Latest / NFL explained. / Guide to Offensive Play Calling in the NFL

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Guide to Offensive Play Calling in the NFL · NFL explained.

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Speaker 1: NFL Explained is a production of the NFL in partnership
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Speaker 1: new edition of NFL Explained. Last time out, we got
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Speaker 1: super Bowl champion m Rov. What's good man? What's yea
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Speaker 1: is going down? I'm very happy for another episode of
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Speaker 1: NFL Explained, But I got a question for you right
0:35
Speaker 1: off the top, okay, bringing the heat? What comes to
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Speaker 1: mind when I say why short? Too strong? Right clamp
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Speaker 1: ace H two y bingo X comeback cannon with role
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Speaker 1: right B shallow. Uh. You know, it's a little annoying
0:50
Speaker 1: because I'm having flashbacks. I used my cousin's Netflix account,
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Speaker 1: and I'm pretty sure when I got locked out, the
0:55
Speaker 1: password was exactly what you just said, So I don't know. Yeah,
1:01
Speaker 1: it was like I kind of wishing like you guys
1:03
Speaker 1: just kind of made things simple for me. No, or
1:06
Speaker 1: maybe it was your recovery password for like one of
1:08
Speaker 1: your robin hood or one of your investment accounts of
1:12
Speaker 1: those things. That is an actual NFL play call that
1:17
Speaker 1: you here in the huddle during a real game, which
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Speaker 1: really does beg the question why do things need to
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Speaker 1: be so complicated? The complexity is really significant. So today
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Speaker 1: on NFL Explain, we're gonna talk a little bit about
1:29
Speaker 1: the basics of personnel on offense and when you're actually
1:32
Speaker 1: watching games this season, you'll have a better understanding of
1:35
Speaker 1: how and why teams line up on the field like
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Speaker 1: they do. We're also gonna talk a little bit about
1:39
Speaker 1: some models why teams use terms like Tupac purple walrus.
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Speaker 1: But I'm a biggie guy and not tupa right like
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Speaker 1: where he's Okay, you needed to. This is why we
1:48
Speaker 1: get along man change of players at the line. It
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Speaker 1: is a thing. We know what to things. So let's
1:53
Speaker 1: dive right into it. Will start with the offense here.
1:55
Speaker 1: Whenever you see players running onto the field, it is
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Speaker 1: a specific personnel grouping and that grouping is part of
2:02
Speaker 1: a two digit number system. And Rob give me some
2:04
Speaker 1: insight on this system and how it works. Well, Like
2:08
Speaker 1: you know, for all our listeners out there, you might
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Speaker 1: hear like one personnel. You may hear eleven personnel right,
2:14
Speaker 1: or twenty two or twenty three or things like that.
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Speaker 1: You gotta understand there's eleven guys on the field right
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Speaker 1: operating offense and defensively, and you want to be able
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Speaker 1: to communicate with those guys. Everybody the collective is as
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Speaker 1: as fast as possible and in a very efficient way.
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Speaker 1: And first and foremost, you gotta know your your personnel
2:32
Speaker 1: groupings to be able to execute the play right. So
2:35
Speaker 1: the way that the football gods came up with it,
2:38
Speaker 1: I don't know exactly who came up with all the
2:40
Speaker 1: terminology and things like that, but way back when they
2:42
Speaker 1: came up with personnel groupings to let everybody know everybody
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Speaker 1: running on the field and running off and who needs
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Speaker 1: to come off of the field, um, a more of
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Speaker 1: efficient way of identifying. So for me, I played fullback,
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Speaker 1: So my personnel groupings were like twenty one personnel. Twenty
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Speaker 1: one personnel means two backs, two running backs are running
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Speaker 1: back in the full back and one tight end. Okay,
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Speaker 1: with two wide receivers. Just in this particular personnel grouping,
3:07
Speaker 1: you didn't give a number for how many wide receivers
3:09
Speaker 1: are out there right there. You know, we're assuming that
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Speaker 1: you know football players understand who the eligibles are on
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Speaker 1: a football field. So personnel was something which usually people
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Speaker 1: say base or put up a one for one personnel.
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Speaker 1: You also hear people talking about eleven personnel, right, eleven
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Speaker 1: personnel is one back, alright, one running back and one
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Speaker 1: tight end. All right, So if you got one running
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Speaker 1: back and one tight end, you have an opportunity to
3:36
Speaker 1: have three other eligible receivers on the play or three
3:39
Speaker 1: other eligible people on the play to be able to
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Speaker 1: go out for a past. So eleven personnel you put
3:45
Speaker 1: those other three eligible guys. That's wide receivers. So it's
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Speaker 1: three wide receivers on the field, one tight end, one
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Speaker 1: running back. That's eleven personnel. And then you've got you know,
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Speaker 1: defenses trying to match that personnel by bringing in Nickel
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Speaker 1: and Din. Again, it's for the play caller to be
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Speaker 1: able to communicate with the collective right with you know,
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Speaker 1: knowing that it's hundreds of you know, thousands of people
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Speaker 1: watching and all those things in the stadium, a lot
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Speaker 1: of know what's going on. You want to be able
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Speaker 1: to have very short visual cues, are very efficient number
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Speaker 1: system and how to communicate to identify the personnel groups.
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Speaker 1: Because again, like when I came in as a fullback,
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Speaker 1: I'm coming in yelling bass putting up a fist. If
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Speaker 1: we were in eleven personnel, one receiver comes out and
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Speaker 1: I'm coming in again. I got to get my eligibles down.
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Speaker 1: But at the end of the day, it's all about
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Speaker 1: being efficient as you can communicating with the collector. Yeah,
4:33
Speaker 1: because when we're watching games, I'm robbed a lot of times.
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Speaker 1: And here twenty one personnel, eleven personnel, and just to reiterate,
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Speaker 1: here two digits. First digit we're talking running back. Second
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Speaker 1: one is the tight ends. In terms of those personnel groupings.
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Speaker 1: Take me through the times in the game where certain
4:47
Speaker 1: groupings make the most sense to use. So, like you know,
4:50
Speaker 1: you get towards the goal line, right, you get towards
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Speaker 1: the goal line or short yardist let's start with short
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Speaker 1: yard is situations third and one third and two fourth
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Speaker 1: and one fourth and nitch or something like that. You
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Speaker 1: would go with more of a maybe a twenty two personnel.
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Speaker 1: Two running backs are running back in the full back
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Speaker 1: to its tight ends. Two tight ends. Right, you have
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Speaker 1: another eligible out there that's another wide receiver on the field.
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Speaker 1: Two personnel has one wide receiver that's more of your
5:14
Speaker 1: big personnel. But you do have a wide receiver on
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Speaker 1: there so that the defense has to be able to
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Speaker 1: keep some speed on the field as well, or you
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Speaker 1: get into a goal line package that's more of a
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Speaker 1: twenty three type of a personnel, which again, just by
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Speaker 1: looking at the number of eligibles twenty three, that's you're identifying.
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Speaker 1: The five the first numbers for the backs, running back,
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Speaker 1: full back. The three is for the tight ends. You
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Speaker 1: have three tight ends in the game, and to me,
5:38
Speaker 1: it's the teams that have You know, that tight end
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Speaker 1: position is a little bit different, right. That position can
5:43
Speaker 1: be a Jimmy Graham like guy or it can be
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Speaker 1: more of a Gronkowski type of a guy. Both are
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Speaker 1: great at what they do. Gronkowski more of a dominant blocker.
5:50
Speaker 1: But if you have tight ends, that can kind of
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Speaker 1: fool a defense into thinking that, you know, you're running
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Speaker 1: the ball when you really want to throw it, or
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Speaker 1: you're throwing the ball when you really want to run it.
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Speaker 1: Three tight end packages really can give defenses some fits. No,
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Speaker 1: it's you're thing too, because you think about those tight
6:07
Speaker 1: ends and a lot of times were especially in the
6:09
Speaker 1: fantasy world, you think about pass catchers. But the reality
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Speaker 1: is most NFL rosters will have multiple tight ends because
6:15
Speaker 1: you need some of those big bodies. They become almost
6:17
Speaker 1: like extra down lineman in some of those goal line situations,
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Speaker 1: so that the two running backs or the full back
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Speaker 1: of the running back coming out of that backfield have
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Speaker 1: a little bit more blocking up front. Here's some data
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Speaker 1: though for you, because the most used grouping for thirty
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Speaker 1: one out of the thirty two teams in the league
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Speaker 1: was eleven personnel, so once again, one running back, one
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Speaker 1: tight end, and then three wide receivers that are out
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Speaker 1: there now the league average it's fifty eight point three
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Speaker 1: percent of the snaps for using that personnel. That's up
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Speaker 1: from thirty four percent in two thousand eights, so we've
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Speaker 1: actually seen a nearly twenty five percent increase in these
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Speaker 1: three wide outsets. The Rams ran the most eleven personnel
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Speaker 1: one eighty three point four percent of the time, and
7:00
Speaker 1: if you watch Rams games, you're not surprised by that.
7:02
Speaker 1: But on the flip side, the Dolphins, they ran twelve
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Speaker 1: personnel one running back, two tight ends, and two wide
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Speaker 1: receivers sixty one point seven percent of the snaps. The
7:13
Speaker 1: next closest was the Packers at just basically thirty percent.
7:16
Speaker 1: So Mike, there's there's a little bit of coaching philosophy.
7:19
Speaker 1: And by the way, new brand new coach down in Miami.
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Speaker 1: So these are based off of what we saw last year.
7:24
Speaker 1: I think it's probably a better representation because Mike McDaniel
7:26
Speaker 1: was with the forty niners. To think about what they
7:28
Speaker 1: did offensively. But when you hear the numbers, when it's
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Speaker 1: eleven personnel, is that more of a coaching thing? Is
7:35
Speaker 1: it more of a scheme thing that puts guys because
7:37
Speaker 1: the coach seems to think that their roster is better
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Speaker 1: suited for that offensively, You know, it's a it's a
7:43
Speaker 1: scheme thing, yes, but it's also a little bit of Okay,
7:48
Speaker 1: who is on my roster? What are their skill sets?
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Speaker 1: And how can I make sure how can I marry
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Speaker 1: my philosophy to the actual people we have an acker
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Speaker 1: room executing that philosophy. For instance, I mean, you talk
8:00
Speaker 1: about Sean McVeigh, right, he is an eleven personnel guy,
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Speaker 1: and to me, what makes him an eleven personnel guy? Well,
8:07
Speaker 1: first of all, let me let me back up a
8:08
Speaker 1: little bit, Mike. You just talked about in two thousand
8:10
Speaker 1: and eight, which I was in the league. Then they
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Speaker 1: were running eleven personnel thirty percent at the time. Now
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Speaker 1: it's almost tripled. Okay, I would say, and I don't
8:19
Speaker 1: know this for a fact, but I would say, if
8:22
Speaker 1: we look at what wide receivers make and what quarterbacks
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Speaker 1: make from two thousand and eight two to now, that
8:29
Speaker 1: may have I gonna say, if this triple, but that
8:31
Speaker 1: went up exponentially as well. Our league has turned into
8:35
Speaker 1: a passing league, right, And I get it right, there's
8:39
Speaker 1: players safety involved in that. That is, you know what's
8:42
Speaker 1: going on in our college game. There's a lot of
8:44
Speaker 1: different factors that goes into why teams are throwing the
8:47
Speaker 1: ball a little bit more. But I'm gonna get into
8:49
Speaker 1: the philosophy and based off of the you know, the
8:52
Speaker 1: players you have in the locker room, and how use
8:54
Speaker 1: Sean McVeigh for an example, because I think it's a
8:56
Speaker 1: perfect I think it's a perfect example. When you look
8:59
Speaker 1: at Sean McVeigh and this Los Angeles Rams offense, Sean
9:02
Speaker 1: McVeigh learned offense from the Shanahan system. Right. If you
9:06
Speaker 1: look at what Kyle Shanahan does everywhere he has been
9:10
Speaker 1: he has operated in running the football. He loves twelve personnel,
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Speaker 1: he loves to put two tight ends out there, and
9:16
Speaker 1: he's operated his offense from that way. Well, if you
9:20
Speaker 1: look at twelve personnel, which is two tight ends and
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Speaker 1: one back, or eleven personnel, which is three wild receivers
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Speaker 1: and one back, you can do a lot of the
9:28
Speaker 1: same things. Especially if you have that h back tight
9:32
Speaker 1: end or that second tight end that's you know, you
9:34
Speaker 1: can flex him out. He can kind of be a
9:35
Speaker 1: wild out. He can kind of be in that Jimmy
9:38
Speaker 1: Graham type, that guy that's not gonna be a dominant
9:41
Speaker 1: blocker at the point of attack. I mean, don't get
9:42
Speaker 1: me wrong, he'll fight you or whatever as far as blocking,
9:45
Speaker 1: but oftentimes then not, he's gonna give your offense the
9:48
Speaker 1: advantage in the passing game. So to me, that's how
9:52
Speaker 1: you marry. Like what a team wants to be able
9:54
Speaker 1: to run the ball. They want to be able to
9:55
Speaker 1: throw the football in play action passing, to be explosive
9:57
Speaker 1: down the field, yet you still want to run the football.
10:01
Speaker 1: What makes that offense go in Los Angeles is the
10:05
Speaker 1: fact that they have a guy in the slot. He's
10:07
Speaker 1: a wide receiver, but he also acts at times as
10:11
Speaker 1: a tight end. He acts at times as an h back,
10:13
Speaker 1: and that's Cooper Cup And to me, and I've talked
10:16
Speaker 1: about this on Total Access, I've talked about this on
10:19
Speaker 1: everywhere that they will allow me to talk about it, right,
10:21
Speaker 1: the fact that what makes this offense go in what
10:24
Speaker 1: makes him so special in the reason why he was
10:25
Speaker 1: a triple Crown runner and the reason why he got
10:28
Speaker 1: so many receptions and all of those and targets is
10:30
Speaker 1: because he blocks. I mean, Sean McVeigh design's run scheme
10:36
Speaker 1: with a wide receiver pulling sometimes leading the back into
10:41
Speaker 1: the A gap. I don't even think I can really
10:44
Speaker 1: understand what I just said. A wide receiver leading a
10:48
Speaker 1: running back into the A gap and a gap scheme
10:52
Speaker 1: type of one. When I say gap scheme, I mean
10:54
Speaker 1: you're gonna see pulling lineman and so yes, philosophy matters
11:00
Speaker 1: with the play caller wants to do how he wants
11:03
Speaker 1: to attack a defense. That matter matters. But to me,
11:07
Speaker 1: the best coaches and our game are The National Football
11:10
Speaker 1: League has some of the best coaches. And I'm not
11:12
Speaker 1: saying football coaches some of the best coaches in the world.
11:16
Speaker 1: We have some talented people. The best coaches understand how
11:20
Speaker 1: to take what you have and work with with. You
11:22
Speaker 1: have marry you what you believe in, what you believe
11:25
Speaker 1: in scheme and your philosophy, and how you want to
11:27
Speaker 1: attack a defense on offense, but how you want to
11:29
Speaker 1: attack the other side of football. You marry that to
11:33
Speaker 1: the Jimmy's and Joe's that you actually have walking in
11:36
Speaker 1: the locker room, because they actually have to be the
11:38
Speaker 1: guys executed. Now, you mentioned the idea of being a
11:41
Speaker 1: runner right and what that means for offenses. I think
11:45
Speaker 1: old school here. Ravens still run a good amount of
11:49
Speaker 1: two personnel here, which is once again two running backs
11:53
Speaker 1: to tight ends. They do that on percent of their
11:56
Speaker 1: plays their team point four percent. To be exact, they
11:59
Speaker 1: were one of only two teams that did it more
12:01
Speaker 1: than ten percent of the time. So clearly run first
12:05
Speaker 1: right rams just for context here ran zero place at
12:10
Speaker 1: personnel and rob last year. That's crazy, that's crazy to
12:15
Speaker 1: think about because again I'm like, I'm a little old
12:17
Speaker 1: school too, and I come from an old culture of
12:20
Speaker 1: football where you know, we did Oklahoma drills, which that's
12:23
Speaker 1: no longer, there's no need to do that in football again,
12:26
Speaker 1: you know anymore. But I come from that culture as well,
12:29
Speaker 1: and to think that a team won the Super Bowl one.
12:32
Speaker 1: You know, you can see the Lombardi over my shoulder, right,
12:35
Speaker 1: won the Super Bowl. Not even getting into big people
12:39
Speaker 1: personnel that much. It's crazy to me. But when you
12:42
Speaker 1: talk about Baltimore, I think Baltimore and Greg Roman, the
12:46
Speaker 1: way they've built that offense around Lamar Jackson. I don't
12:50
Speaker 1: know if there's another offense built quite like that, Taylor
12:54
Speaker 1: quite like that towards their unique quarterback. I mean, we
12:57
Speaker 1: can talk about the Tom Bradies, we can talk about
12:59
Speaker 1: Aaron Rodgers and how they you know, have their little
13:01
Speaker 1: nuances in their offense as well. But the Baltimore Ravens
13:04
Speaker 1: beat you up. They put you in a meat grinder.
13:06
Speaker 1: They do two tight ends, they play with a fullback
13:09
Speaker 1: that their fullback is a backup defensive end, can play
13:13
Speaker 1: defensive tackle. I mean, they want to beat you up.
13:16
Speaker 1: And so when you see and I'm so glad we're
13:19
Speaker 1: having this conversation right because I'm I'm a football enthusiast.
13:22
Speaker 1: I love I love the game of football. And to me,
13:26
Speaker 1: the teams other than you know, you talk about the
13:28
Speaker 1: Rams doing eleven personnel, but the teams that truly go
13:32
Speaker 1: to me go further, are the teams that have the
13:34
Speaker 1: ability to run the football. You see what I'm saying. No,
13:37
Speaker 1: don't know what we're talking about Baltimore, but Baltimore brings
13:41
Speaker 1: out these big tight ends. Okay, you've got Mark Andrews
13:44
Speaker 1: and company and guys like that. If you match the
13:47
Speaker 1: personnel defensively, okay, now you have big people on their
13:51
Speaker 1: big people, Lamar Jackson is gonna run around you. Twice. Seriously,
13:56
Speaker 1: You're just not gonna have enough speed to match up
13:59
Speaker 1: with what that guy can do in the run game.
14:01
Speaker 1: And Lamar Jackson's a runner playing quarterback. Okay, He's not
14:06
Speaker 1: like Russell or Deshaun Watson. Those guys are gramblers. Those
14:13
Speaker 1: guys are throwers that have the ability to run. Lamar
14:17
Speaker 1: Jackson's a runner, so it's totally different. He doesn't really
14:20
Speaker 1: take the hits that we think he takes. And his
14:23
Speaker 1: ability that's growing on it is growing. His ability to
14:26
Speaker 1: put you push the ball down field and especially hit
14:29
Speaker 1: those tight ends in the middle of the field. That's
14:32
Speaker 1: what makes this offense vital. That's what makes his offense
14:34
Speaker 1: crazy to stop, because again, if you put in big people,
14:37
Speaker 1: Lamar Jackson runs around you. If you put in small people,
14:40
Speaker 1: they're gonna hand the football off. They're gonna be able
14:42
Speaker 1: to let those tight ends run routes and post you up.
14:45
Speaker 1: And Lamar Jackson is an accurate enough passer to put
14:48
Speaker 1: the ball in the catch radius of some of those
14:50
Speaker 1: big tight ends. And if you notice all of our
14:53
Speaker 1: listeners out there, if you notice most people or most
14:55
Speaker 1: quarterbacks who are movers like Lamar Jackson, they love tight ends,
14:59
Speaker 1: right they see the middle of feel great that they're
15:02
Speaker 1: like a picture. They can stand on the mout and
15:03
Speaker 1: throw the ball to big guys who can kind of
15:06
Speaker 1: post up and help them with some of their inconsistencies
15:08
Speaker 1: as far as accuracy is concerned. So yeah, Baltimore is
15:11
Speaker 1: one of those things that put you in a meat grinder.
15:13
Speaker 1: But there's a lot of different ways to do that.
15:17
Speaker 1: When I talk about the Rams, they still run the football,
15:20
Speaker 1: they just do it a little bit differently. Again, Cooper
15:23
Speaker 1: Cup makes it all work. No, it's wild to me
15:25
Speaker 1: because you look at what Lamar Jackson means to the
15:28
Speaker 1: Baltimore Ravens. So we can get it. He's a quarterback
15:31
Speaker 1: and we know the importance to that position. But boil boy,
15:34
Speaker 1: what they do the emphasis on his skill set dictating
15:38
Speaker 1: what the offense really is. It might be more significant
15:41
Speaker 1: than any team in the NFL because he's so unique.
15:45
Speaker 1: Well you see it drawn up on the board, the
15:46
Speaker 1: xs and the ohs. Coming up next on the NFL
15:49
Speaker 1: Explained Podcast, we get into the nitty gritty a play call.
16:00
Speaker 1: Welcome back to the NFL Explained Podcast. Mike Yam and
16:02
Speaker 1: Michael Robinson with you, Robert, You and I have caught
16:05
Speaker 1: the little it about definding those groups. I actually want
16:07
Speaker 1: to get more into the play calling side of things.
16:10
Speaker 1: You know, I've been around college football, the NFL, the
16:12
Speaker 1: play sheets, these laminated things. It's like going to a
16:15
Speaker 1: diner in Jersey, right, Like the menu just look so
16:18
Speaker 1: darn big. Take me through this because on the flip side,
16:20
Speaker 1: I've seen other play callers they got like a little
16:22
Speaker 1: note card. Why is there such a disparity there, Well,
16:26
Speaker 1: the little note card guys oftentimes those are gonna be
16:30
Speaker 1: defensive guys, and look, defensive guys don't get at me. Okay,
16:33
Speaker 1: I'm not saying it's a job being hard. I'm not
16:35
Speaker 1: saying that's not a lot of information, But you just
16:38
Speaker 1: gotta notice, like defense is always kind of responding. For
16:42
Speaker 1: the most part, they're responding. Offense usually is dictating, and
16:47
Speaker 1: so offensive place sheets are gonna be longer. They're gonna
16:51
Speaker 1: have a lot more situations. And the play callers and
16:53
Speaker 1: the place sheets that I've seen have it broken down
16:56
Speaker 1: into you know, down in distance, your first down calls
16:59
Speaker 1: or your draft starters, your second down calls, or your
17:02
Speaker 1: second and four to six, your second and eight plus
17:04
Speaker 1: again pairing for all of the situations. See again, part
17:10
Speaker 1: of being a great coaches putting your other coaches and
17:14
Speaker 1: putting your players in every situation that they're gonna encounter
17:17
Speaker 1: on game day. To me, some of the coaches that
17:20
Speaker 1: don't have as much success doesn't always put their team
17:23
Speaker 1: and their coaches in the situations that they're gonna see
17:25
Speaker 1: on game day. So when they get on game day,
17:28
Speaker 1: it's a surprise, right. And the great play callers, Yeah,
17:31
Speaker 1: you're gonna see their play sheets be long. You're gonna
17:34
Speaker 1: see a lot of different colors, right. You see the
17:36
Speaker 1: colors in it a lot of times you see different
17:38
Speaker 1: colors from run in past, so that again in the brain,
17:42
Speaker 1: your eyes can quickly go to a color when you
17:46
Speaker 1: want it, Like if you know you want to look
17:47
Speaker 1: for a run and all of your run players are green,
17:50
Speaker 1: your eyes are gonna go to the green sections of
17:52
Speaker 1: your card a lot faster. Again, you have a play
17:54
Speaker 1: clock forty seconds, right, A play caller has to think two, three,
17:58
Speaker 1: sometimes a series ahead. So being able between drives to
18:03
Speaker 1: talk to your quarterback, understand what he liked, Understand what
18:06
Speaker 1: he's seeing, because you may be seeing something in the booth,
18:10
Speaker 1: or you may be seeing something on the sideline, or
18:12
Speaker 1: you may be seeing something that you think you see.
18:14
Speaker 1: But until you know what that quarterback is seeing, you
18:17
Speaker 1: can't guarantee that he's gonna make the right decision in
18:20
Speaker 1: the moment. So again to me, being a play callers
18:23
Speaker 1: being prepared for every single situation. I mean, I remember
18:27
Speaker 1: looking at UM coach Bevel Darryl Bubble, he was with
18:30
Speaker 1: me in Seattle. Remember looking at some of his play
18:32
Speaker 1: call sheets. I mean, and he would have two and
18:34
Speaker 1: three laminated sheets with a little ring at the top
18:37
Speaker 1: that you know he would just flip whenever he needed it.
18:39
Speaker 1: And I know some of our listeners are thinking like,
18:42
Speaker 1: how can a player remember so much? And guys, these
18:49
Speaker 1: game plans change oftentimes on a weekly basis. A signal, right,
18:55
Speaker 1: be you may tap your nose for a slant at
18:59
Speaker 1: week one, that saying tap your nose, because everybody's watching,
19:03
Speaker 1: because cameras are everywhere, because other teams do Scott and reports,
19:05
Speaker 1: and they know sign language signs and all those things too.
19:08
Speaker 1: That same sign maybe out the next week, and you're
19:12
Speaker 1: paid as an athlete, as a professional football player, to
19:16
Speaker 1: know it and be right, and so it's it's difficult.
19:19
Speaker 1: But yeah, I've seen play callers at the end, you know,
19:22
Speaker 1: on their place sheets at end the game them and
19:23
Speaker 1: even have end of game scenarios. People don't realize that
19:26
Speaker 1: failed Mary. People thought Golden didn't catch the ball. I
19:29
Speaker 1: was there, Mike, he caught the ball. Okay. Now if
19:33
Speaker 1: I was on the Packers side, I would have thought
19:35
Speaker 1: something differently, of course, But he caught the ball and
19:38
Speaker 1: the referees put up his hands. So that's what we're
19:40
Speaker 1: going with. Okay, that play call. First of all, we
19:43
Speaker 1: practiced it every single Saturday, every single Saturday. Number two.
19:48
Speaker 1: That was written in the place sheet. It was one
19:50
Speaker 1: of those end of the game scenarios. Again, always preparing
19:54
Speaker 1: your team for any situation that may come up. We
19:57
Speaker 1: always hear about the mental side of the game. You're
19:59
Speaker 1: describing something really complex that has nothing to do with
20:02
Speaker 1: athletic ability, and we'll get into it after the break.
20:05
Speaker 1: Agains discuss offensive play calling here on the NFL Explained Podcast.
20:16
Speaker 1: Welcome back to the NFL Explained Podcast. Mike am and
20:18
Speaker 1: Michael Robinson with you, rob do you think there's a
20:21
Speaker 1: large number of players, maybe more athletic than what we
20:24
Speaker 1: already have in the NFL, that just mentally couldn't be
20:27
Speaker 1: able to grasp some of the things that is required
20:31
Speaker 1: of them to be on the field on Sunday's Absolutely,
20:35
Speaker 1: it is difficult. It is I said, I tell people
20:38
Speaker 1: all the time football players, are you kidding me? They're
20:41
Speaker 1: the most intelligent people on the on the planet. Because
20:45
Speaker 1: this I'm not talking about just sitting in a classroom
20:49
Speaker 1: getting something read to you and then you have to
20:51
Speaker 1: regurgitate it a week later. For great, that's memorization. Now
20:54
Speaker 1: I'm talking about I'm playing fullback. Okay, they go to
20:59
Speaker 1: a fifty seven funk defense with the safety up weak side,
21:03
Speaker 1: and I know, damn O this play side linebacker's mind,
21:08
Speaker 1: but so is this safety. Okay, what's about to happen?
21:12
Speaker 1: I can't call the time out. I can't turn around
21:14
Speaker 1: and say, a beast mode, what's you think? What you
21:16
Speaker 1: think gonna happen right here? If he hit it first.
21:19
Speaker 1: You gotta figure your own information out. We gotta process
21:23
Speaker 1: everything in your environment and figure out your own answers.
21:27
Speaker 1: That middle linebacker on the other side is doing the
21:29
Speaker 1: same thing. He's figuring out I know they're running power,
21:31
Speaker 1: which one of these guards are pulling, and which one
21:34
Speaker 1: of these gaps I can shoot. That's real intelligence, man,
21:38
Speaker 1: real intelligence. I mean that linebacker I'm talking about right now,
21:42
Speaker 1: whether he's guessing to shoot that gap at when when
21:44
Speaker 1: the guard pulls. That's a risk reward assessment that I
21:47
Speaker 1: pay a banker a lot of money to watch my
21:50
Speaker 1: money to see what if I'm investing in the right stocks.
21:54
Speaker 1: At the end of the day, I tell people all
21:55
Speaker 1: the time, being able to process your environment and come
21:58
Speaker 1: up with your own information without the help of anybody,
22:02
Speaker 1: that's true intelligence. Okay, so processing some of that nation.
22:06
Speaker 1: You started off with my cousins Netflix password as a
22:09
Speaker 1: play call. It was long. There was cannonballs, deep dive,
22:13
Speaker 1: watch out below, splash corner, Spingo. Here we go a
22:17
Speaker 1: why so long? What is that play. What is that?
22:21
Speaker 1: So I'll talk you through the play first and again,
22:23
Speaker 1: this play didn't come from any offense that I was
22:25
Speaker 1: a part of. But again, once you've been a part
22:28
Speaker 1: of a few offenses, you you hear a few words,
22:31
Speaker 1: you start to figure it out. You're like, oh, I
22:33
Speaker 1: think I get what's going on. Okay, So why short
22:36
Speaker 1: too strong right clamp ace? That is the formation, all right?
22:41
Speaker 1: So the y is the tight end. I'm guessing he
22:43
Speaker 1: was outside the wide receiver within the wide receiver had
22:46
Speaker 1: a close split. He motioned to go to strong right,
22:50
Speaker 1: which is basically the running back at the home position
22:53
Speaker 1: and the tight end. Now that he's motioned, now he's
22:55
Speaker 1: in the strong position off to the right, let's just
22:57
Speaker 1: say it's to the right clamp ace again. That's part
23:00
Speaker 1: of the formation. H two is the protection, which is
23:03
Speaker 1: a full slide by the offensive line to the left
23:06
Speaker 1: again and with the offensive lineman are doing the right
23:09
Speaker 1: tackle is saying anybody else that first guy outside of me,
23:12
Speaker 1: I'm leaving him for my running back to go cut down,
23:15
Speaker 1: and then I'm sliding a full gap inside and I'm
23:17
Speaker 1: taking anything that moves that has another color right. And
23:21
Speaker 1: you do that every gap inside all the way to
23:23
Speaker 1: the left tackle or to the to the other side.
23:25
Speaker 1: Why Bingo To me, this is a y read type
23:28
Speaker 1: of player. I don't know if this is basically the
23:31
Speaker 1: tight end after he motions to the strong right, whether
23:34
Speaker 1: he goes up ten yards and does a basic cross
23:36
Speaker 1: across the middle, or does like some type of an
23:39
Speaker 1: option route. That's why it says why bingo. X comeback
23:43
Speaker 1: is usually the third in the progression because the tight
23:46
Speaker 1: end and the zest to the right side, the X
23:48
Speaker 1: will be to the left, and so in a timing standpoint,
23:51
Speaker 1: the quarterback would hit his fifth step, take one hitch
23:54
Speaker 1: checked the tight end, take another hitch. It will take
23:57
Speaker 1: his eyes, his footwork, and his eyes will go back
23:59
Speaker 1: to the X on the comeback on the back side,
24:01
Speaker 1: cannon with a roll right. That's again that's part of
24:04
Speaker 1: the protection. That's telling alignment, don't go downfield. That's also
24:07
Speaker 1: telling the running back. I have to get the end
24:10
Speaker 1: man on the line of scrimmage hooked. I don't necessarily
24:13
Speaker 1: have to cut him, but I gotta get him hooked
24:15
Speaker 1: because the quarterback launch point is changing, and then be shallow.
24:18
Speaker 1: I don't know what personnel this is in but this
24:20
Speaker 1: is probably two tight ends and twilve personnel. Two tight
24:23
Speaker 1: ends to Wilde receivers that be shallow. Is the other
24:26
Speaker 1: tight end with a shallow that should be coming into
24:28
Speaker 1: the quarterbacks vision after he takes his third hitch, after
24:32
Speaker 1: he checks the backs that come back. Was that enough
24:34
Speaker 1: for you, Mike, I've digested. I realized that I can
24:39
Speaker 1: never play in the NFL and has nothing to do
24:41
Speaker 1: with physical stature, which is not intimidating at all. So
24:44
Speaker 1: and Rob, there's obviously a lot to digest in one
24:46
Speaker 1: of these other things. And I think this is more
24:49
Speaker 1: more commonplace, is this idea of audible because you've got
24:52
Speaker 1: all these complex play calls you just explain to us.
24:56
Speaker 1: Then you get to the line of scrimmage you hear
24:58
Speaker 1: something like this team to purple Walrus, Purple Walrus, take color,
25:12
Speaker 1: James Harden, James Hart his first appearance, Hey Wilson, Hoosier,
25:20
Speaker 1: Wilson Hoosier, Elvis, Elvis, Hey Elvis, Elvis, Hey Tufuck, Dusty Tufuck, Obama, Obama, Obama,
25:32
Speaker 1: Hey Rick Flair, Rick Flair pass that Kardashian to the
25:41
Speaker 1: audible tree. This week, Heay Teck, New York Boso all right,
25:50
Speaker 1: So to me, that's just kind of fun to hear
25:52
Speaker 1: some of those things. Multiple possible checks for a quarterback
25:56
Speaker 1: when he gets to the line. How legit is this
25:59
Speaker 1: for QB it's very legit. So, I mean, there's a
26:03
Speaker 1: lot of different ways you can change the play at
26:05
Speaker 1: the line of score. A lot of quarterbacks love to
26:07
Speaker 1: have like their ready list or I know when I
26:09
Speaker 1: played quarterback in college, my quarterback goes. You used to
26:12
Speaker 1: always say, may just use your toolbox, man, that's what
26:14
Speaker 1: your quick audibles are there for. And those are quick audibles,
26:18
Speaker 1: like you know, being able to come to the line
26:19
Speaker 1: of scrim and you see a blitz, you may have
26:21
Speaker 1: a run play or whatever, and the quarterback is totally
26:24
Speaker 1: changing everything. Hey, here's the protection, and he signals the routes,
26:28
Speaker 1: here's the snap count. Come on, let's go. There's other
26:31
Speaker 1: ways to be able to change the play. Maybe the
26:33
Speaker 1: play call has two calls, right, you call one play
26:36
Speaker 1: and there's an automatic attached to a meaning, so I
26:40
Speaker 1: have two tight ends too. Our receivers in the game,
26:42
Speaker 1: I'm in twelve personnel and I can run inside zone
26:46
Speaker 1: play to the right, and I'll say, you know, fourteen zone,
26:49
Speaker 1: which is a zone play to the right. I'll say automatic,
26:52
Speaker 1: meaning if there's a safety down on the right side,
26:54
Speaker 1: I want to run away from that safety because that
26:56
Speaker 1: safety is unblocked. We don't have anywhere to block. The
26:59
Speaker 1: safety comes down to the right side. You'll see, you
27:02
Speaker 1: know guys like people used to see Kylin Kaepernick point
27:04
Speaker 1: at his helmet because the red Roman system. You see
27:06
Speaker 1: Lamar Jackson do that. Now. That's basically saying, flip it
27:09
Speaker 1: over to the other side. Come on, let's flip it
27:11
Speaker 1: over to the other side. That's another way of being
27:13
Speaker 1: able to audible at the line of scrimmage. The play
27:15
Speaker 1: call may come in with two totally separate calls, like, um,
27:20
Speaker 1: I don't know, you have a lead play and then
27:21
Speaker 1: you have a kill to a some type of four vertical.
27:25
Speaker 1: You know, I have a draw play. I can call
27:27
Speaker 1: a draw play if they have too many people in
27:29
Speaker 1: the box and it's a single safety high. I think
27:31
Speaker 1: we got some advantageous matchups on the outside or in
27:33
Speaker 1: the slot. The great ones that I've seen, like the
27:37
Speaker 1: great ones like I've heard stories about Brett fave I
27:39
Speaker 1: played with Leon Washington and he played with Brett with
27:41
Speaker 1: the New York Jets, and he would say. Brett would say,
27:44
Speaker 1: I know, you gotta block that linebacker right there, but
27:47
Speaker 1: instead of blocking him, if he comes, just swing, I'll
27:50
Speaker 1: tell you the ball. And that's how we hand I mean,
27:51
Speaker 1: the great ones understand kind of how to manipulate the
27:55
Speaker 1: playbook and audible. But still, you know, have the coaches
27:59
Speaker 1: back at the same time. Yeah, well you got a
28:01
Speaker 1: legend and a Hall of Famer. That always helps because
28:03
Speaker 1: they have the acumen in that wiggle to work around
28:06
Speaker 1: certain things. I think about the install process. I've heard
28:09
Speaker 1: this phrase used all the time. How long these installs
28:11
Speaker 1: actually take? From these offenses? You said it changes every
28:14
Speaker 1: single week. Is a little bit different. Is it based
28:16
Speaker 1: more on what I do really well as an offense
28:18
Speaker 1: or what I'm going to see in a game defensively
28:21
Speaker 1: from my opponent. Well, my school of thought comes from
28:24
Speaker 1: it's always about me, It's always about us, and Pete
28:27
Speaker 1: Carroll kind of helped mold that philosophy into my head.
28:30
Speaker 1: Joe Putunnel was like that as well. Yeah, you need
28:33
Speaker 1: to know what your opponent is gonna do. You need
28:35
Speaker 1: to game plan and understand you know their players and
28:38
Speaker 1: things like that. But it's about what we do. What
28:40
Speaker 1: do we do? Well, there's a play I know everybody
28:43
Speaker 1: remembers Beast Quake. Um the beast Quake two point oh.
28:46
Speaker 1: What happened a couple of years later against Arizona Cardinals.
28:48
Speaker 1: But Beast Quake we were playing the Saints. I was
28:53
Speaker 1: in on the play. The play was seventy power. We
28:56
Speaker 1: blocked it terribly, But at the end of the day,
28:58
Speaker 1: that was Marshawn's favorite play. I mean, that was his
29:01
Speaker 1: favorite play. He loved to have a pulling guard and
29:05
Speaker 1: the pulling are turned the corner kicked out that linebacker
29:09
Speaker 1: and he could kind of get into that divid that
29:11
Speaker 1: little triangle right between where the wipe down of the
29:15
Speaker 1: double team and the kick out of the of the
29:18
Speaker 1: guy he wanted to kind of he he loved being
29:20
Speaker 1: in that like a gap space. Well, we never really
29:23
Speaker 1: blocked that play, right, We didn't really have the personnel.
29:25
Speaker 1: I wasn't a big, strong fullback like a Vante Leach
29:27
Speaker 1: that used to play for the Baltimore I wasn't that
29:29
Speaker 1: type of a guy, So we really didn't have the personnel.
29:32
Speaker 1: But look what happened and ended up being one of
29:33
Speaker 1: the greatest runs and playoff history because we had the
29:36
Speaker 1: guy to do it. He wanted to play. He put
29:39
Speaker 1: it in that week. What I'm trying to say is
29:41
Speaker 1: if you do something well, the other team has to
29:44
Speaker 1: stop you too, you know what I'm saying that. So
29:46
Speaker 1: I come from the school of thought, when you're game
29:48
Speaker 1: planning during the week, we start with what the hell
29:52
Speaker 1: do we do? Well? We run inside zone, well, we
29:54
Speaker 1: run outside zone, well, we run weak side gap scheme, well,
29:59
Speaker 1: we do for virtus, well, we got a crazy tight end.
30:02
Speaker 1: We need to be able to single him out on
30:04
Speaker 1: option routes. Little thing is like that, like a play
30:06
Speaker 1: caller can say, these are the five or six or
30:08
Speaker 1: seven things I want to happen in this game plan. Okay,
30:12
Speaker 1: then you just build around that. Okay, we're great zone runners, right,
30:15
Speaker 1: We're great outside zone runners, right. But Aaron Donald's on
30:18
Speaker 1: the other side, and he lines up to the offenses
30:21
Speaker 1: right as a three technique. We don't have a guard
30:24
Speaker 1: that man has ever built that can reach block him.
30:27
Speaker 1: So what we're gonna do is instead of running outside
30:30
Speaker 1: zone to him or inside zone to him, We're gonna
30:32
Speaker 1: run a duo block or crunch block. We're gonna double
30:35
Speaker 1: team him and work up to the lineback. Now, same
30:39
Speaker 1: footwork for the running back, same same everything for the
30:44
Speaker 1: quarterback in the wilde receivers a little bit of an
30:46
Speaker 1: adjustment for the offensive linement, but again we're still running
30:49
Speaker 1: what we do well with the runner does well, but
30:52
Speaker 1: with a little bit of an adjustment. Because we ain't stupid.
30:56
Speaker 1: Aaron Donald's on the other side, we we gotta do
30:59
Speaker 1: something about him, you know, we just can't let him
31:01
Speaker 1: take over the game. He is a dude. I feel
31:05
Speaker 1: like I have a much better understanding of the complexity
31:08
Speaker 1: around offensive play calling because of your expertise. I hope
31:11
Speaker 1: you guys enjoyed this episode. Continue to share it on
31:14
Speaker 1: social media, make sure you follow the show wherever you
31:16
Speaker 1: get your podcast. That's offensive play call Explained