December 23, 2017
By Justin Nicely
Entering week sixteen, Anthony Lanier has only been active for nine games this season. He has exploded onto the scene these past five weeks though. Lanier has five sacks in the last five games. Only Khalil Mack, Aaron Donald, and Robert Quinn have more sacks since week 11. He recorded two sacks (including a strip-sack) and three batted passes against the Cardinals in week fifteen. I wanted to take a closer look at Lanier’s huge game, and I decided to share what I found with you.
After Jonathan Allen suffered a season ending Lisfranc foot injury, Anthony Lanier slid into Allen’s role on the defensive line. There were really only two packages the Redskins used on the defensive line. When the team was in their base 3-4 set, they had Stacy McGee, A.J. Francis, and Ziggy Hood along the defensive line. In their nickel package, they had two outside linebackers, and Matt Ioannidis and Anthony Lanier on the line.
By Justin Nicely
Entering week sixteen, Anthony Lanier has only been active for nine games this season. He has exploded onto the scene these past five weeks though. Lanier has five sacks in the last five games. Only Khalil Mack, Aaron Donald, and Robert Quinn have more sacks since week 11. He recorded two sacks (including a strip-sack) and three batted passes against the Cardinals in week fifteen. I wanted to take a closer look at Lanier’s huge game, and I decided to share what I found with you.
After Jonathan Allen suffered a season ending Lisfranc foot injury, Anthony Lanier slid into Allen’s role on the defensive line. There were really only two packages the Redskins used on the defensive line. When the team was in their base 3-4 set, they had Stacy McGee, A.J. Francis, and Ziggy Hood along the defensive line. In their nickel package, they had two outside linebackers, and Matt Ioannidis and Anthony Lanier on the line.
Early on in the game, Anthony Lanier was a little slow getting off of the line of scrimmage. The opposing offensive lineman got a slight first step ahead of him; however, Lanier quickly fixed his delayed reaction to the ball being snapped. It wasn’t anything that hurt him significantly early on, but I didn’t see him do it much after the first quarter. Here are some plays that stood the most out to me.
#1) Anthony Lanier strip-sack. pic.twitter.com/FQn1akTfb0
— SKINSSCOUT (@SKINS_SCOUT) December 23, 2017
On the Cardinals opening drive, Anthony Lanier made a huge play to set the tone early on for the Redskins. Lanier quickly beats the center with a quick hand combination. The left guard was first preoccupied by Zach Vigil’s fake blitz, and by the time he moved over to help double team Lanier it was too late. Lanier got the strip-sack on Gabbert with Preston Smith picking up the ball, and setting the Redskins offense up inside the Cardinals five yard line.
#2) Anthony Lanier vs run pic.twitter.com/9pJsZe8XkG
— SKINSSCOUT (@SKINS_SCOUT) December 23, 2017
Two negatives right off the bat by Lanier on this play. It is easy to tell the left guard gets a step in before Lanier reacts to the ball being snapped, and because of his slow start to the play he lets the guard go across his face and does not attempt to stop him from advancing to his assigned block. However, Lanier makes up for his mistake. The left tackle picks up Lanier, and there are two wholes the running back can go through. To the left of Lainer is the “home run” option. To the right of Lanier is—most likely—the assigned hole the running back is supposed to go through. At first it looks like Lanier is picked up by his blocker, and the running back starts to go to the “home run” whole. Lanier quickly gets off of his block through, (until he is held by the left tackle) and forces the running back to quickly cut back inside. If Lanier did not get off his block the running back would have had a good chance at a big gain, but Lanier did just enough to force Elijhaa Penny back inside where Vigil and Swearinger were there to make the stop.
#3) Anthony Lanier vs run pic.twitter.com/TEYmSblHs8
— SKINSSCOUT (@SKINS_SCOUT) December 23, 2017
Anthony Lanier is lined up across from the left guard again here. Deep into drives, defensive linemen will start to “stand up” when they start to get tired. That is what Lanier did here. Instead of firing off into the blocker, he stands up and catches the blocker. If he would have fired off of the ball into the blocker, he most likely would have stalemated the blocker, which would have helped lead to a shorter gain. Although, what caught my eye on this play is just his pure strength to hold on and slow down the running back with one hand while being blocked. It allowed the safety to come in and stop Kerwynn Williams a few yards shorter than what he would have gotten if Lanier didn’t hold him back. His strength saved him on this play.
#4) Anthony Lanier batted pass pic.twitter.com/6NObohUhMl
— SKINSSCOUT (@SKINS_SCOUT) December 23, 2017
Not much to talk about here as it is pretty obvious what went on. Lanier did a fine job of getting off of the ball, got right into the passing lane, put his hand up, and knocked the ball down.
#5) Anthony Lanier batted pass pic.twitter.com/p63pEE9C64
— SKINSSCOUT (@SKINS_SCOUT) December 23, 2017
Another batted ball by Lanier. The Redskins blitz Ioannidis, Kerrigan, Lanier, Galette, and Vigil to the right side of the offensive line. Lanier is picked up by the center, but is able to keep moving to the right and is able to knock the ball down at the line of scrimmage for the second time.
#6) Anthony Lanier vs run pic.twitter.com/e4bZCpLBXJ
— SKINSSCOUT (@SKINS_SCOUT) December 23, 2017
The Cardinals ran a zone blocking play here. Lanier reads the line correctly, but the running back just had a better run. Lanier does a nice job of recognizing the zone, finding the ball carrier, getting off of his block, and trying to make a play on the running back. It would have been nice to see him be able to bring down the ball carrier two-yards passed the line of scrimmage, but the back was just out of his reach and used his quickness to slip past Lanier.
#7) Anthony Lanier rush pic.twitter.com/F41KTCmV4W
— SKINSSCOUT (@SKINS_SCOUT) December 23, 2017
This is at least the second time I’ve seen this play by the Redskins on defense. Ioannidis and an inside linebacker would go inside to the right, Lanier would would back out and go around the two to slip free in-between the right guard and tackle. It almost worked both times as well. The first time I saw it, Lanier looked like he would able to get an easy sack, but Ioannidis was pushed back into Lanier which messed up Lanier’s path to the quarterback. This time Lanier gets to the QB cleanly, but Gabbert gets the ball out just in time. Kendall Fuller ended up getting a pass interference call on him.
#8) Anthony Lanier batted pass pic.twitter.com/EJ8f2h6mdx
— SKINSSCOUT (@SKINS_SCOUT) December 23, 2017
Anthony Lanier started seeing some double teams here and there throughout the game. He gets one here, but is able to get in the passing lane again to knock the ball down for the third time. Lanier consistently has his hands up trying to bat down a ball, which is something I don’t see in the others as often. That can also be a negative though as slower linemen are often taught to get their hands up if they are not getting pressure on the quarterback.
Overall he played very well vs the Cardinals. He has some things to clean up like every other player, but he has continued to make plays. I think the Redskins have a solid player in Lanier that can at least be a role player or backup in the NFL if not anything more.