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Sunday, November 20, 2011

Teams that are Rising and Teams that are Falling

Rising: San Francisco 49er's
This team is unbelievably amazing and the fact that they continue to dominate teams is just incredible. Frank Gore runs the ball like a beast and Crabtree is proving to be the man they drafted. Alex Smith has stepped up and is playing better than all of this years combined. However, the real hero of this team is coach Jim Harbaugh. This man knows how to win and I expect some rings on his fingers in the NFL.

Falling: San Diego Chargers
I think if I would have told anyone before this season that the San Diego Chargers were going to lose five in a row this season they would simply laugh. However, Phillip Rivers as seemed to find every way to to lose the game and the defense looks like a disaster. I think Charger fans miss Ron Rivera a whole lot more then they did before the season and if things continue to go down at this rate then heads will roll. It sure is hard to see the team that once was amazing crumble to pieces

Rising: Oakland Raiders
Maybe the death of Al Davis finally put some fuel into this under preforming team. The addition of Carson Palmer I think will become one of their greatest pick ups. Hue Jackson's confidence in the team is only going to work wonders on this team and I would not be surprised to see this team in the playoffs. Look out AFC West, the Oakland Raiders are going to dominate.

Falling: Buffalo Bills
After signing their quarterback to a huge contract, this team now seems to be falling hard. It is amazing how at week 6 this team was the threat to the NFL and now it is all falling apart. Perhaps the hype got to their heads and they can no longer play, but this team needs to turn it around fast if it wants to compete with New England.

Rising: Chicago Bears
This team has been flying under the radar due to the Green Bay Packer's, but I would not be surprised if this team pulls off an upset against the Packer's in the playoffs because I think this team is climbing to its potential while the Packer's are showing signs of weakness in the secondary. Overall, this team seems to be bringing together its offense, defense, and special teams perfectly. Look out NFC, this team is on the hunt.

Falling: Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Josh Freeman may have taken the Buccaneers to some great victories, but right now he is struggling badly. Frankly, I didn't think this team had "It" yet because I think Freeman is still learning how to be a great quarterback and this team is still young. What I will say is that Ronde Barber continues to play well ,even though he is aging.

Saturday, November 19, 2011

Should a 3-4 Defense have any Defensive Ends?

Often times, in all levels of football, it is the battle between the offensive line and the defensive line that decides the outcome of the game. If the defensive line applies pressure to the quarterback or prevents the run game from working, it will cause the offensive to produce less and allow for everyone's job on the defense to be easier. If the offensive line dominates the game, it allows the quarterback time to throw the bad and open the run game for the team. Either way, the most basic way to get a winning franchise is to have a dominate line on both sides of the ball.


However, upon looking at the 3-4 defense, one must question if three defensive line can fight off five offensive linemen and still dominate the game. There is more questioning to this strategy when  of the linemen are considered defensive ends. Even so, I believe there is a better solution to creating a dominate defensive line in a 3-4 scheme. Instead of having one defensive tackle and two defensive ends, it would be better for a 3-4 style defense to have three defensive tackles. This would allow for the advantage to go to the defensive line because many times it requires two offensive linemen to hold off a great defensive tackle. This not only allows for an excuse to draft bigger linemen, but also brings fear to opposing offenses since nobody wants to face off against three defensive tackles. Although defensive tackles are typically slower, they will prevent the run game from being successful and this can give outside linebackers the chance to blitz without dealing with an offensive tackle or being one on one with a tight end, which most of the time a good linebacker can easily win.

It is not that defensive ends are not great at applying pressure or that there speed is not appreciated, it is just that the defensive end belongs in a 4-3 defense. In this case linemen get the chance to have many one on one opportunities and can have a better chance at winning. However, in a 3-4 defense,  linemen often have to face two people blocking them in cases where there is nobody blitzing, making it difficult to apply pressure or block the run game. The defensive end now loses his edge in speed by having two people blocking him, and therefore can be easily neutralized.

If a team wants to keep its defensive ends however, the easy example is to do what Wade Phillips did with the Houston Texans. He allowed Mario Williams to be an outside linebacker in the scheme, where Williams was very successful in both applying pass pressure and blocking the run attack. This is proof that you do not have to get rid of your defensive ends in a 3-4 defense, but to put them at the outside linebacker position if they are athletic enough. If they do not have the capability of dealing  with two blockers or are not athletic enough to be an outside linebacker, then chances are the best thing that player can do for your franchise is to be on the trade block.

So if your team is running a 3-4 defense and does not appear to dominant the opposing offensive line, you may want to look at the individuals on the line and decided if they belong on the line, as a linebacker, or not at all.

                                                                                                                                                                          

Saturday, November 12, 2011

2011 Season lesson: Why coaching is so important

At the end of last season, San Franciscans were wondering who would replace Mike Singletary in being the head coach for the below average San Francisco 49er's. Many were hoping that perhaps the departure of Alex Smith may help bring the team back to life or praying that Frank Gore would become the franchise player and San Francisco would become the ground and pound team that Mike Singletary had always envisioned.
 Then a man named Jim Harbaugh came along.
The NFL was shocked that they had re-signed average quarterback Alex Smith and many fans began to question the decisions that the new coach was making. However, Harbaugh was shaping the team to what he knew he had to do to succeed. With a lockout still going on, he decided to try and keep the most players together and build the team as a unit. He asked  Andrew Luck to coach Alex Smith into Harbaugh's offense in the off-season, but tweaked his offensive a bit to allow for Smith's strengths to shine. The system worked, and the results are showing it. A team that had similar players to that of last year is now finding themselves not only dominating their weak division, but the NFL as a whole. However, why all the turn around? The answer is the coach of the team.
Believe it or not, Harbaugh and Belichek share one thing in common, and that is the ability to understand the strengths of their players and show there maximum potential. Remember when Brady was lost for the season a few years ago? Belichek was able to coach his team to 11-5 with  back up quarterback Matt Cassel and made Cassel appear to be extremely great at playing quarterback.
Both also are showing that the NFL is going a different direction in how to make up a winning team. That philosophy is if you do not adjust to your players strengths, you will never appear in a Super Bowl and you will have a higher chance of being fired early in your career as a head coach.
If you do not believe this, focus on the Philadelphia Eagles this year. Andy Ried has always proved to be a good coach, but never the coach that could win it all. The Eagles this year had all the talent that any team would dream of having, but since Reid did not adjust his team properly he is seeing his team being mostly on the losing side of games. Having many Pro-Bowl players on your team does not guarantee play-offs for any team, but having those kinds of players and a great coach will bring you championships (Pittsburg Steelers).

There is also the ill-fated San Diego Chargers. Before a man named Marty Schottenheimer, the Chargers were one of the worst franchises in the NFL. Then Schottenheimer managed to build his horrible team into a good team in this tenure. However, since he could not ever finish up as a head coach, he was fired and replaced by Norv "too little too late" Turner. Turner's history of being a failure as a head coach only made the Charger's hopes for a Super Bowl go down every season and now we are finding them collapsing as a team.

As a result, this season is already telling is something else, coaching matters much more in the NFL than many think. The inability to use your teams strengths and get creative will only lead to losing and therefore for all coaches in the NFL there is one lesson. Adjust or be dominated.

Friday, November 11, 2011

2011 season lesson: Do not rely on a single player to carry your team

This year the hype is based upon the Green Bay Packer's and of course there quarterback Aaron Rodgers. However, basing a team around an individual is a dangerous business that can result in crushing your team and whisk away any hopes of going to the playoffs.
A prime example is the Indianapolis Colts. Payton Manning managed to not only be the quarterback of the team, but led most of the practices and pretty much called what plays the offense was going to run. It really was Manning's team, but when he went down this year, the whole team sunk to its Pre-Manning Colts team that was never a threat and was hardly the talk in sports news stations. After Manning went down, we got to expose just how bad the defense was for the Colts and how much he covered up the blemishes for the Colts. However, one must not blame Manning for getting injured, but rather how the organization as a whole never had a backup plan.
It seems that many franchises these days love to build a whole team off of one quarterback and in my opinion this many work for a few seasons, but after awhile your team will fall apart until you find another quarterback. Often times, many teams find out that getting that kind of quarterback is rare, and therefore those teams struggle year after year.
Another example of why teams should not rely on a single player is the San Diego Chargers. Currently Phillip Rivers is struggling for some reason and the whole team is falling apart fast. Just as Payton Manning had done for the Colts, Rivers managed to successfully cover up many of San Diego's Offensive and Defensive blemishes. 
So what exactly is the best model for a franchise? In my opinion, the best way is doing what the Steelers do. They do not rely on a single quarterback, but mainly rely on there defense as a whole. As as a result, whenever the quarterback goes down or a single defensive player gets injured, there team is still able to function and stay in competition. Many teams like to model there teams off of the New England Patriots, but this goes back to relying on an individual. Teams fail to recognize that there are not many Belichek's out there who know how to put a winning team together.
Therefore, if you are finding your favorite NFL team in the middle of rebuilding time period, you may want to hope your general manager does not spend all to find one individual, but rather tries to build a team that will work as a whole.
So don't get me wrong Packer fans, I also love Aaron Rodgers, but history is showing that whenever he goes down, this franchise will experience a fall as well.


-Brandon Vitton