Football for Normal Girls - Page 34 of 67 -

Off the Field : Charlie Batch

Charlie Batch earned one of our favorite moments of 2012 with his tenacious Week 13 win over the Ravens. He is currently a free agent, and while he hasn’t officially been cut or resigned to the Steelers roster, after they drafted QB Landry Jones it became fairly apparent that Batch won’t be returning next season after spending over a decade with the team.

Batch certainly won’t be bored should he find himself out of a job this season in Pittsburgh. His foundation, the Best of the Batch Foundation, will keep him plenty busy, with multiple initiatives that serve Southwestern Pennsylvania.

Aside from loving what they do to empower the community, I really love how they’re phrased their mission statement: “Best of the Batch Foundation provides financially challenged youth and their families with the purpose, desire, and resources to give their best efforts in all they do throughout their lives.” It’s getting to the core issue, giving hope and help to families who would otherwise need to give their best effort to simply making it through each day.

My favorite outreach (and there are a LOT) might be the Best of the Batch club, which rewards students who demonstrate excellence in academics and extra-curriculars with a trip to the Pro Football Hall of Fame with Charlie Batch. How cool is that?!

The foundation also has a really creative holiday campaign. Charlie and other Steelers teammates sign autographs for fans during the Batch-A-Toys drive in exchange for new, unwrapped toys. Over 25,000 have been given away so far!

Here’s a peek into this past year’s giveaway:

Thousands of kids have been impacted by the work of the Best of the Batch Foundation (included a few you might know!). If Charlie isn’t on a field this fall, he’s sure to be found furthering that impact even more.

(Also – two thumbs way up to the Best of the Batch Foundation for having one of the most beautiful, functional athlete charity websites I’ve come across so far. Job well done!)

Fundamentals : Single High Safety

I have to tell you, I’m pretty excited about the next two weeks on the blog. There is a lot of great information coming your way! Today we’ll wrap up our defensive fundamentals (for now). Next week, since we’ve been talking about so many different formations, we’ll talk about how to identify who is on the field and what they are doing when a) the player’s position is unclear and/or b) the funky formation is unclear. It should help a TON.

For now, let’s finish up on defense and talk about an increasingly popular defensive look: deploying the single high safety.

Let’s turn to our new friend Coach Billick for a basic introduction to the single high safety concept:

Not too bad, right? The single high safety is usually the free safety. He plays zone up high, hence the name, “single high safety.” There are just a few nuances from last week’s lesson on zone coverage, so let’s go over them.

Here’s the formation that Coach Billick drew up:

There are a few interesting things to note in this formation. Take a look at the defensive line and the second level. From a numbers standpoint only, it looks like a fairly traditional 4-3 formation, right? Four guys on D-line, 3 backers behind. But when we look at the letters, we see that Coach Billick has actually drawn up something that looks like a variation of a 3-4 offense, in which there are 3 defensive linemen on the field and 4 linebackers.

So is this a 4-3 or a 3-4? Great question! I didn’t know the answer, so I started doing some research and Greg Cosell came to my rescue with this article. I would have originally been inclined to say that it depends on the lineman’s stance: if he’s in a 2-point stance as a rusher, it’s a 3-4; if he’s in a 3-point stance as a blocker, it’s a 4-3. But luckily Greg is smarter than me and called me out: stance has nothing to do with formation. It’s all about gaps. If it’s a 2-gap concept in which defensive linemen are responsible for 2 gaps each, therefore lining up over the tackles (ends) and center (nose), it’s a 3-4. If it’s a 1-gap concept in which defensive linemen are responsible for 1 gap each, it’s a 4-3. (The whole article is well worth a read if you have a few spare minutes!)

So what do we have above? According to Greg, it’s a 4-3. (I think.)

(What do you guys think?)

Ok: moving on. We didn’t talk about Cover 1 last week because it’s not strictly a zone coverage. Let’s take another look at the illustration to flesh it out:

Cover 1 is a mixed coverage: the deep safety is playing zone, and all of the other defensive backs are playing man-to-man. We can see that the corners are covering the receivers and the strong safety is covering the tight end. It’s a single high safety concept because – you guessed it! – there’s a single safety up high in the formation.

Boom.

But a single high safety doesn’t automatically equate Cover 1, as Coach explained next:

There can be a single high safety look in a Cover 3, too. The corners can cover the outside zones while the deep safety covers the middle third up high. It’s a little bit challenging to see on the screen shot, so here’s another example:

In this look, we see one single high safety in the middle and two defensive backs deep outside. That makes this Cover 3 – 3 defensive backs playing zone deep – with a single high safety.

BOOM.

Isn’t this fun?

On Wednesday we’ll have even more fun in our Film Room post looking at how Seattle is effectively utilizing the single high safety look with the wonder that is Earl Thomas. Can’t wait!

News and Notes : 5.16.13

Five on Friday has arrived once again! Here are a few notes from this week’s NFL news:

1. David Garrard is the latest QB to leave the Jets roster. The move was a little different than most because it was of Garrard’s own volition; he hasn’t been able to recover from the knee injury that has kept him sidelined for the past few seasons and is ready to call it a career. He’s a good guy, and I’m glad he’ll be retiring as a Jaguar.

2. Even when things seem to be looking up for Sanchez – no Tebow, no Garrard – he still can’t seem to catch a break. Panthers WR Steve Smith reportedly “dissed” Sanchez by saying he wouldn’t want to be thrown “a paper bag sandwich” by the Jets QB. I’m not entirely sure what that means. Sanchez, who has never lacked for class, responded by wishing, “him and his team a healthy, successful season.” But one can only hope that internally he made a few quality retorts about non-sandwich items to throw at Smith, if only for the sub-par insult.

3. The veterans mentioned in last week’s post – Urlacher, Woodson, and Freeney – are started to garner more interest. Freeney might land with the Chargers now that they’ve lost defensive starter Melvin Ingram for the season with an ACL tear. Woodson is being considered by both the Broncos and the Giants (the Panthers and Raiders have reportedly had interest as well). There are Urlacher-to-Vikings rumors milling around, but that’s probably only because Minnesota is where all NFC North players go to retire.

4. The Raiders added two notable names to their roster this week: wide receiver Josh Cribbs (Cleveland) and punter Chris Kluwe (Minnesota). Also on the Raiders radar: longtime Raiders executive Amy Trask resigned after 25 years with the team.

5. The NFL Network is airing their yearly countdown of the Top 100 Players in the league. The first 30 have been revealed so far (in true NFL fashion, they are released 10 at a time each week with an hour-long discussion panel following the announcement), and it’s always fun to see where your favorite players land.

And really, we’re back to a fairly barren time in the offseason, so it’s a well-timed hype fest. I’m all for it.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

History Lesson : Music City Miracle

Let’s continue with the miracle theme, shall we?

The first part of this history lesson should probably focus on reframing your perspective: there was a time in the not-so-distant past when it wasn’t at all abnormal for the Buffalo Bills to be perennial playoff hopefuls. Really. The 80’s and 90’s were the Bills’ golden years. They made the playoffs 10 out of 12 years in those decades, and even went to four Super Bowls back to back to back to back in the 90’s. They didn’t win any of them, but still, that’s a huge feat.

Then, in the ’99 season wildcard round in an away game against the Titans, something happened. And the Bills haven’t made a post-season appearance since.

That something, as you might surmise, was the Music City Miracle.

It was the 4th quarter. The Bills had just taken a 1-point lead by kicking a 41-yard field goal and were kicking it off to the Titans with 16 seconds remaining. The Bills objective was clear: do anything to run out the next 16 seconds and prevent the Titans from getting into field goal range.

Bills kicker Steve Christie kicked the ball off, and the Titans’ Lorenzo Neal made a standard catch. He then pitched it back to tight end Frank Wycheck, who threw it across the field to Kevin Dyson. Dyson proceeded to run, untouched, 75-yards for the touchdown, and the victory.

But it would be a few minutes before that victory was confirmed. Throwing a forward pass during a kickoff return is illegal, and if Wycheck’s pass had landed further ahead than where it was thrown, the touchdown would be revoked. It had to have been a lateral pass – a pass that goes either perfectly sideways or behind (and is legal at any point in the game).

The ref goes in. The ref comes out.

It was a lateral. Titans win a Music City Miracle, and eventually advance to the Super Bowl.

(That “1 Yard”? That’s another significant history lesson you can be looking forward to next week!)

Film Room : Coverage, Billick Style

I’m bringing in reinforcements.

The real big guns.

Coach Billick, Super Bowl winning coach and FOX NFL analyst, is here to explain Cover 2, Tampa 2, and Cover 3 in the perfect way only he can. From the looks of the video I’m a little concerned that he was held hostage in a basement by rabid Ravens fans when this was taped, but he seems to be in good spirits so we’ll move right along. (As for the guy who asked the first question – he looks/sounds like he could be Billick’s long lost brother in another life, doesn’t he?)

Don’t worry, there’s a second video! But first, let’s go over some notes from Round 1:

Plain and simple, just like we like it: Cover 2 = 2 guys deep.
Coach explained that most defenses fall into two basic categories: man or zone. Within the zone category, you can either play 2-deep or 3-deep.
This example is out of a 40 front. You might have heard that and been like, “Coach, hold the phone.” But you’ve already got this! A 40 front is just a defense with 4-down linemen, or a 4-man rush. So what do we already know about a 4-man front? That’s the same as the 4-3 front! That little hyphen between the 4-3 can and often is taken out so that it’s called a “43” front – same thing. So when Coach Billick says the play is out of a 40 front, it just means that there are 4 defensive linemen up front. (Psssh. You’re so ahead of the game and you didn’t even know it!)
We’ve seen this! The deep part of the field is split into two sections, covered by the 2 deep safeties. The mid-portion of the field is split into five sections, covered by the 5-under players (linebackers and corners, in this case).
Coach Billick points out that 2-deep zone is effective against teams that like to throw lots of short passes for consistent gain. Why? There’s a bevy of people in that midsection of the field, and it’s going to be pretty tough to complete a pass in the middle of the mayhem.
I love this: he wants to beat you with numbers, angles, or names. Coaches either want more people than you’ve got in the anticipated area of action, better angles on the action, or better players than the ones on your team. Not a bad mission statement.
The Cover 2 isn’t just for passing plays! Corners can come up and protect against the edges should a running play be called.
The weakness in the Cover 2? The “2” part. If the offense sends “3 verts” of “4 verts” – meaning 3 or 4 receivers running vertically up the field – there are only 2 guys back there to cover all of them.

So how do defenses fix that? Enter: the Tampa 2.

To “cheat” a safety is less scandalous than it sounds, and it doesn’t just happen to safeties. “Cheating” a player just means moving him to another location. In Tampa 2, the safeties move out to the far ends of the field to cover corner routes.
As we know, the middle linebacker is then brought up the seam to take away the middle passing lane.
You’re not crazy – Tampa 2 really is the same as having 3-deep. It’s just football: things are never what they seem.
We’ve seen this, too! In Cover 3, there are 3-deep – but it’s not 2 safeties and a linebacker. It’s two corners and the free safety. The strong safety moves under and hangs with the linebackers (so it’s 4-under).
“If a team is 30% man on a 60 snap game, so 20 snaps in man, the remaining coverages will be some form of 2, Tampa 2, or Cover 3.” Just revel in that sentence for a minute because that’s coach speak, and you know exactly what it means.
You rock.

Off the Field : Marcus Trufant

A chapter has come to a quiet close in Seattle. Marcus Trufant, one of the best corners to ever play for the Seahawks and a staple of the franchise for the past 10 years, signed with the Jaguars last Tuesday.

Seahawks fans know Trufant as an exceptional player and an even better person. Just read this article from the Seahawks website; it couldn’t be brimming with more praise! And for good reason.

Marcus Trufant started his charity, the Trufant Family Foundation, when he was drafted by the Seahawks in 2003. He had a passion to help the community he was born and raised in – Tacoma, Washington, ironically enough! – and that passion has paid dividends for countless for children and their families. The Trufant Family Foundation provides college scholarships, youth camps, and fitness programs, as well as supports local and national organization.

Side note: the Trufant Family also has a firm foundation in the National Football League, with all three Trufant brothers currently on NFL rosters. Marcus is now with the Jags, Isaiah plays for the Jets, and Desmond was just drafted by the Atlanta Falcons.

Want to get to know them better? Check out this great video they did with a local elementary school:

Trufants, you guys are good people.

Marcus will certainly be missed on the field in Seattle next season, but he won’t be missed in the city. His hometown will still be well-supported through his influence and the great work done by his foundation.