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http://www.courant.com/sports/football/hc-jacobs-column-football-rules-0822-20150821-column.html
Crazy Or Genius? Coach In Arkansas Has Revolutionary Football Approach
Jeff Jacobs[/paste:font]
The risk is multiple laterals lead to more turnovers. The reward is spreading the ball to players in open space will lead to big gains.
"Spread offense, the reason you run it is to try to get space," Central Connecticut coach Pete Rossomando said. "So [what Kelley is discussing] isn't crazy. There's some perfect logic in it, but there certainly is going to be some drawbacks.
"The problem is when the defender is draped all over the guy pitching the ball or a guy [who would receive the lateral] doesn't get there cleanly. Then what happens? I just don't think you can make a living doing that stuff. Eventually that's going to get disrupted."
If they run the plays over and over in practice, Kelley told HBO and the Washington Post, there is no reason the laterals won't be on target and mistakes will be eliminated. There was a time, Kelley pointed out, that the forward pass was considered crazy, too.
"I think it's safe to say on plays where a third player touches the ball the odds of a turnover go up," Patterson said. "You absolutely would have to drill them to the point where you feel like you've minimized that risk. You've got to cover all scenarios. Exactly what situations will the carrier keep it instead of pitching it? That where it gets complicated. That's where you've got to manage it, because turnover margin remains a very significant stat."
Patterson pointed to Central Florida's only AAC loss in the two years since joining the conference. UConn was a plus-3 on turnovers in beating UCF, 37-29.
One of the more stunning state high school results last year was Plainfield's 21-17 victory over New London. It was set up by a a 50-yard hook-and-lateral play from quarterback Steve Jankowski to tight end Alex Gaudreau with a pitch wide to running back Jordan Federer — a three-touch play — with a minute to go.
"[Kelley's] philosophy with on-side kicking, at least at the high school level, I have no qualms with whatsoever," Plainfield coach Pat Smith said. "We usually angle and pop it 20-25 yards toward the no-man's zone, so if they do recover it, they won't get a return. Griswold, a few years ago, began continually onside kicking. At high school, there are few players kicking it deep. So if you onside kick it to the 45, you may only lose 15 yards, with an opportunity to get the ball."
One mitigating factor, Smith pointed out, is that at least four players must line up on either side of the kicker. There's no flooding a zone anymore.
"As far as his punting thing, I think you're only as good as your defense," Smith said. "If your defense isn't very good and you give the opponent the ball at your 40, good luck."
After analyzing NFL punting statistics from 1998-2004, Cal Professor David Romer published a paper concluding that teams should not punt on fourth-and-4 or less, regardless of field position.
"Statistics show you make fourth downs at a better percentage than third, but the majority is fourth and 1-to-5 yards, " Rossomando said. "I'll gamble a good amount, but you don't want to ruin your chance of winning."
Kelley has talked about the ripple effect. If you're never going to punt, for example, you'll play-call third and seven differently. At the NFL and major college level there are millions of dollars at stake on such decisions. If you jump outside the conventional box and it backfires, you may get your backside fired.
"I don't like the game to look like that," Diaco said about Kelley's never punt, always onside kick play. "We want to play to win, but we're not built for just possessions and offense. That system has very little to do with field position and defensive football."
Kelley's rebuttal?
"Some coaches will tell you it's a game of field position," he told HBO. "Not if you score a touchdown it's not."
Daniels' late grandfather Norm was the legendary coach at Wesleyan. He ran the ultimate trick play in 1953 to beat rival Trinity, 12-7. Off a sweep right, Denny Denault fell to his stomach at the sideline in front of the Wesleyan bench. Unseen, he jumped up and sprinted down the sideline on the next snap to catch a long touchdown pass. The Sleeper Play.
"It's against the rules now," Daniels said, laughing. "Before he died, he was always on me to put that play in."
One of the hardest things to do in football is to make an open-field tackle. Laterals keep defenders from swarming the ball carrier. Under Kelley's plan, instead of blocking for the ball carrier, the other wider receivers move to a designated spot and yell for it. Kelley told the Washington Post they'll only pitch the ball when it's safe. What is safe is open to argument.
"Every time the ball changes hands on offense, you force the defense to react," Daniels said. "I love that part. But you get into those multiple touches. … We run reverses, all that stuff, and the ones we drop are wide open for touchdowns. You're like, 'Dang!'
"According to the books, you've got to do something 10,000 times before you get it down. Some coaches, they will practice high risk plays over and over. You do have to make a program commitment to it. We hang our hat with multiple formations. We'll spread it out. We have motion. We can run a power run play out of seven different formations. Our philosophy is to make the opposition prepare for as many things as possible without increasing our risk."
Smith isn't averse to creativity. For example, he employs a weird formation on the play after a touchdown and if the opposition reacts with too few defenders on one side, he'll immediately go for two points.
"Looking back at New London, [the hook and lateral] is a play we practice every day," Smith said. "So it wasn't like, 'Oh, my God, this is a gimmick.' There was no panic.
"I think we ran it three times in a game last year. We called it a few times and people didn't realize we did, because we tell our tight end if you're being tackled, take the 5-6 yards and go down. When you're having success like we did last year, you don't use a play like that as often.
"The element of surprise is important, too."
Kelley's rebuttal? He said even if opposing coaches know the rugby laterals are coming and they aren't working particularly well, teams will still have to change their coverage and that could lead to more open space.
"In the end," Rossomando said, "you can put in whatever X's and O's you want; it's about the Jimmys and Joes, too. If you got a one-on-one matchup and they're better than your one, guess what? They're going to win."
- just watched this Real Sports segment. There might be a new Kelly coming to town soon. a must watch if you have HBO it'll surly be on again
Crazy Or Genius? Coach In Arkansas Has Revolutionary Football Approach
Jeff Jacobs[/paste:font]
The risk is multiple laterals lead to more turnovers. The reward is spreading the ball to players in open space will lead to big gains.
"Spread offense, the reason you run it is to try to get space," Central Connecticut coach Pete Rossomando said. "So [what Kelley is discussing] isn't crazy. There's some perfect logic in it, but there certainly is going to be some drawbacks.
"The problem is when the defender is draped all over the guy pitching the ball or a guy [who would receive the lateral] doesn't get there cleanly. Then what happens? I just don't think you can make a living doing that stuff. Eventually that's going to get disrupted."
If they run the plays over and over in practice, Kelley told HBO and the Washington Post, there is no reason the laterals won't be on target and mistakes will be eliminated. There was a time, Kelley pointed out, that the forward pass was considered crazy, too.
"I think it's safe to say on plays where a third player touches the ball the odds of a turnover go up," Patterson said. "You absolutely would have to drill them to the point where you feel like you've minimized that risk. You've got to cover all scenarios. Exactly what situations will the carrier keep it instead of pitching it? That where it gets complicated. That's where you've got to manage it, because turnover margin remains a very significant stat."
Patterson pointed to Central Florida's only AAC loss in the two years since joining the conference. UConn was a plus-3 on turnovers in beating UCF, 37-29.
One of the more stunning state high school results last year was Plainfield's 21-17 victory over New London. It was set up by a a 50-yard hook-and-lateral play from quarterback Steve Jankowski to tight end Alex Gaudreau with a pitch wide to running back Jordan Federer — a three-touch play — with a minute to go.
"[Kelley's] philosophy with on-side kicking, at least at the high school level, I have no qualms with whatsoever," Plainfield coach Pat Smith said. "We usually angle and pop it 20-25 yards toward the no-man's zone, so if they do recover it, they won't get a return. Griswold, a few years ago, began continually onside kicking. At high school, there are few players kicking it deep. So if you onside kick it to the 45, you may only lose 15 yards, with an opportunity to get the ball."
One mitigating factor, Smith pointed out, is that at least four players must line up on either side of the kicker. There's no flooding a zone anymore.
"As far as his punting thing, I think you're only as good as your defense," Smith said. "If your defense isn't very good and you give the opponent the ball at your 40, good luck."
After analyzing NFL punting statistics from 1998-2004, Cal Professor David Romer published a paper concluding that teams should not punt on fourth-and-4 or less, regardless of field position.
"Statistics show you make fourth downs at a better percentage than third, but the majority is fourth and 1-to-5 yards, " Rossomando said. "I'll gamble a good amount, but you don't want to ruin your chance of winning."
Kelley has talked about the ripple effect. If you're never going to punt, for example, you'll play-call third and seven differently. At the NFL and major college level there are millions of dollars at stake on such decisions. If you jump outside the conventional box and it backfires, you may get your backside fired.
"I don't like the game to look like that," Diaco said about Kelley's never punt, always onside kick play. "We want to play to win, but we're not built for just possessions and offense. That system has very little to do with field position and defensive football."
Kelley's rebuttal?
"Some coaches will tell you it's a game of field position," he told HBO. "Not if you score a touchdown it's not."
Daniels' late grandfather Norm was the legendary coach at Wesleyan. He ran the ultimate trick play in 1953 to beat rival Trinity, 12-7. Off a sweep right, Denny Denault fell to his stomach at the sideline in front of the Wesleyan bench. Unseen, he jumped up and sprinted down the sideline on the next snap to catch a long touchdown pass. The Sleeper Play.
"It's against the rules now," Daniels said, laughing. "Before he died, he was always on me to put that play in."
One of the hardest things to do in football is to make an open-field tackle. Laterals keep defenders from swarming the ball carrier. Under Kelley's plan, instead of blocking for the ball carrier, the other wider receivers move to a designated spot and yell for it. Kelley told the Washington Post they'll only pitch the ball when it's safe. What is safe is open to argument.
"Every time the ball changes hands on offense, you force the defense to react," Daniels said. "I love that part. But you get into those multiple touches. … We run reverses, all that stuff, and the ones we drop are wide open for touchdowns. You're like, 'Dang!'
"According to the books, you've got to do something 10,000 times before you get it down. Some coaches, they will practice high risk plays over and over. You do have to make a program commitment to it. We hang our hat with multiple formations. We'll spread it out. We have motion. We can run a power run play out of seven different formations. Our philosophy is to make the opposition prepare for as many things as possible without increasing our risk."
Smith isn't averse to creativity. For example, he employs a weird formation on the play after a touchdown and if the opposition reacts with too few defenders on one side, he'll immediately go for two points.
"Looking back at New London, [the hook and lateral] is a play we practice every day," Smith said. "So it wasn't like, 'Oh, my God, this is a gimmick.' There was no panic.
"I think we ran it three times in a game last year. We called it a few times and people didn't realize we did, because we tell our tight end if you're being tackled, take the 5-6 yards and go down. When you're having success like we did last year, you don't use a play like that as often.
"The element of surprise is important, too."
Kelley's rebuttal? He said even if opposing coaches know the rugby laterals are coming and they aren't working particularly well, teams will still have to change their coverage and that could lead to more open space.
"In the end," Rossomando said, "you can put in whatever X's and O's you want; it's about the Jimmys and Joes, too. If you got a one-on-one matchup and they're better than your one, guess what? They're going to win."
- just watched this Real Sports segment. There might be a new Kelly coming to town soon. a must watch if you have HBO it'll surly be on again
