September 05, 2014

SportsFilter: The Friday Huddle:

A place to discuss the sports stories that aren't making news, share links that aren't quite front-page material, and diagram plays on your hand. Remember to count to five Mississippi before commenting in anger.

posted by huddle to general at 06:00 AM - 4 comments

A great look at the pop pass and the evolution of the option in football after Seattle scared the hell out of the league with it last night. Bill Polian called it "the old 'fear pass' from the '70s".

posted by yerfatma at 03:19 PM on September 05, 2014

This play is really nothing more than an improvement on stuff that has been run before. I can remember Tim Tebow as a Denver Bronco running a similar pull-up-and-toss play against New England. It went for a completion and good yardage, but only because the linebacker, whose responsibility was coverage on the back coming out of the backfield, instead came up to stop the potential run. With conventional coverage schemes, the safeties, corners, and outside linebackers will need to have clearly defined responsibilities for this play. They will also need to be able to read the play and adjust responsibilities as it unfolds. There seems to be a tendency developing in which teams will use corners who tackle like safeties and safeties who cover like corners. Add to this outside linebackers who can pull and cover as well as a safety and the ability to disguise coverage, even after a play has begun, is enhanced.

To make a long story short, there's really nothing new under the sun, and defensive coordinators will just have to stay up a bit later at night.

posted by Howard_T at 03:46 PM on September 05, 2014

What is it with feel-good practice squad stories this year?

posted by Etrigan at 06:32 PM on September 05, 2014

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