CFB51 College Football Fan Community
The Power Five => Big Ten => Topic started by: Cincydawg on August 03, 2022, 03:53:18 PM
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As I really don't know much about "inside football", I thought maybe some of youse guys could enlighten me, and perhaps others.
Here is my first question, it's first and ten from your own 25, the QB comes up to the line and surveys the defense, what's he looking for specifically? Presume said defense is of a standard type.
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he's looking to see if the defensive alignment is stacked against the play called in the huddle.
He may have the latitude to audible to a different run play or a pass play if the defense is crowding the center of the line and an inside run is the play
Otherwise he's checking LBs and safeties to guess what coverage they are playing - zone or man
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As I really don't know much about "inside football", I thought maybe some of youse guys could enlighten me, and perhaps others.
Here is my first question, it's first and ten from your own 25, the QB comes up to the line and surveys the defense, what's he looking for specifically? Presume said defense is of a standard type.
The degree of complexity in the NFL is substantially greater than at the college level, but now even most good college offices have a variety of options prepared when the quarterback is preparing to receive the snap.
as fearless said, the quarterback is trying to assess the defensive alignment to ensure that it’s not stacked against a play that was already called. That’s the basic version. Is the office going to run the ball to the boundary? If yes is the defense stacked to the boundary on the line or in the secondary? He can always audible out of that into something different.
Some of the more advanced college offenses don’t even have a play called, just a formation. From there the quarterback makes an assessment of whether the defense is focused on a run or a pass. Or, are they in a loose zone which allows for short completions underneath, or most likely is there a one on one match up to the outside that can be taken advantage of?
also now with the proliferation of the RPO, the quarterback might call the play at the line and it is both a run and a pass, with a quarterback making the Quick decision based on the movements of one particular defensive player, most often a linebacker or defensive end.
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also now with the proliferation of the RPO, the quarterback might call the play at the line and it is both a run and a pass, with a quarterback making the Quick decision based on the movements of one particular defensive player, most often a linebacker or defensive end.
this is most effective when the defense shows a disguise and then shifts the Dline to another gap, or the linebackers show run defense and then drop back just before the snap
same goes for the safeties moving at the snap
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In the mix: Counting box numbers, checking if the D is unbalanced to one side, trying to ID 1 or 2 high safeties, IDing a passing game mismatch in the slot, trying to diagnose pressure threats.
And if there's motion, seeing how the defense moves with it.
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As I really don't know much about "inside football", I thought maybe some of youse guys could enlighten me, and perhaps others.
Here is my first question, it's first and ten from your own 25, the QB comes up to the line and surveys the defense, what's he looking for specifically? Presume said defense is of a standard type.
Here is a straightforward, short video that illustrates basic and a few advanced https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=v_61y2yr_9g
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I'm not sure FSU should be teaching anything about football.
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The answer to your question is different at different levels, as has already been said.
At the high school level, the QB (if the HC trusts him to) is probably limited to about 3 pre-snap things:
1 - ID the MLB (to see if the defense is balanced)
If the defense is unbalanced and a run to the crowded side is called, he might do a simple audible. Say it's a run to the right and the safety creeps way up on that half of the field, he'd yell something like "check - Lucy" which flips the same play to the left. He'd say any word starting with L.
2 - Is the coverage man or zone (pre-determining if he may be throwing more to a spot or area vs leading his receiver(s) with tight coverage)
Again, for high school, a man in motion gives it away, but so could positioning. If a safety is walking up and aligning himself with a slot receiver, that man suggest man. If both safeties are ready to backpedal at the snap, they're probably in a cover 2 zone.
3 - generally looking for an obvious blitz - if he can tell where they're coming from, then he can automatically throw to the vacated space - a quick dump off to the TE if the LB who would be covering him or that zone threatens blitz.
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If a QB can do all that with some consistency in HS, he's good and if he can do any more than that, he's probably a name guy on recruiting rankings. I doubt many of the super-athletic guys can do all 3 consistency (because they don't have to, in order to be successful).
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I'm not sure FSU should be teaching anything about football.
Now, that was funny. :72:
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Do they tolerate mediocrity?
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I mentioned before that the defensive alignment, to me, very often looks very standard, and yet the QB sees something, or perhaps he's noting it's standard and calls out an assignment (as does the center). Let's say the play called is a short pass to the TE on a crossing pattern. It's the first play of the game. The D is not in any special alignment, they are where they often are. Is there anything that would cause the QB to audible or point or anything?
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I mentioned before that the defensive alignment, to me, very often looks very standard, and yet the QB sees something, or perhaps he's noting it's standard and calls out an assignment (as does the center). Let's say the play called is a short pass to the TE on a crossing pattern. It's the first play of the game. The D is not in any special alignment, they are where they often are. Is there anything that would cause the QB to audible or point or anything?
Yes. If you watch that short video I included above ( and it has nothing to do with Florida State), there are several things that could cause concern.
if the defense brings a safety up to man press coverage on the tight end, it will be difficult for the tight end to get open on a crossing pattern in the proper timing if he is jammed at the line by a good safety. However this will create an opening in the seam on which ever side the tight end he is targeting is lined up on. The quarterback may audible to a corner covered receiver to drag route into that scene since the safety has been pulled across the middle trying to follow the tight end.
In today’s modern off fence to quarterback would just read that and keep the same play because that drag route is already being run and will be open anyway if the tight end is not open
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I watched the video, it was helpful, but I specified the defense is in a very "vanilla" formation. I noted the D alignment often, to me, looks the same play after play (though as noted I don't get the end zone view of it).
First play of the game won't the D generally be in a very standard formation and defense?
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https://matchquarters.com/2016/08/22/tight-end-sets-vs-match-quarters/
A good read on the chess match that is todays attempts to defend spread or pro spread offenses.
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I watched the video, it was helpful, but I specified the defense is in a very "vanilla" formation. I noted the D alignment often, to me, looks the same play after play (though as noted I don't get the end zone view of it).
First play of the game won't the D generally be in a very standard formation and defense?
Yes. So- where are the safeties? Are they in a 2 high look? Are they level with each other?
if the defense is in its base 4-2-5 look, and the play called has a tight end crossing the middle, then it most certainly has at least one or two and possibly three other pass routes by the wide receivers and running backs. In this case the quarterback has to read post snap to determine the best place to put the ball. If the defense is in a zone the Titan will squat in an open area and it will be an easy completion. If someone is trying to man cover the tight end he may be open purely based on speed and foot work, and lastly if he is well covered they will almost certainly be someone else open
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https://matchquarters.com/2016/08/22/tight-end-sets-vs-match-quarters/
A good read on the chess match that is todays attempts to defend spread or pro spread offenses.
I like that, need to read it again more slowly.
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I was musing about CFB when I first started watching on a grainy B&W TV. I THINK every allignment was the same, or nearly so. The QB called the plays in the huddle. I think the O playbook was probably pretty simple and maybe the D did the same thing on nearly every play. The defensive huddle would be very quick anyway, so it seemed to me they were calling maybe 4-5-6 different Ds quickly with a single word.
Some good stuff here, thanks. Next time I watch Houston playing Memphis a bit, I'll try and diagnose what's happening more than I have done in the past.