Patriots Film Review: Breaking down Logan Ryan’s masterful coverage of DeAndre Hopkins
COMMENTARY
Logan Ryan isn’t the name you’d expect to hear among the best and most important playmakers in a big game. That’s not a knock on Ryan, that’s just his style. He flies under the radar with solid fundamentals — sure tackling, tight coverage to not give up a high completion percentage into his defense, field awareness, technique, ball skills.
When he puts it all together, he’s right up there with Malcolm Butler as one of the best cornerbacks on the team. And he certainly put it all together on Sunday against the Houston Texans. Ryan spent most of his night in coverage on Texans wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins; whether it was man or zone coverage, Ryan was usually on Hopkins. Up until Sunday, Hopkins was a big-play machine. That was not the case on Sunday. Ryan allowed just one reception for 40 yards on four passes into his coverage and notched two pass breakups along the way.
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Ryan played perfect technique on his deep-ball pass-breakup of Hopkins with 11:06 remaining in the third quarter. Hopkins ran a fade down the left sideline with Texans quarterback Brian Hoyer in the shotgun. The Patriots were in a three-deep zone coverage with one deep safety and the cornerbacks both responsible for keeping everything in front of them.
Notice how Ryan begins his backpedal before the snap. He gives himself a better opportunity to be in position for a long pass, and as it turns out, his decision was incredibly wise. Hopkins faked a slant, planted his foot in the turf and darted downfield. Ryan respected the hesitation in Hopkins’ route, preparing himself to close on the receiver if he cut the route short.
But Ryan also smartly kept his eyes on the quarterback, so that he could track the ball in flight to break it up down the sideline cleanly.
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The Texans went after Ryan a second time around, this time on a crossing pattern with 11:18 left in the fourth quarter. Hoyer was in the shotgun with Hopkins the lone receiver to the left. Ryan lined up over him in press coverage and ran with him stride-for-stride in man coverage down the field.
Hopkins’ in-breaking quick route was what allowed him to avoid a jam from Ryan. A less experienced, less technically sound cornerback might have attempted and failed a jam at the line of scrimmage. Ryan trusted his technique and followed Hopkins on the drag route. He was playing trail technique for a second, running behind Hopkins, but he was able to get back underneath Hopkins to get between the receiver and the ball.
Once he was in Hopkins’ hip pocket, all Ryan had to do was lift his hand and reach out in front of him to break up the pass.
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In the interest of fairness, we do have to point out that Ryan allowed a 40-yard bomb into his coverage on the very next play. Of course, the play might have been a lot more relevant if the Patriots hadn’t already established their 27-6 lead. At this point, Ryan had dominated his matchup with Hopkins, so the Patriots trusted him in man-to-man coverage with the Texans’ best offensive weapon.
Eventually, though, a big play-maker like Hopkins is going to make a big play.
Ryan was with Hopkins stride-for-stride down the right sideline, but Hopkins began to break away as the pass closed in and a little nudge at the last second allowed the receiver to get an extra yard of separation.
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With a chance to make up for it, Ryan delivered his second pass breakup of the night when Texans quarterback T.J. Yates threw for Hopkins with 4:45 left in the fourth quarter.
Hopkins lined up as the lone receiver on the left and ran a comeback route toward the sideline. Some hesitation by Yates disrupted the timing on Hopkins’ route, and Ryan made the quarterback pay. He undercut Hopkins’ route, got in front of the pass and put his hand on the ball to break it up and prevent the would-be completion.
All in all, a very strong night for Ryan.
But this is not new territory for the third-year cornerback, who’s been playing at a shutdown level for at least the past four games. According to Pro Football Focus, Ryan has allowed six receptions on 21 throws into his coverage (28.6 percent) for 102 yards, and he has broken up six passes in the process.
Indeed, the heavy turnover in the secondary was thought to have created a weakness, but with Ryan and Butler on the outside, the cornerback position has become a strength of the team at the most important time.
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