Question about tactics

Leroy42

One thing that struck me when I was watching a few games over the weekend, was why do the teams mix things up so much?

It was the Redskins game and their WR had the beating of Watson. Yet they only occassionally targeted him. Why not keep passing to him until they figure out a way to stop it?

They seem to make a great play, then either take him off or run it or whatever.

Not a question about the Redskins in particular but rather about the tactics.

I, admittedly from a poor base, it sometimes come across as making things complicated just because that is what the plan says

poldebruin

Surprised you didn't get an answer to your question already, there's loads of posters on the board that know their stuff and are alaways helpful to newcomers to the game.

I won't profess to be an expert, but there are a few reasons why a team would choose "not to go back to the well too often"

You identified the most obvious reason yourself. It makes things complicated to mix it up....as in, complicated for the defense. The most successful teams are the ones that can attack a defense in multiple ways. Running when defense expects pass, spreading the ball around to different receivers, throwing and running short and hitting a long bomb when the defense counters and squeezes up.

There are a multiude of coaches sitting high in the stands trying to identify what an offense or defense is doing and thinking of ways to counter it. If a receiver is torching a team, the defense can double team, or mix coverages to try and confuse and trap the QB into a poor throw. Taking an extra player to cover one receiver leaves a gap elsewhere, and the team (and QB) are right to try an exploit that....for instance in your example the QB might read the defense before the snap ( looks at the way they are alligned) and see that the primary receiver on the play will be double (or triple) covered.....if the play is completely unsuitable to what the defense is set up for, he might check out of the play completely (change it) and run something completely different. The key is, that when the defense strengthens in one area, it follows that must be weaker in another. That's a lot of the enjoyment of watching a game, and if you continue, you will pick a lot of it up quite quickly.

Now.....as is the way in American Football, that's not always the way. Sometimes, it really is better to keep it simple, and you will get a team that just cannot stop a certain player or play, and you will see the team go back to it again and again. Julio Jones (Atlanta, probably the best WR in the NFL right now) caught 12 passes for 300 yards against the Panthers earlier in the year. The most painful example I can remember was Super Bowl 22 - Washington v Denver, the Redskins ran a play called the counter trey, over and over and over again....a rookie running back names timmy smith ran for a super bowl record 204 yards on 22 carries. Denver could not stop it, and Washington knew it and ran it down their throats for the entire game.

Leroy42

Thanks for that, very informative.

poldebruin

Leroy42 wrote: »

Thanks for that, very informative.

No problem, and feel free to post any questions you have and I'll be happy to dazzle you with my knowledge. Enjoy the games, they can seem a bit mystifying at first, but as long as you don't watch redzone (which is like a highlights show on crack - not much time for deliberation, replay or explanations of the finer points of the game, but entertaining all the same) you will pick up on the nuances in no time.