Football analysis and strategy from Chris B. Brown
Mastering the Sack
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Mastering the Sack
I recently stumbled across some pretty nifty cut-up videos of NFL sacks, which highlight the effort, techniques and schemes that result in losses for offenses. It’s an understudied area, as sacks and pressures that move the QB off the spot and force bad throws or decisions are often seen as results rather than processes: it…
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Beating the Blitz with the One-Back Offense (Bob Bratkowski)
The original one-back offense, the one that can trace its roots back to Jack Neumeier at Granada Hills high school and was popularized by Dennis Erickson, is both one of history’s best offenses and was a forerunner to today’s dynamic spread attacks. Bob Bratkowski, currently the offensive coordinator for the Jacksonville Jaguars, has been one…
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Smart Links – Strategery Round-Up – 2/27/2012
Strong Scrape Fire Zone and Fire Zone Adjustments: I have borrowed a lot from Manny Diaz when it comes to Fire Zone adjustments. There are many adjustments that can be run, which include having the DT being a dropper at times, but there are two adjustments that I think are the most important. Diaz talks…
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Smart Links – Strategery Round-Up: two-tight ends, the 3-4 defense, rocket toss and “Iso” – 12/8/2011
Old school Green Bay Packers’ use of two-tight ends: – Two good links from Ron Jenkins: Base combination concepts for any passing offense The multiple West Coast passing offense – Wisdom from Woody Hayes: [W]hen I first starting coaching listening to Woody Hayes talk about designing an offense. He talked about you start with your…
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Grantland: How and why Jim Harbaugh eliminated sight-adjustments in the 49ers passing game to make it go
It’s up over at Grantland: A key reason for this is that Harbaugh has made the passing game easier for Smith, particularly when it comes to beating the blitz. Of course, coaches often say they are “simplifying the playbook,” but Harbaugh has been able to do it coherently and in a way that actually aids…
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Attacking “Psycho” fronts and other blitz heavy defensive looks
When asked earlier this season how he would describe the current trend in modern defenses, New Orleans Saints coach Sean Payton summed it up in one word: “confusion.” While there are few truly “new” ideas in football, there is a near infinite number of ways to hide, disguise, or slightly vary those ideas. One increasingly…
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Bobby Petrino’s shallow cross concept – concepts, routes, and protection
The shallow cross is, quite possibly, the best pass play in football: Almost any quarterback can complete it; almost any receiver can run it (though there is more nuance than maybe one might initially realize to a good shallow route); it is a way to get “speed in space” without requiring a big arm; it…
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Anatomy of a game winner – TCU-Wisconsin
Sometimes you can scheme it up, even execute it up, and then some guy named Tank bats the ball down and you go home a loser. On the final two-point play, TCU had this defensive blitz on: On the two-point play, TCU made two errors: the weak safety failed to cover the tight-end/innermost slot to…
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The “smash” route against man coverage
I have previously discussed the smash concept, where an outside receiver runs a short flat or “hitch” route while an inside receiver breaks to the corner. The play works well against cover two zones in particular because it puts the cornerback in a bind: if he plays the man in front of him he opens…
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You be the offensive coordinator/quarterback: Dealing with the blitz
In my most recent post for Dr Saturday I discussed some of Florida’s struggles on offense. The particular topic was some of Florida’s struggles in pass protection in all phases: accounting for potential rushers, sustaining the blocks, the receivers getting open on time, and the quarterback delivering the ball on time. In the post I…
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