So this is what my running NFL commentary would look like were I a robot (or Ron Jaworski).

Mr. poetx99 goes incredibly in-depth on all things Falcons here. Makes my little stream-of-consciousness quips seem like child's play in comparison...

I mean, look at dude's response to a simple question about blitzes and hot routes:

It's been a long time since I played, but I our coaches wanted to throw to the blitzing side if there was a lane to the hot read on that side of the field. Reasoning was that the blitzing side of the field would have more holes & better opportunities for big plays than throwing away from the blitz, you just had to have that passing lane there. Something like a slot receiver (or the outside guy if there was only one receiver on that side) slanting into the spot vacated by the 2 blitzing LB's on this particular play. Just wondering your opinion on throwing at a blitz rather than away from it.

that's the textbook way to deal with it. but there were a couple of things in play, here.

when i played, we'd count as we came up to the line: ie, we'd count the center as 0, and then in what we termed a 60 ( but was really a 4/3 in today's terminology), the MLB was counted as half, as he could go either way. i was playing TE. we had the guard, tackle, and a back. so that meant, on a given play, we could block THREE rushing defenders to this side.

my first job, every time i came to the line on a pass play was to find #4. you had a DT, DE and an ILB and number four was usually the OLB, but sometimes it was the safety, creeping down into the box, or a corner, coming in from the outside. the rule was the same, if #4 'came', or blitzed, i had the sight adjust(ment), which meant that even if the play call in the huddle was for me to run a 12yd In or a post, as soon as #4 came i broke my route off into a 5yd out and the qb would be hitting me as soon as i made my break.

on the side w/ no TE, the X (or, if there were twins, the slot guy) would have that responsibility.

in this case of this blitz, what happened was that we had a DE lined up wide, with Gandy (check). and a DT over blalock (check). we had one LB who was on the left side (back should have had him in coverage). and the other LB was aligned over mcclure, who was uncovered, and therefore his responsibility.

in cases of overload, the line is supposed to work together and two can block three. but gandy was taken out of the play by the wide alignment of the DE, so he was one on one. blalock went inside w/ the stunting DT on the slant. we still should have been able to pick up the first backer with the back, and the second should have been gotten by mcclure sliding out (or, if they play 'handoff', by him bumping blalock back out to the right.

in any event, yes, there should have been a hot route somewhere, but its possible that due to the route which was called, or the nature of that blitz (we had enough to block the people there. just they overloaded one side) the hot route/blitz adjust wasn't applicable.

the adage of throwing to where the blitz came from mainly applies to conventional blitzes. LOLB is outside the TE. you *think* he's gonna play short zone or run w/ the TE but he blitzes. you throw behind him, right?

in THIS case, we had the numbers to deal w/ the blitz, and it was unclear where was the 'there' that they vacated -- the left side, where they broke through the line? or the right side/middle, where the second LB came from?

crump did not break off his route and he had someone covering him in man AND the ROLB took a drop into the hook zone. roddy (WR to the right) would not have seen a middle linebacker on a delayed (slightly) blitz to the backside, so he's unlikely to have caught it. so on that particular play, it doesn't seem like we accounted for things too well. but joey still had ample time to either try to complete to roddy or throw the ball away. throwing to crumpler would have been a mistake, regardless.

that was out of a regular formation, but with us running the 'spread', i feel that on EVERY passing play we need to ahve at least one 'open' route -- where the receiver is running a slant or seam or something where he is looking back at qb as he runs downfield.

this was our big weakness (ok, one of them) under knapp. he'd have the qb throwing in obvious passing situations (3rd and long) and everyone would be running patterns where they had to run 10 or 12 yds and then turn around. well, if you have no pocket and the interior pass rush gets to the qb before he can even set up, let alone before the WRs make their breaks, there is no opportunity to throw early (the infamous 'get rid of the ball quick' criticism) because you can't throw a comeback, or curl, or hitch early.

an OC needs to keep in mind a team's tendencies for bringing pressure as well as down and distance and ensure that a blitz adjust route is part of the overall pattern for every pass called, OR that the guys are in sync and a blitz will trigger a sight-adjustment.


i HOPE we see more of that in the future. this next game is gonna be interesting to me from the standpoint of seeing how these coaches adapt their gameplans andplaycalling to the team's talent and the previous weeks errors.

if they do change up, that will be a new thing around here as the previous regime used to assume that no one else watched the film of us getting our asses kicked.

thanks for the comments and question.

If you're an X's and O's head, or trying to learn the game from a strategic POV, I highly recommend following his posts over there. And apparently he's got a blog coming soon, so you won't have to scroll through a Falcons message board to read his stuff. I'll update with a link when it becomes available.