Beka, Author at Football for Normal Girls

NFL Homonyms : What’s the rush?

In a typical NFL broadcast you’re likely to hear a lot about the rush – rushing yards, rushing the passer, pass rush, stopping the rush, rushing attempts – and so on. Now, it’d be well within reason to think that the word rush and/or rushing pertained to the same action, seeing as how it is used to describe action occurring on a football field. And if there were different types of action happening on a football field, wouldn’t there be different words to describe it?

Apparently not. The NFL likes to keep you guessing!

But really, the difference between rushing terminology is not hard at all once you understand how it’s used in each context.

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Rush can describe action on both the offensive and defensive sides of the ball. On offense, rushing plays are synonymous with running plays. Defensively, rushing plays are plays designed to get to the quarterback and prevent him from passing effectively.

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On Offense:

The official word used for running plays in NFL statistics and records is “rush.” (It didn’t start out that way, but for one reason or another running plays became rushing plays in 1937. We don’t know why.) So when you hear announcers talking about “rushing yards” or “rushing attempts” they are talking about how many yards a team is getting by running the ball or how many times a team is attempting to run rather than pass. Rushing, offensively, basically means advancing the ball downfield in a non-passing play.

It begs the question why running backs aren’t called rushing backs – even though that sounds weird – but that’s another question for another day. When asked why the NFL doesn’t just call it all running, Bob Carroll, NFL Historian, said, “Everybody on the field runs. Even big fat tackles run. Rushing is a precise term that describes running with the ball. After all, you don’t call passing throwing.”

Man’s got a point.

On Defense:

You’ll hear about rushing on defense in conjunction with passing plays, which is completely confusing because didn’t we just establish that rushing pertains to running plays?

Yes.

Thank you, football.

But defensive players aren’t running with the ball (barring an interception), so the term can’t apply to running plays for them.* Instead, defensive players rush the quarterback – literally meaning causing him to hurry for fear of getting sacked. You’ll hearing it talked about in terms of “rushing the passer” or “pass rush.” Both terms mean that the defense is making it’s way into the backfield to disrupt the quarterback before he has a chance to pass accurately.

*”Stopping the rush” is a phrase used to describe a defense that is trying to stop the running game, so that’s the exception to the defense-rush-running rule. Just in case the mud was looking any clearer and you wanted to cloud it up again.

All in all: rushing on offense = running; rushing on defense = hurrying.

Potato…slightly different potato.

Got it?

(Add one more to the list – there’s also NFL Rush, the league’s kid-friendly initiative. Start ’em young.)

Fundamentals : Pulling

Pulling is one of those terms that is just kind of thrown around in football jargon. You might have heard commentators say something like “they used a pulling guard,” or “so-and-so pulled to the left to create the lane on that play.” This is actually one of those times when it is what it sounds like – kind of. Let’s break it down!

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Pulling is when a player, usually a lineman (offense or defense), leaves their regular assignment and moves to the other side of the field.

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Why would a player (or players) pull to the other side? Usually, to stack the offense on one side and create a running lane for a back or receiver. We saw this last week with a couple of screen pass concepts: one side of the line pulls to the other side to create a screen of protection for the ball carrier. But it happens in other types of plays on offense – and defense, too. Defensive linemen can also pull to stop the action they anticipate coming from a particular side.

Here’s a slow breakdown of what pulling looks like from an offensive line perspective:

And here’s what it looks like when humans do it:

And here’s what it looks like in a game – a college game – but still, same concept. Watch how the right guard (57) and the left guard (66) pull in unison to the right to create a lane for the running back (5):

See how it works? Whenever you see linemen pulling, you can expect to see action in whichever direction they are heading.

News and Notes : 6.14.13

It was a busy week for mid-June in the NFL. Here five stories that stood out to me:

1. Chad Johnson will be donating 30 days of his time to the local jail due to a misunderstanding at a recent court hearing. The judge asked the former wide receiver if he was happy with his representation. He said yes. She said he should be; he had a great lawyer. He then proceeded to convey his appreciation in the form of a football-style butt-pat (really, guys…why do you do this?) to his lawyer. The courtroom found it amusing. The judge did not. She rejected his plea bargain and sentenced him to 30 days in jail.

Now, it’s not my call to determine whether the behavior that warranted his appearance in court in the first place was deserving of jail-time. But what he did in the courtroom hardly seems like cause for such a steep punishment – especially considering the source. It didn’t seem like he was trying to be disrespectful; it seemed like a knee-jerk reaction. One way or the other, Ochocinco is having a hard time catching a break these days.

2. Vince Lombardi would have been 100 this week, and there were so many celebrations for the greatest coach in the history of the NFL. Look for one here next week!

3. Darnell Dockett will be freaking out opponents league-wide next season with his new face mask. He might not even have to do anything besides stand there to have his usual dominating effect. I mean, I’m not even lined up across from him and I probably won’t sleep tonight.

4. Packers-related items that you’ll like even if you aren’t a Packers fan: this Youtube series of rookie running back Johnathan Franklin, and this Podcast from Rich Eisen featuring Aaron Rodgers breaking down the Games of Thrones finale. (Do you guys watch that? I haven’t seen it yet.)

5. Fifth on our list and #5 on the Patriots roster: the newly-signed Tim Tebow. I’ve been hoping this would happen ever since the 2010 NFL Draft, so you can imagine my inability to keep my cool when I heard the news on Monday. New England has always seemed like the best possible place for Tim to grow as a quarterback. I seriously can’t wait to see what happens over the course of time if he has a place on the roster for the foreseeable future.

That’s a wrap! Have a great weekend, everyone!

News and Notes : 6.14.13

It was a busy week for mid-June in the NFL. Here five stories that stood out to me:

2. Vince Lombardi would have been 100 this week, and there were so many celebrations for the greatest coach in the history of the NFL. Look for one here next week!

That’s a wrap! Have a great weekend, everyone!

Film Room : Four Types of Screen Plays

And you thought you had it made with just two types of screen plays on Monday!

You’re in luck – today the guys at ESPNU are breaking down 4 types of screen plays frequently used in college football, but you’re likely to see them run in the NFL from time to time, too.

First things first – why is a screen a good idea?

Because it takes pressure off of the quarterback. Even though the offensive line lets the defense invade their territory, the quarterback has plenty of time to get the ball out and a much bigger window in which to throw it into now that the defense is focused on reaching him, not the receiver.

Just a few key notes on each pass reviewed:

Bubble Screen:

An inside receiver who bubbles back and up to receive the pass
3 x 1 set = 3 receivers on one side, 1 on the other
The two receivers on the 3 receiver side block, and the bubble receiver now has an open lane to run through

Tunnel/Jailbreak/Slip/Wide Screen:

The outside receiver will get the pass; the two inside receivers block
The receiver catches the ball just outside of the tackle box
The goal is to run up inside the middle of the field for gain

Base Slow Screen:

QB drops back and sets and the tailback fakes a block
The inside of the line pulls (moves) over to the other side to block for the rusher
QB “sugars” the defense – tricks the defense into blitzing him

Dual Screen:

Tunnel screen on one side, base screen on the other side
The QB has options depending on what the defense does

Not too bad, right?

History Lesson : Johnny Unitas

People…I can’t even believe I’ve been depriving you of the film portion of these lessons. Somehow I missed the memo that the Pro Football Hall of Fame has a Youtube channel…so we’ll be picking up the best episodes with a vengeance for the next few weeks as we continue on with our history lessons!

Today we are taking a trip down memory lane with legendary Baltimore Colts quarterback, Johnny Unitas. Get your popcorn ready!

I think my favorite fact about Johnny U was that he was released by the Steelers before the season ever began. It would have been so easy – even logical – for him to call it quits then. Instead, he worked construction during the week to support his family and played quarterback, safety, and punter for a local team on the weekends for $6 a game before going to a Colts tryout with a friend the following year. The Colts signed him…and he remained their quarterback for 17 seasons.

It just goes to show that if you know you are meant to be or do something, no setback in the world is too great to overcome.

Want more Johnny U? Be on the lookout for an upcoming movie – featuring a current Baltimore star – projected to release in 2014.