Week 15 By Design: Breaking down Sunday's best plays

Here is a look at the well-designed and well-executed plays from Week 15:

Passing Design of the Week: Vikings' O-line fools Dolphins

The Minnesota Vikings spent much of Week 15 dealing with upheaval.

After scoring just 17 combined points in back-to-back losses, the team fired offensive coordinator John DeFilippo and gave quarterbacks coach Kevin Stefanski the interim title. And Minnesota's offense looked much improved - at least for one week - during a 41-17 win over the Miami Dolphins.

A big part of that success was the Vikings' rushing attack, which gained more than 200 yards against the Dolphins. As a result, Minnesota was able to execute play-action passes more effectively, as seen on this touchdown connection between Kirk Cousins and Stefon Diggs.

The play begins with the Vikings facing a second-and-7 on the Dolphins' 13-yard line. They come out with three receivers in a bunch to the right, including Diggs, who's running a corner route while Cousins fakes the handoff:

NFL/CBS

The key to successful play-action passes is selling the second- and third-level defenders on the run fake. And while the quarterback and running back are the obvious players involved, the offensive line is just as important, because linebackers and safeties are taught to read their movements to quickly identify a run versus a pass.

When the ball is snapped, right guard Mike Remmers pulls across to the left, which imitates a run-blocking scheme. That action helps fool the linebackers and safeties, who move toward the line of scrimmage, leaving Diggs all alone behind them:

From there, the Vikings would cruise and keep themselves in the NFC's final playoff spot. Moving forward, they'll need Stefanski to continue the offensive success in Week 16 against the Detroit Lions.

Rushing Design of the Week: Steelers' counter toss springs Samuels

In a huge test following three straight losses, the Pittsburgh Steelers stayed in the playoff picture by grinding out a 17-10 victory over the New England Patriots.

Reserve running back Jaylen Samuels played a major role by carrying the ball 19 times for 142 yards, as a tweak to the game plan helped propel his big performance. Over the years, the Steelers have dominated by running counter handoffs; on Sunday they began those counters with a toss:

NFL/CBS

The Patriots pride themselves on playing disciplined run defense, as they aim to set the edge and prevent ball-carriers from getting outside. This design from the Steelers takes advantage of that, as it gives the running back a clear cutback element from right to left with a blocker in front of him:

In the end-zone angle below, you can see how the blocking sets up, with tight end Vance McDonald (No. 89) leading to the left ahead of Samuels:

The Steelers used this type of counter toss multiple times against the Patriots, which led to a number of chunk gains. And in the end, they came away with a hard-fought victory.

Pressure Design of the Week: Colts stunt on Cowboys

A surprising result in Week 15 was the Indianapolis Colts ending the Dallas Cowboys' five-game winning streak with a 23-0 victory. The Colts' defense pressured Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott throughout the contest, sacking him twice.

As we highlighted way back in our Week 2 preview piece, the Cowboys struggled to move the ball when facing multiple tackle/end exchange stunts in their season opener against the Carolina Panthers. The Colts must have studied tape from that game because they used a similar design to sack Prescott on a third-and-9 in the second quarter.

On this play, the Colts initially show pressure but then rush just four. However, they are running stunts on both ends of the line:

NFL/FOX

On one side, the defensive end is rushing upfield while the interior lineman loops around him to the edge. On the other side, the interior lineman - rookie Tyquan Lewis (red arrow) - is rushing upfield while the defensive end loops around him to the middle. Lewis is actually meant to occupy the center and the guard, but his bull rush is so powerful that he ends up with the sack:

Had Lewis not sacked Prescott first, it's likely that Denico Autry - who was looping behind him - would have gotten there thanks to the path created by former. Either way, their combination of movement and power was too much for the Cowboys to handle.

Coverage Design of the Week: Byard's perfect read leads to INT

The Tennessee Titans stayed in the AFC playoff race with a key 17-0 road victory over the New York Giants. The Titans consistently frustrated Eli Manning in a performance that included this impressive interception by safety Kevin Byard.

For this play, the Titans are in a Cover 2 Man scheme - two safeties splitting the deep part of the field's width and five underneath players in man coverage - with Byard responsible for the deep right side. The Giants are running a post/out combination to Byard's side, with the expectation that the post route will occupy him toward the middle and therefore take him away from the out route (red arrow):

NFL/CBS

However, Byard recognizes the concept and peels off the post route, beating the intended target to the sideline to snare the interception. Manning clearly expects a one-on-one matchup in man coverage, but the safety provides help and erases New York's scoring threat:

Game Plan of the Week - Mike Tomlin, Pittsburgh Steelers

Facing a potentially devastating hit to their playoff chances, the Steelers pulled together and survived against the Patriots despite mostly quiet afternoons from star receivers Antonio Brown and JuJu Smith-Schuster.

On offense, Pittsburgh did so by grinding out drives and employing the type of counter toss we highlighted above. Defensively, the Steelers pressured Tom Brady with multiple blitz packages and twist designs while using coverage schemes that bracketed Rob Gronkowski and eliminated Josh Gordon. It was a masterful job by head coach Mike Tomlin and his entire staff.

Mark Schofield writes NFL feature content for theScore. After nearly a decade of practicing law in the Washington, D.C., area Mark changed careers and started writing about football. Drawing upon more than a decade of playing quarterback, including at the collegiate level, Mark focuses his work on quarterback evaluation and offensive scheme analysis. He lives in Maryland with his wife and two children. Find him on Twitter @MarkSchofield.

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