American Football Talk II

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^Adding to that post, the reason I say playcalls might be different in the pre season is a point Ross Tucker brought up on his podcast today. Teams are more concerned with seeing their players in certain situations than they are with winning, so they might actually deliberately call "bad" plays.

Reply 1161

Wattsy

Good stuff Smash. I know the difference between Zone and Man but why certain plays work better against either is something I don't know much about. I can basically tell you the weaknesses of each defence as proposed by Madden and that's about it.

Reply 1162

SmashConcept

It's interesting because in many ways zone and man are not really distinct concepts. Defenders are always playing some degree of man coverage because you never want to defend green grass just because it's your zone. The difference is where your help is and technique. For "strengths and weaknesses" the key distinction is middle of the field open (MOFO) (2 high, 0 high, quarter/quarter/half) or middle of the field closed (MOFC) (1 high or cover 3). This defines where the deep seams are, and it's a key in option routes (think Patriots, Giants from before McAdoo). So say Edelman is running a seam read from the slot, against MOFC he runs straight up the field between the FS and CB, and against MOFO he converts it to a post. Simplifying it like this is how they are able to get the QB and receiver on the same page even though the receiver (and maybe even the QB) probably doesn't have enough information to see the actual exact coverage as it would be drawn up in the defensive playbook.

Obviously it's easy to regurgitate once you know it, but it's less easy for Brady to watch the safeties express their intentions just after the snap and then hit an accurate throw. Well it's easy for Brady but not most people.

Reply 1163

Wattsy

I know about these option read things as well as playing some element of man. Thanks once more Madden. I get that 2 high safeties leave the middle of the field open. Basically you're looking to hit receivers at the edges of zones or in gaps that the zones leave right? It's being able to see that pre-snap and then afterwards which is the challenge. No wonder quarterbacking is so hard. Read the D and accurately throw the ball all in an average of 3.4 seconds!

Reply 1164

jammy4041

Damn. Kelvin Benjamin's out for the season. He had a lot of potential...especially if he could have cut the drops. Big loss for that offense, and frankly, Funchess isn't good enough out wide to make up the gap.

The question is, who could Carolina acquire that would a. make a difference and b. would be someone Cam could throw to.

Would the offense short circuit? It goes without saying that Greg Olsen and Jonathan Stewart would have to stay healthy.

Reply 1165

Wattsy

Yeah, losing Kelvin hurts. Cam already lacked weapons. The FA pool is fairly weak too; Reggie Wayne or Wes Welker are the best available.

Reply 1166

..DT..

Anyone getting Madden 16 out of chance? I'm currently undecided.

Reply 1167

Wattsy

Original post by ..DT..

Anyone getting Madden 16 out of chance? I'm currently undecided.

I probably will. The Jags might be playable in it? Maybe? 71 rated Bortles is pretty challenging on the current version. Maybe they'll finally stop with the mad tackling skills and unfathomable interceptions too? We live in hope. Penalties too... That might be too far.

Reply 1168

jammy4041

Original post by Wattsy

Yeah, losing Kelvin hurts. Cam already lacked weapons. The FA pool is fairly weak too; Reggie Wayne or Wes Welker are the best available.

I forgot Ted Ginn Jr. returned to Carolina. Maybe Dane Sanzenbacher could be a sneaky option. Kicking the tyres on Donnie Avery wouldn't be bad, despite his awfulness for KC.

I'll think the Panthers will wait until cuts, but it means they won't be that up to speed. Chad Johnson might be a sneaky pick for the Panthers. Dude can ball, but can he still do it at 37? Randy Moss could be interesting, especially if he is in something resembling football shape. Brandon Lloyd and Robert Meachum are probably the best remaining.

Even from the Broncos roster, Andre Caldwell could well be cut. Jordan Norwood has like a 10% chance of being cut. Bennie Fowler may not make it to the practice squad.

Could they do a trade though? Belichick has shown that he isn't averse to a trade at this time of year...despite their own percieved weakness at WR.

(edited 8 years ago)

Reply 1169

Wattsy

They might be able to get a practice squad guy out of a deep WR pool team? It might not actually be that terrible. You just can't replace that #1 reciever that Kelvin was developing into though.

Reply 1170

Motorbiker

Found a place that has the nfl 2 go links for every game all season.

And redzone and nfl network.

Can stream in vlc whenever. It's great.

Reply 1171

SmashConcept

The latest Ross Tucker podcast with Greg Cosell is really good. Touches on Mariota's performance pre week 1 which was apparently very good (I still haven't seen it). Apparently Manziel missed a receiver on a blown assignment on his TD run. Manziel had a really nice play for the TD this week, and a couple of other nice throws. Late in the game he had a really horrible throw where he faded away from non-existent pressure and overthrew a receiver by 10 yards off his back foot. Can see why McCown is the starter, he's more athletic than Hoyer and probably slightly more talented in general.

Reply 1172

jammy4041

Wow. Big loss for the Packers. Jordy Nelson is believed to have a torn ACL, and is out for the season apparently. They're just waiting on the MRI tomorrow, but wow. That's a big blow.

Reply 1173

Wattsy

Original post by jammy4041

Wow. Big loss for the Packers. Jordy Nelson is believed to have a torn ACL, and is out for the season apparently. They're just waiting on the MRI tomorrow, but wow. That's a big blow.

That hurts so much. They have good receivers but you can't fill Jordy Nelson's shoes. Randall Cobb is probably top 5 WR2. Devante Adams looked good but Jordy Nelson is elite. Neither of those 2 are.

Reply 1174

jammy4041

Original post by Wattsy

That hurts so much. They have good receivers but you can't fill Jordy Nelson's shoes. Randall Cobb is probably top 5 WR2. Devante Adams looked good but Jordy Nelson is elite. Neither of those 2 are.

Yeah, I have to agree. It mystifies me when people suggest that Jordy's absence wouldn't matter too much. There's just no replicating the chemistry between Aaron Rodgers and Jordy Nelson, and as good as Randall Cobb is, he's just a slot receiver, and he needs to be able to carry the load of an offense like Jordy has.

Reply 1175

jammy4041

Literally, Colts' fans right now...'REGGIE WAYNE, YOU WERE THE CHOSEN ONE. YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO DESTROY THE DARK SIDE NOT JOIN THEM!!'

Reply 1176

Malevolent

Darth Belichick working his sith powers right now

Maurkice Pouncey hurt his ankle. Again...

Reply 1177

..DT..

Better from Famous Jamies. If this offensive line can keep him stood upright we might actually win a game.

Reply 1178

Wattsy

Yeah, not buying Madden until the Jags get a ratings boost for their better than nationally anticipated play. The starting rookie QBs are all rated better than Bortles (pfft) and they have the worst team rating of anyone which is absolute bull**** to be honest. They made so many improvements for no team rating gain. I'm not saying they're the best team but I've said before that they're not the worst (Hello Earth this is Cleveland calling). It really annoys local Jags fans actually how badly they are represented in the national media and with ridiculousness like this is it any wonder? Gratz is higher than McCray at Corner as an indication of the 0 awareness that EA have of the Jags roster.

(edited 8 years ago)

Reply 1179

jammy4041

Original post by ..DT..

Better from Famous Jamies. If this offensive line can keep him stood upright we might actually win a game.

Jameis looked really sharp. In looking at some of the highlights, when he went through his progressions, it was really nice. He also looks like he could be really effective on bootlegs, especially with defenses who don't respect his scrambling ability.

And he's still got developing to do. If there's any draft class of QBs which would break the fact that one of the top two QBs taken 1st and 2nd, picked consecutively, fail, it's this one. I know it's early days, but there's plenty of reason to be excited in Tampa.