Smoke Pass

This play took place during the 2nd quarter of the Bengals week 4 loss to the Patriots. Until this point the Bengals had employed a balanced attack of 7 rushes and 7 passes, but they were trailing the Patriots 10-0. Chad Johnson had only been targeted once, with most of the passes being either short stuff to WRs or dump-offs to RBs.

This drive started with three Kenny Watson runs for 8, 3, and 2 yards. The Bengals had reserve guard Scott Kooistra in the game as an extra right tackle and were using the no-huddle to push the pace of the game.





The Patriots had a 3-3-5 nickel package on the field, but in this play they responded to the Kenny Watson runs by stacking eight players along the line of scrimmage, with the three cornerbacks playing 10 yards off their men.

Carson Palmer noticed how big a cushion the RCB (Ellis Hobbs) was giving Johnson, and the two made eye contact before the snap. That seemed to be enough to change the play from the run they had called, to a short "smoke" pass. Johnson started to sprint off the line, but then stopped after one yard and received a pass from Palmer, who had simply taken the snap and thrown immediately. Johnson then used his athleticism to make Hobbs miss in the open field, and was only brought down on the 1 yard line by the FS (Eugene Wilson).