Football analysis and strategy from Chris B. Brown
“A very wise coach once told me, ‘If you really want play-action, you better pull a guard’” — Andrew Luck and Robert Griffin III agree
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“A very wise coach once told me, ‘If you really want play-action, you better pull a guard’” — Andrew Luck and Robert Griffin III agree
The title is a quote from former Stanford and current San Francisco 49ers offensive coordinator Greg Roman, from the video clip below. And it’s absolutely true. While much is rightfully made about whether a quarterback does an effective job of selling a run fake on play-action, the reality is that the offensive line plays just…
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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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What are the basic principles of dropback pass protection?
Pass protection is a deep and varied subject, but at least a little can be said to understand the very high-level basics of how the pass rush/pass protection chess match plays out on a given play. Essentially, there are two types of protection schemes: (1) area or zone schemes, and (2) man schemes. Some protections blend…
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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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Smart Notes – Tressel, Triple Inside Fire Zones – 3/15/2011
I’m generally not a fan of sentencing guidelines, but the Jim Tressel, Cam Newton, and other stories indicate to me that some kind of guidelines would be helpful, even if they were entirely advisory. The upshot of what I mean is that it’d be nice if we, as the football populace, knew that if you…
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Smart Football Super Bowl Preview: Manning vs. Brees
Give the media two weeks before the Super Bowl and they will find every weird angle to take to fill the void: Who has the best food (uh, not Indianapolis); what U.S. Presidents are like what Super Bowl (In a matchup between Super Bowl III, with Broadway Joe, against Thomas Jefferson, the third President, Jefferson…
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On Florida’s offensive struggles, especially in pass protection
Read all about it over at Yahoo!’s Dr Saturday. Thanks as always to the Doc for the digital space.
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Aaron Rodgers: “For better pass protection, we need fewer blockers.”
Spread offense aficionados rejoice — who needs blockers? From the Green Bay Press-Gazette: With a couple of days to think about what went wrong in Sunday’s 31-24 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals — a game in which Rodgers was sacked six times and hit 10 times despite a game plan that relied heavily on six-…
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