Students Of The Game

[FortWorthSeahawk]

Inspired by posts discussing the merit of understanding the x's and o's of football, I thought it might be interesting to have a dedicated thread focused on a greater understanding of how football is played, rather than grades assigned to specific players by various metrics. This comes from a position of curiosity and not authority, as I have not coached at any level and am not claiming to be an expert. I hope others will feel led to add their experiences/videos/studies to help grow this thread. Will try to keep this Seahawks focused as much as possible to align with the forum, but it may bleed into concepts used by other teams.

 

[FortWorthSeahawk]

My first offering is a video on the similarities shared between the Cover-3 and Tampa-2 defensive concepts, which as we know has been utilized by the Seahawks in the past. Pete is actually highlighted in the video near the end, showing his use of these coverages back in his USC days. Video does a pretty good breakdown without being overly complicated.

 

[keasley45]

Love the concept and think it should / could be made a sticky. Having a place to talk x's and o's above and beyond w's and l's is needed. Too often during the season, discussions around quality of play get bogged down after a win with criticism of those who see 'success' as something deeper than a win or loss.

It also allows for everyday deeper dives into strategy, scheme, and concepts. Something the forum as a whole can benefit from.

 

[FortWorthSeahawk]

This is another basic look at mixing zone coverages on defense, this time presented by Steve Spagnuolo (former Giants/Saints/Ravens DC, Rams HC, and current DC of the Chiefs). Again, nothing groundbreaking, but it does emphasize needing better athletes (especially at corner) to be able to run these coverages effectively. Some forum members have made a good point that some of these coverages may not be as effective for Seattle as they have been in years past, given our talent levels in certain positions. Very curious to see what scheme changes we roll out in the preseason, if any, or if Pete reverts back to more simple coverage/superior athletes (if he indeed really gave up that approach the last season or two).

 

[Mick063]

I only coached (14–16) year-olds for one season, but the team was undefeated and won the league championship. As a coach, I am undefeated. Nope, it had nothing to do with me.

Two reasons:

1) The high school coach insisted that we use his wishbone offense (gave us multiple copies of the playbook) so that the kids would be familiar with it heading into high school. In return we got the keys to the practice shed which contained tees, balls, handheld blocking pads and dummies, etc. The high school staff also came to our games to scout their future players.

2) You need an awesome quarterback to run the wishbone. Our quarterback was named Ron Ricard and he went on to eventually start at Washington State University as a cover cornerback. You KNOW the kid has to have jets to play cover corner in the PAC 12. Hence our 14-year-old option quarterback ran wild. We utterly destroyed every team. We were routinely clearing the bench by halftime. Our wide receiver went on to play for Idaho as well.

Yep, as a coach I was undefeated, but it certainly didn't have a lot to do with me.

Moral of the story? Stud players > "X's & O's" And another thing. The kids were just awesome, but the parents? Not so much.

Link: Vikings coach was at WSU at the time

 

[keasley45]

Blocking / defending the wide zone blocking scheme.

Shanahan Scheme Analysis: Part 1 – Thin Air

Dropping this here to give this thread a bump. Been meaning to add stuff for a while now. Can't take credit for the above. Was posted by another member in another topic today as an explanation as to why we might not need a beefy NT to make our D work.

 

[keasley45]

PFF Data Study: Examining the passing game with route heat maps

PFF Data Scientist Timo Riske debuts his work on route concepts.

www.pff.com

This article and associated graphical analysis discusses passing trends in the game. It's a bit older (2019 I think) but is interesting in that, through analysis of passing heat maps, it charts the evolution of league wide passing tendencies. Over a 4 or so year period, it maps the frequency of routes and areas of the field qbs use.

One thing I found interesting is that 8 or so years ago, the trend was to exploit the sidelines. Over subsequent years, defensive tendencies dictated a shift to exploiting the middle of the field. There was a lot of talk over the years about how Pete didn't like passes to the middle of the field. As a rule, I think that philosophy, if you want to call it that, is valid, since there's just more traffic in that zone. And... if during that period, defenses were designed to more effecrively defend that area of the field, it would make sense.

It would also shed light onto the rift / and shift between coaching and Wilson that became apparent in 2019 through 2021 and addressed sepcifically in 21 when Geno started for an injured Russ . That was one of the few occassions when Pete talked about the importnace of the qb being able to distribute the ball all over the field. He brought it up in his praise of Geno following the win over the Jags, citing how well he got the ball wherever it needed to go.

That also then might make more sense as to why the FO began to sour on Russ, if they knew they had a QB who could only effectively work the edges of the field and that the game was now necessitate a more complete passing strategy.

Relevant now, because it stressed the importance of having a QB who can attack all areas of the field.

I have not seen Geno's 2022 map, but have to think it's better distributed than what we've see in the past.

Would like to understand in greater detail the trends in passing and defense that lead to these kind of swings.

Also interested in knowing whether the trends from 2018 / 2019 have held...

 

[FortWorthSeahawk]

A look at some of the plays Drew Lock executed during the first preseason game of 2023 and why they worked/didn't work as intended. Note: The editing appears to be out of order in the video at the moment, but info is still good.

 

[Seattle Person]

This is a great thread! I think it will bring something new to the site during the week and after the game. We can have all the talent in the world but it's always cool to get nerdy about football. No matter how you slice it...understanding why something works or why something doesn't work is pretty cool in my opinion.

There is a place for everyone. I fully recognize it's not the flavor of all but I'm excited to learn more from you folks. If you are not more familiar with Matty F. Brown then you should go watch his breakdowns. He packs a punch all the way from the U.K and he really really knows his stuff.

In this video, Matty gives a clear example of what bugged the Seahawks so much. These nickle packages where the Hawks will be in a lot! It shows how miscommunication and misalignment makes it so hard for the LBs to do their jobs. We blamed Barton a lot but there were plenty of times he was where he was supposed to be. Sometimes it's so hard (Brooks) for a LB that you can't do your job....

 

[keasley45]

Bleacher Report

From BleacherReport.com, your destination for the latest news on your teams and topics in sports.

bleacherreport.com

/articles/2047445-nfl-101-introducing-the-basics-of-cover-3


Will be interesting to see how old' school the Hawks go on D this year.

Nice article explaining Hawks coverage schemes under Pete's early years here and a good reference piece moving forward.

for whatever reason, a copy paste of the url at bleaherreport didnt work, but if you type in 'bleacherreport.c0m' and then copy and paste the second half of the link above, it will get you there.

 

[keasley45]

Video: Football 101 - Where Seattle Seahawks' pass D went wrong - Seattle Sports

Dave Wyman of Seattle Sports’ Wyman and Bob is back for a new season of Seattle Seahawks Football 101. Wyman, a former NFL linebacker and current Seahawks Radio Network color commentator, breaks down a play that shows the issues the team was dealing with in pass coverage in a 30-13 loss to the...

sports.mynorthwest.com

Good breakdown of some of the breakdowns on D. The bad - it's basic stuff.

The good - it's basic stuff.

 

[FortWorthSeahawk]

I'll see your basic and raise you.. something more basic. If you have ever wondered what the basic terms are that you'll hear on broadcasts or YouTube commentary, this is a good video to get you up to speed

 

[Fernie Hawks Fan]

I'll see your basic and raise you.. something more basic. If you have ever wondered what the basic terms are that you'll hear on broadcasts or YouTube commentary, this is a good video to get you up to speed

Very informative....thanks for the post

 

[FortWorthSeahawk]

Some (ok most) of Pat's show is just crazy chaotic, but I love when they have these segments with ex NFL players explaining details. Halfway through the video, you'll see our own Seahawks being featured.



Also featured at the end of the DB segment as well.

 

[FortWorthSeahawk]

Good place as any to drop any film studies on defensive schemes used previously by our new head coach





The second video really showcases what we could potentially achieve in 1-2 years, if the right pieces are obtained. As other posters have mentioned, Spoon should thrive in this type of defense.

 

[Chukarhawk]

if ever a thread needed to be made a permanent sticky this, is it.

 

[FortWorthSeahawk]

Longer video with a lot of All-22 film study. Some of this footage has been seen in other videos, but I think the breakdown is much more detailed here.

 

[Seattle Person]

One thing that MacDonald might do more of now is use a Cover-0 look more often now that he has press corners like Woolen and Witherspoon. I'm sure he's already going in the lab.

 

[olyfan63]

Mods, someone called for this thread being made into a sticky. I disagree. I think it would be EVEN BETTER if this thread was the first thread in a new "STUDENTS OF THE GAME" forum, on the same level as the Seahawks and NFL Nations forums. Then people could start different threads for particular areas, like Offense, Defense, QB Development/Play, Pass Rush Techniques, Pass Coverage Concepts, etc.

 

[Seattle Person]

Mods, someone called for this thread being made into a sticky. I disagree. I think it would be EVEN BETTER if this thread was the first thread in a new "STUDENTS OF THE GAME" forum, on the same level as the Seahawks and NFL Nations forums. Then people could start different threads for particular areas, like Offense, Defense, QB Development/Play, Pass Rush Techniques, Pass Coverage Concepts, etc.

That would be great! 100% agree.