Front Office Football Central - View Single Post

IMetTrentGreen · 03-25-2008, 04:51 PM

A few random thoughts:

We should work towards a coherent defensive strategy. Taking into account that everybody is extremely unskilled at this early time, the most important thing for us, as a defense, is not giving them big plays. Seems like every QB in the league has poor efficiency numbers, so if we went conservative and forced offenses to go on long drives, we'd win out.

So, if we set the secondary to soft, or whatever that setting is, I'd be willing to bet that the QB will misfire enough on his own to force punts. Eventually they'll take a loss or no gain and put themselves in long yardage. Call it the Barry Sanders Theorem. Something like this:

- NT: Expect run. The NT will be really important in clogging up the middle in run plays. A strong (literally) presence here would probably be enough to curtail enough of the running game to choke it off. Anyone who relies on the run game will have to be dominant, and we'll likely not see that for a few seasons.
- DEs: Expect pass. I don't know about this one because our pass rush is anemic, but assuming we can train up a little bit, we could generate some heat without needs to blitz.
- DTs: Depends on the team we play. I'll probably leave my guy neutral, usually. If I hit up the shed block skill, I think I could end up with ~7-8 tackles a game, maybe, since Alan T takes up so much space, and I'm going up against weak guards.
- LBs: Whatever. It can depend on the opponent and matchups, but we'd probably be OK on neutral for these guys.
-CBs: Expect pass, playing soft or medium. We've given up at least two long plays so far getting burned on aggressive looking coverage.
-Ss: Can be neutral, probably, I don't know.

Training wise, we should probably hammer specific skills and attributes so everyone can fill their role effectively. Once we feel like we have that, we can branch out into other skills to take the next step, from conservative but sound to a more varied approach, once we are more skilled.

At first though, I think it would make most sense to help teams shoot themselves out of the game, to use a basketball analogy.

On training, I have no idea what most positions have. I know for me, I want to identify the 3ish most important skills and really pump them up best I can, considering you only get like 15 skill points a season (I don't know if you can level up more than 3 times with flex points). There are some cool skills available, but achieving a minimum competence takes precedence for me. We just need to determine what we want out of everybody.

On offense, I have no idea. We can't pass for shit. I guess going safe west coast would be best maybe? Our OL seems to be the strength of the team, according to the site, so I guess we can go run heavy and try to keep scores down. Training our QBs in things like scrambling and dump off first would probably be beneficial until we can establish some skill on offense. Maybe our guy can run from pressure and get some yardage on his own. Trying to be a drop back passer with no skill players is going to be tough. Just ask Vince Young.

Regardless, I think the dump off skill for the QB is really important. It can be the difference between no gain, or negative gain, and three or four yards. That makes a difference.

I guess a power back would be best, too, someone who can lower his head and steam for an extra yard or two. I know that skill exists. Anything to keep the chains moving.

Anyway thats just me rambling, trying to start a discussion. Thoughts?

03-25-2008, 04:51 PM	#413
IMetTrentGreen College Prospect Join Date: Nov 2000 Location: Austin, Texas	A few random thoughts: We should work towards a coherent defensive strategy. Taking into account that everybody is extremely unskilled at this early time, the most important thing for us, as a defense, is not giving them big plays. Seems like every QB in the league has poor efficiency numbers, so if we went conservative and forced offenses to go on long drives, we'd win out. So, if we set the secondary to soft, or whatever that setting is, I'd be willing to bet that the QB will misfire enough on his own to force punts. Eventually they'll take a loss or no gain and put themselves in long yardage. Call it the Barry Sanders Theorem. Something like this: - NT: Expect run. The NT will be really important in clogging up the middle in run plays. A strong (literally) presence here would probably be enough to curtail enough of the running game to choke it off. Anyone who relies on the run game will have to be dominant, and we'll likely not see that for a few seasons. - DEs: Expect pass. I don't know about this one because our pass rush is anemic, but assuming we can train up a little bit, we could generate some heat without needs to blitz. - DTs: Depends on the team we play. I'll probably leave my guy neutral, usually. If I hit up the shed block skill, I think I could end up with ~7-8 tackles a game, maybe, since Alan T takes up so much space, and I'm going up against weak guards. - LBs: Whatever. It can depend on the opponent and matchups, but we'd probably be OK on neutral for these guys. -CBs: Expect pass, playing soft or medium. We've given up at least two long plays so far getting burned on aggressive looking coverage. -Ss: Can be neutral, probably, I don't know. Training wise, we should probably hammer specific skills and attributes so everyone can fill their role effectively. Once we feel like we have that, we can branch out into other skills to take the next step, from conservative but sound to a more varied approach, once we are more skilled. At first though, I think it would make most sense to help teams shoot themselves out of the game, to use a basketball analogy. On training, I have no idea what most positions have. I know for me, I want to identify the 3ish most important skills and really pump them up best I can, considering you only get like 15 skill points a season (I don't know if you can level up more than 3 times with flex points). There are some cool skills available, but achieving a minimum competence takes precedence for me. We just need to determine what we want out of everybody. On offense, I have no idea. We can't pass for shit. I guess going safe west coast would be best maybe? Our OL seems to be the strength of the team, according to the site, so I guess we can go run heavy and try to keep scores down. Training our QBs in things like scrambling and dump off first would probably be beneficial until we can establish some skill on offense. Maybe our guy can run from pressure and get some yardage on his own. Trying to be a drop back passer with no skill players is going to be tough. Just ask Vince Young. Regardless, I think the dump off skill for the QB is really important. It can be the difference between no gain, or negative gain, and three or four yards. That makes a difference. I guess a power back would be best, too, someone who can lower his head and steam for an extra yard or two. I know that skill exists. Anything to keep the chains moving. Anyway thats just me rambling, trying to start a discussion. Thoughts?