SMART FOOTBALL ON PAUL JOHNSON

Here’s a point Chris overlooked: The truly madding aspect of the triple option to defensive coordinators is that some players go entirely unblocked by design.

Penetration is the key to disrupting the flex and the true bone…assignments are secondary.

I’m not so sure of that. You can penetrate up the middle and still get burned by counters. It’s truly a difficult question, as it seems when Johnson runs it, whatever plan you have coming in still is only good for a few series, when he figures out a new scheme. Penetration would be a way to brute force it, but you run the risk of overpenetrating and losing lanes of attack.

Having been on Tech’s campus for more than a year now, Johnson probably has plenty of experience looking out over a room of people and thinking “nerrrrrrrds.” This has been your Obvious Joke Break for the day.

Yep, watch the 95 Orange Bowl as empirical evidence of this. Miami’s D-line anchored by Warren Sapp was insanely talented, but not deep. For the first 3 quarters, Nebraska’s offensive could barely do anything. Then in the 4th quarter, Miami’s D-line started to tire, and Nebraska ended up having something like 200 yds rushing in that quarter alone and the fullback trap worked twice for 25 yd TD runs.

If this “assignment football” actually worked, wouldn’t that be how you would stop any offense? I mean, each team has 11 players on the field. It seems that this approach ignores the simple fact that sometimes offensive players block defenders that aren’t defending them.

It is a good article, but they neglected to include the absolute best play of the game…I bring you Lucas Cox…rumbling!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KGR1e-XtwF0

It’s not very often that you get to see a 245 pounder run untouched for a 30ish yd touchdown.

Flexbone, smecksbone, screw it. It ain’t that difficult if you have balls for brains. Plus a month or so to prepare. And have 7-8 future NFL starters on your defense.

Yours Truly,

Lester Miles

@6, You forgot to mention SEC speeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeed (oh and a good line).

Two days in a row of triple option breakdown. What a treat for us nerds.

he is a mean bastard, but 90% of the guys i knew at navy loved playing for the guy. has something to do with it.
that an offensive line philosphy of cut block cut block cut block cut block cut block.
and i’m sure as far as nerds go, he had a lot more to laugh at at annapolis, believe me.

1. Nose of whut he speeks.

Paul Johnson’s Meh-bone really took it to some world beaters last season.

The funniest stat of the ass-whippin’ that LSU handed Tech has nothing to do with Tech’s POWAHUHTACK.

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/boxscore?gameId=283660059
LSU Rushing 161
LSU Passing 163
LSU Punting 166

The Bayou Bengals had more yards punting than in any offensive area.

Tech whupped up on Ryan Perrilloux State, Not Its Former Self Miami, and Overrated UGA.

But, when the time came to play with the big boys, well…

Here’s my question:

If this has absolutely no defense, why isn’t it used in the NFL? Spread I can understand; it’s an equalizer….not “indefensable”. (When placed in the hands of a team that has speed like Florida, it can seem that way, however.)

Not trying to be a smart alec. Just trying to understand.

I believe that meatybob@4 was on to something there. And I don’t think that it was necessarily a lack of adjustment on Martinez’s fault for what happened in the second half of the UGA/GT game last year; GT adjusted, for sure, but poor tackling is what caused it to snowball. (To be sure, poor tackling is a coaching issue, but it’s not an “adjustment” issue.)

In any case, the ability to roll up points will not necessarily translate into wins if the defense isn’t up to the task. Not being a homer (arp!). Just sayin’…..

The triple works but, like all good schemes offensive and defensive, you got to have the hosses first. GT ‘08 had some gamers, but not enough to jump to the next level. In my mind, its personnel first, scheme second. Give me 22 Eric Berry-oids and I don’t give a shit what offense you run, we’re shutting it down on your side of the fifty. And then we’ll hang half a hundred on you by the second quarter (this message is not intended as an endorsement of Tennessee football)

I can beat up a 12 year old,

Correct me if I’m wrong, but that same Overrated UGA team beat “the big boys” in their own stadium last year. Hung 50 on ’em, if I recall.

Dear Mr. Obsessed with Sean Glennon’s Sweaty Athletic Attire,

That same Overrated UGA team was ranked what – if you recall – going into the season?

We wrote an article on the basics of defensing the Bone. If you play sound fundamental defense you can keep it in check. Just having alot of talent or speed on defense wont get it done by itself, they need to be well-coached.

PJ didnt recruit so hot this year but I think he’s going to get the players to make GT into a solid 9 wins-a-year team. With Butch and Miami in the division, along with Bud Foster, I’m not sure they can consistently get further than that.

SGJ,
IMO, the speed and precision of NFL D’s would annihilate the TO. I do not know the stats, but I would assume that the NFL is an assembly of less than 10% of the very best that college has to offer (yes, even better than the essss eeee ceeee). And, playing football is their full time job. No class, less limitations on practice time, etc. The TO really works by confusing the defense and causing missed assignments. The added ability and football acumen (for the most part) and practice time in the NFL will reduce those missed assignments. It is no coincidence that the prevalence of the TO diminishes as the level of talent increases (peewee -> high school -> college -> NFL).

Oh, and you better have a bunch of QB’s. That DE is gonna mash his ass into the turf play after play.

skinnyphatman@15,

I agree with you 100%. My point is that it is not “indefensible” as some assert.

Having said that, my dawgs sure did a pretty credible job of making it look that way last year.

@13:
And your point is?

@10,

On top of what’s already been said, NFL players are cogs that need to be able to move from team to team without that much of a learning curve, unlike college players who have a cushion of time when they aren’t really expected to be that productive when they arrive their freshman year.

The skills used in a flexbone/triple option offense (or the Florida-style spread, for that matter) don’t all directly transfer to or from a pro-style offense, so every offensive player that joined the team would be a square peg in a round hole for an unacceptable amount of time.

Regarding #10, as I understand it (and in no particular order):

- What skinnyphatman said.

- NFL general managers and head coaches don’t want their expensive QBs risking injury by carrying the ball extensively.

- The NFL has deemed that passing (and by that I mean contemporary, NFL-style passing) is good from a business standpoint and has tweaked its rules and the enforcement of those rules to favor QBs and WRs. The TD and INT totals of Peyton Manning and Tom Brady versus, say, Otto Graham and Sid Luckman, would seem to confirm that.

- I personally can’t explain it from an Xs and Os standpoint, but I’m told the narrower hash-marks in the NFL favor passing over running.

I disagree with Orson that the offense is simple. Somewhere online is a playbook from PJ’s GSU days and the thing damn near made my head explode. It’s like calling Spurrier’s run and shoot simple because it didn’t have a thick NFL playbook with tons of set plays. No, instead receivers had to choose from up to eight different routes based on defensive position and the QB had to know which route each receiver would choose. PJ’s offense is kind of like that, but with most plays developing quickly in the backfield instead of using the forward pass.

I don’t think extremely athletic NFL defenses are the reason the option has not been adopted. Any offense would have the problem of playing against extremely athletic defenses. After all, good NFL cornerbacks could theoretically cover every receiver one-on-one, just as good NFL linebackers could supposedly win a one-on-one matchup with every QB, A-back or B-back.

No, it’s a personnel issue. NFL teams have a lot of incentive to make a high-dollar QB the centerpiece of their offense, both on-the-field and off-the field. Even if you have a rugged Tebow-esque QB, then you have serious issues with the typical NFL OL. One of the biggest facets of Johnson’s option is trying to not “waste” OL blocks on where the play is not going. There’s a lot of mobility needed and a lot of cut-blocking, and Gailey’s OL had an EXTREMELY difficult time adjusting to this type of scheme. Even if you get those personnel issues resolved, any NFL coach out there has only learned NFL-style high-passing systems and just about no NFL coaches out there have experience in something else.

Ok, LSU really spoiled Paul Johnson’s big plans. The secret is out. Blowing up the offensive line stops the option! WOW!!!! What a revelation! Hmm… We’ll see how that works when Paul Johnson HAS an offensive line.

The main reason the UGA game wasn’t ugly for GT was that UGA’s LBs and DBs could not tackle to save their lives.

 Also, LSU finally benched the “Pick 6” QBs.

I’ve heard that the defense against the Forward Pass, a gimmick offense if there ever was one, will be perfected any year now.

21

You young whipper-snappers and your “forward pass”. Twenty-three skidoo. Harrumph. Next thing you’ll tell me is that women have the right to vote.

Herman T. Zweibel

Does anyone know of an offense that works well when the OL is being blown out? Passing? Running?

Dominance of the LOS is a pretty good indicator of who will win, regardless of offensive scheme used.

Another thing that I didn’t see many people mention is a significant aspect to the offense, QB decisions. PJ can call any play he wants, but if the QB doesn’t make a good read and decision, the play is blown.

Additionally mistakes need to be prevented. In all the GT losses, the TO margin was:
VT -3 (3 point loss)
UVa 0 (6 point loss)
UNC -3 (blowout)
LSU – 3 (blowout)
Turn the ball over a lot and you will lose most games.

The defense has something to do with W vs. L also. In the UVa game, the Cavs only punted once while GT punted 3 times.

I love the offense but IMO it has 3 critical elements:
1. Creative play calling and adjustments (you don’t need to pass a lot, but a few passes keep the DBs from overplaying the run), to paraphrase “hit ‘em where they ain’t”

2. Good decision making and execution by the QB

3. Limit mistakes – primarily penalties and turnovers – missed assignments can be made up for