BLACK

Eidur Gudjohnson to move to Fulham on loan

Wigan turn £10m bid down for Nzogbia

Arsenal - no players signed
Aston Villa - Bent
Birmingham - O Martins, Bentley (loan)
Blackburn - Santa Cruz, Rochina, Formica
Blackpool - James Beattie, A Reid
Bolton - David Wheater, Sturridge
Chelsea - Fernando Torres, Luiz
Everton - Dier
Fulham - S Sidwell
Liverpool - Suarez, Caroll
Man City - Dzeko
Man Utd - Lindegaard
Newcastle - Stephen Ireland
Stoke - Pennant, Carew
Sunderland - S Muntari
Tottenham - Pienaar
West Brom -
West Ham - Wayne Bridge, Robbie Keane (loan)
Wolves - J O'Hara (loan)

Good luck to 'Arry tonight - Aguero for £38m was turned down but you are the absolute transfer market master!!

After spending considerable time delving into the defensive approach of Gary Patterson at TCU, it would only be right that we spent a little bit of time on the other side of the ball. Since the Rose Bowl, offensive coordinator Justin Fuente has been a hot property, with unfounded rumors of him being approached by LSU for the same position.

In this post, we will take a look at a few key concepts TCU carried with them every week and explore how versatile they can be. With the help of these simple adaptations, since Fuente took over in 2009 TCU has ranked 4th and 5th in scoring in the nation (2010 and 2009, respectively).

Fuente, a former RB coach, was looking for a way that accentuated their run-heavy approach, with an emphasis on simplicity and efficiency. Without having a dominant receiver at the time, the challenge was trying to find the simplest way to get the ball into a variety of player’s hands without spending an inordinate amount of time diverting from their core offense.

DOUBLE PIVOT (trips to the field)

Usually run out of 5-wide, this 5-step concept features enough answers to afford the quarterback clear reads for a smart throw. While an adaptation of the standard Post-Dig run by everyone, Fuente uses this as an effective way to manufacture space to the field. By attacking/occupying inside underneath defenders with the double-pivots (pivot draws the inside linebackers outside, to open the dig), the combination of a deep dig-post creates a middle-of-the-field conflict for the safety.


This is a great play when you want to avoid the corners by creating an inside Hi-Lo going down the field (whip/dig/post) and feature your running backs in space. TCU is so confident in this concept that they don’t feel they don’t need a specific defensive look to run it, so when they run freeze / OC check tempo, they never have to check out of it.

The base concept features the boundary #1 receiver running a 14 yard dig with the #2 receiver aggressively attacking the alley defender (WLB here). Fuente’s coaching point for the whip/pivot player is to actually try to grab this overhang defender, as this exaggerates the separation for the routes the quarterback will be keying (“push in – whip out”). If this receiver gets “turned loose” by the defense (if defender drops), the receiver should just stop. As they say, “ if you’re open, stay open”.

The offense is looking to attack the WLB on the 2-man side whip and the MLB on the 3-man side whip. This combination will stretch these two inside defenders outside, chasing the receivers after they stick and break for the flat. By moving these two inside defenders, the dig opens behind them in the (middle) hole.

To the field, the inside receiver will run the same whip route being run by the boundary #2 to hold the safety or linebacker that could rob the dig. The #1 receiver will just run a ‘take-two’ route (fly) to coverage away from the dig and threaten the deep safety. Its crucial that this receiver takes an outside release or will risk defeating the defensive stretch in the middle of the field. The field #2 receiver runs a modified post, actually trying to get all the way across the other side of the field. This ensures that if the linebacker takes the whip and the safety takes the dig, you still have an answer.

Pre snap, the quarterback will find space to anticipate where the open grass will be (coverage shell / leverage alignment). At the snap, he will look to the field first and then to the boundary. The decision logic will look to qualify the vertical by #1. If he cannot make this throw, he will then go immediately direct his focus to throw the away-side whip outside.

As a change up to the ‘double pivot’ (and one that TCU uses a majority of the time now), and to feature a better receiver on the dig; the Y and the outside receiver can switch routes. Nothing will change for the QB, as the Hi-Lo occurs on the same 3 man side inside the hashes.

I’ve been lacking in sharing position drills lately, so to pick up the slack here are some basic drills courtesy of former UT coach, Bobby Kennedy (now at CU).

Just like the Texas Tech drills shared before, a majority of these drills are focused on pushing the stem, getting out of the break, and body control (and little to do with actually catching the ball).  In high school ball, this is probably the most undervalued and under-coached aspect of developing receivers.

This is the first ‘official’ post using our YouTube account, so we’ll see how this goes here on out.
From their meeting last year…..enjoy Dom Capers vs Dick LeBeau



After enduring underwhelming offenses of Chicago and New York, both teams advanced through convincing execution.  What can we glean from this matchup and what should we be looking for?

Leeds United 1 Arsenal 3 FA Cup 3rd round replay Wednesday 19th January 2011

38,000 packed in at Elland Road as visitors Arsenal proved too much for Leeds United. Despite Arsenal going 1 up very quickly with a goal from Nasri and then making it two with Sagna in the 35th minute Johnson for Leeds Utd scored a great goal (check it on Youtube) to spark a bit of home team possession to end the first half.

Predictably, Arsenal bossed the second half but Leeds stuck to the task of David Batty like midfielding and Chris Whyte like defending.

Towards the end, Van Persie got a third to get Arsenal through to face Huddersfield Town in the fourth round of the FA Cup.

The youth movement injected into the University of Texas program has generated a lot of buzz recently. The hope is that the new found energy translates to on the field production after a lackluster performance during the 2010 season. One reason to be especially excited is that replacing legendary defensive mind, Will Muschamp, is Mickey Andrews / Chuck Amato protégé, Manny Diaz. Diaz’ eager hustle, passion for fundamentals, and keen attention to details is apparent in his body of work through NC State, Middle Tennessee, and Mississippi State and are what have propelled him on the fast track to success. Having never played college ball, Diaz doesn’t get caught up in over-complicating the game, but keeping his scheme idiot-proof.



With the advent of the versatile 1-back gun in today’s offenses, defenses need to account for so many attacks that they must figure out what exactly they are looking to defend. Diaz believes that to stay ahead of the curve, to, a defensive coordinator needs to force the ball to go where he wants it to go, rather than attempting to just ‘defend the whole field’. With this approach, you are left with even more reason to include fire zones.
 
FIRE ZONING THE RUN GAME


Throughout the 90s by the way of Miami, defenses transitioned to the mantra of speed, with the defensive ends becoming the most disruptive players on the field. The more offenses game planned and tried to deal with these athletes, the more they realized they just couldn’t block those guys. This is what has brought us to the current flavor of offense, where they don’t even block the defensive ends (read game).



Combating the gun option, Diaz feels the fire zone is the perfect RUN defense because of the key-breaking look it presents. In most fire zones, you will overload one side of the ball with 4+ rushers with the backside dropping into coverage. For a quarterback, you are faced with a confusing picture.

If you read the backside end on zone-read, a defensive end that crashes (attacks the back) will tell you to pull the ball and run. If the backside end hangs or stays lateral, the quarterback should give to the back.


The problem is, against the fire zone, “none-of-the-above” is the answer. As you see in these pictures, if a quarterback sees the backside end hanging (not attacking the backfield) as he would if he were dropping, the quarterback would give to the back, who would be running straight into the teeth of the blitz.

With the fire zone, Diaz feels he can get the best of both worlds as it is an 8-man front with middle-of-the-field support with 6 defenders covering 5 potential receivers.


A large part of the success Diaz has experienced with fire zones is due in large part to the way he employs them. Simplicity is the key, contrary to most defenses, Diaz believes in spot-dropping with his 3-deep, 3-under to prevent his defenders from thinking or making mental errors. In this post, we explore how he defines and installs his foolproof approach to the fire zone.

FIRE ZONE
Much like how Nick Saban installed his middle-of-the-field coverage principles (curl-to-flat / hook-to-curl players), Diaz teaches ‘jobs’ instead of specific instructions. There are only 3 positions to be defined for this to work. The only thing that a defender needs to know is which one of the three will he be (and adhere to the simple rules for each).
The basic 3 deep fire zone features a long sticking defensive line away from the blitz with two backers or a backer and a defensive back rushing. The simple rules of this scheme allow you to mix and match who will be the rushers.

 Diaz has found that when running fire zones, they eliminate front calls (less for the defense has to worry about) with the only thing the defensive line has to know is that there is a fire zone going on and which side the blitz is coming from. When you know that, the line will just align away from the gap they intend to stunt to.

The rules and integral pieces of the fire zone are as follows:

“Hot 2 to the field”
Defender is a curl-flat player. “Hot 2” means #2 receiver will be the hot target versus blitz (receiver will stem 5 yards and turns around against blitz). This defender simply has to control #2 (or whoever becomes #2) hot versus a pass read. The landmark will be 2 yards outside the hash (or the hash to the field in high school).  If the quarterback continues to drop, he will get to 12-14 with his eyes on the quarterback.  Versus a run read, this player is the contain / force, and will outside-in leverage the ball.

“Hot 3”
This is a simple job.  On pass, he is simply to get to the middle of the field (regardless of where #3 is) defending space in the hole. If the quarterback continues to dropback, he will fall to a depth of 12 yards.
Versus the run, he simply has to recognize who #3 is and relate to him and spill with inside-out leverage.
Versus option, he is a dive player only.

The Hot 3 player is the only player that can exchange assignments with a defensive end (called “switch”).
Switcher – is the linebacker away from blitz that will be the Hot 3 player (DE away is the Hot 2 player). If there are two receivers removed, the DE can’t possibly play the curl (Hot 2) so the Hot 3 player (linebacker) will make a “switch” call. All this does is ensure that the offense doesn’t make you check out of the blitz or out-leverage you. The Hot 3 and Hot 2 will switch assignments and the linebacker will walk-out and align inside #2.

“Hot 2 to the boundary”
This player will drop to 4 yards outside hash (2 yards outside the high school hash) to the boundary. Like the other Hot 2 player, he will drop to 5 yards against quick step and 12 yards against drop back pass and will be contain on run with outside-in leverage.

Usually the Hot 2 to the boundary will be a defensive end (brining field pressure). The coaching for the defensive end is simply, “Just go backwards” – that’s it.  When in the boundary (“hot off of #2”) if #2 is in the backfield (i.e. some type of 3x1 to the field), this player must tackle him if he runs an inside run. In the boundary, this technique is exactly like you would play as an outside linebacker in a traditional 44 defense.

*Once you declare who #3 is, all of the pieces fall into place and there remains no more thinking involved in the defenses.

Outside Blitzer
When bringing extra pressure with backers and backs, one of the rushers will be the outside (or contain) blitzer. This player is geared to get after the quarterback, but must recognize how he fits into the blitz. On back flow away, he will have the quarterback outside-in. With flow to, he will tackle the running back (on play-action or not). Versus lead-option, this blitzer will immediately take the quarterback (as the Hot 2 player outside of him will take the pitch).

Diaz will teach how to drop to the field for a month to build competency, then will acclimate his players into counting guys and understanding the support fits against the run game. The beauty of this approach is that the fire zone now becomes an “offensive play” for the defense and can be practiced during 7 on 7.   The rationale here is to install it (all of it) quickly and just run it over and over to work out the details on the fly.

Effectiveness of Blitzers
 
Instead of telling a player to “blitz the A gap”, he will sell it as “you blitz the guard”. The philosophy is to take the path of least resistance; the quickest way to disrupt the passer. The blitzer will fight the soft shoulder of the blocker (not try to struggle where the blocker is strong). If the blocker sets hard inside, the blitzer has the freedom to bounce his path and fight the soft (outside) shoulder and take the easiest way to the quarterback.


COVER 2 CHANGE UP: “TRAP”
With any good attack, you need a counter-punch, a change up. With playing MOFC coverages such as Cover 1 and 3-deep fire zone, it is important to keep an answer up your sleeve for when the offense gets wise to what you’re doing. The TRAP fire zone is strong where fire zone coverage is weak. With Trap Coverage, Diaz uses man-match coverage (not spot dropping….except for the flat defender).

Trap fire zone is just a changeup that will have two blitzers outside the Mike linebacker (which can play havoc on protection that adjust to the MLB). Just as detailed above, once you define the jobs within the coverage, plugging and playing defenders can be simple.


“SEAM PLAYER” – Defender will be inside and on-top of whoever is ‘seaming’ unless he goes to the flat (look up inside cut to the curl).

“BUZZ / TRAP PLAYER” – This will be the strong end to the call and will be the buzz defender (playing from inside-out position) that shoots to the flat away from the trap defender. The corner to the blitz side will be the trap defender (corner is playing from wide position). This corner should be trying to show that he’s 3 deep as he is in fire zone coverage, but will be hanging on the flat. The rationale here is to make it look like a blown assignment by the corner. He will plays the gap inside #1 on run. As a trap player, the corner will rob the slant or he will carry #2 on the wheel. Again the simplicity here is what is important; when the trap player doesn’t even move, he ends up in a better leverage position.

“½ FIELD DEFENDER” – This will simply be the backside corner and safety. The rules are simple, seam #1 by remaining inside and on top #1 unless he goes to the flat (even on a shallow by #1). The deep half player will act as the eyes of the corner. Versus a Hi-Lo (CHINA) concept, the safety yells, ”CHINA”, so he can match him. If the offense comes out in 2 backs the safety will seam the back away from the blitz (if he blocks or is free releasing)
Because you have 4 underneath defenders, there is no switch call in trap coverage.
With trap coverage, there are some basic guidelines to ensure everyone is on the same page and aligned for success:

• Vs empty…..LB has to walk out
• VS 1 back – MLB has #2 and the WLB has #3
• VS 2 back – WLB takes #2 weak or #3 strong

 
As you can see there is nothing revolutionary to what Diaz is doing, but the method he uses to simplify his scheme and is something that can be picked up by young players and develop a hyper aggressive defense that appears multiple and complex but remains easy to digest.




Additional Resources:
2010 Ole Miss vs Miss State
2010 Arkansas vs Miss State
2010 Bama vs Miss State

Who Are Football's Chattiest Announcers? .
Enough already about which NFL team will win the Super Bowl. Let's focus on an important question: Which set of announcers is most likely to give you a headache?

A study this season by The Count looked at every major NFL announcing outfit and counted how many words-per-minute the play-by-play and color men said. Hats off to CBS's Kevin Harlan and Solomon Wilcots, who amassed 189.2 words per minute in our study. NBC's Al Michaels and Cris Collinsworth, the preeminent present-day announcer team, were the quietest at 137.33 words per minute.

http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/blog/shutdown_corner/post/Which-NFL-announcing-booths-are-the-most-and-lea?urn=nfl-307165

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704803604576078012745699764.html?KEYWORDS=Kevin+Harlan

 

THE FIX?

If you have a Dolby Digital receiver just unplug the center speaker (the broadcast commentary will be omitted and you'll just receive the audio feed from the stadium).

Although updates surrounding David Beckham's training and Man City's considerable spending has dominated this January 2011 transfer window, there's plenty going on now. Here are my favourite top 3 bits of transfer news/gossip:

After finishing the Christmas cross period with an 11th at the CXNE RD10 Gateshead race completeing 3 cross races in 7 days I was ready to take it a little easier.

I reigned back training to every other day and looked forward to the next round of the TLI ran NECCL cross league... we have the luxury in the North East of 2 leagues.. where I couldn't place in the BCF ran CXNE series due to my provisional license I could place overall in the TLI ran NECCL league.

Sundays race was at a classic North East mountain bike destination.. pretty sure maybe 15 years ago I raced mountain bikes here.. the course was altered slightly due to plenty black ice clinging to any piece of tarmac it could find but what was run as the course was plenty challenging enough.

With some wooded sections.. a cheeky climb and some horrible drags in grassy mud to bring your speed down to a crawl it was a tough offering.

The start was uphill and unusually I got on the front line... the field had a few big names mising due to the Nationals on the same day so it was an opportunity to shift up the field and claim some extra points.

From the off Tony Fawcett was gone.. gapping the field by 20m at the end of the first descent.. Darren Binks in pursuit with the rest of us a good 10m back from Darren. I sat in 4th and after a bit of jostling for position.. I was strong on the straight boggy sections and Alex Mcclean from Hetton Hawks would gap me in the woods.. I saw myself into 3rd with a good 20m gap.



(Pic courtesy of Nev @ Infinity Cycles)

As the race progressed I eased out my gap while Alex and Vince Potter (Blackhawkbikes.com) battled for 4th.

I equalled my seasons best finish with another 3rd place... still half a lap down on claiming a top spot but I feel I know where the improvements need to be made.

Best news is I am now firmly in the 3rd spot overall for the season... last race on Sunday and a minor miracle could see me creep into 2nd but as it stands i'm very happy.

There are some extremely insightful and in-depth articles created by Coach Hoover leading up to the National Championship Game.

43 vs Oregon Spread (DL play)

43 Fire Zones vs Oregon Spread

43 vs Oregon Spread (LB / Nickel play)

43 vs Oregon Spread Bash and Midline

43 vs Oregon Spread (DB play and coverages)


Be sure to check out his subsequent series on defending flexbone option with the 4-3
DT Play
DE Play
MLB Play
OLB Play
FS/SS Play
CB Play


SITE:
For updates and goings on or what not, feel free to follow (this site) on Twitter at
http://twitter.com/#!/GetBack2Fundies



or join the Facebook group (instead of following Brophy) at
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=147052308657775

I was checking out smart football, and I enjoyed Chris' recent article on underdog strategy (great stuff).

However, Mr. Brown ends his article with some troubling findings, courtesy of the gentlemen over at Advance NFL Stats.

Given the choice between kicking or receiving, conventional wisdom is to always take the ball. The only time you consider kicking is when you defer your decision to the second half, as a strategic tactic. If you use that strategy, then you always elect to receive after halftime.

This is not ground breaking to anyone……you want the ball, unless you can get it later.

What Advance NFL Stats discovered, however, is the team that receives to open a half will actually LOSE a majority of those respective halves.

This flies in the face of conventional wisdom, even challenging that long held, irrefutable tenant of successful football: maintaining possession.

I have only one plausible justification, albeit an anecdotal explanation (and I am wide open to other thoughts).

I'll take the word of this man:

You may recognize this gentlemen (Elmer Layden, Notre Dame Head Coach 34'-41') from a more famous picture from his playing days:

I remember reading "It Was A Different Game: The Elmer Layden Story" when I was in high school (I highly recommend it both for history of the game, and insight into Coach Rockne), and in the chapter where the late coach was espousing his football strategy, he mentioned he often considered a quick kick on 1^st down when backed up against his own end zone.

Being 18 and knowing it all, I immediately wrote this off as archaic football strategy from the days of no facemasks and 7-3 thrillers.

Maybe, without the use of the internet and fancy algorithms, Coach Layden knew something we lost………that field position, not possession of the football, is the prime asset.

Interesting.

The average NFL kickoff return nets 22 yards.

If the defense forces a punt inside their opponent's 40, and given an average net punting yardage of 40 yards, then the starting field position for the team who kicked off can be expected anywhere from their own 30 to mid-field, segments of the gridiron where the odds of a drive ending in a touchdown increase substantially.

In short, it is (or may be) better to kick-off and then receive a punt, because of the relative real estate you are afforded in those respective situations.

This also serves to underline the important role garnering explosives plays in stemming the field position tide. If one can complete a 20 yard pass during the drive, and subsequently can punt from their opponent's 40, then they have relieved their burden and placed it on the other team.

Finally, in another fine article from Advance NFL Stats, this dynamic serves to highlight the importance of a player like this.

I don't think it is enough to make me not want the football, although I have some serious rationalizing to do to overcome the weight of these findings.

If anyone has any other ideas, feel free to share.

Per Mr. Brophy's latest post, I have been added to the faculty here at Cripes......




I am a lay coach at West Washington High School, a small corporation in Southern Indiana. My primary football interests center around Offensive Line play, offensive scheme and philosophy, offensive tempo, and program development.

brilliant perspective and analysis courtesy of new author and face-melter, dubber

In "Developing an Offensive Gameplan", Brian Billick, using years of statistical data, identifies the four main areas critical to an offense's success (or attributable to its failure).

They are:

1. Turnovers (pretty self-evident)
2. Explosive Plays (defined as runs over 12 and passes over 15, given an even turnover margin, teams who garner at least 2 more explosive than their opponents will win about 80% of the time)
3. Red Zone Efficiency
4. Success on First Down (success defined as 4 or more yards). (The math behind this is a successful 1st down will populate a shorter 3rd down, which is easier to convert.)

I kept statistics concerning these four areas while watching the Seahawks and the Rams. This was an excellent game to apply this study to, because I generally feel the respective defenses of these two clubs are better than their offensive counterparts, and both punters, kickers, and coverage units had excellent games.

1. Turnovers were even (one each)
2. Explosive plays............few and far between, but they were correlated to scoring drives, notably the only touchdown in the game, which was set up courtesy of the game's biggest play (61 yard pass play)----------the Seahawks garnered this bomb, as well one more total explosive overall.
3. 2 visits apiece, with the Seahawks coming away with 10 points to the Rams 6. The penalty in the red zone for the Rams was killer..........

It was probably these two categories that won the Seahawks the game.

I really didn't care who won this game, but of particular interest to me was the first down statistics, which bear out an important lesson from which coaches can learn.

• The Seahawks averaged 5.5 yards on first down
• The Rams averaged 4.2

While that tells the tale, it is also slightly misleading........obviously, whether the offense gains 13 or 50 yards on 1st down, they get another first down........and that 50 yarder can bolster my average enough to cover up my overall inefficiency on first down.

• Of the 30 times the Seahawks had a first down, they gained 4 or more a total of 17 times (57 %).
• Of the 19 times the Rams had a first down, they gained to gain 4 or more a total of 9 times (53 %).

A big advantage for the Seahawks was their ability to overcome gaining less than 4 yards on first down.........they went ahead and converted 38% compared to the Rams 22%.