Thursday, April 15, 2010

Important Concepts for Offense

Two interesting games with some key offensive concepts buried in them.

Game 14
Opponent: BrandonATL
Team: the Ohio State University
Record: 100-51
Better User Name: Bratlanta

This game was the first time I've been forced to really disguise my defenses. Bratlanta was really good at audibling to take advantage of different defenses: he threw a lot of screen passes against soft zones, hit the corners nicely against cover-2, and worked a lot of mesh/crossing patterns against man.

The key is that different offenses work against different defenses, and the best offense is one that adapts to and exploits the defense. You don't need to go overboard, but you probably need different strategies for man, zone, and blitzing defenses. BrATL was handling man and zone, but blitzing undid him. His last three possessions went 3 and out, 3 and out, TAINT. 35-24.

Game 15
Opponent: Snap Beast Mode
Team: LSU
Record: 191-349
Better User Name: SnapPeaBeast

I won this game pretty easily, then had to leave the house, so I don't have the score or anything. I wanted to mention, though, that Edamame kept hot-reading against the run, so I ran the same play eight times in a row until he stopped. It was Flat Combo in the Split Offset formation (I run Florida's playbook), which has both RB's heading straight out into the flats. No joke, 8 times in a row, good for between 5 and 10 yards a play.

The lesson here: if something works, keep doing it. Don't go away from it until your opponent proves they can stop it. If you run the ball, and they can't figure out how to stop it, why risk sacks or INT's by passing? If short crossing patterns are working, why throw downfield?

Here's one more little pea video. They are awesome.