basics Archives - Page 7 of 11 - Football for Normal Girls

Film Room : OTAs

Yesterday we learned that an OTA is an Organized Team Activity with a lot of rules attached – including rules that prohibit direct contact between players. So if football players can’t hit each other at a practice…what do they do? And how is it helpful to coaches?

That’s what Coach Billick explains in this video:

So, what did we get out of that?

Coach Billick’s interpretation of OTA is Organization Training Activities – same thing. Po-tay-toe, po-tah-toe.
The offseason program is like spring football in high school and college, a collection of workouts, practices, scrimmages that build a foundation for the regular season.
About 1,000 plays are run throughout the course of the OTAs – roughly about the same number as run in the regular season. (Unless you are at Eagles camp with new head coach Chip Kelly, in which case you’ll be running 2,000 plays. In one day.)
The primary goal of OTAs is to get players used to the tempo a coach is trying to achieve. I’m tempted to make another Eagles joke here, but really, the tempo at the Eagles camp is going to be markedly different than the tempo at the Cowboys camp, or the Giants camp, or the Redskins camp. Each team has a unique rhythm to their practices and play calling, and OTAs help players get a good feel for that rhythm.
It’s not all about the tempo on the field. OTAs also instill off-the-field expectations – what meetings, film study, and workouts look like.
OTAs are also primarily for installing the system on offense, defense, and special teams. What does that mean? Let’s say a team’s defensive coordinator is going to switch from a 3-4 to a 4-3. That new 4-3 defense is going to be installed (taught and learned) during OTAs. Then, during training camp, the new system will be reinstalled and cemented in place so that it’s good to go when preseason and then the regular season arrive. It doesn’t only apply to teams that are completely overhauling their schemes, though. A lot of teams will probably adjust their systems and install more ways to either cater to or stop the newly popular option offenses in the NFL.
There are 3 phases to physical training in the offseason: cardiovascular training, football muscle memory training, and hitting shape (which happens during training camp when hitting is allowed).
The end result? Players come to training camp mentally and physically ready to play.

Makes sense, right? Thanks, Coach Billick!

Fundamentals : How to Use Uniform Numbers

You might have read that title and thought it was a typo…or just a weird post about repurposing old jerseys. But it’s so not! Your life is about to get so much easier, all thanks to the magic of uniform numbers.

Really.

So remember last week when we talked about the single high safety and how to find him on the field? That one was pretty simple, because you know that the one guy hanging out up top is the single high safety. It’s as close to self-explanatory as you’ll get in the NFL.

But what if you’re trying to figure out where the rest of the defensive backs are and you’re just not sure based on the formation alone?

That’s the beauty of uniform numbers.

In the NFL, players must to adhere to specific rules when it comes to picking their number. They have to select a number that is within the range for their position.

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Each position in the NFL is identified by a specific range of uniform numbers.

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What are those numbers and ranges? I made you a printable for you so you’ll have them handy all season long! (Just click the “Print Me!” icon below. A new window will open up and you can print the image by selecting File>Print in your browser. Enjoy!)

[ilink url=”http://www.footballfornormalgirls.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Pocket-Guide-to-NFL-Uniform-Numbers.jpg” style=”download”]Print Me![/ilink]

Ok, so how do we infuse this newfound knowledge into game day?

Let’s take a look at one of the screen shots from last Wednesday’s post.

It’s fairly obvious that this is Cover 1. We see Earl (hi, Earl!) hanging out up top. Also, he’s circled and the text beneath him says, “single high safety.”

I aim to please here, people.

So we know where Earl is – but where are the rest of the defensive backs? Are the three players in the second level linebackers? Which of the players on the defensive line are actually defensive linemen?

If you know your team well, you might know just based on what personnel your team usually fields. You know the players on the field. But if you don’t know the team, you can use three clues – uniform number, context, and the roster – to know who is on the field even if you don’t actually know who is on the field.

Let’s take a look at this play from a different angle and use our first clue to determine who’s on the field.

Uniform Number

Using a combination of the screenshot and the video, we can see everyone’s jersey and determine their position based on their number. Let’s work left to right across each level in the formation:

25: Defensive back

57: Linebacker

69: Defensive lineman

92: Defensive lineman or linebacker

79: Defensive lineman

50: Linebacker

39 (not shown): Defensive back

56: Linebacker

54: Linebacker

31: Defensive back

29: Defensive back

It’s pretty cut and dry just from a survey of the uniform numbers. The only question is 92 – is he a linebacker or a lineman? We can figure that out by looking onto Clue 2.

Context

Let’s take a look at this situation: 92 is in between two other defensive linemen. He’s in a 3-point stance, and a quick Google search tells us that he’s 300+ lbs – much too big for the typical linebacker. From the context we can tell that he’s more than likely a defensive tackle, which would make the other d-linemen next to him defensive ends. But to be sure we can always move to Clue 3, which is almost always* the golden ticket.

*Almost always – because a player can report as a different position than his uniform number indicates. We’ll be talking about that more next week!

Roster

We can be 100% sure of who’s on the field by using the Seahawks 2012 Roster.

25: Cornerback (Richard Sherman)

57: Linebacker (Michael Morgan)

69: Defensive end (Clinton McDonald)

92: Defensive tackle (Brandon Mebane)

79: Defensive end (Red Bryant)

50: Linebacker (K.J. Wright)

39: Cornerback (Brandon Browner)

56: Linebacker (Leroy Hill)

54: Linebacker (Bobby Wagner)

31: Safety (Kam Chancellor)

29: Safety (Earl Thomas)

When we match the players to their positions to their jerseys, the whole picture makes a lot more sense than it might have initially:

It makes sense that the corners are on the edges, that there are three down linemen, that the linebackers are coming up front as pass rushers, and that the strong safety is in the second level playing zone. Adding all of the pieces together makes an effective whole, and also teaches us a lot more about what the defense was going for on this play. From this look, it seems like the defense was probably expecting a running play, since they’ve stuffed so many guys in the box.

Now, realistically, are you going to have time to do this level of breakdown before the snap of every play? Probably not. The game happens – and changes! – much too quickly for that. You might not have time to figure out every player at every position, but you’ll more than likely be able to spot that one player who made a difference on the last play and figure out who he is by using the workflow you learned today – number, context, roster – and by knowing all of the basics you’ve learned so far.

Because you’re just that good!

But just in case you need a little extra practice, we’ll be going over this again in Wednesday’s film room post. Let’s consider it our OTA for the week. See you then!

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!

Fundamentals : 4-3 Defense (Base, Over, Under)

*Due to massive interest, this post is in the process of being rewritten and featured as a series for the 2014 season. In the meantime, please read the comments section as it is tremendously helpful! Thanks to everyone who has reached out about the post so far. Keep any comments coming!

This Fundamentals post serves to answer a question I’ve had for just about forever: what’s the difference between base, over, and under?

So I found the answers and turned them into color coordinated pictures. Because that’s what we do around here.

Ok, ready?! Here are a few foundational truths to lay out before we get rolling with this:

Base defense refers to the default defense that a team runs as a standard. For most teams in the NFL, their base defense is either a 3-4 or a 4-3 defense. Think of base defense as an empty room with a table and chairs: there will always be the same number of furniture pieces in the room, but you can rearrange them in any way that suits your needs. In the same way, teams that run a 3-4 defense as their base defense are going to field 3 linemen and 4 linebackers, but they can rearrange them in different ways if need be.
Over and Under Fronts describe how players are aligned within a base defense. In an over front, the four-man defensive line aligns to the strong side of the offense (the side with the tight end). In an under front, the defensive line aligns to the weak side (the side without the tight end). There can also be over and under fronts in 3-4 defensive systems, in which an outside linebacker would move up to become the 4th lineman. (Thank you so much for your help with this correction to the original post, Drew and Curtis!)
Ok, this is going against everything we’re learned so far, but sometimes there is a nose tackle in a 4-3 defense. It’s true. I’ve been withholding information to make the learning process between 3-4 and 4-3 easier, and now I kind of feel like I just told you all you were adopted. So, here’s the thing: the nose tackle in a 3-4 system in the sole defensive tackle and plays 0-technique. We know that. In a 4-3, a nose tackle (if used) would usually have about the same size and strength as a traditional nose tackle, but would play 1-technique instead of straight over the center in 0-technique. According to Pat Kirwan, “A 4-3 nose tackle is required to penetrate the inside “A” gap and often loop around and be responsible for containing the “C” gap.” (See this post for a refresher on gaps.)

Now that we have the basics ironed out, let’s move on to what a 4-3 base defense might look like.

(For all of the following illustrations, W = weakside linebacker (Will), M = middle linebacker (Mike), S = strongside linebacker (Sam). Remember that the strong side of any formation is the side with the tight end; the weak side is the side without the tight end. Check out the glossary for more help with these positions.)

We won’t spend a lot of time here because we already know this defense fairly well. In a 4-3 Base Defense, there are 4 defensive linemen and 3 linebackers. Usually, they are aligned in a formation similar to the one above, but certainly not always.

Let’s stick with the 4-3 Base and see what an over front would look like:

In the 4-3 Over Front, the defense shifts it’s strength to the strong side of the offense. How can that be, you ask, when there are more defensive players on the weak side than on the strong side? Great question! It’s all about the defensive tackle.

We see that the nose tackle is lined up on the weak side of the formation. And he’s important – his size and strength will plug up the gaps like nobody’s business. But the crux of the Over/Under fronts is built around the abilities of the defensive tackle.

In the Over front, the defensive tackle is aligned on the strong side of the formation. That defensive tackle is usually a 3-technique player. We know that the 3-technique player is aligned on the outside of the guard and relies on speed and agility, rather than sheer size (ala nose tackle), to shoot the B-gap and disrupt the backfield. The defensive tackle is the true “strength” of the formation and wherever he is will be the side to which the defense is shifting it’s strength. When the defensive tackle is on the strong side of the formation, it’s a 4-3 Over front.

Since you guys are all A+ students, I’m sure you are all anticipated what comes next: In a 4-3 Under Front, the defense shifts it’s strength to the weak side of the offense. See where the DT is? 3-technique on the weak side. A lot of NFL teams runs this defense because the defensive tackle has less obstacles between himself and the backfield. As long as he can shoot the B-gap he can get into the backfield and disrupt the action.

It’s a little counterintuitive to remember that the strength of the defense is the side that has less players and a little confusing to untangle the strength of the defensive from the strong sides and weak sides of the offense – I’ll give you that. But in general, now that we understand the role of the defensive tackle in all of this, does it make more sense?

Shout out your questions, comments, and concerns!

Fundamentals : Goal Line Defense

Your team’s defense is on the one-yard line. Your own one-yard line. The opposing team is poised to score easily with the ball mere feet from the end zone and a fresh set of downs. You believe in your team…but you know what’s going to happen here. The offense is going to score and then it’ll be up to your team’s offense to make up the difference.

But something miraculous happens. Three downs later, the offense hasn’t broken through the brick wall that is your defense. They opt to kick a field goal for 3 guaranteed points instead of trying to go through it again.

What just happened?

A goal line stand by a spectacularly called goal line defense.

As we’ve discussed before, most NFL defenses run a 3-4 or a 4-3 defensive formation. This makes the most sense when trying to cover large portions of the field.

But when your unit is backed up against the goal line and only has about 10-12 yards of field to cover, what do you do then?

That is just the question that goal line defense answers!

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The point of goal line defense, similarly to every other defense, is to keep the offense from scoring. Since the space in which this happens in quite condensed, goal line defenses load the box as much as possible to defend the goal line and force the offense to pass it in for a touchdown instead of easily running it in.

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NFL teams run two main types of goal line defense (predominately – as we know, there are always exceptions to every rule). Which goal line defense a team runs usually has more to do with the offensive formation they are facing than with the defensive formation they run the rest of the game – but again: exceptions. Here’s what we can know for sure about each formation:

The 6-2

We know from studying the 3-4 and the 4-3 that the first number describes the number of players on the defensive line and the second number describes the number of players mid-field between the D-line and the secondary – which is a space usually occupied by linebackers. The rest of the players not denoted by the formation are defensive backs. So in a 3-4, we know there are 3 D-linemen, 4 linebackers, and 4 defensive backs (3+4+4 = 11).

The 6-2 is a little different. The first and second numbers still pertain to regions of the field: there are 6 players up front and 2 behind. But the 6 in this case doesn’t denote 6 defensive linemen in the traditional sense. Only 4 of those 6 are linemen by position; the other 2 are linebackers. See the image above to get a better understanding of what that looks like.

So in the 6-2 we have 6 men on the defensive line (4 D-linemen and 2 LB’s), 2 linebackers behind, and 3 defensive backs. The exact alignment of all these players will depend on the offensive formation, but in this example, the tackles are blocking the A gaps and the ends and linebackers on the D-line are head up over their offensive tackles (which would be 5-technique) and tight ends (8-technique). The linebackers behind the D-line are playing head up over the guards (2-technique). The defensive backs are covering the end zone (and the QB might try to throw one to the outside right corner since there’s no one in the immediate area to defend against it).

The 5-3

We can go back to our traditional understanding of defensive formations with the 5-3. There are 5 men on the D-line and they’re all linemen, and there are 3 men behind and they’re all linebackers. Since there are 5 on the D-line and 3 LB’s, that means we still have 3 guys in the secondary. The techniques have changed a little bit in this formation, though. See if you can figure out which technique each of the D-linemen and linebackers are playing (and refer back to this post if you need a little extra help!).

Will you see other defenses at the goal line in NFL games this season? Will the linebackers and tackles and ends be all jumbled up and aligned in different places? ABSOLUTELY! Play design is a math equation with thousands and thousands of different permutations. That’s what makes learning about it so interesting! But as long as you know these basics about goal line defense, you’ll be just fine.

Draft Week Fundamentals : Q & A

DRAFT WEEK IS HERE!!!

Now, let me be the first to state the obvious: we haven’t covered much of anything draft-related in the past few months. That’s true! And that’s mainly because draft projections chip away at my soul…it seems so pointless to spend time guessing where all of the prospects may or may not get drafted only to have it all fall to pieces after the first pick.

So why the excitement? It’s three-fold (Friends lovers, that’s for you):

First, the draft makes the regular season feel like it might actually arrive in the not-too-distant future (even though in reality, this only marks the halfway point…).

Second, it’s pure joy to see dreams come true one after the other in tearful succession for hours on end. It’s warranted to think whatever you wish about professional athletes – how they’re overpaid, arrogant, disproportionately lauded. That’s understandable and occasionally true. But at the heart of every professional athlete is a kid who had a big dream and worked relentlessly to achieve it, and that’s what you see on stage at Radio City Music hall each spring. I love it.

And third, now the projections that actually matter can begin. Instead of wondering how so-and-so might contribute to such-and-such a team if he’s drafting in this-or-that round, you can put names on the jerseys and speculate about impact on the lineup. That’s the kind of projecting I can get on board with.

It really is a great weekend for all involved.

So, how does it work? We know that players get added to teams over the course of multiple rounds, but how? Let’s answer a few of the foundational questions today:

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THE BASICS:

The draft is a rotating player selection process which exists to give all teams an equal chance at procuring the players they need. There are seven rounds of selection that take place over the course of three days in April at the Radio City Music Hall in NYC.

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Questions and Answers:

Q: Who can get drafted?

A: Players who have been out of high school for at least three years, which means nearly all of whom are college juniors, are eligible to be drafted. That doesn’t mean that the draft is comprised entirely of college juniors; a surprising majority of college players choose to stay and play out their senior year.

Q: What determines the order of the picks?

A: The worse your season, the better your draft order. The team with the worst record gets the first pick, followed the by teams with the worst records who did not make the playoffs, followed by the least successful playoff teams. Consequently, the Super Bowl champion gets the last pick in the draft. In the event of shared win-loss records, draft order is determined by 1) strength of schedule, 2) division record, 3) conference records, 4) coin toss. The order stays mostly the same for every round (teams within the same “tier” of win-loss records do cycle, but stay within the same general area of picks), until teams start trading picks during the draft to get a player they want (more on that below). To see this year’s draft order, check out this list.

Q: How long do teams have to make their selection?

It differs in every round. In Round 1, teams get a lengthy 10 minutes to make their decision. That time gets shortened to 7 minutes in Round 2, and 5 minutes in Rounds 3-7.

Q: How do teams “trade up” for a player?

A: Teams can trade picks before and during the draft. Before the draft, teams trade picks for existing players. You’ve probably heard of this over the course of the offseason: Alex Smith was traded by the 49ers to the Chiefs for a second round pick this year and a conditional (based on how many games the Chiefs win) third round pick next year; Anquan Boldin was traded to the Niners for a sixth round pick; the Vikings got an incredible deal when they traded Percy Harvin to the Seahawks in exchange for Seattle’s first and seventh round picks this year and a possible mid-round pick next year.

During the draft, teams can call other teams and trade with them – a single pick or multiple picks, this year and/or in following years – to trade up to the spot they want. In 2011, the Atlanta Falcons infamously (and to much criticism) traded three picks in 2011 and two picks in 2012 – including their first round pick – the the Cleveland Browns so that they could move up to the sixth spot and take wide receiver Julio Jones.

You might say it’s worked out well for them.

Q: What is “cap management” and how does it relate to the draft?

A: That’s an excellent question for which I do not have an excellent answer. Math has never been my strongest suit to begin with, and the convoluted nuances of the NFL salary cap don’t help matters much. There are conditions for this and conditions for that and sometimes an amount of money actually counts for more or less than the numerical amount – it’s a jungle out there. But here’s what I can tell you, in short: the salary cap is like a budget, and each team has a finite spending limit. In 2013, the salary cap is set at $123 million dollars (don’t we all have that in pocket change?). That money isn’t used exclusively to draft new players – it’s the whole sum paid out to all players on the active roster. Teams have to budget wisely (or practice good “cap management”) throughout the year to retain their best current players and to also have the resources to pay players they want to add to the roster in the draft and throughout free agency. Take a look at this list to see how much cap space each team has left going into the draft (and notice the wide discrepancy in amounts!).

Q: What’s a compensatory pick?

A: The NFL awards compensatory picks – 32 total, and up to 4 additional draft picks per team – to teams that have lost significant talent through the free agency season. Free agents are players who are no longer under contract with their current team and are therefore allowed to sign with another team. When a teams loses their top free agents, they are given compensatory picks as a talent buffer (the picks occur in specified rounds and cannot be traded). 2013 Example: the Ravens, who lost what felt like the majority of their starting lineup this offseason, were awarded 4 compensatory picks, the maximum amount allowed.

Q: What’s a “war room” and what in the world does it have to do with the draft?

The war room is the place where each teams selected draft personnel – coaches, executives, general managers, owners, etc – hammer out their final decisions on draft picks and submit their picks to the NFL. It’s nicknamed the “war room” because of the intensity and strategy involved in getting the players the teams wants. For a great read on what goes on inside war rooms, check out this piece by Andrew Brandt about the Packers’ war room.

Q: Is there a limit to how many players a team can draft?

No; a team can draft as many players as they have picks, and can bring as many as 90 players into training camp to tryout for the final 53-man roster.

Q: What happens to the players who don’t get drafted?

Players who don’t get drafted are deemed “undrafted free agents” and can tryout for any team who will give them a chance after the draft. It’s easy to think that these players aren’t as good as the players who were drafted, but that’s not always the case. In fact, some of the best players to ever play the game were snubbed in the draft: Kurt Warner, James Harrison, Jeff Saturday, London Fletcher, Arian Foster, and Wes Welker are just a few of the notable players who’ve gone undrafted.

Q: Historically, how do draft picks usually pan out? Are there “good” and “bad” drafts? Are the first round picks the only ones who really make it in the league?

Great questions! Tune in for Thursday’s History Lesson post on draft history to learn all about memorable NFL drafts.