Football 101

[UtterBlitz]

I think you need to create a mission for the ol lady during the 4th quarter, especially if it looks like the game is headed into overtime. Have her take a trip to the store for a new bag of chips, or maybe order the pizza for pickup when there is 10 minutes left on the clock, and drain the gas tank in the Buick, as a extra precaution, so that it takes even longer for her to return.

Somehow, I thought you would be able to outsmart the ol lady adarian.....are you all talk and no action?

I am keeping the kegs away from you.....alcohol abuse is a serious thing you know.

[adarian_too]

Somehow, I thought you would be able to outsmart the ol lady adarian.....are you all talk and no action?

I try. I really do. The last game I had her holding the antenna above her head on the roof. Of course you know what happened next.

That's right. She got hit by lightning. Fell off the roof. Flattened the dog .... Tore me right up. I miss that dog ...

[UtterBlitz]

You should get a new dog adarian. I have a couple of mutts...you want one? One of them ate my pillow today and they are now both on the "in trouble" list.

It might help if you got the ol lady to lose some weight.... the dog could have lived through the ordeal.
Poor pup.....:sad:

[OrlandoPaceIsMyHero]

Hi Clan Ram Institute. I play O-line for a Division 3 college, and I consider myself fairly well-versed when it comes to football, but I still don't understand what people are talking about when they say "zone vs man/power" blocking in the NFL.

In my career I have played in two different systems:
In High School, my team used a system where you would block people based on where they were before the or early in the play... for instance, my assignment as a tackle was often "gap-down-backer" which meant that I was to block the guy to the gap inside of me, and if he wasn't there, the guy "down" to me (which means inside up to one full man over, so as a tackle, anyone all the way to the outside shoulder of the center and in the A gap), and if he wasn't there, then the linebacker. I considered this zone blocking because we didn't explicitly have men assigned to us; rather being assigned areas to block.

In college I was introduced to what I consider true zone blocking. My team runs the plays "zone right" and "zone left" often, where everyone on the line "bucket steps" (a step outside and back a bit, then a crossover), then locates the guy in their path and blocks him. There is no set hole where the running back must go, he gets to read the play on his own instead, and is often encouragted to cut back if the defense is reacting strongly to the playside (the side that the entire o-line is bucket stepping towards). It is very reminiscent of what the seattle seahawks or the denver broncos run.

So which is which? Is there any other scheme that teams commonly employ? How does it work? Is it even possible to assign men before the snap? If so, how doesn't that kind of blocking scheme get obliterated by stunts and blitzes?

Thanks alot,
OPIMH

[Goldenfleece]

So which is which? Is there any other scheme that teams commonly employ? How does it work? Is it even possible to assign men before the snap? If so, how doesn't that kind of blocking scheme get obliterated by stunts and blitzes?

Thanks alot,
OPIMH

I don't claim to be an expert on line play, but I was wondering about the differences between man and zone blocking myself a while back and came across a pretty good article by Coach Bob Davie on the subject. Here is the link: Football 101: Zone blocking. I don't know if that article will fully answer the question, but it might help. I'm still not sure how man techniques deal with stunts and the like.

[HUbison]

What's the proper ettiquite? Dive for the beer and miss a play?

From the CIAFT...

Ah, the ultimate question, beer or the game? This generated some debate and the current idea is to spring for TIVO, if possible. Pause the game, get the dog and wife sorted out, then return to the game when ready.

[HUbison]

I was wondering about the differences between man and zone blocking myself a while back and came across a pretty good article by Coach Bob Davie on the subject. Here is the link: Football 101: Zone blocking. I don't know if that article will fully answer the question, but it might help.

From the CIAFT...

Good question from both Orlando and Golden. Especially pertinent now since the Rams are making the change. If you can get to the article by Coach Davie, it's a good one. But you may have to join some ESPN premium site to read it, I'm not sure.

But to your question, every coach has a different variation on blocking schemes. There's at least 32 different forms in the NFL, but each can be traced back to some form of either Man blocking or Zone blocking. Man blocking, as the name implies, means each blocker has 1 defender (or 2 in the case of chipping) they are responsible for. For example, let's say the LG's pre-snap assignment is to kick out the End. At the snap, he either kicks out the End or if the End falls into coverage, the LG will block the man who "takes the place" of the End, maybe the OLB crashing in, or a 3-technique DT playing up, etc. Either way, the blocker has a specific assignment to fill based on a specific defender.

In Zone blocking, the whole line moves left or right (as Orlando said earlier), with the line acting as one entity, and each blocker taking on whoever enters their "zone". Zone blocking is extremely effective when the offense has a RB that's good at making quick accurate decisions, ie. the GSOT Rams with Faulk, the Broncos, the Falcons, etc. There's no specific pre-snap hole to hit in most cases, so it's up to the RB to "find" the hole created by the line.

Typically, large earth moving lineman work better in Man schemes, while smaller quicker athletic lineman work in Zone schemes.

[Goldenfleece]

It's not an ESPN premium service, but it would appear that being able to follow a link posted in Clanram forums is now a premium service.

[HUbison]

And the question for this thread is what???? Somehow I can't find a question here.

Nor can I, UB....nor can I.

[ramsanddodgers]

I see there were several attempts to help you with the defensive scheme(s) explanations.

I saw no reply to the "waivered" question. It isn't terribly clear what you are asking but I thnk I can safely assume it has to do with waivers, or rather a player who has been placed on waivers thus waivered?:\


A player can be placed on waivers, that is released, and then other teams can place a claim on said player withthe player being awarded to the team with the highest piority. If another team does not claim the player that player may be reclaimed by the team releasing him usually for the purposes of using said player on a practice squad. This enables the player to practice with the team and hopefully increases his chances of making the team later in the year to fill in for an injured player or to simply gain experience. The team claiming a waived player must compensate the player's previous team using an established system. All available players not on waivers are considered free agents.

Which I also believe means if a player clears waivers (nobody claims him) he becomes an unrestricted free agent.

Hopefully that was not too convoluted. I believe a team's priority is the same as in a draft, that is the "weaker" team has the higher priority and after succesfully claiming a player moves to the back of the line(s) when trying to pick up other players.

Good luck!

RnD:r

GO RAMS!!:l

[nfl2fun]

Yea, I know, me too!
But at the same time, nobody wants to ask a question like that on a football message board, right? I mean, that kind of stuff should be encoded on our DNA from birth.....shouldn't it?

[ramsanddodgers]

Nor can I, UB....nor can I.

Actually, if you go back to the first and second pages there are several questions asked and several replies to most of the questions in an attempt to help our feloow Rams fans.

RnD

GO RAMS!!:l

[UtterBlitz]

Actually, if you go back to the first and second pages there are several questions asked and several replies to most of the questions in an attempt to help our feloow Rams fans.

RnD

GO RAMS!!:l

My last post is a bit confusing because I was pointing out a spamer in this thread, but his post got deleted, so mine does not make a lot of sense now.

Questions and answers are certainly wanted in this thread since many of us have a limited understanding of the game of football. If you look back to the beginning of the thread I was actually asking questions about football and not just harrassing adarian and pointing out the spamer dude. Sorry for getting off topic....:\

[TheBritishRam]

I don't understand when commentators use the phrase "running the option", what does this mean???

[thoey]

Usually that means when the QB and the RB take off in the same direction and the QB has the "option" of keeping the ball himself or pitching it to the RB.