The best defenses are always trying to scheme ways to force you to keep your RB in to block, the best offenses are always trying to scheme ways to get their RB out of the backfield and into the pass pattern.
Because defenses are shifting towards a balanced, 2-high (safety) shell, the best offenses are combating it with unbalanced 3X1 formations.
Efficiency of offense matters less than the amount of explosive plays. 2nd-and-7/6 is no longer a desirable down because defenses do so much crazy stuff nowadays that it’s really difficult to stay on schedule.
Your best receivers need to get the ball in as many different ways as possible. This seems obvious but is really crystallized when they talk about how Deebo and Kupp had roughly equal snaps from both slots and the outside.
If you’re not able to beat the blitz with either a savvy QB or great OL, you’re gonna get blitzed into oblivion. If you are able to beat it, you’ll rarely get blitzed.
Fast slot receivers are a major advantage against 2-high shells.
Running the ball periodically really matters though NFL teams are having to dust off some concepts from years ago that didn’t work as well against single-high looks.
Anyway everyone should listen, it’s really interesting and these guys clearly know their stuff.
I feel like OCs should be able to do more for their QB. For instance, I don’t believe Linehan provided enough blitz-beaters in his offense. Sure, there were a lot of short dump-offs, but still, I don’t believe he had baked in enough plays that both keep the defense honest and make the QB comfortable.
Even moving forward during the Caldwell and Cooter years, we seen RBs like Kerryon whose very presence on the field signaled that it was a pass play because they were good picking up rushers.
Still, I watch games each year of different teams and you’re left begging for help from the OC. Like, teams are teeing off on the offense and the OC just sort of stands there like he has no control over the plays they’re calling.
Defenses more and more are being built for speed to cover all these athletic freaks. To counter offensively, it really opens up a physical running attack because so many teams have defenses that have prioritized speed over size/physicality.
This is an area I believe the Lions offense can exploit with a strong O-line and a good stable of running backs. And then once we get the running game going, the safeties start creeping up and then boom goes the play action deep to Chark and Ja-Mo!!
Stafford had the 2nd fastest release in NFL (behind Peyton only), when Linehan was OC. Primarily by design. Primarily because that was one of the worst NFL OLs you will ever see. It was by design. I remember them running a TE screen to Will Heller that went for a big play. SO funny to see.
We sure have had some bad OCs, as well as poor OL/run game.
The only thing worse than being one dimensional is being one dimensional and predictable.
Lions were usually both.
Team speed on offense!!! there will be plays that are designed to hit for 7-12 yards that end up as TDs. We’re gonna see a lot more of that, this year.
The benefits of the spread O, making the D commit. Threatening the D’s vertically. Trusting the OL and QB. Teams that can get 5 eligible out there have a significant advantage.
To an extent this is true but as they say on the podcast, defenses know what you want to do as a blitz beater and they take that away too. In fact they’re trying to force you into either taking a sack or using that blitz beater. They know what you want to do almost is much as you do… which is why it’s important that the offense continues to add plays to the offense during the week.
And it’s not like the teams who were bad against the blitz didn’t have blitz beaters, they just had QBs/offenses who struggled to make them work. By far the best way to beat the blitz is to have a QB that makes good decisions or an OL that can block it up. Stafford was a blitz killer last year, and so were the Eagles because their OL was so good.
This could be said for both sides of the ball. I can’t imagine anything easier for opposing teams than when you lineup basically in the same formations time after time after time. Patricia’s defense was notorious. I could close my eyes and already tell you basically where the guys are gonna be lined up.
Part of the genius of how Peyton Manning set up the Colts explosive offense was that they came out with essentially the same formation and personnel each play. The receivers would even stay right/left. This forced the defense to either show the same look every time or expose what they were doing based on how they changed.
Agreed, for every idea on how to run offense or defense there are exceptions. The Colts were blessed with a great, Hall of Fame quarterback, a great offensive line, and great skill players. They also ran the no huddle offense to perfection once they got the defense in certain packages. Below is a pretty good article talking about their O. Most teams do not have the talent the Colts had on that side of the ball and try to create confusion with different packages and formations. The Colts also got away with illegal pick plays like nobody’s business. If you go back to that Thanksgiving day game against the Lions where they scored six touchdowns in the first half, three of them were illegal picks that were never called. Blatant!!
That’s sort of the main tenet of Shanahan’s offense too, until you stop them you can bet your ass you’re seeing some variation of essentially the same formation over and over again. His wrinkle was to add motion to all of those alignments giving him a lot more possibilities than Manning’s static offense. They’ll start off in different formations then guys will start to move and it’ll be like, oh shit here’s that formation that kills us again. But it’s late movement and the defense is scrambling.
100%. Teams are built to rush the passer. But you also can’t just have an offense built to play with the lead. That’s why the Titans have struggled to win in the playoffs. You still need a quarterback that can take over if the run game isn’t working. The Broncos offenses of the late 90’s are the ideal. Or the redskins when the had the hogs along with monk, Clark and sanders.
