u/PhillyWannabGM

10 clips of duo from Green Bay in 2025, no audio. There was plenty of duo run plays in the Shrine Bowl tape where Mannion was the coach. I am currently studying every 1st down run from Josh Jacobs in the 2025 season with Green Bay. And so far more than half way through, 25% of the plays are duo.

After begging for duo last season all year long and barely getting it (and getting a bit weirder version of it when we did) we might finally get normal bread and butter early down duo in Philly.

On one of the snaps, there is a 7 yd TD vs the Cardinals. The QB sees the lack of an edge player on the back side and audibles to his line and RB to change the direction. Instead of running duo to the run strength where the TE was, they intentionally switched the direction of the play to run duo weak and Jacobs knew he could likely cut it outside. Running a play with the same rules over and over again from OT to OT makes it easier for the OLine to master the rules and block it in reverse to the weak side with a pre-snap call if it is advantageous.

Because the emphasis on the OLine is for everyone to protect their back side gap first, there are rarely negative plays in duo compared to some other types of runs. Our OL and RBs are also well suited for this play physically assuming health (or the courage to bench our C and LG if they don't regain health....what the heck was that last year playing them all season?). With our RBs, it can be run equally well out of shotgun or UC. Read option and zone slice runs can easily be built off it.

So far in this early study, it was Green Bay's best run play. Very high success rate and 5.8 ypc after studying 72 1st downs.

I am allowing myself to get mildly excited for this run play, even though it's a simple one. While I also am preparing myself to be potentially disappointed by an over-abundance of wide zone. Many smart offensive coaches are starting to rely on Duo strong and zone weak to attack the defense in the two high world we are increasingly living in. And it's nice to see that combo may be coming to town.

Thanks for reading, Go Birds!!

If anyone wants more in depth analysis of the NFL Draft or what is happening on the field for the Eagles, please visit the Eagles Film Room on Patreon for a free trial and also join our Discord. we show these clips and also briefly explain how duo is blocked up there, among many other things.

There was only one true mano y mano pass down rep. Bell tried a more aggressive pass set and Reese caught him with a little knock back on speed to power. Bell recovered and pushed him past the QB. Bell may discover that due to his naturally high pad level (he's tall), he needs to vertical set in more matchups. I don't think he has to eliminate the 45 degree set altogether, and may be able to use it more often in some matchups. Vertical sets may make it easier for him to brace for speed to power with both feet set.

In the run down reps vs the lighter Reese, Bell easily won in tight quarters. He also got a piece of Reese in space once to help spring the ball carrier.

He wasn't mano y mano with Styles, who was more of just a 2nd level defender. Styles did beat Bell to the hole once on a zone run. It's worth noting that if the Eagles move to the more Alex Gibbs style of wide zone (as opposed to Stout's style) he probably would have been able to catch Styles at the line of scrimmage on that play. He also gets a small piece of Styles running across the field from the back side of a run play near the end. It didn't effect the play much. But once again showed off solid mobility in space for Markel Bell.

Go Birds!

Markel Bell was one of "My Guys" in the draft. I spoke about him a month or two ago on my early Draft OL Pod. There is a perception that Howie reached for a behemoth OT "project" in the 3rd round who is not a scheme fit for what might be Mannion's partially wide zone based offense.

These perceptions simply are not accurate. Howie grabbed an OT who is more NFL ready than any of his remaining options after pick #19 in the draft, who also should be a scheme fit. This is Howie's insurance policy if Hinton doesn't develop or they cannot grab an OT early in the '27 draft. Smart man.