Chaos Commish
Footballguy
Come on Rovers, it's simple. Bad teams should try to shorten the game by controlling the clock and if San Diego was smart that's what they would do. You don't see that? 
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PreGame - Chargers V Jets (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter DanFouts
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Chase Stuart
Footballguy
Chaos definitely gets it.Come on Rovers, it's simple. Bad teams should try to shorten the game by controlling the clock and if San Diego was smart that's what they would do. You don't see that?
Chase Stuart
Footballguy
Both teams will have the same number of possessions in the game (+/- 1). If the Jets get more possessions, it means more opportunities to score points. A 23-21 victory over 25 possessions isn't any different than a 16-14 victory over 17 possessions. Yes, the fewer times Rivers has to make plays against the Jets defense, the better. If the Chargers go 3 and out on every possession, that would be a good thing, but it would also lead to more possessions for SD (also not a bad thing).
You're letting the cart drive the horse. The goal should be to score points and not allow points, not to have long drives.
Rovers
Footballguy
That is nuts. The longer the Jets can hold the ball, pound the running game, tire the SD defense, the more effective the running game becomes. The fewer the possessions SD has the better, because the Jets are winning ToP and getting points. Wearing down the defense with a running game and holding the ball for long drives is exactly how the Jets are built to win. Chase... I can't even ... nevermind. I think I'll go stare at some Peter Max paintings now.
Chase Stuart
Footballguy
Pound the running game = goodTire the SD defense = good
Fewer possesisons SD has = meaningless. The fewer possessions SD has, the fewer possesions the Jets have.
Winning TOP doesn't translate into winning games. I think you're confusing causation with correlation.
Wearing down the defense = good
Holding the ball for long drives is sort of good... but it's not any better than a long play.
Put it this way: if Shonn Greene breaks an 80-yard run from the first play of scrimmage, would you think that's a bad thing? Let's say the Jets first three possessions consist of 10 plays, 160 yards, 1 punt, 2 touchdowns and 3 minutes of time of possession. Good or bad start?
Assuming you think it's a good start, it's because the Jets are averaging 4.7 points per possession. And that's a whole lot more important than averaging 1.0 minutes per possession; it's also better than if the Jets were avergaging 1.0 points per possession and 4.7 minutes per possession.
Assuming you don't think it's a good start, well, I'm not sure what else to say.
Chase Stuart
Footballguy
I continue to be surprised that in the Shark Pool -- where we have some of the most knowledgeable fans -- that people still overvalue offense and undervalue defense. Defense isn't just something that's there. It's not just an accessory to the game of football. You might as well say the Chargers have a smoke and mirrors defense against a dominant pass defense.Shtick aside, if you think defense is just as important as offense, then I don't know how you don't view this as a very even game. And if you don't believe defense is just as important as offense, I don't know why you think that.
Chase Stuart
Footballguy
Not really interested in a sig bet, but I'd put the O/U for Rivers at 5.5 AY/A.
Chase, going back a few weeks, I don't think you'd know an elite pass offense if it bit u in the shower, and you severely overrate a yardage based vision of the jets reg season pass d.Chargers gonna dominate this weekend, and the Jets are trying a "I think i can" capmpaign to lull themselves to sleep this week, fighting the inevitable.I'll accept the 5.5 ypa bet if that's the best you can do.How 'bout "J-E-T-S means Just Exist Till SonO'Manning deigns to slum in nuevajersey?"
MCguidance
Footballguy
WTF are you talking about?
Rovers
Footballguy
Minus 6? USA Today is -7.5. If you are so sure that it's all so uber-predictable, at least use a legit line for cryin out loud.
BassNBrew
Footballguy
I'll take that bet.If the Chargers win and cover, my sig will be...I'm clueless for believing the Jets had a chance of beating the Super Chargers and believing that Chase actually knew what he was talking about.If the Jets win or cover, your sig will be...Once again Phillip Rivers comes up short. Can we return the punk back to the barn in Raleigh and get Brees/Manning/BigBen back instead?Loser keeps the sig for one month.Homer said:
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Done!
why you're not more impressed by Rivers?I hate to apologize for QB's, but that guy's been MONEY every time I ever remember the game being on the line?
BassNBrew
Footballguy
Before Just Win Baby or Simey or PantherPower chimes in, I'm an irrational Carolina fan.That said, Rivers is far superior to the schmucks Chase's Jet's D has been feasting on all year. I suspect the Jets will cover and the line is too high.why you're not more impressed by Rivers?I hate to apologize for QB's, but that guy's been MONEY every time I ever remember the game being on the line?
Tau837
Footballguy
No problem here. I've been pleasantly surprised with your comments about Rivers lately.Before Just Win Baby or Simey or PantherPower chimes in, I'm an irrational Carolina fan.That said, Rivers is far superior to the schmucks Chase's Jet's D has been feasting on all year. I suspect the Jets will cover and the line is too high.why you're not more impressed by Rivers?I hate to apologize for QB's, but that guy's been MONEY every time I ever remember the game being on the line?
Rovers
Footballguy
I'll tag along on this one. I don't much care for the Jets win sig line though. I'd prefer something like: "I will never again be so silly as to think that a good offense will always beat a good defense. History says I was wrong, and I was just to dopey to figure it out the first 20 times it happened. The Jets do indeed, have a great Ryan schemed defense." As a side note, is Rivers really that much better than Brees and Schaub? He is like already a HoF QB? Walks on water? Can't make a mistake? I wonder what happens if he just comes out and has a bad game. LOL... then it would be the Jets won because Rivers was off his game, and what the Jets did didn't mean squat. The Chargers lost, the Jets didn't win. Oh yeah, I can see that one coming from a mile away.
BassNBrew
Footballguy
Well duhhhh!!!!!!I wonder what happens if he just comes out and has a bad game. LOL... then it would be the Jets won because Rivers was off his game, and what the Jets did didn't mean squat. The Chargers lost, the Jets didn't win. Oh yeah, I can see that one coming from a mile away.
Chargers86
Footballguy
The thing I respect most about Rivers is that he has the memory of a goldfish. The guy will throw an interception, make adjustments while the D is back on the field, and then drive the team down the field for a TD. He never gets rattled and is always composed. I am not too worried about this Rex Ryan defense because of that.
No, it is in the interests of the worse team to have as few possessions in the game as possibleThink of it this way, if games lasted 1000 possessions for each team (theoretically), the better team would always win, because, well, they're betterChase Stuart said:
But if each game was only 1 possession for each team, well, who knows? Anything can happen in a single possession.
By keeping the game 'short', the worse team allows itself to be lucky
Reaper
Footballguy
Are they really undervalueing defense?I just think everyone knows the Jets defense is good but, people have legitimate concerns about where the Jets defense is right now and I agree 100%.... You seem ready to put them up with some of the best defenses ever. And that's the difference - I think most everyone else thinks this is a very good defense that maybe next year could be the defense you're talking about.Chase Stuart said:
I won't play a stats game with you but, I know that when you have an offense that isn't that great, working with a rookie QB that doesn't put a lot of points up, the defense stats can be skewed a bit because opponents aren't coming into the game with a plan like they have to put up big points.
The QBs the Jets faced is a very legitimate point.
The collapses this defense has had late in game is also something to look at - I just wouldn't call them dominant, yet.
Hey I LOVE this defense..... At this point though, I'd have to give the nod to the much more experienced SD unit and Pray for the best - Some good shots on the QB and anyone who touches the ball and hopefully a few turnovers.
Chase Stuart
Footballguy
Yes, this is what I was saying earlier.
ChargersOH
Footballguy
I am. Revis is a beast and their D coaching is superb.However, I'm more worried about San Diego being able to run the football, than about Rivers. We need to establish and use the ground game or Rivers will throw too much resulting in turnovers which could allow the Jets to win a game they shouldn't.
Ghost Rider
Footballguy
Schaub? Uh, yes. Schaub is damn good, but he isn't a top 5 QB; Rivers is, and possibly top 3. Rivers is probably about as good as Brees.
Nick Vermeil
Footballguy
It would be nice if they can run the ball, but why move away from what has been working for 11 weeks? They aren't going to get tons of yards on the ground so I would prefer they work the screen game and run about as much as they have all year. Handing it off on 1st and 2nd down every time is going to lead to a lot of 3rd and 14.
Chase Stuart
Footballguy
Possibly top 3? I think he's definitely top 3 and possibly top 1.
MCguidance
Footballguy
Again, a LOT of overreaction in here. To think the Jets will shut down Rivers completely is insane, won't happen.
To think that the Jets haven't faced good QBs is also ludicrous - Schaub, Brady twice, Brees, Manning (half), Palmer twice.
Sure some of those have had better years, but those names are some of the best in the league. Again, overreactions abound. Calm down, take a breath, it should be a fun game one way or another.
To think that the Jets haven't faced good QBs is also ludicrous - Schaub, Brady twice, Brees, Manning (half), Palmer twice.
Sure some of those have had better years, but those names are some of the best in the league. Again, overreactions abound. Calm down, take a breath, it should be a fun game one way or another.
Evilhomer3k
Footballguy
A couple of things. First, I don't believe defense is as important as offense. The reason is that the rules of the game give the offense an advantage. Second is that defense is more difficult to sustain over an entire game than offense. Defensive linemen have to go around/through offensive linemen. They waste more energy in doing so. CBs have to try to keep up with WRs. WRs already know where they're going. The offense knows where they're going.In this game I think SD has an advantage because they have two number one recievers. Covering Jackson with Revis may take Jackson out of the game. That's one #1 WR out. Revis can take away Andre Johnson and that's a big deal to the Texans. Taking away Jackson is not as big a deal to SD. Gates is, arguably, a #1 WR. So you take away Gates. Sproles/Tomlinson are great pass catching backs. Nanee and Floyd are excellent recievers as well. Indy compares best with SD (Wayne/Clark as #1s, two good wrs, and good pass catching out of the backs).Chase Stuart said:
Finally, there's a height difference. Floyd and Gates are 6'5". Nanee is 6'3". Gates is 6'4". The Chargers likely have the tallest receiving corp in the NFL and from the few I've looked up it isn't even close. I believe Jackson is the biggest receiver that Revis has faced (Ocho is 6'1 and 192, Andre is 6'3" and 219, Colston is 6'4" and 225, Moss is 6'4" and 215, Welker is 5'9"). Revis is 6' and 205. Jackson is 6'5" and 241. That is a big height/weight difference. I'm not saying Jackson is going to have a huge game but he is a different beast to cover than Wayne at 6' and 198 pounds. Gates is great at using his height and his body to go after the ball. If it's a jump ball I'm putting my money on lil' Charles Barkley (Technically, he measures up well with CB who is 6' 5.5" and 252 from what I could find).
Oh, and here's a poorly formatted article on if taller receivers are better on average. Not that Gates and Jackson are average.
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/8...pg2.html?cat=14
BassNBrew
Footballguy
Indy - 213 passing yards (Manning 192) - Manning left game in third quarterNew England - 216 passing yards (Brady 216)New England - 299 passing yards (Brady 310)Houston - 145 passing yards (Schaub 166)Tennessee - 159 passing yards (Collins 170)New Orleans - 190 passing yards (Brees 190)Jacksonville - 208 passing yards (Garrard 221)Atlanta - 152 passing yards (Ryan 152)Miami - 262 passing yards (Henne 241) - excludedBuffalo - 154 passing yards (Fitzpatrick 116)Oakland - 144 passing yards (Gradkowski 97)Miami - 52 passing yards (Henne 112)Carolina - 104 passing yards (Delhomme 130)Buffalo - 71 passing yards (Fitzpatrick 98)Tampa - 81 passing yards (Freeman 93)Cincy - 0 passing yards (O'Sullivan 31) - Cincy laid downNotice the trend here?Elite QBs = 257 yards per gameGood QBs = 171 yards per gameBad QBs = 97 yards per game (excluding Henne's solid game)
Chargers86
Footballguy
Is it true that when Norv was the o-coordinator for the Cowboys in the 90's he went up against the "4-6" defense vs. the Eagles?
Also, our d-coordinator was part of Ryans 4-6 defense. Does anyone else think this could possibly tone down the effectiveness of the Jets defense against this team specifically?
Also, our d-coordinator was part of Ryans 4-6 defense. Does anyone else think this could possibly tone down the effectiveness of the Jets defense against this team specifically?
Evilhomer3k
Footballguy
Yes. Norv was the OC for the Cowboys during the early 90s. He was the OC for the Chargers for a few years as well. He's about as good of an OC as there is. Head coaching has not been his thing but he seems to have turned that around at least a little in SD.Norv Turner
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Chase Stuart
Footballguy
Marvin Lewis and Rex Ryan were on the same staff, too.
Sweet Love
IBL Representative
I think this game is much simpler than everyone is saying. In my mind, it boils down to one thing. If the Jets are leading or down by 3 pts., they have a very good shot at winning. If they are down going into the 4th by a TD or more, they will struggle to come back. I feel as though we are disceting the impossible here. There are few certainties in football, but the Jets can hold a lead going into the 4th and Sanchez is not seasoned enough to come back from a deficit. It doesn't get simpler than that.
MCguidance
Footballguy
I actually notice nothing
I notice they did well enough against elite QBs (sans the second Brady game) to have a chance to win this week's game.
BassNBrew
Footballguy
Rivers averaged 251 yards per game in their last 8 victories. The Jets D gives up 257 yards per game against elite QBs. Dang, the more that I look at this, the more I realize that the Jets D is more likely smoke and mirrors than an elite squad. Maybe I was wrong and the 7.5 point spread isn't too much.MCguidance said:I actually notice nothingI notice they did well enough against elite QBs (sans the second Brady game) to have a chance to win this week's game.
MCguidance
Footballguy
Have you watched the Jets? You really believe they are smoke and mirrors? If so, then that's fine. I just happen to think you are way off.Rivers averaged 251 yards per game in their last 8 victories. The Jets D gives up 257 yards per game against elite QBs. Dang, the more that I look at this, the more I realize that the Jets D is more likely smoke and mirrors than an elite squad. Maybe I was wrong and the 7.5 point spread isn't too much.MCguidance said:I actually notice nothing
Chase Stuart
Footballguy
Care to show your work?
DanFouts
Footballguy
Interesting New Yorker article on Ryan, the 46, and other stuff....most interesting is that they are talking about football in the New Yorker!
The Gladwell article he references is also a good read...
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/news...s-and-jets.html
FATHERS, SONS, AND JETS
Posted by Adam Gopnik
Despite seconding my friend Malcolm Gladwell’s criticism of the N.F.L. draft, though on ethical as much as his practical grounds—what if the most promising student in the graduating class of Harvard Law was told, on graduation day, that he would now have to go to work for several years for the worst law firm in Kansas City?—I have been, well, drafted to play the part of Jets fan-blogger for The New Yorker’s Web site, and so shall try to contribute a note here and there until the Jets are out of the playoffs, which may take six days or may take—well, who knows? Let’s not, as the kids say, even go there: those of us who were grimly certain that they were going to lose that first playoff game, simply because the Jets are the Jets, remain, after their glorious Cincinnati victory, grimly certain that they will lose the next one. And yet we still have hope. Being a Jet fan recalls the Calvinist view of predestination, which this blogger’s kid is studying in school: just because you know something is sure to happen doesn’t mean you can’t care.
The game to play before the upcoming game is to untangle the intricate knot of relations that bring together the coaches. It seems almost sure that this is the first time that a team has gone to the playoffs with two coaches who are the sons of two other, older N.F.L. coaches; it certainly is the first time when both of the paternal coaches in question had famously failed to win big games. Buddy Ryan, Rex’s dad, did help coach two Super Bowl winners—once as the linebackers coach of the Namath Jets, and more notoriously as the defensive coordinator of the ’85 Bears—but could never adapt to the bigger role of head coach, a classic case of the Peter Principle at work in football, a great defensive coordinator who topped out in the role. (Ryan was generally given credit for the Bears’ victory, not least by his players, and especially given Mike Ditka’s vague ideas about how, aside from guys being really tough, football games are won and lost.) The Jets offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer’s dad, Marty, despite being widely admired, also managed to lose championships at his various stops in Cleveland and Kansas City and Washington and San Diego, and has entered the record books as the guy with the most N.F.L. wins who has no Super Bowl appearances. Just last week, Marty was being touted as the next coach in Buffalo, with the thought that he might hire his kid to help, until, post-victory, the talk turned to the Bills hiring Brian directly and bypassing the old man. (Brian, by the way, was Philip Rivers’ QB coach in San Diego, meaning that the next game will also test whether Brian knows more about Philip or Philip knows more about Brian.)
This apparent hereditary tradition of failure should not, I think, be worrying. Just as film directors are remarkably more peaceable about other film directors’ work than critics are, since they know what critics can’t—that it is almost miraculous for a movie to exist at all, and that its being good or bad or great is something closer to serendipitous circumstance than to secure conception—coaches know that winning any game is so hard that winning ‘the biggest one” is more or less a question of luck. Being consistently good is a rational goal; winning repeated championships, or even any championships, is not. (A thought that one could see crossing the mind of the grim Bill Belichick the other day, though the idea of Belichick being even grimmer in defeat than he is in victory is itself so grim that it hardly bears thinking of.)
But back to the family dramas—this is certainly the one time when a father and son have used, over twenty years’ times, essentially the same defense. Anyone who has made Rex’s book, “Coaching Football’s 46 Defense” his (or her) bedtime reading for the past few months knows that it proves that the image of Rex as an upbeat, jolly fat man with a positive attitude is misleading, or at least incomplete: he is a fat man with a positive attitude and a prose style as dense as Don DeLillo’s. Here is a passage, more transparent than most, on defending (or, as he prefers,”defensing”) the option:
Knowing that the premise of our defense is not to be reached at the 3 technique, some teams will veer block the load option. In this case, the Will linebacker will get a down block read from the tackle as he chips through the 3 technique to cut off the fast flowing Mike linebacker. Unfortunately for the offense, the combo scheme will likely free two defenders. First, the Will is free to fill inside the load blocker and take the quarterback. If the load blocker attempts to load the linebacker, the linebacker will cause a train wreck as he meets the fullback at the line of scrimmage … he reads the reach and throws his hips into the hold, establishing a “B” gap barrier to prevent the tackle from chipping to the next level. Mike becomes a free-hitter as the backside tackle and nose prevent a jump through from the guard and center. Therefore, if the front-line defenders all do their job well against a veer blocking scheme, both the Will and the Mike will be free to flow to the QB, while the free safety will put the icing on the cake as he fits outside the load while the defensive end slow-plays, favoring the pitch.
All of this makes perfect, if slow-playing, sense if you analyze it in light of the diagram supplied. What one learns, painfully, page by page, is that the theme of the 46—what Rex calls its “premise”—is, simply, pressure at all points. (At one moment, he insists that “disguising” a blitz is of limited value; it’s not strategic surprise but repeated shock that makes the defense work. This explains all those Jet safeties and cornerbacks panting at the line—they’re coming! And then they do.) The idea is to stop the run at the line, as Rommel wanted to stop the Allies on the beaches, and to cover the open receivers by hitting the QB before they are open. It’s both brutal in its essentials and Baroque in its elaboration, and reading Rex’s book fills at least this hopelessly bookish blogger with confidence that the coach really does know just what he’s doing.
It’s also odd to reflect that although the 46 is a defense designed, above all, to stop the run, its most spectacular effects are against the QB, who gets murdered from time to time by all that blitzing. This means that while what you remember best from Ryan-family defenses is seeing the quarterback get crushed, this is merely what we call an epiphenomenon, or side effect, though that thought is presumably not much consolation to the QB at the bottom of the pile. (Quick: Who was the QB for the Patriots against the Bears in that fatal Super Bowl, the one who failed to complete a single pass? Answer: Tony Eason, one of the dimmer, or dimmed, lights of the bright class of ’83.) The weakness of at least the first version of the 46 was long ago exposed by Bill Walsh—the only coach in any sport to whom the word genius really applies—who saw that it left the corners as lonely as, well, part-time football bloggers, and had his QBs take quick drop-backs and throw short slants, killing the defense dead for a time. (The Bears never beat the Niners in a playoff game). Walsh’s own posthumous but newly published book, “The Score Takes Care Of Itself,” is well worth reading, too, not least for his explanation that the genesis of what became the West Coast offense was desperation (stuck in Cincinnati with a smart but limp-armed quarterback, Virgil Carter, he had to find a way to use the few things Carter could do well) and a single, startling perception: the width of the football field is much greater than most people, including most defensive coordinators, really grasp. (Quick: How wide is a football field? Fifty-three yards! That’s right—the field is well more than half as wide as it is long. Use this fact and win a bar bet.) Which leads to the reflection that if one wanted a QB who could beat the Ryan defense on Walshian lines, Philip Rivers, Brian’s student, might be just the man.
The other truly entertaining pre-game activity will be listening to Mike Francesca on WFAN each afternoon, abusing his listeners for accusing him of underrating the Jets, which, to be fair, he has. The comedy of this is that Mike’s listeners’ abuse is so gentle , and Mike’s accusations so grouchily self-righteous (“When? When did I say that the Jets couldn’t win? I never said that. What I said was…”) that is like, well, watching the 46 defense at work, with this Mike unloading on the unfortunate, veer-blocking listeners.
The Gladwell article he references is also a good read...
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/news...s-and-jets.html
FATHERS, SONS, AND JETS
Posted by Adam Gopnik
Despite seconding my friend Malcolm Gladwell’s criticism of the N.F.L. draft, though on ethical as much as his practical grounds—what if the most promising student in the graduating class of Harvard Law was told, on graduation day, that he would now have to go to work for several years for the worst law firm in Kansas City?—I have been, well, drafted to play the part of Jets fan-blogger for The New Yorker’s Web site, and so shall try to contribute a note here and there until the Jets are out of the playoffs, which may take six days or may take—well, who knows? Let’s not, as the kids say, even go there: those of us who were grimly certain that they were going to lose that first playoff game, simply because the Jets are the Jets, remain, after their glorious Cincinnati victory, grimly certain that they will lose the next one. And yet we still have hope. Being a Jet fan recalls the Calvinist view of predestination, which this blogger’s kid is studying in school: just because you know something is sure to happen doesn’t mean you can’t care.
The game to play before the upcoming game is to untangle the intricate knot of relations that bring together the coaches. It seems almost sure that this is the first time that a team has gone to the playoffs with two coaches who are the sons of two other, older N.F.L. coaches; it certainly is the first time when both of the paternal coaches in question had famously failed to win big games. Buddy Ryan, Rex’s dad, did help coach two Super Bowl winners—once as the linebackers coach of the Namath Jets, and more notoriously as the defensive coordinator of the ’85 Bears—but could never adapt to the bigger role of head coach, a classic case of the Peter Principle at work in football, a great defensive coordinator who topped out in the role. (Ryan was generally given credit for the Bears’ victory, not least by his players, and especially given Mike Ditka’s vague ideas about how, aside from guys being really tough, football games are won and lost.) The Jets offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer’s dad, Marty, despite being widely admired, also managed to lose championships at his various stops in Cleveland and Kansas City and Washington and San Diego, and has entered the record books as the guy with the most N.F.L. wins who has no Super Bowl appearances. Just last week, Marty was being touted as the next coach in Buffalo, with the thought that he might hire his kid to help, until, post-victory, the talk turned to the Bills hiring Brian directly and bypassing the old man. (Brian, by the way, was Philip Rivers’ QB coach in San Diego, meaning that the next game will also test whether Brian knows more about Philip or Philip knows more about Brian.)
This apparent hereditary tradition of failure should not, I think, be worrying. Just as film directors are remarkably more peaceable about other film directors’ work than critics are, since they know what critics can’t—that it is almost miraculous for a movie to exist at all, and that its being good or bad or great is something closer to serendipitous circumstance than to secure conception—coaches know that winning any game is so hard that winning ‘the biggest one” is more or less a question of luck. Being consistently good is a rational goal; winning repeated championships, or even any championships, is not. (A thought that one could see crossing the mind of the grim Bill Belichick the other day, though the idea of Belichick being even grimmer in defeat than he is in victory is itself so grim that it hardly bears thinking of.)
But back to the family dramas—this is certainly the one time when a father and son have used, over twenty years’ times, essentially the same defense. Anyone who has made Rex’s book, “Coaching Football’s 46 Defense” his (or her) bedtime reading for the past few months knows that it proves that the image of Rex as an upbeat, jolly fat man with a positive attitude is misleading, or at least incomplete: he is a fat man with a positive attitude and a prose style as dense as Don DeLillo’s. Here is a passage, more transparent than most, on defending (or, as he prefers,”defensing”) the option:
Knowing that the premise of our defense is not to be reached at the 3 technique, some teams will veer block the load option. In this case, the Will linebacker will get a down block read from the tackle as he chips through the 3 technique to cut off the fast flowing Mike linebacker. Unfortunately for the offense, the combo scheme will likely free two defenders. First, the Will is free to fill inside the load blocker and take the quarterback. If the load blocker attempts to load the linebacker, the linebacker will cause a train wreck as he meets the fullback at the line of scrimmage … he reads the reach and throws his hips into the hold, establishing a “B” gap barrier to prevent the tackle from chipping to the next level. Mike becomes a free-hitter as the backside tackle and nose prevent a jump through from the guard and center. Therefore, if the front-line defenders all do their job well against a veer blocking scheme, both the Will and the Mike will be free to flow to the QB, while the free safety will put the icing on the cake as he fits outside the load while the defensive end slow-plays, favoring the pitch.
All of this makes perfect, if slow-playing, sense if you analyze it in light of the diagram supplied. What one learns, painfully, page by page, is that the theme of the 46—what Rex calls its “premise”—is, simply, pressure at all points. (At one moment, he insists that “disguising” a blitz is of limited value; it’s not strategic surprise but repeated shock that makes the defense work. This explains all those Jet safeties and cornerbacks panting at the line—they’re coming! And then they do.) The idea is to stop the run at the line, as Rommel wanted to stop the Allies on the beaches, and to cover the open receivers by hitting the QB before they are open. It’s both brutal in its essentials and Baroque in its elaboration, and reading Rex’s book fills at least this hopelessly bookish blogger with confidence that the coach really does know just what he’s doing.
It’s also odd to reflect that although the 46 is a defense designed, above all, to stop the run, its most spectacular effects are against the QB, who gets murdered from time to time by all that blitzing. This means that while what you remember best from Ryan-family defenses is seeing the quarterback get crushed, this is merely what we call an epiphenomenon, or side effect, though that thought is presumably not much consolation to the QB at the bottom of the pile. (Quick: Who was the QB for the Patriots against the Bears in that fatal Super Bowl, the one who failed to complete a single pass? Answer: Tony Eason, one of the dimmer, or dimmed, lights of the bright class of ’83.) The weakness of at least the first version of the 46 was long ago exposed by Bill Walsh—the only coach in any sport to whom the word genius really applies—who saw that it left the corners as lonely as, well, part-time football bloggers, and had his QBs take quick drop-backs and throw short slants, killing the defense dead for a time. (The Bears never beat the Niners in a playoff game). Walsh’s own posthumous but newly published book, “The Score Takes Care Of Itself,” is well worth reading, too, not least for his explanation that the genesis of what became the West Coast offense was desperation (stuck in Cincinnati with a smart but limp-armed quarterback, Virgil Carter, he had to find a way to use the few things Carter could do well) and a single, startling perception: the width of the football field is much greater than most people, including most defensive coordinators, really grasp. (Quick: How wide is a football field? Fifty-three yards! That’s right—the field is well more than half as wide as it is long. Use this fact and win a bar bet.) Which leads to the reflection that if one wanted a QB who could beat the Ryan defense on Walshian lines, Philip Rivers, Brian’s student, might be just the man.
The other truly entertaining pre-game activity will be listening to Mike Francesca on WFAN each afternoon, abusing his listeners for accusing him of underrating the Jets, which, to be fair, he has. The comedy of this is that Mike’s listeners’ abuse is so gentle , and Mike’s accusations so grouchily self-righteous (“When? When did I say that the Jets couldn’t win? I never said that. What I said was…”) that is like, well, watching the 46 defense at work, with this Mike unloading on the unfortunate, veer-blocking listeners.
BassNBrew
Footballguy
Brady - 216Brady - 310Manning - 192 in 3 qtr = 256256+310+256=822822/3=274hmmm...I guess I was off. Must have included sack yardage.
Chase Stuart
Footballguy
Brees? Schaub?
Chargers86
Footballguy
Agree. Which is why we need to hold you guys to field goals only, after you run the ball down our throats for 5-6 minutes at a time. We'll get our TD's eventually, but if we can hold you to FG's it'll force Sanchez to throw in the 4th, hopefully leading to some mistakes.Sweet Love said:
Polar Dude
Footballguy
Ignoring the fact that many of the people supporting the Chargers in this thread don't seem to be actual Chargers fans, I have to express my respect for the strategy employed by many of the Jets fans in this thread."I think the Chargers will probably win a close game, but the Jets are clearly the superior team in every facet of the game. Seeing I said I think the Chargers will win, you can't accuse me of any bias."
Chargers86
Footballguy
Ignoring the fact that many of the people supporting the Chargers in this thread don't seem to be actual Chargers fans, I have to express my respect for the strategy employed by many of the Jets fans in this thread."I think the Chargers will probably win a close game, but the Jets are clearly the superior team in every facet of the game. Seeing I said I think the Chargers will win, you can't accuse me of any bias."
Rovers
Footballguy
I was with you until the "every facet of the game" thing. At QB, TE and WR, SD has a ridiclously large advantage. That adavantage is SO disparate, so large, that it negates all of the advantages the Jets do have. The advantages the Jets have in other facets of the game are not big enough to overcome those facets of the Charger team. The Chargers pass block pretty well. They don't run block very well, and their running game is not a strong one, but it isn't completely impotent either. Other than that, the Jets D is clearly the superior squad vs the SD defense. The Jets rushing attack is clearly superior as well. The Jets ST's have not been good this year. I give SD an edge there too. The real bottom line for me is Rivers vs. Sanchez. One of the best NFL QB's, an elite QB, vs a rookie that has had more than his fair share of rookie mistakes and performances this year. The Jets can't even use their full playbook with Sanchez. That allows the SD defense to prepare a more effective game plan. There are simply fewer things to worry about. That's why the Jets run some wildcat, something else on the defense's plate to prepare for. The wildcat is almost an addmission that the Jets offense behind Sanchez is too simple. Still, the Jets are built and coached in such a way that they are difficult to beat by a large margin. So, I think the Jets will manage to stay in the game and lose. I guess people want Jets fans to say we're gonna get murdered, we don't belong on the field with SD. Sorry to disappoint.Ignoring the fact that many of the people supporting the Chargers in this thread don't seem to be actual Chargers fans, I have to express my respect for the strategy employed by many of the Jets fans in this thread."I think the Chargers will probably win a close game, but the Jets are clearly the superior team in every facet of the game. Seeing I said I think the Chargers will win, you can't accuse me of any bias."
Evilhomer3k
Footballguy
I neither want nor expect any Jets fans to say that. I would love it if they did get murdered, though. Not because of any vendetta against the Jets. I'd much rather see an easy game for the Chargers where the Jets stop playing hard halfway through because I think tough, close games where each team beats the crap out of each other make winning the next week a lot harder. Easy wins keep everyone fresh. I HOPE the Colts/Ravens game is a close game where they beat the snot out of each other.
Michael Brown
Footballguy
I used to be a big believer in the theory that to win in the playoffs, you had to be effective at running the ball and stopping the run.
I gave up on that theory as I watched the 2009 Chargers, because they win in spite of their running game. Teams know they're going to throw, and they just go ahead and do it anyway. It's a concern that SD has had such issues running it, sure. But I still think it comes down to the Charger O being too much. Yes, the Jets pass D is very good. It's certainly not a smoke and mirrors outfit. But it's also not a legendary defense, a la 2000 Ravens/85 Bears type of team. It's not like the Jet D goes out and dictates everything and steamrolls whomever they play. Like many others, I think the SD O will be a bit too much for them.
And Chase, I'm as big a Phil fan as there is. But do you really feel, right now, he is actually better than Peyton???
I gave up on that theory as I watched the 2009 Chargers, because they win in spite of their running game. Teams know they're going to throw, and they just go ahead and do it anyway. It's a concern that SD has had such issues running it, sure. But I still think it comes down to the Charger O being too much. Yes, the Jets pass D is very good. It's certainly not a smoke and mirrors outfit. But it's also not a legendary defense, a la 2000 Ravens/85 Bears type of team. It's not like the Jet D goes out and dictates everything and steamrolls whomever they play. Like many others, I think the SD O will be a bit too much for them.
And Chase, I'm as big a Phil fan as there is. But do you really feel, right now, he is actually better than Peyton???
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