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Video Post(!) : Football Field Fundamentals

I know that video posts in blog posts are technically supposed to be called “vlogs,” but I just can’t do it. The English language is ridiculous enough as it is without adding new ridiculous words to the mix. And is it really so hard to just say the extra word? Must we merge the two into one? How much longer does it really take to say “video blog” as opposed to “vlog,” and what, exactly, are you planning on doing with those extra 0.25 seconds?

People, join me. Resist the urge to merge.

In other, less grammatically-inclined news, I made a video post…and I survived! I’m so much better with typing words onto a screen than speaking words while looking into a screen. However, I wanted to make this one in preparation for the upcoming Influence Network class in an effort to force myself to stop being Chicken Little. Plus, I’ve wanted to feature video posts here for a long time! I think that sometimes concepts are easier to grasp when they are explained out loud and shown with a visual, so count on more video posts in the future.

This video will help you grasp the basic fundamentals of a football field. If you need to call in the reinforcements, you can always check out the Football Field Fundamentals post, too!

Two things to consider post-video:

1. If you haven’t signed up for Understanding Football, high tail it over to the Influence Network and sign up! The class is only ONE WEEK from today!

2. Is there something you’d like to see covered in a video post as opposed to a regular post? Leave your ideas in the comments!

At the Water Cooler : Week 11

Think wins and losses were pretty straightforward in Week 11 before the games even started? Think again! It was a week in which we relearned the weekly NFL lesson: you can never assume that you know what you don’t know. Anyone can win at anytime in this league.

Indianapolis Colts at Tennessee Titans (Colts won, 30-27)

The Colts are the definition of a team that can never be counted out. They are the best in the business at the comeback win. Beyond that, they still have yet to lose back-to-back games under second-year head coach Chuck Pagano.

NY Jets at Buffalo Bills (Bills won, 37-14)

The Jets odd-numbered-week win streak came crashing to a halt on Sunday. For whatever reason the Jets seems to struggle to win in Buffalo, and Sunday was no exception. It was a long one for Gang Green.

Baltimore Ravens at Chicago Bears (Bears won, 23-20 OT)

It seems like the ultimate in irony that a game delayed nearly 2 hours by severe weather would go into overtime. Total time: 6 hours, 19 minutes.

Cleveland Browns at Cincinnati Bengals (Bengals won, 41-20)

The Browns came out with guns blazing, putting up 13 unanswered points in the 1st quarter, and then the game was played backwards in the 2nd quarter. Literally. The Bengals scored 31 unanswered points in the 2nd quarter.

Atlanta Falcons at Tampa Bay Buccaneers (Buccaneers won, 41-28)

This has to be the low point for Atlanta, right?

Arizona Cardinals at Jacksonville Jaguars (Cardinals won, 27-14)

The Jags scored 14 points in the first quarter…and then decided to be done for the day. And the Cardinals were ok with that!

Oakland Raiders at Houston Texans (Raiders won, 28-13)

Way to go, Rookie. Raiders rookie backup QB Matt McGloin threw three touchdowns and no interceptions to lead the Raiders to the win against the Texans – who could probably use some of that good QB fortune on their side. Keenum was benched, Schuab was booed, mayhem ensued.

Washington Redskins at Philadelphia Eagles (Eagles won, 24-16)

The losing streak is over: For the first time in over a year, the Eagles won at home. Philadelphians, rejoice! Or complain at a lower level of intensity!

Detroit Lions at Pittsburgh Steelers (Steelers won, 37-27)

When FOX switched to this game in the middle of the Redskins at Eagles game, my mom looked up at the TV, saw the Steelers throwback unis, and said, “Is this game sponsored by Honey Nut Cheerios?” It made my day. As did the Steelers handing the Lions an unlikely loss.

San Diego Chargers at Miami Dolphins (Miami won, 20-16)

Who wants the last wildcard slot in the AFC? Apparently no one in particular, since there are two 5-5 teams and seven 4-win teams who are all in the running for that last spot, Chargers and Dolphins among them.

Minnesota Vikings at Seattle Seahawks (Seahawks won, 41-20)

The last time the Seahawks lost at home it was the night before Christmas…2011. Apparently they were really, really good and Santa put nearly two years of home wins under their tree the next morning.

San Francisco 49ers at New Orleans Saints (Saints won, 23-20)

The Saints are used to winning by multiple touchdowns at home, but I think they’ll take this hard fought home win against the Niners all the same.

Green Bay Packers at NY Giants (Giants won, 27-13)

This was a game until JPP made a crazy athletic pick six in the 3rd quarter. And then it was over. I’m borrowing hope from the fact that the Giants opened the season 0-6 and still have a shot to make the playoffs (~~because they play in the NFC East~~) to help heal the pain of the Packers losing three straight for the first time since Aaron Rodgers’ first year as a starter in 2008.

Kansas City Chiefs at Denver Broncos (Broncos won, 27-17)

Peyton Manning is a walking advertisement for athletic tape right now; his ankles were just about mummified when he took the field last night. But they didn’t take any extra beatings last night, since Manning did not get hit once in the entire game. That’s unreal. Kudos to his quick decision making and Denver’s O-line for keeping the Kansas City defense at bay. The Chiefs will be ready and waiting for a rematch at home in 2 weeks.

New England Patriots at Carolina Panthers (MNF on ESPN)

I am so excited for this Monday night matchup. The Panthers have a real shot to win this one and prove that last week’s win against the Niners wasn’t just a lucky fluke. But then again…who in their right mind would ever count the Patriots out? As Mr. T would say, I pity the fool who underestimates the tandem power of Brady and Belichick.

Bye: Dallas Cowboys, St. Louis Rams

Review and Preview : Week 10

Review

Audible: Calling an audible is what happens when someone, usually the quarterback, changes the play at the line of scrimmage. (From Tuesday’s post.)

Head Coach’s Headset: The head coach is usually talking to coordinators who are up in the box (a press box up high in the stadium). He is engaged in a constant conversation with his staff in order to collectively create the most effective game plan possible. (From Wednesday’s post.)

Live Helmets: One player from each team is allowed to have a live radio in his helmet through which he receives play calls from a coach – usually a coordinator or position coach. The “live” helmets are designated by a green dot sticker on the back of the helmet. The lines of communication aren’t always open – during the 40-second play clock, the coaches have 25-seconds to communicate with the player wearing the live helmet. It automatically shuts off in the last 15-seconds. (From Wednesday’s post.)

Most Likely To Score a Touchdown: There is no one position amongst the offensive “skill” players – wide receivers, running backs, tight ends – that is more likely to score a touchdown than any other. It is completely dependent on the team, the players, and the style of offense they play. (From Wednesday’s post.)

FootballSimplified App: An app that teaches the basics of football in just a few sentences. It’s a quick, informative tutorial that will help tremendously as you dive further into the basics and beyond. The app covers understanding offense and defense, but also covers offensive play calling, a defensive coverage, and kicking formations. (From Thursday’s post.)

Reminder!

Don’t forget to register for the upcoming Understanding Football class on November 26th on the Influence Network! There are only 50 spots, so be sure to get yours before they sell out!

Preview

Normal Girl Game of the Week

Kansas City Chiefs at Denver Broncos, SNF on NBC

As aforementioned, this was an easy pick for game of the week – and more than that, it’s the game of the year so far this season. The undefeated Chiefs face the Broncos at home in a battle of the best in the AFC, who also happen to occupy the same division, the AFC West. Barring an unfathomable collapse, one of these teams will win the division and the other will get the top wildcard spot. These divisional games will go a long way in deciding who gets which spot. They will also be the biggest test for the perfect Chiefs thus far.

Also on the Radar:

1. The Panthers proved that they are the real deal last week against the 49ers. They’ll get another chance to prove their legitimacy this week as they face the Patriots coming off a bye. Interestingly enough, however, Bill Belichick has an 8-6 record when coming off a bye. It’s not a bad record, but it’s also not an indication that the Patriots have a better chance of winning this week coming off a bye than they do any other week. In fact, that win percentage (.571) suggests less of a chance to win than their usual win percentage under Belichick (.720).

2. As per above, the Niners were handed a tough loss at home by the Panthers last week. And this week, to get back on track, they face an even greater challenge: trying to best the Saints in New Orleans. That is one Everest-sized tall order.

3. This week’s weird-but-true fact: The Jets only win in odd weeks this season. Literally. They won in Weeks 1, 3, 5, 7, and 9, and lost in Weeks 2, 4, 6, 8, and just had their bye in Week 10. This week, Week 11, they play the Bills in Buffalo, a road location that usually proves troublesome for the Jets. Which is more powerful: the 2013 odd week streak, or the bone-chilling reality that is Buffalo in November? We shall see.

Resources : FootballSimplified App

There are lots of great places to get your football smarts (and I just did a refresh of the Resources page, which we’ll go over in a post at a later date, to put all of my favorites in one place). I was recently introduced to a new one by the guys over at SportSimplified, and I think it’s one you all will be VERY interested in!

FootballSimplified is an app that teaches the basics of football in just a few sentences. (And you all know there’s no way I can produce that kind of brevity over here. I like words way too much for that.) It’s a quick, informative tutorial that will help tremendously as you dive further into the basics and beyond. Especially beyond! The app covers understanding offense and defense, but also covers offensive play calling, a defensive coverage, and kicking formations. Plus, once you are finished with all of the lessons, you can take a quiz to test your new knowledge!

Here’s why I like the app. Let’s say you wanted to learn more about wide receivers. You can learn about their basic function in the Offense lesson:

Then, once you are set with who the wide receivers are, you can learn more about where they are on the field in the Offensive Formations lesson:

Not to leave any stone unturned, you can go one step further and learn what a wide receiver might do during a passing play in the Offensive Playcalling lesson:

Interested in giving it a whirl yourself? You can download the app for iPhone, iPad, Android, and Kindle Fire. Also worth checking out: the SportSimplified blog. And for all of you Western New Yorkers out there, I know you’ll be thrilled to hear that they also have a HockeySimplified app, so be sure to check that one out, too.

Thanks to Clayton and the team at SportSimplified for reaching out about this app! You guys are doing a great job!

Ashley’s Rookie Season : Headsets and Touchdown Scorers

Here we go with Round 4 of Ashley’s Rookie Season! If you’ve missed any of our previous sessions, you can find them all here:

Round 1

Round 2

Round 3

Ashley has two great questions today. Let’s dive in!

Q: The coaches have microphone headsets – who are they talking to and why?

A: There are lots of answers to this question, but we’ll start with the most relevant one first. The head coach is usually talking to coordinators who are up in the box (a press box up high in the stadium). They can see things from a much different vantage point than the head coach can and make different observations and play calls based on what they see from above. The coach can also get up-to-date stats on how effective the team is in any number of contexts – third down conversions, running plays on first downs, passing plays, etc – and makes decisions for future play calls based on those numbers. Basically, the head coach is engaged in a constant conversation with his staff in the box in order to collectively create the most effective game plan possible.

Another important microphone/headset scenario is the communication that takes place between the sidelines and the designated “live” helmet. One player from each team is allowed to have a live radio in his helmet through which he receives play calls from a coach – usually a coordinator or position coach, not the head coach, since he is in communication with the coordinators upstairs. On offense, not surprisingly, this player is almost always the quarterback. He usually gets the calls from the offensive coordinator or quarterbacks coach. On defense, also not surprisingly, this player is often a middle linebacker, who is like the quarterback of the defense. Similarly, he usually gets the calls from the defensive coordinator or linebackers coach.

The “live” helmets are designated by a green dot sticker on the back of the helmet. The lines of communication aren’t always open – during the 40-second play clock, the coaches have 25-seconds to communicate with the player wearing the live helmet. It automatically shuts off in the last 15-seconds.

Q: Is there an offensive player that is most-likely to score a touchdown?

There are lots of answers to this question, too! Most Likely to Score a Touchdown is a Football Superlative that anyone can win. There is no one position amongst the offensive “skill” players – wide receivers, running backs, tight ends – that is more likely to score a touchdown than any other. It is completely dependent on the team, the players, and the style of offense they play.

Let’s take a look at the 2012 season offensive scoring statistics. Arian Foster, running back for the Houston Texans, had the most touchdowns with 17 total – 15 rushing, 2 receiving. His skill set, combined with the Texans offense (and offensive line), made him most effective as a running back scoring rushing touchdowns.

The player with the second-most touchdowns was James Jones, wide receiver for the Green Bay Packers. He had 14, and they were all receiving touchdowns. Why? That’s the style of offense Green Bay plays: it’s a heavy-passing West Coast offense manned by the league’s best passer, Aaron Rodgers. At that time the Packers had one of the worst running games in the league. Passing was the name of the game, and James Jones is really, really good at that game, so he had a lot of receiving touchdowns as a wide receiver in a pass-happy offense.

Make sense? If you have any followup questions – or any completely unrelated questions! – feel free to leave them in the comments.

5-Minute Football : Audible

Here’s a football term that has crossed into mainstream culture: calling an audible. You might have heard it in any number of contexts, but today we’ll define what it means on a football field.

Calling an audible is what happens when someone, usually the quarterback, changes the play at the line of scrimmage. Why? Usually for one of two reasons: 1. If he doesn’t think the original play called will be successful against the defensive he’s seeing, or 2. If he sees some weakness in the defense he thinks he can exploit with a different play.

Peyton Manning, king of all things offense, does this frequently. Here’s an example:

You’ll notice when an audible is being called because the quarterback will be in make-things-happen mode, waving his arms and yelling and pointing, and players will be switching places to line up for a newly called play.

So, in essence, calling an audible means changing the original play call to a different play that will give your team a better chance to succeed. Like when you audible to pizza for dinner instead of meatloaf as planned to please the masses on a Friday night. (Always a good play call.)