Buffalo's Secret: A Stampede: Gailey's O scheme all about the legal picks

[ddaryl]

Leave it up to the Wallstreet Journal to produce a solid article about football schemes :birds: (didn't see this posted yet)

http://tinyurl.com/3j8ymjv

http://si.wsj.net/public/resources/images/OB-PV479_sports_G_20110927063240.jpg


At first glance, these formations look much like the spread offense that's popular in college football. But in practical terms, they're not necessarily all that alike.


The major difference is that NFL quarterbacks, unlike many of their highly mobile college counterparts, have no intention of taking off and running. The idea is to find an open man in two or three seconds and get rid of the ball before being pummeled.



How these receivers get open more quickly than usual against these tough NFL defenses is where the bunching comes in. This formation involves a small knot of receivers. One man sets up on the line of scrimmage before the ball is snapped. One or two line up directly behind him, slightly shaded to either side.

The major advantage of arranging receivers this way is to combat an edge held by defensive backs: the ability to physically bump or "jam" a receiver at the line of scrimmage to try to interrupt the route he's planning to run. The defensive player is free to bump away until the receiver is five yards off the line of scrimmage. But since 2004, the NFL has had a zero-tolerance policy for defensive players who mess with receivers farther than five yards down the field.


only posted part of the article... It's a good read IMO

[SabreEleven]

The Patriots have been doing this for years but now that someone else is having some success, they want to make it illegal.

[TigerJ]

I can't link to the article from your blue thingy. I just get a link to a Billszone reply window. From what I can gather in the quote, there is probably not a whole lot defenses can do to shut down receivers in this scheme as long as the NFL deems it legal. Other teams can either lobby the league for a rule change, or start to mimic it in hopes of making their own offenses more potent. Gailey in essence has become a game changer with this little device. Very cool!

[SabreEleven]

Link isn't working for me either.

[ddaryl]

The Patriots have been doing this for year but now that someone else is having some success, they want to make it illegal.


They will tweak rules when it becomes obvious that NFL defenses can not counter scheme, and more and more teams start copying the spread/legal pick Offense.

Once they do that will see a return to defensive and run the ball power O football... and the cycle will start over

[TigerJ]

The Patriots have been doing this for years but now that someone else is having some success, they want to make it illegal.

I didn't know that. One would have thought if Belichick is doing it, he could also defend it. Obviously, he couldn't very well versus Buffalo.

[ddaryl]

Link isn't working for me either.

fixed it with a tinyurl

[mikemac2001]

Mix up coverages and Blitz dont run man all game

[madness]

http://billszone.com/fanzone/showthread.php?t=206214

[SabreEleven]

http://billszone.com/fanzone/showthread.php?t=206214

Plus that's a good link that finally works.

[madness]

It would be a lot easier keeping track of these articles if people would just use the title of the article in the thread's...um... title.

[mikemac2001]

It would be a lot easier keeping track of these articles if people would just use the title of the article in the thread's...um... title.


didnt read first post but read the 2nd so worked out for me

[ddaryl]

It would be a lot easier keeping track of these articles if people would just use the title of the article in the thread's...um... title.
yeah I agree... cause that is what I used to determine if it was posted before.

but of course i did the same thing...


maybe a mod could combine the threads into one

[Oaf]

They will tweak rules when it becomes obvious that NFL defenses can not counter scheme, and more and more teams start copying the spread/legal pick Offense.

Once they do that will see a return to defensive and run the ball power O football... and the cycle will start over I hope we draft two legitimate talents at tight end when that happens.

[madness]

didnt read first post but read the 2nd so worked out for me

It would be nice if there was an icon specifically for news article threads, maybe it they were all sticky-ed for the day, or possibly a locked-forum which we could fork off of. :idunno:

[ServoBillieves]

No, no, let's see what is unfair to the Patriots, Steelers, Cowboys, and Packers, and we'll change the rules. There are 28 other teams in the league? Didn't know that!

I've only known a pick in basketball, which I played most of my life, as well as football, which I've never known a pick to be illegal. If it is, shame on this entire post, but as a receiver I think I'd be able to find my way athletically (as these NFL caliber receivers) could find a way to prevent the pick and get open.

[TigerJ]

No, no, let's see what is unfair to the Patriots, Steelers, Cowboys, and Packers, and we'll change the rules. There are 28 other teams in the league? Didn't know that!

I've only known a pick in basketball, which I played most of my life, as well as football, which I've never known a pick to be illegal. If it is, shame on this entire post, but as a receiver I think I'd be able to find my way athletically (as these NFL caliber receivers) could find a way to prevent the pick and get open.Yeah, intentional picks are supposed to be illegal in football, but only the most blatant are ever penalized, which means almost never. Everybody does it. The knots in essence make the pick legal because they happen as a natural consequence of running routes out of the knot, at least until the league changes the rule.

[Ingtar33]

Yeah, intentional picks are supposed to be illegal in football, but only the most blatant are ever penalized, which means almost never. Everybody does it. The knots in essence make the pick legal because they happen as a natural consequence of running routes out of the knot, at least until the league changes the rule.

there is a loophole in the rules of football that allow "legal" picks. Which is the defender can't impede the progress of the WR after 5 yards down the field. Since the defenders are flagged for it, what WR do is they run past eachother in tight groups that make it almost impossible for someone trailing to keep up without bumping a WR (the result is the defense usually getting flagged for defensive holding, instead of the offense for the pick). even if the WR doesn't touch the DB, that doesn't' mean the 2 DBs passing eachother won't touch either.


The author of this article makes some nice "general" conclusions though it's an oversimplification of what's going on a bit. Both the bills and patriots are simply building on the old Bunch formation that used to be popular back in the mid to late 90s, which teams used to break out of press man to man coverage.

That bunch formation became less common as teams switched more to a Tampa cover 2 zone and the rules were tightened against man to man contact.

The innovation which the patriots hit on and the bills shamelessly copied is the patriots use the bunched WR to flood a zone and run rout combinations which are timed to shake off coverage. It's pretty easy for the QB to read as well, all he has to do is watch for the break, all 3 break at about the same time and point on the field, and see if the defense loses someone. Yes this does feature the occasional actual pick, but those picks aren't particularly common, though they do happen. This is more about attacking 2 different types of defensive weaknesses with the same approach. 1) you're blasting a man to man defense with the alignment and moving picks. 2) you're blasting a zone defense by zone flooding and exploiting mental breakdowns in the zone coverage.

The TD to Chandler against the patriots was a good example, as 3 wr within 10 yards of eachother broke at about the same time, in a flooded zone, and chandler was left all alone. The TD to Nelson in the Oakland game is another one, 3 WR flood the zone, the defense incorrectly double covered the guy who got the pass the last time the bills ran that rout combination in that formation, and no one thought to mark Nelson.

You can slow this type of offense down with a solid conservative zone defense (which is what the bills tried to mix success), the better coached the secondary the more likely you are to slow it down, but against defenses, like the patriots and raiders, who play mostly man to man this type of 1, 2 punch is deadly effective.

[better days]

Yeah, intentional picks are supposed to be illegal in football, but only the most blatant are ever penalized, which means almost never. Everybody does it. The knots in essence make the pick legal because they happen as a natural consequence of running routes out of the knot, at least until the league changes the rule.

Well, holding is also supposed to be illegal yet it is rarely called unless really blatant & it isn't always called even then.

[TigerJ]

One would think that since Belichick has made use of this offensive idea he would know that his defensive scheme is particularly vulnerable to it, and try to change to something different. It's good that he hasn't though.

[ddaryl]

No, no, let's see what is unfair to the Patriots, Steelers, Cowboys, and Packers, and we'll change the rules. There are 28 other teams in the league? Didn't know that!

I've only known a pick in basketball, which I played most of my life, as well as football, which I've never known a pick to be illegal. If it is, shame on this entire post, but as a receiver I think I'd be able to find my way athletically (as these NFL caliber receivers) could find a way to prevent the pick and get open.

right now picks are definitely illegal.... but as the article points out if the WR is running a legitimate route, and a natural pick happens as a result it is not illegal.

A WR who just blatantly stands in the way of a defender would be flagged, but if the inside WR is running an out pattern and the outside WR is running an in pattern and the defenders get tangled or lose a step trying to fight through the confusion then no harm no foul.