Week 6’s Jets vs. Broncos match-up featured another two Julius Thomas Touchdowns, his 8th and 9th of the season. The second TD came from a formation and play the Broncos have fallen in love with in the Red Zone, a simple backside slant from the “Dakota” formation (also known as X-Iso). The Broncos have clearly revealed a tendency from this formation; the question is whether anybody can stop it. The Dakota formation features 3 Wide Receivers split wide to one side, with a Tight End split out alone as the backside Receiver. Given the Broncos personnel, the defenses must make tough decisions. Multiple defenses have decided to cover backside Tight End Julius Thomas with a Safety with no other defensive back to the lone Receiver side. The Broncos have repeatedly attacked this defense with a basic slant route. Here is a freeze frame of last year’s Chiefs v. Broncos game using a Dakota formation:
Via Bleacher Report
This play resulted in a Touchdown via a Julius Thomas backside slant route. Fast forward to week 1 of the 2014 season. The Colts see the Dakota formation and decide to play Safety LaRon Landry in Man-to-Man coverage. Julius Thomas runs a slant again: