"Tavon Austin Says Ram's Playbook Like Spanish to Me."

[wrstdude]

http://www.turfshowtimes.com/2014/7/23/5930139/tavon-austin-says-rams-playbook-like-spanish-to-me

Ignoring the fact that this writer is a noted SB8 hater and his conclusions would rival only an orangutang's, I wanted to touch on what @CoachO, @-X- and I were discussing a while back about Schotty's playbook that I think is illustrated here.

My contention was that Schotty has to do a better job of having something for the rookies to be able to digest more quickly and attack the meat of the playbook later on. This is more evidence that his playbook, while completely sufficient, is entirely too complex and to the detriment of the offense. Under no circumstance should a playbook be "Spanish" to a football player. If Austin, a player who did a little bit of everything at WVU, is saying this, imagine what Quick must have been/be going through.

It's what's leaving SB8 on the bench after a poor drive looking at the pictures, rolling his eyes and shaking his head.

 

[bluecoconuts]

I like Austin but he's not exactly getting invites to Mensa meetings. It's probably more because he was a rookie in a new style than anything else. All NFL offenses are complex.

 

[Ram_Fan]

Could you imagine if Tavon had to remember Mike Martz playbook? To me these guys are professional athletes who are getting paid millions of dollars to play a game they love. In order to be a top WR in this league you have to do your studying. It's like school...Most people who don't study enough will have a hard time on the subject. Torry Holt was just a rookie, and he did fine learning the Martz offense.

 

[wrstdude]

I like Austin but he's not exactly getting invites to Mensa meetings. It's probably more because he was a rookie in a new style than anything else. All NFL offenses are complex.

Are they? Many coordinators are doing just the opposite and taking parts of the college game, and in some cases college coordinators (see IND, PHI) and making them less complex

 

[12intheBox]

Some players grasp new concepts earlier than others. Givens seemed to do alright as a rookie in Shotty's O.

You can't expect rookies to be all pro - the NFL is really, really complex and ever changing. Many of us are smart guys, some of us even have some backgrounds in football - most all of us would be completely lost trying to absorb an NFL offense in one season.

 

[CoachO]

this article is just another attempt by the "writer" to put something out there that furthers his agenda. If you have read any of his work, he is not much different from most fans who post on these forums. His "research" usually consists of not much more than a "google search" and finding someone else's take and then formulating his "opinion piece" from there.

I have yet to see a single "article" written by him that is original, or is not just some regurgitated minutia with very little meaningful content. Even in this piece, there is no timeline or reference as to when these comments were made (if they actually were) by Austin. Just a bunch of gibberish to further his anti-Ram agenda.

 

[bomebadeeda]

When a play has 4 or 5 variations of motion that each try to isolate a different player and you don't really care about the motion because it's not going to affect your route. It probably does come off as Spanish. but once you understand that each of those motions changes or exposes coverages where you can be highlighted in a play, one starts "playing faster" as it has been noted during the offseason for Tavon. in college it's simply line up and beat someone. In the pros, everyone is much better, so you had better understand all you can about them giving you (and yours ...) an advantage. I'm sure Tavon habla espanol muy bien ahora.

 

[RamzFanz]

Good leaders use the abilities of the people they have. They build around the existing talents. They don't try to force square pegs into round holes.

"He [Tayvon] scored a seven on the Wonderlic test as a rookie (50 is the highest possible score). "

The kid was playing a lot of positions. He needed a small and easily grasped playbook week 1.

 

[Rams and Gators]

Is it better to throw a full playbook at someone, they struggle but learn that playbook, or throw a dumbed down version of a playbook at someone, they easily learn the playbook, but that playbook has very little relation to what you're actually trying to do?

 

[12intheBox]

He needed a small and easily grasped playbook week 1.

Easily grasped can be easily defended. NFL defensive coordinators are smart - most of them anyway.

 

[RamzFanz]

Easily grasped can be easily defended. NFL defensive coordinators are smart - most of them anyway.

not grasped is easily screwed up.

 

[ChrisW]

this article is just another attempt by the "writer" to put something out there that furthers his agenda. If you have read any of his work, he is not much different from most fans who post on these forums. His "research" usually consists of not much more than a "google search" and finding someone else's take and then formulating his "opinion piece" from there.

I have yet to see a single "article" written by him that is original, or is not just some regurgitated minutia with very little meaningful content. Even in this piece, there is no timeline or reference as to when these comments were made (if they actually were) by Austin. Just a bunch of gibberish to further his anti-Ram agenda.

I'm glad someone else thinks this way. I can't even enjoy any of the other works on that site anymore because all the commenters can't take criticism against Van Bibber.

It's important for people to remember that TsT is just a blog that was started by him, and it is nothing more.

 

[CoachO]

Good leaders use the abilities of the people they have. They build around the existing talents. They don't try to force square pegs into round holes.

"He [Tayvon] scored a seven on the Wonderlic test as a rookie (50 is the highest possible score). "

The kid was playing a lot of positions. He needed a small and easily grasped playbook week 1.

This makes it seem like the ENTIRE playbook is in play for each and every game. That just isn't the case. These guys are given a specific "game plan" early in the week, they practice it Wed- Fri, both in walk thrus and on the field.

They spend 10 hour days at the facility in meetings, going over each and every scenario to ensure they understand that weekly game plan. Its not that the playbook is too complex, or that they are given too much on any given week, its that they don't grasp the terminology and have a thorough understanding of all the variables within a given play all based on the looks presented by the defense.

As someone said above, in college a player with Austin's ability, it really comes down to "just go beat the guy covering you", here, it's about about details, and making sure you are where you need to be WHEN you are supposed to be there.

 

[Angry Ram]

Soo.....much....overanalyzing.

 

[HometownBoy]

From what I read on the article it's what he said to explain why he struggled as a rookie, much less of a story there. Of course it looked like Spanish to him, he was a rookie, everything probably looked foreign to him in the big boy league. He's not saying he's still not grasping things, in fact he goes on to say that he's just fine and has the book down now that he's had time to acclimate. Seems more like a case of misleading title, as nothing in the article makes me think the guy is trying to spin it as anything. More like needless hand wringing and worrying, which is par the course for most Rams fans tbh.

 

[TheDYVKX]

Some players grasp new concepts earlier than others. Givens seemed to do alright as a rookie in Shotty's O.

You can't expect rookies to be all pro - the NFL is really, really complex and ever changing. Many of us are smart guys, some of us even have some backgrounds in football - most all of us would be completely lost trying to absorb an NFL offense in one season.

I agree with you for the most part, except for the Givens thing, since Givens mainly ran go routes and screens. Probably over half of his yards came off of like 6 plays. It's hard to say he really "grasped" Schotty's offense when he didn't do much, he really was a one trick pony.

As to Tavon and the article, most rookies are that way. Schotty's offense apparently is harder than most, though, from what I've read. It makes sense that he'd be confused and it would seem like Spanish. But he knows the playbook now and he's going to have a great season.

 

[Boston Ram]

There are two angles to this. First off the Spanish comment is being taken out of context a little here also, so its hard to rip a player because of it. Of course any comment complaining about Shottys "complex" play book is a little alarming. Its his job to understand the playbook, so learn it. Austin struggled with the pro game quite a bit. Was very weak against press coverage which shouldn't be a surprise as that was expected coming out of college. There could of been and should of been more formations for him to go in motion and release with momentum. I think we started to see that later in the year but wonder why it took 7 weeks for that.

I like Austin and like the unique skill set he brings to the table but I don't think he will ever live up to being a top 10 pick.

 

[Philly5]

Austin had to learn more than most with all his different looks.

I will never understand how we went into 2013 with 2 rookies, 2 second year guys, and a third year guy at WR. We needed a vet or two.

 

[badnews]

So its supposed to be easy?
Austin is supposed to know the offense perfectly as a rookie?

Bullshit.

Some play books/schemes are much harder than others. Rookies struggle. Many players come out of college and fail because they never can grasp all of it.
Some guys learn this stuff easily, some dont. Austin already showed us all that his grasp steadily improved over the season. Is that not good enough?

Since when did we start demanding that rookies come into the league as knowledgeable as veterans?

Misleading title, misguided outlook...