Maggs44 said:
gawntrail said:
The most athletic QBs are in the NFC (VICK, MCNABB, CULPEPPER), while the gunslingers are in the AFC (MANNING, BRADY, BLEDSOE).
Some good observations M.
I'd like to add Jake Plummer to the list, he's looking like a bit of a gunslinger too. I thought only Brett Favre tries to sling it left handed from his own goal line
Though I am a Packer fan through and through, I think Denver looked as good as any team last weekend. KC was supposed to be so great, but Denver sure looked like a much better team.
A little Football 101 for those of you that are interested,
If you're looking to be an OLine coach..........Denver would be a good team to emulate. Lean and quick 265 pounders that can get up on LBs will get you more bang for the buck than 330 pound anchors out on the edges trying to protect a QBs backside.
A strong Running attack makes the QBs job that much easier. Ask any coach at any level.........."Coach, what makes an offense successful?" The answer will always be along the lines of, "establishing the ground game between the tackles, gaining 4+ on first down, converting 2nd and 3rd downs, and catching the ball when it is thrown to you." Pretty simple. How they do it is the complicated part.
Let's look at a basic West Coast Offense passing play. Developed and perfected by Bill Walsh, Joe Montana and the glory years 49ers.
The play is actually the same at all three levels (HS, College, and Pro)
Here's an example:
High School offensive play call:
<Near Right Flex Zip 80 Wildcat>
Near Right - I formation (Z receiver off the line out to the right, X receiver on the line out to the left - TE (Y) Right) - FB aligned behind the Right Guard/Tackle Gap
Flex - Y is spread out 5 yards from right tackle and is up in a WR stance
Zip - Z motions into formation and releases just inside the flexed Y
80 - 5 step action w/ Big on Big blocking up front.
Wildcat - Z has the 6 yard cross - X has a deep post to blow the top off of coverage - Y has the 8 yard curl over the B gap - Tailback checks for blitz from inside out and then releases into a swing route (Left side of the formation) - FB check releases from inside out into a 3 yard out (Right side of the Formation) - QB reads the Mike Backer (MLB) if he back peddles he hits the cross under the LBs - if the Mike takes away the cross the Qb hits the Y on the Curl behind him - If the Mike drifts either way, the QB hits the back out to the opposite side.
Now the College offensive play call:
<Trips Right Nub -Shift- to Near Right Flex Zip 80 Wildcat X Hot Slant on 2>
The play is the same with these additions:
Trips Right - Y is flexed and Z is normal and now the FB is in the Right Slot
Nub - X is in tight on the left
Shift to - Now move to Near Right Flex
**Shifting gets a good pre snap read on what the secondary coverage is and if a LB is Hot (Blitzing)
X Hot Slant - If X sees a LB Blitz that is not accounted for in the Pass Protection, he cuts off his route from a deep post to a quick slant.
At the College level there is also Option routes depending on Coverages and DB techniques. They are too numerous to describe, but any given pass play has about 3 options per route runner. Thus the term used by the announcers "on the same page".
Now the Pro Call:
<Shift to Near Right Twins Zebra-Zip 80 Wildcat Option X Hot Slant>
Again the play is the same but the following:
Shift to - Align where you want as long as 7 men are on the LOS and there is a single back somewhere between the tackles
Twins - The Z is now in the left slot
Zebra-Zip - Zebra motion across the formation out to about 10 yards past the flexed Y, turn back and regular Zip motion for a release just inside the flexed Y
Option - All routes are Option routes in the NFL. According to film study and Down and Distance tendancies is what route(s) will actually be run (thus the importance of 'berng on the same page')
I hope you enjoyed West Coast Offense 101. This was just one play. Our HS has 16 Formations, (6) 80 series pass plays, (5) 90 series pass plays (3 step action with slide protection up front), and 8 running plays (19 plays). Each and every play can be run to both sides (38 plays) and can be run from at least 3 different formations (for a total of ~342 possible combinations). And that is a simplistic HS level West Coast Offense.
Colleges are somewhere near 500 possible combinations, and the average NFL West Coast team has about 1300 possible combinations - mostly due to the option routes and Blitz Hot routes. This is the very reason most studly college QBs cannot transition to the NFL. AND why you hear that NFL coaches have 18 hour days and troubled family lives.
Most NFL teams have a potluck approach to offense because of personnel matchups week to week. There are very few 'pure systems' being run in the NFL. Now College and HS success is predicated on sticking to a fluid system. You cannot have success at the HS or College level with the potluck approach. The NFL can because of the parody of talent.
Enough for now. Too much information for most fans, but those that trully know football, these are the nuts and bolts.
The coach is in,
M. Gipson