karmarooster
Footballguy
I couldn't help but noticing that Fox's playing calling on the first and last drive of the game was markedly different from most of the play-calling in between. Only on that first and last drive did Fox show much creativity, but in general he's a conservative and boring coach. Imagine if Tebow had someone as creative as New Orleans Saints coach Sean Payton or Josh McDaniels - in fact he did have Josh McDaniels, and had a 300 yard passing game with him!
Everyone says that the Jets Defense with 3 DTs and strong edge play was the perfect defense to box him in - but Fox made it easy by calling several bland running plays with a gimpy McGahee and a not-so-athletic Lance Ball. Duh, running average RBs into a defensive front with 3 DTs isn't likely to work, and it doesn't take a defensive genius to figure that out, or an offensive genius to realize that you need to do something different there. Tebow under center handing off to a RB on a traditional run doesn't make much sense - the defense will stack and encroach and be in perfect position to stop a hand-off or a QB keeper. He's simply not effective as a runner or thrower under center, and the RBs aren't great.
So what kind of offense (or defense to stop him) would the Sharkpool design for Tebow to utilize his strengths and shield his weaknesses?
Heavy-set to take advantage of the extra blocker:
__WR_______WR_______[T]__T__G__C__G__T_________WR
___________________________[FB]
_________________________________TB
-3 WRs split out WIDE - too many times the Bronco's bunched up, but if you spread everyone out you give him more room to run and force the defense to spread thinner.
-Outside WRs streak up the field to clear things out underneath, and present a bomb target a la Decker last week
-Slot WR runs something underneath/slant/in/out to give him a safety
-Extra tackle - imagine an unbalanced line with a big tackle next to Ryan Clady, except that on the other side instead of a TE you have the RT
-Lead FB to clear a path. Thus on the left side of the line - Tebow's strong side - its two tackles, a guard, and FB.
This is really the key to take advantage of his running ability - the offense plays with an extra lineman instead of a sub-standard RB, and blocks with an extra man on every play. Tebow can roll left, look deep, look underneath, or tuck it and run upfield with blockers and the WRs having cleared some DBs out deep. The defense has to contend with a power-rush formations with 7 blockers, plus WRs deep up the field and a playmaker lurking on an underneath route which makes it risky to stack 8 in the box. If they don't it's 7-on-7.
Four-wide with a RB:
-drawing sucks so I won't do that, but this is straight forward, with a Zone read to the RB and 4 WRs spread out across the entire field - they can either go deep give Tebow an easy underneath pass, and most importantly block downfield.
-D-Thomas is a big guy but looked pretty suspect blocking at times last night (but he might've redeemed himself on the last play - not sure what WRs were blocking in the endzone). On one particular run on the last drive, rather than take on a DE, he let him go by and the DE ultimately tackled Tebow up the sideline - if he were blocked, Tebow could've gained quite a bit more yardage. The play where Tebow ran over CB Revis.
-see here at 41 seconds: http://www.nfl.com/videos/nfl-game-highlights/09000d5d8243b64f/Tebow-s-game-winning-drive?module=HP11_headline_stack
-The simple zone read is probably best in this light formation b/c it prevents the defense from rolling with 3 DTs
Motion options with WR Eddie Royal and a RB:
-on the first drive of the game and a few times last week, the offense used Royal - the only other dynamic playmaker on this offense - to carry the ball, and he's good. 4 attempts for 29 yards.
-Having the option to hand off in a zone read, run it himself, or flip it to Royal on an end-around or some sort of shuffle is the idea. there are several tricks to implement - see everything the Falcons do with Vick and McCoy when Vick tosses an inside shuffle. This is particularly effective more than the dangerous pass the Bronco's threw to royal on the goal line b/c a drop is an incompletion.
Other options:
-pistol formation - I bet you Chan Gailey could draw up a few plays in the sand.
-a college tempo offense like the Oregon Ducks/Houston/or Toledo that spreads out with 4 WR and then mostly runs with the RB - or obviously gives Tebow the option to keep it himself or throw.
-If I were HC Fox, I would blast the team with conditioning drills over the next 10 days - with WRs running wind-sprints to let them run 9-routes and Tebow finishing off every run in practice so he doesn't get gassed after carrying the ball 15-20 times. A hurry up running offense with 7 lineman blocking for a 240 lb. QB/RB at a tempo fast enough to prevent defensive substitutions could easily pound a defense into submission.
Everyone says that the Jets Defense with 3 DTs and strong edge play was the perfect defense to box him in - but Fox made it easy by calling several bland running plays with a gimpy McGahee and a not-so-athletic Lance Ball. Duh, running average RBs into a defensive front with 3 DTs isn't likely to work, and it doesn't take a defensive genius to figure that out, or an offensive genius to realize that you need to do something different there. Tebow under center handing off to a RB on a traditional run doesn't make much sense - the defense will stack and encroach and be in perfect position to stop a hand-off or a QB keeper. He's simply not effective as a runner or thrower under center, and the RBs aren't great.
So what kind of offense (or defense to stop him) would the Sharkpool design for Tebow to utilize his strengths and shield his weaknesses?
Heavy-set to take advantage of the extra blocker:
__WR_______WR_______[T]__T__G__C__G__T_________WR
___________________________[FB]
_________________________________TB
-3 WRs split out WIDE - too many times the Bronco's bunched up, but if you spread everyone out you give him more room to run and force the defense to spread thinner.
-Outside WRs streak up the field to clear things out underneath, and present a bomb target a la Decker last week
-Slot WR runs something underneath/slant/in/out to give him a safety
-Extra tackle - imagine an unbalanced line with a big tackle next to Ryan Clady, except that on the other side instead of a TE you have the RT
-Lead FB to clear a path. Thus on the left side of the line - Tebow's strong side - its two tackles, a guard, and FB.
This is really the key to take advantage of his running ability - the offense plays with an extra lineman instead of a sub-standard RB, and blocks with an extra man on every play. Tebow can roll left, look deep, look underneath, or tuck it and run upfield with blockers and the WRs having cleared some DBs out deep. The defense has to contend with a power-rush formations with 7 blockers, plus WRs deep up the field and a playmaker lurking on an underneath route which makes it risky to stack 8 in the box. If they don't it's 7-on-7.
Four-wide with a RB:
-drawing sucks so I won't do that, but this is straight forward, with a Zone read to the RB and 4 WRs spread out across the entire field - they can either go deep give Tebow an easy underneath pass, and most importantly block downfield.
-D-Thomas is a big guy but looked pretty suspect blocking at times last night (but he might've redeemed himself on the last play - not sure what WRs were blocking in the endzone). On one particular run on the last drive, rather than take on a DE, he let him go by and the DE ultimately tackled Tebow up the sideline - if he were blocked, Tebow could've gained quite a bit more yardage. The play where Tebow ran over CB Revis.
-see here at 41 seconds: http://www.nfl.com/videos/nfl-game-highlights/09000d5d8243b64f/Tebow-s-game-winning-drive?module=HP11_headline_stack
-The simple zone read is probably best in this light formation b/c it prevents the defense from rolling with 3 DTs
Motion options with WR Eddie Royal and a RB:
-on the first drive of the game and a few times last week, the offense used Royal - the only other dynamic playmaker on this offense - to carry the ball, and he's good. 4 attempts for 29 yards.
-Having the option to hand off in a zone read, run it himself, or flip it to Royal on an end-around or some sort of shuffle is the idea. there are several tricks to implement - see everything the Falcons do with Vick and McCoy when Vick tosses an inside shuffle. This is particularly effective more than the dangerous pass the Bronco's threw to royal on the goal line b/c a drop is an incompletion.
Other options:
-pistol formation - I bet you Chan Gailey could draw up a few plays in the sand.
-a college tempo offense like the Oregon Ducks/Houston/or Toledo that spreads out with 4 WR and then mostly runs with the RB - or obviously gives Tebow the option to keep it himself or throw.
-If I were HC Fox, I would blast the team with conditioning drills over the next 10 days - with WRs running wind-sprints to let them run 9-routes and Tebow finishing off every run in practice so he doesn't get gassed after carrying the ball 15-20 times. A hurry up running offense with 7 lineman blocking for a 240 lb. QB/RB at a tempo fast enough to prevent defensive substitutions could easily pound a defense into submission.
