Gadget play against the blitz

[waldoputty]

Teams are blitzing against us to stop the run and stop the pass.

This works because the QB does not have much time to react.

How about this formation:

Dez TWill OL OL OL OL OL WITTEN Beas/Lucky

Zeke in shotgun



QB in punter position


The ball can be snapped to Zeke or QB (Romo or Dak).

If it snaps to Zeke, he can rush up the middle or off tackle , pitch back to QB or run a sweep.
He can also reverse to Lucky or handoff to a jet sweep.

If it snaps to QB, it takes at least 1-2 seconds more to get to the QB.
That makes the blitz much less efficient against the pass, making teams back off of the crazy blitz.

With 4 wideouts, defense must play 4 DBs wide.
Beas and sneaky Witten can do rub routes all day and make it really risky to play man with no S in the back.
And D would also to worry about Dez one-on-one and QB having enough time.
Then with QB with more time to pass, a deep S is probably needed.
That is 5 defenders committed against the pass, so 6 defenders in the box against our OL and Zeke.

If teams back off of the blitz, the run will be more effective.
Zeke can receive the shotgun snap or directly from TFred.
I think our rush would be near unstoppable if they cannot play enough man in the box.

There are advantages to Romo or Dak as QB.
Good luck trying to catch Dak reliably if he is 10 yards away from the DL.
Romo may be more of a deeper passing threat.

I dont see a downside to this formation with our personnel - it is really pick your poison.
How would the D defend this - probably has to play zone but then Zeke will kill them.
Anyone see a problem?

 

[thekavorka]

We don't need a gadget play to stop the blitz. Just call more screens which for some reason we never do.

 

[waldoputty]

We don't need a gadget play to stop the blitz. Just call more screens which for some reason we never do.

according to some, eagles were stopping the screen despite the blitzing.
i am not sure.

this is a gadget play, but actually i dont see a downside to using it often.

 

[65fastback2plus2]

We don't need a gadget play to stop the blitz. Just call more screens which for some reason we never do.

Bingo....sell it, let them overrun then throw it out.

 

[robbieruff]

We don't need a gadget play to stop the blitz. Just call more screens which for some reason we never do.

We did this with great success already this year...the quick throws to the edges to Cole in particular...or even getting Zeke in space...shoot, the last time Dunbar was consistently healthy (2014), we killed blitzes with quick dump offs and let him run with it. And of course we've also been able to consistently burn blitzes for years going max protect and letting our WRs beat single coverage. It ain't rocket science. When teams blitz us we should be licking our chops with the players we have at the skilled positions. I am not sure why we one to sleep on all of this for long portions of the Eagles game but we have the formula already to beat it and have shown in both the recent past and farther back that this staff is adept at doing so...go figure.

 

[waldoputty]

We did this with great success already this year...the quick throws to the edges to Cole in particular...or even getting Zeke in space...shoot, the last time Dunbar was consistently healthy (2014), we killed blitzes with quick dump offs and let him run with it. And of course we've also been able to consistently burn blitzes for years going max protect and letting our WRs beat single coverage. It ain't rocket science. When teams blitz us we should be licking our chops with the players we have at the skilled positions. I am not sure why we one to sleep on all of this for long portions of the Eagles game but we have the formula already to beat it and have shown in both the recent past and farther back that this staff is adept at doing so...go figure.

Blitz makes it more risky for the pass due to lack of reaction time, increasing the chance for mistake/int/injury/fumble/disaster.

The formation I suggested gets the QB 1-2 more seconds, an eternity.

I dont see a downside, can you?

 

[xwalker]

Teams are blitzing against us to stop the run and stop the pass.

This works because the QB does not have much time to react.

How about this formation:

Dez TWill OL OL OL OL OL WITTEN Beas/Lucky

Zeke in shotgun



QB in punter position


The ball can be snapped to Zeke or QB (Romo or Dak).

If it snaps to Zeke, he can rush up the middle or off tackle , pitch back to QB or run a sweep.
He can also reverse to Lucky or handoff to a jet sweep.

If it snaps to QB, it takes at least 1-2 seconds more to get to the QB.
That makes the blitz much less efficient against the pass, making teams back off of the crazy blitz.

With 4 wideouts, defense must play 4 DBs wide.
Beas and sneaky Witten can do rub routes all day and make it really risky to play man with no S in the back.
And D would also to worry about Dez one-on-one and QB having enough time.
Then with QB with more time to pass, a deep S is probably needed.
That is 5 defenders committed against the pass, so 6 defenders in the box against our OL and Zeke.

If teams back off of the blitz, the run will be more effective.
Zeke can receive the shotgun snap or directly from TFred.
I think our rush would be near unstoppable if they cannot play enough man in the box.

There are advantages to Romo or Dak as QB.
Good luck trying to catch Dak reliably if he is 10 yards away from the DL.
Romo may be more of a deeper passing threat.

I dont see a downside to this formation with our personnel - it is really pick your poison.
How would the D defend this - probably has to play zone but then Zeke will kill them.
Anyone see a problem?

I like your creative thought process, but:

The degree of difficulty of completing a pass increases with distance. Any pass would obviously be longer with the QB further back.

Also there is no pocket for the QB to step into. If a pass rusher gets loose, the sack would be an extra big loss of yardage. If the QB needs to throw the ball away, it needs to get back to the line of scrimmage which is now farther away.

Most speed rushers are streered wide of the QB by the OTs which would actually be difficult with the QB farther back.

Lastly, Fred is not a deep snapper so snapping directly to the QB would not be a good option.

 

[dogunwo]

I would like to see the flea flicker, draw the safeties up, and hit T-Will deep.

 

[robbieruff]

Blitz makes it more risky for the pass due to lack of reaction time, increasing the chance for mistake/int/injury/fumble/disaster.

The formation I suggested gets the QB 1-2 more seconds, an eternity.

I dont see a downside, can you?

I understand why a team blitzes and the havoc it can create...my point, however, is typically teams resort to gadget plays on an OCCASIONAL basis. There's a reason why teams don't run the wildcat anymore. NFL defenses adjust too quickly. A gadget play ceases to be a "gadget" when it becomes a core part of an offense...then it becomes a trend or a core part your offensive package. A gadget by definition needs to have an element of surprise (like the Cole pass we attempted last game or the fake punt). Team's blitz between 15-30% of the time, depending on the coordinator (Eagles were on the higher end of the range because they felt they could rattle a rookie QB). Do we want to be in a "gadget" offensive formation up to 30% of our offensive snaps??? and if the snap goes back to the QB in the "punter" position based on your example, do we bring in the long snapper and constantly rotate him with Fred??? Respectfully, I have to say there's some serious flaws in that approach.

The fact is we have always shown a competency with our core offense and have never had to result to gadgetry to beat blitzes...we've done it along the ways I described it in my earlier posts. Part of our struggles in the recent game is Dak's speed of recognition and footwoork to make an accurate quick throw. That doesn't require a gadget to address, that requires experience and repetition in training to ensure he maintains sound fundamentals while under duress (Brady is a master at that).

We just need to stick with what we know works...we'll be fine.

 

[waldoputty]

I like your creative thought process, but:

The degree of difficulty of completing a pass increases with distance. Any pass would obviously be longer with the QB further back.

Also there is no pocket for the QB to step into. If a pass rusher gets loose, the sack would be an extra big loss of yardage. If the QB needs to throw the ball away, it needs to get back to the line of scrimmage which is now farther away.

Most speed rushers are streered wide of the QB by the OTs which would actually be difficult with the QB farther back.

Lastly, Fred is not a deep snapper so snapping directly to the QB would not be a good option.

Great, a discussion of the details...

I agree and disagree.
1. The degree of difficulty increases with distance. Agreed. That is mitigated by extra time to throw to a great degree. The key is the extra 1-2 seconds is an eternity, and defense coordinators would be conflicted with to blitz or not to blitz.
2. QB has more time to throw the ball away.
3. Speed rushers can steer wide, BUT that would take them out of more rushing plays.
4. TFred's limitation is important so I agree here. But can TFred not do it or just with less velocity? Though Zeke can easily pitch it to the QB immediately or in a sweep.

 

[waldoputty]

I understand why a team blitzes and the havoc it can create...my point, however, is typically teams resort to gadget plays on an OCCASIONAL basis. There's a reason why teams don't run the wildcat anymore. NFL defenses adjust too quickly. A gadget play ceases to be a "gadget" when it becomes a core part of an offense...then it becomes a trend or a core part your offensive package. A gadget by definition needs to have an element of surprise (like the Cole pass we attempted last game or the fake punt). Team's blitz between 15-30% of the time, depending on the coordinator (Eagles were on the higher end of the range because they felt they could rattle a rookie QB). Do we want to be in a "gadget" offensive formation up to 30% of our offensive snaps??? and if the snap goes back to the QB in the "punter" position based on your example, do we bring in the long snapper and constantly rotate him with Fred??? Respectfully, I have to say there's some serious flaws in that approach.

The fact is we have always shown a competency with our core offense and have never had to result to gadgetry to beat blitzes...we've done it along the ways I described it in my earlier posts. Part of our struggles in the recent game is Dak's speed of recognition and footwoork to make an accurate quick throw. That doesn't require a gadget to address, that requires experience and repetition in training to ensure he maintains sound fundamentals while under duress (Brady is a master at that).

We just need to stick with what we know works...we'll be fine.

I agree that it does not have to become the standard formation.
However, I dont see a downside when the other side goes blitz crazy, or 20% of the time.
What are our QBs' weakness:
1. Dak is less experienced and cannot react as fast as well as his footwork when he is rushed.
2. Romo gets injured easily.
Both these weakness' can be significant addressed with this formation.

Look at dak's mistakes in the last 2 games - fumbles and interceptions.
Buying Dak 1-2 seconds is really huge.

 

[robbieruff]

I agree that it does not have to become the standard formation.
However, I dont see a downside when the other side goes blitz crazy, or 20% of the time.
What are our QBs' weakness:
1. Dak is less experienced and cannot react as fast as well as his footwork when he is rushed.
2. Romo gets injured easily.
Both these weakness' can be significant addressed with this formation.

Look at dak's mistakes in the last 2 games - fumbles and interceptions.
Buying Dak 1-2 seconds is really huge.

again...who snaps the ball in your scenario?

 

[MRV52]

Teams are blitzing against us to stop the run and stop the pass.

This works because the QB does not have much time to react.

How about this formation:

How about this play 3 step drop and hit a slant, WR, or a Screen.

 

[waldoputty]

again...who snaps the ball in your scenario?

Good point, XWalker pointed out that TFred is not a long snapper.
In response, my question is TFred is not a great long snapper or he cannot long snap at all without huge risks to turnovers?

Also Zeke can certainly pitch the ball back after the snap or during a sweep.

 

[xwalker]

Great, a discussion of the details...

I agree and disagree.
1. The degree of difficulty increases with distance. Agreed. That is mitigated by extra time to throw to a great degree. The key is the extra 1-2 seconds is an eternity, and defense coordinators would be conflicted with to blitz or not to blitz.
2. QB has more time to throw the ball away.
3. Speed rushers can steer wide, BUT that would take them out of more rushing plays.
4. TFred's limitation is important so I agree here. But can TFred not do it or just with less velocity? Though Zeke can easily pitch it to the QB immediately or in a sweep.

Not many people can deep snap consistently. The risk of a bad snap and possible turnover would be significant.

I would like to see more of the pistol (short shotgun) formation.

 

[waldoputty]

How about this play 3 step drop and hit a slant, WR, or a Screen.

I think the QB can focus more on reading the defense this way.
I thought some said the screen did not work against the Eagles' scheme.
This formation just buys a lot more time and addresses both our QBs' weakness.

 

[xwalker]

Good point, XWalker pointed out that TFred is not a long snapper.
In response, my question is TFred is not a great long snapper or he cannot long snap at all without huge risks to turnovers?

Also Zeke can certainly pitch the ball back after the snap or during a sweep.

The QB could line up in shotgun and then take a 7 step drop.

 

[BotchedLobotomy]

Quick slants are always a good way to neutralize alot of blitzes. For whatever reason, that play has been purged from our playbook.

 

[MRV52]

Or Qb draw into one of the gaps.

 

[waldoputty]

Or Qb draw into one of the gaps.

Even though Dak is tough, I really like to minimze # of hits.
With Romo, no more needs to be said on QB draws...