The Philadelphia Eagles have had a lot of success utilizing run, pass options or RPO’s during their playoff run. Quarterback Nick Foles has been masterful at executing the plays which stress defenses because they take advantage of defenders alignments and movement after the snap. That being said, there are ways the Patriots could cloud Foles’ reads and bait him into bad throws. Here are three ways they could do that.

I want to stress that this is how I would defend the Eagles RPO’s. That is not to suggest that the Patriots will do these things but hypothetically, they could.

Diagram 1: Bluffs (Illusion Pressure): Take it from me as a high school offensive coordinator. Bluffs are a pain in the ass to prepare for! Sure, we tell our kids that what the defense is doing is nothing more than window dressing but the reality is, bluffs affect the quarterback’s pre-snap read and could potentially screw up your blocking schemes.  Offensive lineman don’t know who is coming and who is dropping. Bluffs are tough to run RPO’s against because if your quarterback guesses wrong, he could end up pulling the ball and throwing into a spot he thought was vacant but an underneath defender got in the passing lane. The Patriots will have to employ bluffs in certain situations where the Eagles like throwing RPO’s. In diagram 1, the Patriots are in a split 40 front and showing double A gap pressure but the SAM linebacker blitzes and MIKE linebacker drops to a hole player and picks up the back or any crosser.

Diagram 2: Disguise Coverages: The Patriots do a terrific job of disguising coverages. Again, the whole idea when defending RPO’s is to cloud the quarterbacks pre-snap read. In a lot of ways, defending RPO teams is like defending old school option teams. Put the quarterback in conflict and hit him as much as you can. The Patriots will have to bait Foles into pulling the ball. By disguising coverages, they can entice him into making a pre-snap decision. Against a look like this, Foles would probably give the ball on RPO. If the Patriots can entice to give the ball more than he pulls it, they will be in good shape.

Look for the Patriots secondary to move around a lot right before the snap. I suspect we will see some single robber and double robber coverages and some split coverages. In diagram 2, the Patriots would send a boundary dime pressure and drop into Cover 2 front side and play man to man backside. Essentially they are playing a trap coverage frontside. This enables them to get an extra defender into run support and jump the underneath slant and in routes.

Diagram 3: Zone Blitzes: Zone blitzes really do a number on RPO teams because again, you are giving the illusion that you are playing straight up defense but on the snap you move. If the Patriots could get to Foles with zone blitz pressure early, they will force the Eagles to abandon their RPO’s and use a more conventional drop back passing game. Remember, RPO’s are based on a box count and reading defenders. If the box count changes post-snap, it could be bad for the Eagles if Foles pulls the ball and tries to throw a slant in an area where there is a defender now. In this diagram, the Patriots are in a 30 nickel front and bring a five man pressure with Cover 3 behind it. Again, the whole idea is to trap the underneath slant and in-cut routes and force Foles into a bad throw or to take the sack.

Bill Belichick has seen everything in his coaching career so the Eagles aren’t going to “trick” him with their RPO’s. That being said, they are an integral part of the Eagles offense so the Patriots have to be ready for them. Belichick and defensive coordinator Matt Patricia  have to find a way to confuse Nick Foles and force him into a mistake. If they do, they will shut down the Eagles offense.