverage. Pre-snap, Kelce begins to move horizontally outside the condensed receiver, forcing the Bills secondary to expand. The CB is now responsible for Kelce, and the Safety (Bishop) will work outside leverage on the receiver and match his route.

A worthy post-snap begins to slice across the field. In a Match-3 concept, the strong hook defender (Milano) must carry anything into the flats. Bishop has to honor his receiver's vertical stem, leaving Milano holding his position. Kansas City also adds a play-action fake to ensure the LB stays near the box.

Mahomes knows he needs to get the overhang (Bishop) to hold his outside leverage. To accomplish this, he looks at Kelce and preps to throw. The slight hesitation by the Safety allows JuJu Smith-Schuster to gain leverage inside and attack the space. The last piece of the puzzle is Milano. The play-action and Worthy's 'slow' slice-action hold him. Mahomes zips the ball into the window for a big gain.

Though this play wasn't a touchdown, it was an explosive passing play that illustrates the Chiefs' mastery of manipulating space. Reid uses motions, shifts, and slight alignment adjustments to create space for players downfield. These tight window throws will be critical to success against the Eagles, who play a top-down coverage and attempt to compress the field.

Using Personnel to Constrain Space

The Chiefs will have to stop Saquon Barkley. He is the engine of the Eagles' offense, and stopping him will put the game in Jalen Hurts' hands. Spags may be known for his pressures and coverage disguises, but how he manipulates his personnel to counter offensive tendencies is just as impressive.

The Chiefs ran some of the most Dime in the NFL this past year. There are two different ways to get into Dime, which can be a 4-1-6 or a 3-3-5. Above, the Chiefs utilize their three LBs to create an Odd Stack personnel. There are three LBs, three D-linemen, and five secondary players.

The Eagles are a 'spread-to-run' offense that utilizes lighter personnel to spread a defense and create space in the box. Spags can counter that by creating a 'Penny' or 5-1 alignment with his Odd Dime package. The scheme places two LBs, Chenal and Tranquill, at the Edges. Inside, the defense can get into a 'Bear' Front that places two D-linemen in the B-gaps (the gap between the Guard and Tackle).

This alignment cuts off the fulcrum of the Eagles' offense, the B-gaps, against zone-centric teams like the Chiefs. It also keeps the Mike LB (Bolton) clean, inhibiting the O-line from reaching the second level. Look for the Chiefs to use this alignment and others to limit Barkley's rushing ability.

Creating Natural Cut-Offs

Vic Fangio runs what is called a weak rotation defense. This means that when he runs coverages, he typically will drop a Safety away from the Nickel or passing strength (most receiver side). Because Fangio is designated as one of the leaders in the evolution of playing defense in the NFL from a two-high shell, many think he runs Cover 2 or Quarters. That is not the case.

Fangio's defense is based on Cover 3. Two-high Safeties compress the field of play and force offenses to throw into the lower zones. This also allows his Safety and LBs to hold longer against run action. Lastly, playing from depth meshes with his unique split-field coverages. The goal is to make the quarterback's reads extremely difficult.

Another reason he utilizes weak rotation is to cut off one deep crosser coming through the middle of the field. The Deep Cross or Dover route has become increasingly popular at the highest levels.

Above, the Safety doesn't drop near the box. Once he identifies a pass, he hinges open to the middle of the field and looks for any route attacking the deep intermediate. For quarterbacks, the movement can simulate split-field coverage. Daniels throws the ball away once he sees Blankenship nail down on the crossing route.

The Eagles can even use this concept in man coverage.

In this play, Blankenship travels to the middle of the field post-snap. Initially, he cuts off the vertical of the TE. Up top, a defender is free to Daniels, who will be forced to scramble. Blankenship is tracking his eyes and will eventually work to the Dig of the #1 WR at the bottom.

Follow Cody Alexander at MatchQuarters.com, Twitter/X, Instagram, or TikTok.

As we dive in, we look forward to the conversation, debate, and your feedback. Hit us up at @fieldvisionmi on X, @fieldvisionsports on Instagram, or on our website www.fieldvisionsports.com.