Thursday, October 25, 2007
spread offense
This will be a short post about how I think defenses could catch up to the spread offense. First, the defensive line would stay the same, because they still need to be able to stop the run just in case. Next, the linebackers would be smaller and faster. They'd be more like safeties. This allows better pass coverage on the excess amount of people who go out for passes. The safeties and would be more like corners and corners would stay the same. Making the defense smaller and faster would end the spread offense. You could also play the safeties shallower from the start if you knew they were quick enough to not get burned, which would allow them to help out with the run. I kind of like spread offenses, it makes the nfl more exciting, but I can't believe teams can't stop it yet. Also, TMQ made a good point last week about how all of the Patriots passes are down the middle deep. I know other teams have that figured out, but I think Moss is opening up the middle of the field for people like Wes Welker since he's double covered about every play now. I think that shows how good Moss still is. Anyway, thats my brief football column. Let me know your thoughts. I should probably do some real work now.
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The only problem with getting smaller across the defense is you are making yourself vulnerable to the run. Anymore it is not defensive lines that stop the run but strong safeties and linebackers that come up to help stop the run. Bob Sanders, yes I mentioned a Hawkeye, and Mike Brown are two of the best safeties at stopping the run. When Mike Brown went down for the year the Bears defense took a huge hit. The truth is running the ball is the most conservative, effecient way of moving the ball down the field. You can control the clock, wear down the defense and have zero chance of Rex Grossman throwing a pick. There are still offenses that run the ball very effectively especially in the AFC. The Jaguars and Chargers are among a few. If you get smaller in the linebacker and safety areas your defense has little chance against backs such as Tomlinson,Peterson or even Maroney. Every team that runs the spread offense well, and there aren't as many as one might think, has the ability to run the ball right down your throat once you stop the pass. It will be interesting to see how the Colts approach the Patriots offense and how the Patriots approach the Colts offense. I could be wrong but I think the reason these teams are so far ahead of the pack is their organizations are run extremely well especially through the draft. All of the Colts' skill players on offense are first round picks. That is the mark of a good draft, not finding sleepers in the later rounds. Right now the Colts and the Patriots are in a different league because they are multidimensional and the only way to have a chance of stopping them in the playoffs is if Peyton chops his hand off cutting meat or Tom Brady misses the team flight because he was running late with his appearance on The View.
I agree that it would make you more vulnerable to the run and that linebackers and safeties are crucial to stopping the run. The more I think about this, the more I think they should just downsize the two outside linebackers. I mean, Bob Sanders is crucial to the Colts defense against the run, and he's only 5'8. He's an exception and he's usually not trying to shed blocks of 300 lb giant humans, but I think if they moved people like Roy Williams of the Cowboys to olb, they might have more success stopping certain offenses. He's a good sized guy (6' 230lb) who can run and seems tough.
I agree with Austin. The conventional wisdom is that Indianapolis couldn't run or stop the run prior to last season. However, Edgarrin James was very successful rushing the ball during his time in Indy. Perhaps the defense is 'better' now because of smarter play calling. Running the ball effectively keeps your defense off the field. Indianapolis' players on both sides of the ball got defensive when they called Indy a "finesse team." But it was true, because the easiest way to beat a spread offense is to put better athletes on the other side of the ball. This is why the Colts couldn't beat the Patriots; it’s why Texas Tech doesn't beat Texas every year. It's not much more than having faster players on the defensive side and having the ability to score lots of points. Mixing in the run with the spread controls clock and gives the other team less possessions to score.
To stop an offense such as this it not only requires superior athletes but it requires better schemes. The spread offense actually evened the playing field at least at the college level because smaller schools didn't need the 300 pound lineman to succeed. They could just go shotgun and turn short passes into their run game. I think playing pass defense is one of the hardest things to do in sports next to hitting a round baseball square. The receiver and the quarterback know exactly where that player is going and the defender just has to react. This is how TT got on the map and then teams like Boise State used a little bit of spread offense and the most used non-word "trickeration" to beat Oklahoma. However at the NFL level the talent level is fairly equal any Sunday. To stop the spread offense a Defensive Coordinator has to have the confidence of his head coach so that he can mess around with different schemes to surprise a TB or a PM into throwing a pick. You aren't going to shut these offenses down but by mixing up what you are showing them and changing from blitz and man-to-man to zone you may be able to get them to make a bad decision. However, if I was a D-Coordinator playing Brady or Manning I wouldn't blitz. It's just stupid. They are so quick in decisions that you just gave them what they want-less defenders dropping back into pass coverage.
To stop an offense such as this it not only requires superior athletes but it requires better schemes. The spread offense actually evened the playing field at least at the college level because smaller schools didn't need the 300 pound lineman to succeed. They could just go shotgun and turn short passes into their run game. I think playing pass defense is one of the hardest things to do in sports next to hitting a round baseball square. The receiver and the quarterback know exactly where that player is going and the defender just has to react. This is how TT got on the map and then teams like Boise State used a little bit of spread offense and the most used non-word "trickeration" to beat Oklahoma. However at the NFL level the talent level is fairly equal any Sunday. To stop the spread offense a Defensive Coordinator has to have the confidence of his head coach so that he can mess around with different schemes to surprise a TB or a PM into throwing a pick. You aren't going to shut these offenses down but by mixing up what you are showing them and changing from blitz and man-to-man to zone you may be able to get them to make a bad decision. However, if I was a D-Coordinator playing Brady or Manning I wouldn't blitz. It's just stupid. They are so quick in decisions that you just gave them what they want-less defenders dropping back into pass coverage.
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