St. Louis Rams Shallow Cross Concepts

While not as prolific as they were just a few years ago, the Rams under offensive coordinator and head coach Mike Martz were maybe the best passing offense of all time. They set a gazillion scoring and passing records, and now teams like the Chiefs and Cardinals run their offense verbatim and others like the Bengals run extremely similar schemes. The offense itself goes way back to the Don Coryell and Sid Gillman days, as interpreted by guys like...

St. Louis Rams Shallow Cross Concepts

While not as prolific as they were just a few years ago, the Rams under offensive coordinator and head coach Mike Martz were maybe the best passing offense of all time. They set a gazillion scoring and passing records, and now teams like the Chiefs and Cardinals run their offense verbatim and others like the Bengals run extremely similar schemes. The offense itself goes way back to the Don Coryell and Sid Gillman days, as interpreted by guys like...

Corner Routes/3-Verticals

Just wanted to mention that I watched the bowl game between Arizona St and Rutgers, and Arizona St used the 3-vertical play at least 10 if not 15 times. Rutgers runs a lot of Cover 2 (HC Schiano came from Miami where he did the same thing) and this is maybe the best play against it. They ran it from all kinds of sets, from gun, with play action, etc. ASU racked up over 600 yards of offense and I swear at least 200 or 250 and several TDs came off this one pass play. Check out this old article I did on the play he...

Corner Routes/3-Verticals

Just wanted to mention that I watched the bowl game between Arizona St and Rutgers, and Arizona St used the 3-vertical play at least 10 if not 15 times. Rutgers runs a lot of Cover 2 (HC Schiano came from Miami where he did the same thing) and this is maybe the best play against it. They ran it from all kinds of sets, from gun, with play action, etc. ASU racked up over 600 yards of offense and I swear at least 200 or 250 and several TDs came off this one pass play. Check out this old article I did on the play he...

Norm Chow on Playcalling

Grabbed this from this article here. But this was too good so it got its own article. We all like to discuss coverages, etc but this is extremely true:We are going to try to take advantage of what the other team is doing on defense. During the course of a game, with the sophistication of defenses, coverages are disguised and the use of zone blitzes and fire blitzes become very hard to beat. We’d be lying if we said we sat up in the box and knew what coverages were being run. What we try to do is take a portion of the football field, the weak flat...

Norm Chow on Playcalling

Grabbed this from this article here. But this was too good so it got its own article. We all like to discuss coverages, etc but this is extremely true:We are going to try to take advantage of what the other team is doing on defense. During the course of a game, with the sophistication of defenses, coverages are disguised and the use of zone blitzes and fire blitzes become very hard to beat. We’d be lying if we said we sat up in the box and knew what coverages were being run. What we try to do is take a portion of the football field, the weak flat...

Airraid Info

I'm pretty swamped the next couple of weeks, so I'll do the "lazy blogger" technique and post some links and info, this time all about the Airraid offense, in honor of the Mike Leach article that came out yesterday.If you want to learn more I suggest checking out the Valdosta St/Chris Hatcher tapes on the Airraid offense and routes for the Y receiver/tight end.Practice, Drills, Teaching:Nike Coach of the Year Clinic - Hal Mumme (1999)Nike Coach of the Year Clinic - Mike Leach (1998) - Great articleHal Mumme Practice PlanSchemes and articles:Hal...

Airraid Info

I'm pretty swamped the next couple of weeks, so I'll do the "lazy blogger" technique and post some links and info, this time all about the Airraid offense, in honor of the Mike Leach article that came out yesterday.If you want to learn more I suggest checking out the Valdosta St/Chris Hatcher tapes on the Airraid offense and routes for the Y receiver/tight end.Practice, Drills, Teaching:Nike Coach of the Year Clinic - Hal Mumme (1999)Nike Coach of the Year Clinic - Mike Leach (1998) - Great articleHal Mumme Practice PlanSchemes and articles:Hal...

Mike Leach Goes Deep

Fascinating article from the New York Times magazine about Mike Leach, Texas Tech head coach. The article can be found here.The author is Michael Lewis, who wrote Moneyball (one of the best sports books around), and he gets a lot more detail than the typical bio. Leach certainly comes across as an odd character--particularly for a football coach--but it's insightful. There are also some funny comments, for example how Tech's QB Cody Hodges was shortlisted for the Maxwell Award before the season, despite not having actually started a game! Here...

Mike Leach Goes Deep

Fascinating article from the New York Times magazine about Mike Leach, Texas Tech head coach. The article can be found here.The author is Michael Lewis, who wrote Moneyball (one of the best sports books around), and he gets a lot more detail than the typical bio. Leach certainly comes across as an odd character--particularly for a football coach--but it's insightful. There are also some funny comments, for example how Tech's QB Cody Hodges was shortlisted for the Maxwell Award before the season, despite not having actually started a game! Here...

Reading the "square" to determine coverage

I didn't invent this, but thought I'd pass it along. Sorry that I don't have any diagrams, those would help. From what I remember a lot of this came from Lindy Infante, but it's been used by lots of great passing coaches for a long time. This deescription is close to what I've always taught:POST-SNAP READS (“READING THE SQUARE”):The most important area for determining secondary coverages is the middle of the field about 15 to 25 yards deep and about 2 yards inside of each hash. We call this area the “square”.We normally read the “square” in our...

Reading the "square" to determine coverage

I didn't invent this, but thought I'd pass it along. Sorry that I don't have any diagrams, those would help. From what I remember a lot of this came from Lindy Infante, but it's been used by lots of great passing coaches for a long time. This deescription is close to what I've always taught:POST-SNAP READS (“READING THE SQUARE”):The most important area for determining secondary coverages is the middle of the field about 15 to 25 yards deep and about 2 yards inside of each hash. We call this area the “square”.We normally read the “square” in our...

Should you be worried about avian flu?

Richard Posner says yes:The world in general and the United States in particular are unprepared for a flu pandemic. Although the current strain of avian flu was discovered eight years ago, vaccine development and production are just beginning, along with stockpiling of Tamiflu. Apparently there is at present only enough vaccine for 1 percent of the U.S. population. Roche has only a limited capacity for producing Tamiflu and, as mentioned, is reluctant to license other pharmaceutical firms to produce the vaccine. The President recently announced...

Should you be worried about avian flu?

Richard Posner says yes:The world in general and the United States in particular are unprepared for a flu pandemic. Although the current strain of avian flu was discovered eight years ago, vaccine development and production are just beginning, along with stockpiling of Tamiflu. Apparently there is at present only enough vaccine for 1 percent of the U.S. population. Roche has only a limited capacity for producing Tamiflu and, as mentioned, is reluctant to license other pharmaceutical firms to produce the vaccine. The President recently announced...

Zone Blocking

Sometimes we like to make things more complicated than they are. Zone running is a classic example. What is intended as a simple system designed to get combo blocks at the point of attack results in lots of confusion about who to block and where the hole is. To be honest I have gotten scared off by the zone at times, but it is definitely the dominant scheme at this time, and some teams do it better than others. This little blurb is an excellent demystification, particularly since the discussion often veers off into "if there's a 3 and a 1 tech...

Zone Blocking

Sometimes we like to make things more complicated than they are. Zone running is a classic example. What is intended as a simple system designed to get combo blocks at the point of attack results in lots of confusion about who to block and where the hole is. To be honest I have gotten scared off by the zone at times, but it is definitely the dominant scheme at this time, and some teams do it better than others. This little blurb is an excellent demystification, particularly since the discussion often veers off into "if there's a 3 and a 1 tech...

Colts Stretch Play

I got this from, guess who, Bill Mountjoy. The Colts and their offense are constantly being discussed. Obviously, they have great personnel with four very good receivers including their tight end, one of the best single backs in the league, and a $60 million quarterback to put them in the correct play every down. However, it is still worth analyzing a bit what they do.Their favorite run play is the stretch play, also known as the outside zone. They...

Colts Stretch Play

I got this from, guess who, Bill Mountjoy. The Colts and their offense are constantly being discussed. Obviously, they have great personnel with four very good receivers including their tight end, one of the best single backs in the league, and a $60 million quarterback to put them in the correct play every down. However, it is still worth analyzing a bit what they do.Their favorite run play is the stretch play, also known as the outside zone. They...

Offense: Indianapolis Colts

Quick response to a Q about the Colts's offense. I'll go ahead and say that I am not an expert on what they do, but have seen a fair amount and gotten some good feedback from others.Anyway, the Colts go to the line w/ three plays: run left, run right, and a pass. Peyton Manning selects among them.They run lots of the stretch play with pullers (similar to the Minnesota Gophers, I believe) and inside zone and a called cutback with zone action. They obviously like to runs lots of play action off the stretch and it they like to throw the post/dig combo...

Offense: Indianapolis Colts

Quick response to a Q about the Colts's offense. I'll go ahead and say that I am not an expert on what they do, but have seen a fair amount and gotten some good feedback from others.Anyway, the Colts go to the line w/ three plays: run left, run right, and a pass. Peyton Manning selects among them.They run lots of the stretch play with pullers (similar to the Minnesota Gophers, I believe) and inside zone and a called cutback with zone action. They obviously like to runs lots of play action off the stretch and it they like to throw the post/dig combo...

Charlie Weis - Run and Shooter?

Obviously Charlie Weis is not a run and shoot coach, and, having studied some of his New England stuff it does not really resemble much of the run and shoot packages. The more likely theory that his offense is sort of an amalgamation of common and traditional NFL tactics. Do it simple; do it well. Coach Mountjoy has pointed out some of the evolution in his offense that began when Weis coached with current Carolina coordinator Dan Henning, but I am not an expert.Anyway, though, this quote was interesting from a recent press conference: Q. Coach,...

Charlie Weis - Run and Shooter?

Obviously Charlie Weis is not a run and shoot coach, and, having studied some of his New England stuff it does not really resemble much of the run and shoot packages. The more likely theory that his offense is sort of an amalgamation of common and traditional NFL tactics. Do it simple; do it well. Coach Mountjoy has pointed out some of the evolution in his offense that began when Weis coached with current Carolina coordinator Dan Henning, but I am not an expert.Anyway, though, this quote was interesting from a recent press conference: Q. Coach,...

Hal Mumme's Airraid Practice Plan

I got this from Coach Mountjoy. (As I get so many good things from him. BTW he will be speaking at the upcoming MEGA Clinic, I'd suggest to anyone who can to go.)Mumme isn't having a wonderful season right now in his first season back in D-1, but it will give you pause to think that four offensive coaches from the 1997-1998 Kentucky staff are all Head Coaches: Mumme himself, Mike Leach at Texas Tech, Guy Morris at Baylor, and Coach Hatcher at Valdosta St. D-II (who is having arguably the best success of them all with a Nat'l title and currently...

Hal Mumme's Airraid Practice Plan

I got this from Coach Mountjoy. (As I get so many good things from him. BTW he will be speaking at the upcoming MEGA Clinic, I'd suggest to anyone who can to go.)Mumme isn't having a wonderful season right now in his first season back in D-1, but it will give you pause to think that four offensive coaches from the 1997-1998 Kentucky staff are all Head Coaches: Mumme himself, Mike Leach at Texas Tech, Guy Morris at Baylor, and Coach Hatcher at Valdosta St. D-II (who is having arguably the best success of them all with a Nat'l title and currently...