Tribal Warfare
11-27-2008, 09:27 PM
Answering Some Whys? (http://www.bobgretz.com/chiefs-football/answering-some-whys.html#more-5252)
November 27, 2008 - Bob Gretz |
I’ll go through a game or a day, picking up information, seeing things happen and invariably write in my notebook next to something new or different, WHY?
I’ve had a bunch of those notations lately, so I spent some time trying to get answers to the various whys I have collected.
Like why does at least once a game Dwayne Bowe drop a pass that should have been an easy catch? It’s a weekly occurrence. These are never tough catches he flubs. In fact, they are generally the easiest passes to catch that he’ll see that day. We have seen in almost two seasons that he has very good hands and can make some remarkable catches. But the drops keep getting in the way.
Why?
So I ask around and the general consensus is that Bowe loses focus at times during games and that’s the biggest reason for his drops. It’s a very simple habit of watching the ball all the way into his hands, rather than grabbing at it and turning his head and eyes away from the catch point to look for running room up the field. The coaching staff has worked with Bowe on fixing this problem, but he can’t seem to get over the hump. It was a problem in the season opener against New England and it continued last Sunday against Buffalo. Right now it’s a flaw in his game.
Another why: with the return of Larry Johnson to the offense two games ago, they’ve lined him up directly behind quarterback Tyler Thigpen in the spread? It seems very constricting to both of them. First, Thigpen had to move closer to receive the snap. When he drops back from the spot he now gets the ball, Johnson has to quickly dance out of his way. It’s like a new I-formation.
Why?
I checked with Chiefs offensive coordinator Chan Gailey and the reason they’ve gone to this comes down to structure: if you move Johnson to the left or right, that restricts the running plays that can be called for him by half. Line him up to the left and with Thigpen in the spread, the only way Johnson can get the hand off is to run to the right. If you line him up on the right, the only way he gets the hand off is to run to the left. By lining him up behind Thigpen, the Chiefs may run him either left or right, forcing the opponent to guess where the attack point may be in the alignment.”
“It’s different,” Gailey acknowledged. “But it keeps more of our running game in play.”
In all the roster shuffling the Chiefs have done in recent weeks included bringing Jackie Battle up to the active roster and then sending rookie Dantrell Savage to the practice squad. To make this happen, the Chiefs had to expose Savage to league wide waivers. Savage cleared and he remains with the Chiefs.
Why make the move?
All this came about with the activation of rookie Kevin Robinson from the Physically Unable to Perform List. The Chiefs drafted Robinson because of his ability to return both punts and kickoffs. Once they decided to activate him, Savage became the No. 2 man at both positions. Battle is a much better special teams contributor in other kicking games areas – he’s on all four of the key units in returns and coverage – so keeping Savage active was a luxury, especially with injuries at so many other positions.
And what’s with all the direct snaps to running backs this year? There are some around the country who think the use of the so-called “Wildcat” package by Miami was what got all this started, and other teams around the league followed the Dolphins’ lead. But that’s not the case in Kansas City, where the Chiefs were working on direct snaps to Larry Johnson and other running backs during the off-season program.
What’s the deal in the first place, why has everybody jumped on this bandwagon?
Talk to coaches and observers of the game and they believe it’s simply a trend, this season’s flavor of something different. Since most of the direct snaps have led to the running back who received the ball taking off on a run, it’s not hard to defense. Now wrinkles off the direct snap like passes, reverses, etc. add new dimensions that will make any defense clutch for a second, long enough to get a big play on the board.
The direct snap is like teams that sometimes use an unbalanced offensive line, setting up three linemen to the right of the center and just one to the left, rather than two on each side. The first time catches a defense unaware. The second play may work too. But any defense that’s fooled on the third direct snap or the third time an offense uses the unbalanced line is just a badly prepared unit.
Expect to see both the Chiefs and Raiders run the direct snap on Sunday.
November 27, 2008 - Bob Gretz |
I’ll go through a game or a day, picking up information, seeing things happen and invariably write in my notebook next to something new or different, WHY?
I’ve had a bunch of those notations lately, so I spent some time trying to get answers to the various whys I have collected.
Like why does at least once a game Dwayne Bowe drop a pass that should have been an easy catch? It’s a weekly occurrence. These are never tough catches he flubs. In fact, they are generally the easiest passes to catch that he’ll see that day. We have seen in almost two seasons that he has very good hands and can make some remarkable catches. But the drops keep getting in the way.
Why?
So I ask around and the general consensus is that Bowe loses focus at times during games and that’s the biggest reason for his drops. It’s a very simple habit of watching the ball all the way into his hands, rather than grabbing at it and turning his head and eyes away from the catch point to look for running room up the field. The coaching staff has worked with Bowe on fixing this problem, but he can’t seem to get over the hump. It was a problem in the season opener against New England and it continued last Sunday against Buffalo. Right now it’s a flaw in his game.
Another why: with the return of Larry Johnson to the offense two games ago, they’ve lined him up directly behind quarterback Tyler Thigpen in the spread? It seems very constricting to both of them. First, Thigpen had to move closer to receive the snap. When he drops back from the spot he now gets the ball, Johnson has to quickly dance out of his way. It’s like a new I-formation.
Why?
I checked with Chiefs offensive coordinator Chan Gailey and the reason they’ve gone to this comes down to structure: if you move Johnson to the left or right, that restricts the running plays that can be called for him by half. Line him up to the left and with Thigpen in the spread, the only way Johnson can get the hand off is to run to the right. If you line him up on the right, the only way he gets the hand off is to run to the left. By lining him up behind Thigpen, the Chiefs may run him either left or right, forcing the opponent to guess where the attack point may be in the alignment.”
“It’s different,” Gailey acknowledged. “But it keeps more of our running game in play.”
In all the roster shuffling the Chiefs have done in recent weeks included bringing Jackie Battle up to the active roster and then sending rookie Dantrell Savage to the practice squad. To make this happen, the Chiefs had to expose Savage to league wide waivers. Savage cleared and he remains with the Chiefs.
Why make the move?
All this came about with the activation of rookie Kevin Robinson from the Physically Unable to Perform List. The Chiefs drafted Robinson because of his ability to return both punts and kickoffs. Once they decided to activate him, Savage became the No. 2 man at both positions. Battle is a much better special teams contributor in other kicking games areas – he’s on all four of the key units in returns and coverage – so keeping Savage active was a luxury, especially with injuries at so many other positions.
And what’s with all the direct snaps to running backs this year? There are some around the country who think the use of the so-called “Wildcat” package by Miami was what got all this started, and other teams around the league followed the Dolphins’ lead. But that’s not the case in Kansas City, where the Chiefs were working on direct snaps to Larry Johnson and other running backs during the off-season program.
What’s the deal in the first place, why has everybody jumped on this bandwagon?
Talk to coaches and observers of the game and they believe it’s simply a trend, this season’s flavor of something different. Since most of the direct snaps have led to the running back who received the ball taking off on a run, it’s not hard to defense. Now wrinkles off the direct snap like passes, reverses, etc. add new dimensions that will make any defense clutch for a second, long enough to get a big play on the board.
The direct snap is like teams that sometimes use an unbalanced offensive line, setting up three linemen to the right of the center and just one to the left, rather than two on each side. The first time catches a defense unaware. The second play may work too. But any defense that’s fooled on the third direct snap or the third time an offense uses the unbalanced line is just a badly prepared unit.
Expect to see both the Chiefs and Raiders run the direct snap on Sunday.