Mitch
Crawled Through 5 FB Fields
If you spent the day watching the NFC West teams and fruitlessly rooting for three hapless looking opponents in the Bears, Chargers and Raiders...I can commiserate with the ever-growing sense of frustration you incurred over the course of 7 hours, which included 5 minute replay delays on plays where it was clear after one 10 second replay that the WR's foot was half way across the sideline.
When you watch teams you cannot stand play...it's all the more unbearable to sit through the copious delays, the 24 Appleby's 2 for $20 commercials along the way...that and every kind of truck commercial imaginable...
We put up with it better when the team we love is playing...because we really have no choice and most of us can remember when we could not watch the game at all and were forced to reading the twenty minute tickers for 3 hours (man that was more scroll burn and angst than watching the draft for three hour chunks).
The NFL should get its act together and clean this mess up. Games are no longer even close to 3 hours long...in fact many of them are just starting the 4th quarter after 3 hours...and this is depsite the fact that now it's almost impossible to get the clock stopped, save for an incompleted pass.
Anyway...I could go on and on...the product is losing its polish...there's very little momentum to games any more...and that's making this spectator sport very spectator unfriendly.
All this said and vented...if you spent the 7 hours as I did, you may be thinking the same thing as I am today: we have our hands full. I think that is about as euphemistically as I can put it.
While I am not ready to commit to this notion myself...it did occur to me that strong cases can be made that the Cardinals may possibly have both the worst offense and the worst defense in the division.
Yet...the reason why at this point the question is relatively moot is that, as the Cardinals are proving, you can show up at the right times, get lucky in some and totally bail out at others and still be in a tie for first place.
However, in the past two years the Cardinals would still be alone in first place, possibly by two games.
This year is different because the talent is catching up...the organizations are getting more aggressive in adding personnel...the quarterbacking is stronger, as are the defenses and special teams.
Seahawks:
* Matt Hasselbeck is the best and most proven QB in the division, now that he is healthy again and that Warner is retired.
* Unlike the Cardinals who tend to sit on the hands once the season starts, personnel-wise (because they preach the Steeler model of building depth from within regardless of glaring in-season needs), the Seahawks made what could have been the move that wins the NFC West this past week by acquiring RB Marshawn Lynch...and practically breaking even on the deal by fleecing a 4th round pick out of the Patriots for underachieving, egregiously overpaid WR Deion Branch.
* Adding Lynch is real boon to Hasselbeck as it allows him to avoid 3rd and longs and the pounding that come with that.
* It's no coincidence that adding Lynch paved the way for their first road win under Pete Carroll---who seems to be pacing the sidelines as spritely and giddily as ever.
* Their real Achilles heel is in their secondary where they are susceptible to giving up big passing plays and total yardage.
* But, they did one clever thing on defense that Mike Martz, the Bears' o-line and Jay Cutler never adjusted to...they dropped one of the safeties down to the unprotected side (the side opposite of where the RB lined up next to Cutler in the shotgun), and just that one safety blitz call ruined 3-4 Bears' drives as the safety had a clear unimpeded shot at Cutler each time and Cutler was taken by surprise and either got immediate sacked or got panicked and then threw the ball away.
Note: knowing how Whiz doesn't even chip DEs...this Seahawk scheme will hurt the Cardinals similarly if the team isn't prepared for it.
What do you do?
It's actually quite simple. You do one of 5 things.
(1) Before the snap you move the RB over to the safety's side.
(2) You motion the TE over to the FS side...which the Seahawks will counter by not blitzing the FS who will instead pick up the TE man to man...in which case they could blitz the LB/S who was orginally assigned to the TE, but at least you still have your RB to that side so it won't be a clean shot at the QB.
(3) You audible...and roll away from that side...with the center cutting off the backside blitz.
(4) You have the T/G/C trio to that side call switch, where the T takes the FS and the G takes the DE and the C takes the DT...which leaves the middle open, but when the switch call is made the RB knows that picking up the blitz up the middle is his priority.
(5) You audible and run a slip screen to the RB to the Blitzing FS side!
OR---even easier---you line up in a 2 man backfield, the way the Cardinals were doing with THT and Fitz and then motion one where you want him.
* On the Seahawks' offense, you have to defend the Mike Williams Show...what they do is as simple as it gets, something Warner and Fitz would do left and right. You have the WR take whatever the CB was giving him. Yesterday, despite giving up 3 or 4 easy third down conversions to Williams on a simple slant play, CB Charles Tillman never shaded Williams to the inside, thus giving Williams the easy slant all day. The problem is once Williams has the inside position, you cannot defend the pass. Williams is too big and tall...you can't maneuver around him.
So...what Hasselbeck and Williams were ready for was the occasion where Tillman would take away the slant and then they would throw the fade up and over Tillman.
The fade is a tougher pass to complete, especially to a QB's left...but it's a safer pass than the slant in that there's no way a safety can defend it unless he is lined up directly behind the CB to begin with (which never happens, except in the prevent defense)...whereas on the slant---a safety can slide down from the hash and gamble...something you usually want to avoid, for sure.
If it were me...I would play Toler all day on Williams and I would play him straight up as Tillman did, only on third down situations I would line Calais Campbell up to Williams' side and make Hasselbeck have to throw over or around Campbell.
The thing you worry about with the fade is pass interference because when the CB chases he cannot look back for the ball and if the WR stops to fight back for the ball the CB runs into him and it's an instant flag.
* The amazing thing about the Seahawks yesterday was how they basically rode those two simple bread and butter plays (the FS blitz--open edge---and the Williams Slant/Fade option) to victory...it was kind of like when an NBA team just simply beats you on the pick and roll.
Rams
* The Rams are legit...because they play consistently solid defense (most so in the division by far---save last week---but 5/6 weeks gives them the nod) under Steve Spagnuolo and they are getting smooth, unruffled QB play out of rookie Sam Bradford, and along the way a big, dreadlocked RB named Steven Jackson slides and skates for 100 yards. Ever notice how Jackson runs???...he doesn't...he skates...it's so weird to watch...he has such tremendous body control he just skates away from the first tackler by taking a hard jab with his lead leg and then tries to stop and reskate to avoid the second tackler...and as big as he is, he rarely takes a big hit.
* The Rams' secondary is a real strength...CB Ron Bartell and FS Oshi Otogwe are a prolific tandem...they shut down the Chargers yesterday...and having a much improved pass rush with Chris Long and James Hall at DE...QBs have to make quick reads and throw into some very tight windows...which Philip Rivers elected not to do and thus took what 7 sacks?
49ers
* I hate to say this but I don't think Alex Smith has played as badly as some people are insisting. In fact, I think he played well enough to win at least two other games...but bad breaks and a bad play here and there have made the difference.
There is a great deal of credence to the relation between Smith's progress and the fact that he's had what now 7 offensive coordinators in 6 years? That is insane. He also has two rookies starting in the o-line...good rookies, but rookies nontheless...and between keeping Frank Gore happy while showing equal love to Davis, Morgan and Crabtree...it aint so easy. What I think their biggest problem is is there's only one ball and the head coach and the OC of the week still hasn't figured out whether this is a run-first or open it up offense.
On defense...they are getting especially good play from their oldest two veterans DE Justin Smith and ILB Takeo Spikes. Talk about leadership (and they get it every snap from Patrick Willis---a true stud who is headed to the HOF if he stays healthy)...yet the rest of the unit, as crazily talented as they are, blink off and on like light switches. Parys Haralson will play lights out for a series and then disappear...and the same could be said about Manny Lawson and every member of their secondary.
The trio of kicking tandem Andy Lee and Joe Nedney and PR/KR Ted Ginn is dang good (man so are Donnie Jones, Josh Brown and Joey Amendola).
What jumps out at you is the talent on that team...which means they cannot be counted out at all. They could sweep the rest of their NFC West games and blow everyone out doing it. I will say this---they will believe they can and see this as the real treat of their schedule.
But...and here's the thing...games, as we well know...are not won on paper. There are reasons why the 49ers are 1-5. Part of it is their schedule, which has been challenging...but that opening day clunker up in Seattle was a very poor way to go into the tough stretch of their schedule and it off-set their grand expectations so much they are still trying to recover mentally.
There are so many twists and turns in NFL games---and so many personalities---and players taking games off---and coaches losing their grasps on the players---which, as Chris Berman says, "is why they play the games."
With a good deal of money to spend it would be great of the Cardinals could make a splash trade or two of their own before tomorrow. But...as stated previously...they like the Steelers' model...but the Steelers also have been at it a lot longer and on defense they have a guy named Dick LeBeau whom players run through brick walls for.
I am excited to watch the Cardinals the rest of the way because I like the energy and grit that Max Hall brings...I also am very enamored with the young talent on the team and it's just plain fun watching good young players develop...frustrating, no doubt at times, but fun---because you can dream about the day when the production will become commensurate with the talent. So, here's to watching MAX EFFORT from here on in because it appears that this is what it's going to take to keep our Cardinals atop the NFC West!
When you watch teams you cannot stand play...it's all the more unbearable to sit through the copious delays, the 24 Appleby's 2 for $20 commercials along the way...that and every kind of truck commercial imaginable...
We put up with it better when the team we love is playing...because we really have no choice and most of us can remember when we could not watch the game at all and were forced to reading the twenty minute tickers for 3 hours (man that was more scroll burn and angst than watching the draft for three hour chunks).
The NFL should get its act together and clean this mess up. Games are no longer even close to 3 hours long...in fact many of them are just starting the 4th quarter after 3 hours...and this is depsite the fact that now it's almost impossible to get the clock stopped, save for an incompleted pass.
Anyway...I could go on and on...the product is losing its polish...there's very little momentum to games any more...and that's making this spectator sport very spectator unfriendly.
All this said and vented...if you spent the 7 hours as I did, you may be thinking the same thing as I am today: we have our hands full. I think that is about as euphemistically as I can put it.
While I am not ready to commit to this notion myself...it did occur to me that strong cases can be made that the Cardinals may possibly have both the worst offense and the worst defense in the division.
Yet...the reason why at this point the question is relatively moot is that, as the Cardinals are proving, you can show up at the right times, get lucky in some and totally bail out at others and still be in a tie for first place.
However, in the past two years the Cardinals would still be alone in first place, possibly by two games.
This year is different because the talent is catching up...the organizations are getting more aggressive in adding personnel...the quarterbacking is stronger, as are the defenses and special teams.
Seahawks:
* Matt Hasselbeck is the best and most proven QB in the division, now that he is healthy again and that Warner is retired.
* Unlike the Cardinals who tend to sit on the hands once the season starts, personnel-wise (because they preach the Steeler model of building depth from within regardless of glaring in-season needs), the Seahawks made what could have been the move that wins the NFC West this past week by acquiring RB Marshawn Lynch...and practically breaking even on the deal by fleecing a 4th round pick out of the Patriots for underachieving, egregiously overpaid WR Deion Branch.
* Adding Lynch is real boon to Hasselbeck as it allows him to avoid 3rd and longs and the pounding that come with that.
* It's no coincidence that adding Lynch paved the way for their first road win under Pete Carroll---who seems to be pacing the sidelines as spritely and giddily as ever.
* Their real Achilles heel is in their secondary where they are susceptible to giving up big passing plays and total yardage.
* But, they did one clever thing on defense that Mike Martz, the Bears' o-line and Jay Cutler never adjusted to...they dropped one of the safeties down to the unprotected side (the side opposite of where the RB lined up next to Cutler in the shotgun), and just that one safety blitz call ruined 3-4 Bears' drives as the safety had a clear unimpeded shot at Cutler each time and Cutler was taken by surprise and either got immediate sacked or got panicked and then threw the ball away.
Note: knowing how Whiz doesn't even chip DEs...this Seahawk scheme will hurt the Cardinals similarly if the team isn't prepared for it.
What do you do?
It's actually quite simple. You do one of 5 things.
(1) Before the snap you move the RB over to the safety's side.
(2) You motion the TE over to the FS side...which the Seahawks will counter by not blitzing the FS who will instead pick up the TE man to man...in which case they could blitz the LB/S who was orginally assigned to the TE, but at least you still have your RB to that side so it won't be a clean shot at the QB.
(3) You audible...and roll away from that side...with the center cutting off the backside blitz.
(4) You have the T/G/C trio to that side call switch, where the T takes the FS and the G takes the DE and the C takes the DT...which leaves the middle open, but when the switch call is made the RB knows that picking up the blitz up the middle is his priority.
(5) You audible and run a slip screen to the RB to the Blitzing FS side!
OR---even easier---you line up in a 2 man backfield, the way the Cardinals were doing with THT and Fitz and then motion one where you want him.
* On the Seahawks' offense, you have to defend the Mike Williams Show...what they do is as simple as it gets, something Warner and Fitz would do left and right. You have the WR take whatever the CB was giving him. Yesterday, despite giving up 3 or 4 easy third down conversions to Williams on a simple slant play, CB Charles Tillman never shaded Williams to the inside, thus giving Williams the easy slant all day. The problem is once Williams has the inside position, you cannot defend the pass. Williams is too big and tall...you can't maneuver around him.
So...what Hasselbeck and Williams were ready for was the occasion where Tillman would take away the slant and then they would throw the fade up and over Tillman.
The fade is a tougher pass to complete, especially to a QB's left...but it's a safer pass than the slant in that there's no way a safety can defend it unless he is lined up directly behind the CB to begin with (which never happens, except in the prevent defense)...whereas on the slant---a safety can slide down from the hash and gamble...something you usually want to avoid, for sure.
If it were me...I would play Toler all day on Williams and I would play him straight up as Tillman did, only on third down situations I would line Calais Campbell up to Williams' side and make Hasselbeck have to throw over or around Campbell.
The thing you worry about with the fade is pass interference because when the CB chases he cannot look back for the ball and if the WR stops to fight back for the ball the CB runs into him and it's an instant flag.
* The amazing thing about the Seahawks yesterday was how they basically rode those two simple bread and butter plays (the FS blitz--open edge---and the Williams Slant/Fade option) to victory...it was kind of like when an NBA team just simply beats you on the pick and roll.
Rams
* The Rams are legit...because they play consistently solid defense (most so in the division by far---save last week---but 5/6 weeks gives them the nod) under Steve Spagnuolo and they are getting smooth, unruffled QB play out of rookie Sam Bradford, and along the way a big, dreadlocked RB named Steven Jackson slides and skates for 100 yards. Ever notice how Jackson runs???...he doesn't...he skates...it's so weird to watch...he has such tremendous body control he just skates away from the first tackler by taking a hard jab with his lead leg and then tries to stop and reskate to avoid the second tackler...and as big as he is, he rarely takes a big hit.
* The Rams' secondary is a real strength...CB Ron Bartell and FS Oshi Otogwe are a prolific tandem...they shut down the Chargers yesterday...and having a much improved pass rush with Chris Long and James Hall at DE...QBs have to make quick reads and throw into some very tight windows...which Philip Rivers elected not to do and thus took what 7 sacks?
49ers
* I hate to say this but I don't think Alex Smith has played as badly as some people are insisting. In fact, I think he played well enough to win at least two other games...but bad breaks and a bad play here and there have made the difference.
There is a great deal of credence to the relation between Smith's progress and the fact that he's had what now 7 offensive coordinators in 6 years? That is insane. He also has two rookies starting in the o-line...good rookies, but rookies nontheless...and between keeping Frank Gore happy while showing equal love to Davis, Morgan and Crabtree...it aint so easy. What I think their biggest problem is is there's only one ball and the head coach and the OC of the week still hasn't figured out whether this is a run-first or open it up offense.
On defense...they are getting especially good play from their oldest two veterans DE Justin Smith and ILB Takeo Spikes. Talk about leadership (and they get it every snap from Patrick Willis---a true stud who is headed to the HOF if he stays healthy)...yet the rest of the unit, as crazily talented as they are, blink off and on like light switches. Parys Haralson will play lights out for a series and then disappear...and the same could be said about Manny Lawson and every member of their secondary.
The trio of kicking tandem Andy Lee and Joe Nedney and PR/KR Ted Ginn is dang good (man so are Donnie Jones, Josh Brown and Joey Amendola).
What jumps out at you is the talent on that team...which means they cannot be counted out at all. They could sweep the rest of their NFC West games and blow everyone out doing it. I will say this---they will believe they can and see this as the real treat of their schedule.
But...and here's the thing...games, as we well know...are not won on paper. There are reasons why the 49ers are 1-5. Part of it is their schedule, which has been challenging...but that opening day clunker up in Seattle was a very poor way to go into the tough stretch of their schedule and it off-set their grand expectations so much they are still trying to recover mentally.
There are so many twists and turns in NFL games---and so many personalities---and players taking games off---and coaches losing their grasps on the players---which, as Chris Berman says, "is why they play the games."
With a good deal of money to spend it would be great of the Cardinals could make a splash trade or two of their own before tomorrow. But...as stated previously...they like the Steelers' model...but the Steelers also have been at it a lot longer and on defense they have a guy named Dick LeBeau whom players run through brick walls for.
I am excited to watch the Cardinals the rest of the way because I like the energy and grit that Max Hall brings...I also am very enamored with the young talent on the team and it's just plain fun watching good young players develop...frustrating, no doubt at times, but fun---because you can dream about the day when the production will become commensurate with the talent. So, here's to watching MAX EFFORT from here on in because it appears that this is what it's going to take to keep our Cardinals atop the NFC West!
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