the VG board football thread

kcirdor said
The threat of running the ball if anyone actually believes we will attempt to run the ball helps the tackles not have to deal with an all out pass rush by the DEs and trying to figure out which blitzer is really blitzing on 3 of every 4 downs.(minus special teams downs)

Instead, I have a oline that is trying to figure out if they need have the outside man, and let the inside man go to the guard or back. Or if I need to take the end and let the outside blitzer go to the back.

All I need is 20 to preferrably 25 carries for 3 yards a carry PRIOR to trying to milk the clock in the fourth. Set up my Play-action and give my tackles a break on 1st and 10 or second and medium to short. Most of those carries would probably be for 1 or 2 yards, but that one or two times we got 15 yards get me to a 3 or 4 yard per carry average. And the belief that they maybe just maybe they miiiight run it, keeps the DE's from going all out every play. Reduces the mistakes Drew makes. Opens up the deep play. reduces the "false start" head start needed to block the pass rushing DEs. If we want to blame the Tackles for the pass rush, we need to examine the plays being run that do not give our tackles any advantages when going up against one of the leagues best pass rushers.

yes it is. effectivness can be measured beyond yards. 21 interceptions. minus the few that were tips, and the few were just terrible bombs. Sacks./Fumbles. Hurries. Percentage of times the DE's all out pass rush rather than play their techniques on non-3rd and longs.

And then he followed that up with 2 bone headed #2 or #4 style under handed passes. On the lateral he was bailed out by PT and the other was 6 points ATL.

I know Drew likes to audible. So it isn't all on Sean's play calling. Drew also sets the protection almost every down so you can't blame the oline for 100 percent of the Pressure.

"Kill kill" to the defense probably means PASS 90% of the time.

Drew is still the best I've seen when it comes to avoiding the rush and staying in the pocket. Just take the sack instead of throwing underhanded, please. He may be our lord and savior but that doesn't excuse him.

Here is the thing. Payton and Drew have run the offense like this since they have been here. They do not set up the pass with the run and they never will. Their plan going into every game is to throw the ball to get a lead and then run the ball to burn out the clock at the end of the game. They set up the run with the pass and it makes sense when you have one of the best QB's in the leage behind center. Payton is the Gregg Williams of offense. He's agressive and wants to go up tempo striking as fast and hard as he can to wear a defense down so he can run the ball to close out the game.

That's essentially what they did last night, what they did all of last year and what they have done in most of the games they have won under Payton and they have won a lot. Things didn't suddenly change last night or in the games where the o-line did not play well. Beyond that, the short passing game and screens, which we use a lot, works just as well to stop teams from blitzing or dropping back into deep coverage as 20 to 25 runs per game. The short passing game is our consistent running game and those 3 and 4 yard passes to the backs, TEs and WRs are how we stay out of third and long.

In short, "run the ball" more is not the answer. Block better and pick up the blitzes is the answer. That's especially true last night when the Falcons didn't really blitz much in the second half and were getting to Brees with a 3 or 4 man rush. Running the ball more isn't going to help you stop a 3 or 4 man rush.