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Zone scheming things up

(free style)

When talking about zone scheme plays the general rule is that the offensive line blocks in one direction. This play os schemed this way and has evolved over the years, and is still yet to be perfected. So for example if we call inside zone right the right tackle is blocking the defensive end the guard and center will double team to the play side linebacker(the right side linebacker) the left guard will have the backside defensive tackle, and the left tackle will have the player in the B gap which will be either the defensive end or linebacker. The purpose of the inside zone is for the running back to find a way to run on the inside of the lineman blocking, obviously the running back is responsible for getting as many yards as possible, they will usually find a hole to run through and pick up a good amount of yards.

(Picture- This picture shows the general assignments for each type of run play. Some are left out but this is a general concept of all run plays talked about in this freestyle post.)

For the outside zone the scheme is the same: the ball just is targeted to go outside. So for this play you want your offensive line to secure the play side so Outside zone right you want them to hook the right side of the players so the running back has the side of the field to work with.

Another kind of run you can scheme up is an option run. This is when the quarterback has the option to hand it to the running back or run it up the field himself. This play has not always been a thing, but it is evolving more and more in football in today’s game. The point of this play is to utilize your team’s athletes and to keep the defense guessing in terms of their game plan.

A Lot of these plays depend on what the defense is doing. Some defenses you will see a 4-2-5, 3-3-5, 4-3, or a 3-4 defense. These numbers are quite simple. When saying a 4-2-5 defense the first number is how many down lineman, in this case 4, how many linebackers 2, and safeties/ cornerbacks 5. So 3-3-5 is 3 lineman, 3 linebackers, and 5 safeties. What the defense runs depends on where blocking combinations go, because doing things on a base 4-2-5, and applying the same rules for a 3-3 there is one less guy on the line and one more guy for the linebackers. Something is going to get messed up so really there are plays within plays in football. Meaning there are many different ways to block every play.

[playbyplay-74]

Gapping the run schemes

(free style)

Gap scheme runs include things such as power, counter, wham plays, dives, etc. (You can look up play art of other plays mentioned. The one below is an A gap power play.)

(picture)

The picture above shows a variation of gap scheme play variation. The good thing about being a coach is that you can decide who pulls for the linebacker, and where he wants the running back to run. The play above is an A gap power play where the left guard pulls around to the A gap and kicks out the Linebacker, the center back blocks the nose guard, the right guard and right tackle double team the defensive tackle up to the backside linebacker and the tackle fills the b gap while maintaining the outside pressure guy.

Another similar gap scheme play off of this play is a counter play. Counter is when you fake the hand off one way and give it back the correct way. The play in theory is blocked the same, but is also different. The play is a B to C gap play and instead of the guard pulling for the linebacker he is kicking the defensive end on the opposite side he is on out and securing the inside. The ball can run anywhere from the B gap to the C depending on what the defensive scheme is.

[playbyplay-74]

"Run the damn ball"- every offensive line coach in America

(free style)

When talking about the offensive side of Football there are really two things the offense collectively can do and that is either run or pass the ball. Running the ball is when The quarterback hands the ball off to someone in the backfield. The offensive line and whoever is not getting the ball handed to them, except the quarterback, is expected to block their assignment. An offensive run game depends on what type of run you decide to run.

As a coach you can run a zone scheme run or a gap scheme run. A zone scheme run refers to the outside zone or inside zone. This is a blocking concept meant to tell the offensive line how to block so the running back can make a play and gain yards.

A gap scheme run is meant for the run to hit a specific gap. Coaches teach it so that in between each side of an offensive lineman is a lettered gap and they design plays for the running back to hit the gap and gain yards. Hence the reason these types of run plays are called gap scheme runs.

(picture of gaps)

[playbyplay-74]

Reviewing My Peers in an Article?

The article Experiences of Peak Performance in Elite American Football is a great article and it contributes what it is like to experience being good and elite in football. What it takes for you, the reader, to be a good football player and a good teammate. The authors of this article are Gillham, Andy, and Stone, Craig. The sections in this article are intro, methods, conclusion, and a work cited. It individualizes each topic into a subheading and goes over what it is, and how your actions should represent that topic. This article was released March 2020 and the thesis is “Peak performance as a phenomenon is a state of superior functioning allowing athletes to perform at their highest levels, attaining outstanding results”. The audience is athletes looking to have peak performance in football, and are looking to elevate their game past their competition and be able to succeed at the next level. The source of this article is Sport Psychologist.

The article gives a section of key words which I found very important, because it allows for you to realize what is really being focused on in this article. The list consisted of “automaticity; mental skills; phenomenological interview”. As you can see this is going to be an article about athletic performance. The source used for this article was a kind of source used by looking things up like an athlete phycology google. The article focused on understanding the phenomenon of peak performance through interviews with 16 football players. They then took all the information and put them into 18 different categories that each football player talked about when talking about performing at a high level.

[playbyplay-74]

Watching football is fun

The big question in “The Tuck Rule” The Man In The Arena is did Tom Brady fumble the ball or is it an incomplete pass? The documentary was on the 2002 patriots and Tom Brady’s path to his first NFL championship. The Patriots played the Raiders in the Divisional Round of the playoffs and this is where our conspiracy begins. On the other side of the Patriots is the Raiders Charles Woodson. Charles Woodson was a generational talent that played with Tom Brady in college.

It’s the 4th quarter the patriots are down 13-3, if you know who Tom Brady is he made his money in his career off of drives like this. With 10 minutes left in the 4th quarter Tom Brady rushes for a short touchdown run. With the score being 13-10 now the Raiders play passively on 4th and 1 and punt the ball back to the patriots with nearly 2 minutes left in the game. It’s 2nd and 3 yards for the first with 1:58 left in the game and Charles Woodson comes rushing off of the edge without Brady knowing he goes and sacks him for what should be a fumble. There was controversy on the call and within two minutes the officials must review with each other on the call. The Raiders thinking they sealed the game off of the strip sack were in awe from what the Referee’s agreed upon, but they ruled it an incomplete pass due to the “tuck rule”. The Patriots with the ball back now score 3 points on that drive to send it to overtime, and end up winning the game in overtime. They then end up continuing their momentum from that close win and win the Super Bowl. The tuck rule was then removed from the NFL directly after this season ended. Many Raiders fans and players still hold the question if they got robbed of a Super Bowl till this day.

They bring both Tom Brady and Charles Woodson into Tom’s home to watch the game over and reminisce on what could have been for the raiders. Charles Woodson obviously saying it's a fumble and Tom Brady saying it's an incomplete pass this is the type of call you will never hear the end of it. If you ask anyone who is not a Patriots fan or a Tom Brady fan they will say it is a fumble. They did over the documentary and Tom Brady jokingly calls everyone who disagrees with him a Raiders fan.

The documentary used Tom Brady and Charles Woodson to show the two key players in the game and on the play. The documentary I’d say was more in favor of Tom Brady due to it being a TV series on major events in his career but he did contradict himself when trying to explain the incomplete pass. They tried to make Tom the hero and Charles the villain.

( The image above is Tom Brady's former college teammate Charles Woodson making the iconic play to stop the Patriots from a game winning drive. The call after remains a mystery till this day)

I like the fact that they had the referee that called the controversial call explain why he called it an incomplete pass and I also like the fact that he explained that he never refereed a game for the Raiders again. I found that funny.

I think for the audience the documentary was trying to make people feel closure about the call and tried to stop the idea that the NFL is rigged. Although I believe that it just made matters worse by bringing it up nearly twenty years later and realizing that there was a lot lost for the Raiders.

What I learned from this documentary was that there are many more controversial calls and plays. Which made me realize that football is literally a game of inches when it comes down to close games like such. There are many more examples of teams losing due to literally an inch and their seasons being over. I also learned that there is a lot of controversy around Tom Brady and the NFL. There are a lot of situations that Tom Brady has been in and has bent the rules which cost other teams potential championships.

[playbyplay-74]

News MAD LIBS

The news article I used for this assignment was "The NFL world blasted the officials for a controversial late holding call that had otherwise avoided all game". This article was about a late penalty called in a big game, which solidified a win for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Some people think this was a biased call and called it "rigged" due to the fact that the officials managing the game did not make any calls during the game except this one.

The article is written by Scott Davis. Scott Davis is a senior sports reporter for the Business Insider. Which is a valuable leaning news source with a primary target audience interested in football. The Insider has a wide audience and is a major news source with many categories within the news outlets. These categories are Business, Life, News, Reviews, and miscellaneous. The Article was published on the Insider website on January 24, 2021 at 7:21 pm. At this time it was directly after the game the article was posted.

However, it remains to be seen whether the author is biased or not. With the context of this article I found a big phrase that stated” While the call was correct, many in the NFL world criticized the officials for avoiding calls all game”. The call he is speaking about is a very minuscule hold on the receiver and when you watch Football games you will find much worse that is not called.

This shows that the officials chose the smallest little thing to solidify a big win and cost the Packers a trip to the Super bowl while doing it. The Buccaneers that season ended up winning the NFL championship and that leaves the big questions for packers fans still upset about this call. The author in this case I believe wanted the buccaneers to win due to his phrase stated before, and he talks bad on how the packers played all game. Seems to me like a Brady fan.

Other sources have presented the same information with different biases by the way they go about the situation and the tone in their writing.Overall this source is kind of on the Buccaneers side due to him degrading the Packers play during the game and overly agreeing with the officials for making this call. The article is limited but brings up bigger questions like, What would the score be if more penalties were called? Is the NFL really rigging games? What would happen if they did not call that controversial play?

[playbyplay-74]

Scavenging for the research blog

When doing my research for the library scavenger I found that this assignment was way simpler than expected. My discoveries were that the library did have many books on sports, and important books on sports.My research included that there are many resources this school has for a wide variety of topics.

I found that Vince Lombardi made books on football, Vince Lombardi has the Super Bowl Trophy named after him. The five time NFL campion was an elite coach well before his time. I can do a whole post on Vince and how he impacted the game, but for now I am explaining my research.

I discovered the spread offense and why it became a thing. The spread offense is becoming more and more common in football. Spread offense spreads out the players and allows you to run or pass the ball in given situations the defense shows you. In high school most schools who have an established program with good coaching will run the spread offense.

I met a really cool referenced librarian while doing this project and she was really nice and informative. She showed me where everything was on the site and helped me find almost everything on the scavenger hunt. Although I had almost everything done before she still reassured me not knowing that I did it all. That shows how helpful she was. I believe her name is Kristi but it is hard to read her handwriting on my paper.

The library organized my topic in a smart way because they had all of the sports books in one area separated by sport. The football books were all in one section, followed by volleyball, and followed by a bunch of others. I feel that the library's resources have no limitations toward my topic, and actually are allowing me to prevail in this class due to the abundance of resources it has.

[playbyplay-74]

There are not many ways to start this blog without confusing you. The purpose of this blog is to go over different plays run in football, offensively and defensively. In order to do so I am going to provide some prior knowledge. There are two sides of football, offense and defense.

When your team is on Offense you have the ball and you are trying to score. Offensive positions are quarterback, running back, tight end, fullback, wide receivers, offensive tackle, guard, and center. Offensive plays are more for trying to maneuver people to the right spots to score.

Your goal on defense is to stop the offense from scoring. On defense the positions are free and strong safety, cornerbacks, linebackers, defensive end, and defensive tackle. Defensive plays try to confuse the offense to make them second guess their assignment and mess up the play they originally wanted to run.

(Image)

The photo above is a photo of the Air Force’s offense taking the field. What each position does on offense depends on what type of play you run which is what this blog is about.

A quarterback's position is simple but complex at the same time. In a game you're going to see a quarterback either hand the ball off, run, or pass the ball. Their job is complex because they have to know everything about the play they’re running and guess what the defense is doing.

A runningback’s job is to either run the ball, go out for a pass, or block. Their job is one of the hardest on the field due to them being the ones constantly getting hit. Wide Receivers And tight ends job is to either block or go out for a pass.

Tight ends and fullbacks usually are more of a blocking position, but they have the luxury of also going out for passes. An Offensive line includes two tackles, two guards, and a center.

An offensive line's job is to pass block or run block either way these five guys up front are what determines if a play gets a big gain or not. A center is the middle guy in between the two guards and the tackles are the two guys on the outside of the line. The center snaps to the ball of the quarterback, so he is obviously the coolest lineman.

(Image)

The image above is a picture of Iowa State’s defense and it has a label for each position. Defensive positions are much more simple. The good safeties on defense are like the quarterback on offense.

A good safety is supposed to know what everyone is doing on defense, safeties are the last line of defense for a defense to stop the offense. Usually they are in pass coverage although it can depend on what defense scheme the team is running.

Cornerbacks are lined up against anyone on offense that can go out for a pass, and their job is to stop the offense from completing a pass. There is a lot of pressure on corners due to great quarterbacks making great plays, sometimes there’s just nothing you can do about giving up a touchdown.

Linebackers are the craziest position on defense. Linebackers, similarly to running backs, are probably the hardest position on defense due to the fact that they are responsible for stopping the run and not letting a pass up in the middle of the field. They usually make the most tackles on the defense.

Defensive ends and tackles have common goals. Sack the quarterback! Their job is to disrupt an offensive lineman's job whether it is run or pass and try to get a tackle for loss or sack.

In conclusion when reading future posts you can always refer back to this one when you are confused about future terminology. I will also go over things again in future posts but if you are looking for the basics here it is. In future posts I will be re-explaining things, talking about the history of some plays, I will be mentioning defensive schemes, and people who run the plays in today’s game.