Ravens 2011

Congratulations to all four teams for a great season!

Two Crazy Calls

A couple of crazy calls from last night Chiefs-Chargers game are worth another mention.

The first call was Dexter McCluster's non-fumble. That interpretation defies explanation. It will be interesting to see what the league has to say about it. My guess is that the NFL will follow up with an admission of a blown call.

The other is a little sketchier, but I think equally incorrect. Matt Cassel's forward pass that was ruled a fumble was in fact, a forward pass.

To understand why, we first have a look at what the NFL considers a forward pass. The digest is here, but the rule and key terminology is this (my emphasis in bold):

2. Section 22 Pass and Passer
3. PASS AND PASSER
4. Article 1   A Pass is the movement of the ball caused by the runner who throws, shoves (shovel pass), or pushes (push pass) the ball (3-28-1).
5. Note: The term is also used to designate the action of a player who causes a pass as in, “He will pass the ball.”
6. FORWARD PASS
7. Article 2  It is a Forward Pass if:
8. (a)   the ball initially moves forward (to a point nearer the opponent’s goal line) after leaving the passer’s hands; or
9. (b)   the ball first strikes the ground, a player, an official, or anything else at a point that is nearer the opponent’s goal line than the point at which the ball leaves the passer’s hand.
10. Note 1: When a Team A player is holding the ball to pass it forward, any intentional movement forward of his hand starts a forward pass. If a Team B player contacts the passer or the ball after forward movement begins, and the ball leaves the passer’s hand, a forward pass is ruled, regardless of where the ball strikes the ground or a player.
11. Note 2: When a Team A player is holding the ball to pass it forward, any intentional forward movement of his hand starts a forward pass, even if the player loses possession of the ball as he is attempting to tuck it back toward his body. Also, if the player has tucked the ball into his body and then loses possession, it is a fumble.
12. Note 3: If the player loses possession of the ball while attempting to recock his arm, it is a fumble.
13. Note 4: A fumble or muff going forward is disregarded as to its direction, unless the act is ruled intentional. In such cases, the fumble is a forward pass (8-1-1) and the muff is a bat (12-1-8).

Have a look at Cassel's throw here: http://assets.sbnation.com/assets/773046/cassel.gif

A passer throws a football using two useful forces. One is the rotation of the passer's shoulder to whip the arm forward, relative to his body. The other force involved is less obvious, yet still very important to the physics of the pass. That force is the forward movement of the passer's body as he steps into the throw.

Like a pitcher in baseball, a quarterback's pass typically in is enhanced by a stride in the direction of the throw, which in fact, also moves the ball forward. In the case of Cassel's pass, it is very obvious that he is striding or running forward and therefore moving his hand forward when the ball leaves his hand.

Note that the rule does NOT say the ball or hand must be moving forward relative to the player's body.

I heard the talking heads on TV making some point about refs looking for the 'empty hand coming forward' or some such nonsense. I have no idea how these refs are coached or taught to try to understand whether a play like that is a forward pass or not. But based on the way the rule is written, and the simple physics evident by both Cassel's forward movement and the direction of the ball, Cassel's hand HAD to be moving forward.

The pass rusher's arm is clearly moving backward and collides with Cassel's forearm. If that had been the only force - in other words, if Cassel's hand was NOT in fact moving forward - the ball would have gone either straight down or perhaps even backwards if Cassel had kept hold of it after the defender's force was applied.

Quick question for the NFL guys - how did the ball go forward, if Casell's hand wasn't moving forward?

If the NFL is trying to suggest that the arm or hand must be moving forward relative to the passer then they need to rewrite the rule and insert that phrase. Otherwise it was another blown call. The fact is the Chiefs had two fewer turnovers than the refs gave them, and the Chargers were fortunate to have a chance to win the game at the end.

Kansas 6A District 4

The playoff scenarios for our high school team's district are outlined here by Tod Palmer of the Star:

http://varsity.kansascity.com/tod+palmer/blog/5992

The standings in district play today are

Team                        Record  Point Differential
Free State Firebirds        2 - 0   +11
Olathe Northwest Ravens     1 - 1   + 7
Lawrence Chesty Lions       1 - 1   - 4
Olathe North Eagles         0 - 2   -14 

Just to give it an ONW perspective....

If ONW can win by a single point over Olathe North on Friday night, they would be 2-1 in district, moving to +8 on points.  Obviously North would be out of the playoffs at 0-3 and -15.

I wondered if there was any way that ONW would NOT make the playoffs if they won. I looked at several Lawrence-Wins-and-ONW-Wins-by-1 scenarios to answer the question, since those outcomes create three 2-1 teams at the top of the table.

• If Lawrence beats Free State by 1 point, the Lions, Firebirds, and Ravens would all be 2-1. Free State would be the #1 seed (2-1, +10) and ONW would be the #2 (2-1, +8). Lawrence would be out at 2-1 because their point margin would only climb to -3.
• If Lawrence scores a big victory against Free State (13 points or more being the max differential that is recorded in district play) then Lawrence could be the #1 seed at 2-1 +9. ONW with a 1 point win would be 2nd at 2-1 +8, and the Firebirds would be out, falling to 2-1 but all the way down to -2 on the all-important point differential.
• If Lawrence scores a 12 point victory over Free State, and ONW can beat Olathe North by just that single point, then Lawrence and ONW would be tied in point differential at the top of the district table. To break that tie, the head to head would be used, and ONW would be the #1 seed. Lawrence would at that point win the marginal point tiebreaker (and the head to head) with Free State. (Lawrence's magic margin number is 8... they need to win by that much to have ANY shot to get in if ONW wins.)

There is NO scenario I can see that keeps ONW out of the playoffs if they win on Friday night. Win and they're in. So in the immortal words of Al Davis, Just Win Baby.

A few other scenarios worth the knowing going in:

• Free State wins the district if they win over Lawrence.
• Olathe North can't win the district. They are the only team that can't win the district at this point. 
• The Eagles can be second and in the playoffs at the expense of ONW if they win by 11 or more and Free State wins by any margin. In that scenario, three teams are 1-2.  Lawrence's point differential would be no better than -5, while ONW and ON would be 1-2 and -4 on points. ON would win the head-to-head tie-breaker or point differential and become the #2 seed. Eagles fans have to root for Free State and hope their boys pound the Ravens.
• Olathe Northwest can lose by 10 or less and back into the playoffs IF Free State prevails, creating three 1-2 teams that have all beaten each other.
• If Lawrence wins and Olathe North wins, the two Lawrence teams are in the playoffs, and the Olathe teams stay home.
• Mathematically speaking, there are 676 potential outcomes that matter in terms of pairs of winners and the two games point differentials (1 to 13+). There are 169 point differential combinations for each winning pair outcome, and there are four potential winning pairs of teams. Using that info, the statistical likelihood of each team making the playoffs:
• Free State - 88.46%
• Olathe Northwest - 69.23%
• Lawrence - 36.54%
• Olathe North - 5.77%
• All that said - mathematics probably don't mean much. Without Strauss, Lawrence may not get to 8 points, much less beat Free State by 8. Olathe North has a serious chance to be the #2 seed in the district with a two touchdown win over the Ravens. 

So Olathe North fans will root for Free State. Lawrence fans will root for Olathe North. Free State will want to take care of business, think positively, and not care who wins the other game.

As a Raven fan, root for a 4 to 12 point Lawrence win if you're sure the Ravens will beat Olathe North. That will get us the #1 seed and a strong chance to win a playoff game for the first time in program history. Or if you're a glass-half-empty type, root for Free State and hope to trade touchdowns with Olathe North. Just stay within 10, and we're in the playoffs again.

Mostly though - Just Win Baby.

Final Sign Up for Ravens 2018

The fifth and final FCCJC sign up is today Saturday, July 25th, from 9:00 a.m. until 2:00 p.m., out at the Heritage Football complex at 162nd and Pflumm. Last chance to sign up to play football before middle school ball starts next year!

We had eight more players register at the fourth registration, bringing us to 45 so far. The 4th grade teams are at 46 players to date, so the race is on. Four more of our new 6th grade players are brand new to tackle football!  I've sent out some e-mails to the various new and returning team members about dates, times, and equipment, so if you're planning to sign up but haven't, check with me to be brought up to speed. At the bottom of this post find a list of those that have signed up so far in FCCJC.

To get signed up for football, you need

• Your son, for weigh-in and equipment fitting if renting
• Proof of age and grade. This can be
• His player card from a previous season, OR
• A copy of his birth certificate and a copy of a grade card from this year
• A credit card or check to pay the equipment rental fee ($60) at the sign up, if you will be renting equipment

You may optionally bring

• Your own shoulder pads and helmet if you are not renting. They must be checked by FCCJC before you can practice wearing them.
• An FCCJC Equipment Reimbursement Request form. If you are renting your equipment, and your family is suffering from financial hardship, you may be eligible for an equipment fee reimbursement. Turn in that filled out form with your rental check or credit card payment to apply for reimbursement.
• Funds ($165) to pay the league fee (credit card or check) if you wish to pre-pay. You will still receive raffle tickets that you can sell to offset the league fee, but many parents prefer to pay at sign-up time. If you choose not to pay at this time, the league fee check must be turned in to your coach or team administrator by August 3rd.
• Funds ($20) to pay for a physical examination at the sign up. You may also use your own doctor by getting them to fill out this physical form. The physical form is to be handed to the coach at or before the first practice.

Based on the other sign-ups, the lines really die down about 11:00 a.m. - you can pretty much get right through, very little waiting.

Returning
Signed Up 5/21
Trevor A
Thomas B
Jackson B
Peyton B
Colin B
Mitchell C
Tommy F
Will H
Hunter H
Grant H
Nile M
Jarid M
Parker M
Kawai P
Tyler R
Jared S
Ben W
Kyle W


Signed Up 6/11
Luke D
Alex D
Damon H
Michael N
Zach O

Signed Up 6/25
Eddie B
Alex B
Halen G
Brayden K
Jacob O
Hunter S

Signed Up 7/9
Ben H
Jake P
Jake E
Luke W


New
Signed Up 5/21
Jon B
Cody H
Logan I


Signed Up 6/11
Tyler F
Trevor J
Collin T

Signed Up 6/25
Logan B

Signed Up 7/9
Ben B
Noah G
Adonis K
Brandon Y

Fourth Signup This Saturday

The fourth FCCJC sign up is this Saturday, July 9th, from 9:00 a.m. until 2:00 p.m., out at the Heritage Football complex at 162nd and Pflumm. After this sign up, I will be putting together the e-mail distribution list for team members to hear about practices, equipment, dates, and so forth. SO... if you know you will be signing up, but need to wait until the final sign up on July 23rd, be sure to let me know so you won't miss out on important e-mails.

We had eight more players register at the third registration, bringing us to 37 so far. The 4th grade teams are right on our heals with 35 players to date. Two more of our new 6th grade players are brand new to tackle football!  We continue to monitor the numbers, but at this point it still appears that we will have four teams again (including Coach Swinford's in the Blue Valley league.)  At the bottom of this post find a list of those that have signed up so far in FCCJC.

To get signed up for football, you need

• Your son, for weigh-in and equipment fitting if renting
• Proof of age and grade. This can be
• His player card from a previous season, OR
• A copy of his birth certificate and a copy of a grade card from this year
• A credit card or check to pay the equipment rental fee ($60) at the sign up, if you will be renting equipment

You may optionally bring

• Your own shoulder pads and helmet if you are not renting. They must be checked by FCCJC before you can practice wearing them.
• An FCCJC Equipment Reimbursement Request form. If you are renting your equipment, and your family is suffering from financial hardship, you may be eligible for an equipment fee reimbursement. Turn in that filled out form with your rental check or credit card payment to apply for reimbursement.
• Funds ($165) to pay the league fee (credit card or check) if you wish to pre-pay. You will still receive raffle tickets that you can sell to offset the league fee, but many parents prefer to pay at sign-up time. If you choose not to pay at this time, the league fee check must be turned in to your coach or team administrator by August 3rd.
• Funds ($20) to pay for a physical examination at the sign up. You may also use your own doctor by getting them to fill out this physical form. The physical form is to be handed to the coach at or before the first practice.

Based on the first two sign-ups, the lines really die down about 11:00 a.m. - you can pretty much get right through, very little waiting.

The next available registration date is Saturday, July 9th.

Returning
Signed Up 5/21
Trevor A
Thomas B
Jackson B
Peyton B
Colin B
Mitchell C
Tommy F
Will H
Hunter H
Grant H
Nile M
Jarid M
Parker M
Kawai P
Tyler R
Jared S
Ben W
Kyle W
Signed Up 6/11
Luke D
Alex D
Damon H
Michael N
Zach O
Signed Up 6/25
Eddie B
Alex B
Halen G
Brayden K
Jacob O
Hunter S


New
Signed Up 5/21
Jon B
Cody H
Logan I
Signed Up 6/11
Tyler F
Trevor J
Collin T
Signed Up 6/25
Logan B

Joshua B

Life as a Noseguard Just Got Better

The NFHS (National Federation of State High School Association) is the body that writes the various high school sport rules that most states follow. They've made a change for football in 2011 that will make things a little safer, especially for defensive linemen.

In the past, a chop block was a "delayed" block at the knees or below on an opponent that was already engaged with the blocker's teammate. The classic example involved the center pass blocking a nose tackle. The left guard, after setting for a pass block and checking for blitz, would then turn his attention to the nose, already working against the center. If the guard attacked the knees of the nose tackle at that point in time, it was a 15 yard penalty for chop blocking.

But if the center and guard were instead double-team blocking for a running play, things were quite different.  If the guard shot out to cut the knees of the nose tackle even if the nose had already engaged the center it was not considered a chop block, because the guard's block was initiated simultaneous to the center's block.

This type of blocking was known as a form of 'high/low' blocking, and was not illegal in high school football last year. It was a controversial style of blocking, and some (I hope most) coaches refused to teach it... but it wasn't illegal. As of 2011, this type of block will now fit the definition of a chop block, and should draw a flag.

You can read the NFHS statement about the change here: Chop Block Rule Redefined in High School Football, but a chop block is now defined to be

"a combination block by two or more teammates against an opponent other than the runner, with or without delay, where one of the blocks is low (at the knee or below) and one of the blocks is high (above the knee)."

Let me unpack this a little. In the past, the language said that a chop block was

"a delayed block at the knees or below against an opponent who is in contact with a teammate of the blocker in the free blocking zone."

Note that in the past, the requirements for a chop block were

1. a delayed block 
2. at the knees or below
3. thrown against an opponent that was in contact with a teammate of the blocker
4. in the free blocking zone 

In the new definition, we must have

1. A combination block by two or more teammates against an opponent (other than the runner)
2. with or without delay
3. where one block is low (knees or below)
4. and another block is high (above the knees)

The 'in contact' requirement of the old rule is gone. So NFHS appears to be telling officials, for a chop block there must be two or more guys throwing a block at the same defender.* If one of the blockers is pulling away and not engaging the defender himself, and is coincidentally contacted by that defender's upper body, that doesn't preclude a cut block in the free blocking zone by another blocker. In that case, the defender would actually be the one 'blocking' the pulling offensive player, and would not be protected by this rule. Who blocked whom becomes a defining factor.

*By the way, who fouls in the new definition? In the old rule, it was the blocker throwing the delayed block. In the new rule, is it BOTH guys? I suspect refs will name the low blocker as the guilty party.

Nevertheless, I think this is a good change, that should improve the safety of players. (In fact, I called for this change at the youth level two years ago, and am quite shocked that I've lived to see it happen.) The rule relieves umpires from having to determine whether a delay occurs between two blocks. Now these officials can simply decide whether a combination block was both high and low. I'm anxious to see how umpires interpret various blocks and situations, and whether or not the new chop block rule is ever called.

Watch closely in games with very tight offensive line splits. When splits are tight, it is very easy for blocks to appear to happen with adjacent teammates. That means that ANY cut block by an offensive player runs the risk of being a chop block, whether initiated at the snap or delayed. A defensive tackle can probably protect his knees simply by getting into the gap between two opponent's upper bodies and sustaining contact or continuing to attempt to split them. Once he's done that, I think most refs will determine that he can't be legally cut.

It works both ways though! The offensive linemen are now more protected than previously. Watch Gap Air Mirror defenses and other goal line arrangements, like defending extra-point tries. Any defense that runs two 'bear crawlers' into an offensive lineman's legs runs the risk of being called for a chop block. If the offensive blocker can get his hands on the upper body of ONE of those players, the other crawler can't initiate contact at the blocker's knees or below. If he does, that fits the definition of a a chop block, and should be a 15 yard penalty.*

* Many fans assume that blocking rules only apply to offensive players. This isn't true. The rules of blocking also apply to defensive players, with a few exceptions for tackling the ball carrier or shedding blockers. So for example, blocks below the waist by defensive backs designed to 'take out' lead blockers have long been illegal in high school football, however seldom called.

The 'wedge' play that many double wing offenses like to run should be improved, because a defense won't be able to crash into the offensive line's legs if those linemen are already engaged.

So this is actually a pretty big change if the rule is enforced. I suppose that like many rule changes in sport, officials will have an adjustment period where they will miss a percentage of these fouls because they aren't used to watching for them. There will also be some old timers who don't like the new rule, and will turn a blind eye, believing that they have a better understanding of the 'spirit' of the rule or some other such nonsense.

Finally, just like the many wonderful plays I draw on my computer, we won't really know how this will work until we start working with it on grass. But on balance, I believe this will be a good rule change, and I encourage coaches and refs to follow and enforce this new rule, and see how it works out for all of us.

Time to Get Motivated

Sometimes I have "Wow, I wish I'd written that" moments. This is more of a "I wish I'd said that" moment, but still...

Third Registration Saturday

The third FCCJC sign up is this Saturday, June 25th, from 9:00 a.m. until 2:00 p.m., out at the Heritage Football complex at 162nd and Pflumm. Both Coach Roediger and I will be out there this Saturday. Coach Roediger is covering the afternoon, and I have the mid-day slot starting at about 11 a.m. So if you have questions about 6th grade football, Saturday is a great opportunity to sign up!

We had eight more players register at the second registration, bringing us to 29 so far. The 4th grade teams are next closest, with 20 signed up to date. Three more of our new 6th grade players are brand new to tackle football!  We continue to monitor the numbers, but at this point it still appears that we will have four teams again (including Coach Swinford's in the Blue Valley league.)  At the bottom of this post find a list of those that have signed up so far in FCCJC.

To get signed up for football, you need

• Your son, for weigh-in and equipment fitting if renting
• Proof of age and grade. This can be
• His player card from a previous season, OR
• A copy of his birth certificate and a copy of a grade card from this year
• A credit card or check to pay the equipment rental fee ($60) at the sign up, if you will be renting equipment

You may optionally bring

• Your own shoulder pads and helmet if you are not renting. They must be checked by FCCJC before you can practice wearing them.
• An FCCJC Equipment Reimbursement Request form. If you are renting your equipment, and your family is suffering from financial hardship, you may be eligible for an equipment fee reimbursement. Turn in that filled out form with your rental check or credit card payment to apply for reimbursement.
• Funds ($165) to pay the league fee (credit card or check) if you wish to pre-pay. You will still receive raffle tickets that you can sell to offset the league fee, but many parents prefer to pay at sign-up time. If you choose not to pay at this time, the league fee check must be turned in to your coach or team administrator by August 3rd.
• Funds ($20) to pay for a physical examination at the sign up. You may also use your own doctor by getting them to fill out this physical form. The physical form is to be handed to the coach at or before the first practice.

Based on the first two sign-ups, the lines really die down about 11:00 a.m. - you can pretty much get right through, very little waiting.

The next available registration date is Saturday, July 9th.

Returning
Signed Up 5/21
Trevor A
Thomas B
Jackson B
Peyton B
Colin B
Mitchell C
Tommy F
Will H
Hunter H
Grant H
Nile M
Jarid M
Parker M
Kawai P
Tyler R
Jared S
Ben W
Kyle W
Signed Up 6/11
Luke D
Alex D
Damon H
Michael N
Zach O

New
Signed Up 5/21
Jon B
Cody H
Logan I
Signed Up 6/11
Tyler F
Trevor J
Collin T

Second Registration Saturday

We had 21 register at the first FCCJC registration for 6th grade football. That was by far the most of any grade in our area. Three of those players are brand new to tackle football! We are monitoring the numbers, but at this point it appears that we will have four teams again (including Coach Swinford's in the Blue Valley league) though the teams may be a little larger than they were last year. At the bottom of this post find a list of those that have signed up so far in FCCJC.

The second FCCJC sign up is this Saturday, June 11th, from 9:00 a.m. until 2:00 p.m., out at the Heritage Football complex at 162nd & Pflumm.  To get signed up for football, you need

• Your son, for weigh-in and equipment fitting if renting
• Proof of age and grade. This can be
• His player card from a previous season, OR
• A copy of his birth certificate and a copy of a grade card from this year
• A credit card or check to pay the equipment rental fee ($60) at the sign up, if you will be renting equipment

You may optionally bring

• Your own shoulder pads and helmet if you are not renting. They must be checked by FCCJC before you can practice wearing them.
  
• An FCCJC Equipment Reimbursement Request form. If you are renting your equipment, and your family is suffering from financial hardship, you may be eligible for an equipment fee reimbursement. Turn in that filled out form with your rental check or credit card payment to apply for reimbursement.
  
• Funds ($165) to pay the league fee (credit card or check) if you wish to pre-pay. You will still receive raffle tickets that you can sell to offset the league fee, but many parents prefer to pay at sign-up time. If you choose not to pay at this time, the league fee check must be turned in to your coach or team administrator by August 3rd.
  
• Funds ($20) to pay for a physical examination at the sign up. You may also use your own doctor by getting them to fill out this physical form. The physical form is to be handed to the coach at or before the first practice.

Based on the first sign up, the lines really die down about 11:00 a.m. - you can pretty much get right through, very little waiting.

The next available registration date is Saturday, June 25th.

Coach Todd Dain of Olathe Northwest will be the head coach of an FCCJC football camp out at Heritage Park next week. Seems like it will be a fun camp. You can see the brochure by clicking this link.

Signed Up 5/21

Returning
Trevor A
Thomas B
Jackson B
Peyton B
Colin B
Mitchell C
Tommy F
Will H
Hunter H
Grant H
Nile M
Jarid M
Parker M
Kawai P
Tyler R
Jared S
Ben W
Kyle W

New
Jon B
Cody H
Logan I

First Last Registration Ever

The first registration for the 2011 season is this Saturday, May 21st, from 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. out at the FCCJC football complex.

With 7th grade football in the Olathe middle schools now, this is the last time we will all be standing in line to get our kids signed up for football. We probably won't miss that part of it.

Remember to bring

• Your kid for weigh in
• Proof of age and grade (player card, or birth certificate and grade card)
• Check or credit card for equipment rental ($60)

See many of you on Saturday!

Playing Against the Best Players

Youth football players seem to fall into three types, and every youth team has certain numbers of each. I call the types Stud, Decent, and Learning. This is just my own terminology, and a gross over-generalization of course. Every player can improve, and no player is hopeless. Nevertheless, I offer you

• The STUD. This is one of the best players on the team. He can beat blocks, tackle, and run. He's a do-everything-well type of guy.

• The DECENT player. This guy doesn't hurt the team. He's average, or sometimes just above or just below average. He isn't a stud because of some flaw. He may be a little bit slow, or small, or not competitive, or not athletic. But he also typically brings some other abilities to the game that let him make plays when he is in the right position. The majority of the players that we coach fall into this category.

• The LEARNING player. Often this is a new player, very small, or slow, or all three. He can probably position himself correctly at the snap, and he may not lack for courage, but athletically he can't handle the stud player. Even the decent players can block and tackle him relatively easily.

These categories are relative to all the other players on the field. A 'stud' in one league might only be a decent player in the next league up.

Every youth defense that we see has some stud players, and some decent players. Some of the youth defenses we see, at least some of the time, will also have learning players on the field. In our football league there is a minimum play rule, so the newer, smaller, or slower guys will absolutely get a chance to play. Those kids are more prevalent in the B divisions than in the A divisions.

So where are those stud defenders? What is the likelihood that any particular defender will be a stud or not a stud?  We usually find studs in the middle of the field as middle linebackers and safeties. We regularly see them as the EMLOS, which stands for End Man on the Line of Scrimmage. Linebackers are also quite often studs.

We don't usually see studs at cornerback. And usually only one defensive lineman, if any, will be a stud in youth football. Defensive line and cornerback are two common places teams put their decent or learning players.

For the offensive coordinator of a youth football team, I've always thought that a key part of the job is to put the offense in a position to get the ball past the stud defenders, and then let our ball carrier take on the decent or weak players.

One of my favorite things about option football is that while our guys may not be able to block a stud defender one-on-one, there are four other things that we can do to try to handle him.

• We can Angle block him. If he is already lined up away from the play, and we bring a decent blocker into him, the defender's effectiveness is cut in half at least.
• We can Double Team him. Even if he's a stud, we can probably control him briefly with two decent blockers.
• We can Run Away from him. If he's clearly on one side of the field or the other, we can run to the other side.
• We can Option him. If we don't block him, but instead force him to choose incorrectly, then our ball carrier can run right past him.

The first three strategies are available to ANY offense of course.  But only an option offense introduces that fourth way of handling the stud defender.

Below is a drawing of how our option can handle the stud defenders on a defense we ran into last year. I've designated the Studs on both sides of the ball with the letter S and the Decent players with the letter D. Our opponent had four really great defensive players, and they played them at Safety (Ss), Defensive End (S2), Middle Linebacker (Sb), and as a stand-up Defensive Tackle (S4).  The rest of their players were what I would call Decent.

And at the bottom of this post is a video that shows one of the plays we ran.

They aligned pretty much like the drawing above, but it is a little confusing because none of their defensive linemen were in a three or four point stance.

S4 lines up in the B gap, so he would be relatively easy for our decent offensive tackle to block down - but in the video he stands up and tries to blitz the A gap, and takes himself entirely out of the play. He'd have been much trickier if he'd played a 4 technique, but they had him line up in a 3 tech much of the night, and that's an easy read for our offensive tackle.

S2 was a hard charger. We'd run so much outside veer against them the first time we played them that they were determined to get him (#17 in the video) into the mesh. Fortunately on this play we were running inside option, so our QB had already faked and was thinking pitch as he came in hot.

D3 is decent but small and somewhat unaware. He gets crushed by our split end on a crack block.

Sb is in the middle of the field, and looks for the fullback and QB Dive Follow first. Since he hangs around inside, our fullback is able to pick him off as he attempts to flow over the top.

Ss is far enough behind the play that we chose not to block him. His ability is such that we won't get many breakaway touchdowns against this team, but by playing him at safety we've got a better chance to make positive yardage then if they played him up one level as an OLB.

Our Stud running back (who is very small, but a fabulous blocker) is lead blocking on this play, isoloated on the cornerback, and just wipes him out. You can see them both on the ground as the play gets outside.

Even though our ball carrier is just a decent, not great, runner, he IS somewhat hard to bring down, and gets some extra yards after they try to tackle him.

Here's a video of Option Right, and a pretty good example of working the option to isolate and defeat the other team's best players.

Just What Coach Requested

And now Kevin Ross has been selected to the Chiefs Hall of Fame.

http://chiefsblog.kansascity.com/?q=node/1690

If I could get my family to respond as quickly as the Chiefs did to my request - see Favorite Players, #6, in this post from January - well, I guess I wouldn't be a dad would I? I'd be a mom or something.

Football vs. Soccer - Guessing Numbers

I confess to starting this project with the assumption that boys youth soccer would be found to be far larger than youth football in Johnson County. I think I may be wrong about that.

I started comparing 4th, 5th, & 6th grade numbers of teams to their roughly corresponding soccer age groups (U10, U11, and U12) by looking at the Football and Cheerleading Club of Johnson County, the Blue Valley Football Club, and the Heartland Soccer Association.

I know there are more clubs for both football and soccer. Leawood, Shawnee, and the YMCA have recreational soccer teams that I'm not counting. Likewise DeSoto, Lees Summit, and CYO have sizable tackle football programs. And there are probably dozens of Parks and Rec programs for both soccer and flag football that might skew the numbers some. But I had to start somewhere.

In the Football and Cheerleading Club of Johnson County (FCCJC) last year there were 61 fourth, fifth, and sixth grade teams playing last season. For those same three grades in the Blue Valley Football Club, there were 59 teams, making a total of 120 teams playing tackle football in those grades in our area.

By comparison, in the fall of 2010 there were 175 premier and recreational U10, U11, and U12 boys soccer teams playing in the Heartland Soccer Association.

I only studied those grades and ages because Olathe middle schools start playing school football now in the 7th grade, and some 2nd and 3rd graders play flag football rather than tackle. In addition, soccer has larger recreational programs in the individual Heartland member clubs at younger ages, that then subsequently gravitate toward Heartland competition beginning at about U10.

Bear in mind that the soccer teams have smaller rosters. U10 teams play 6 v 6 with maximum roster sizes of twelve, and U11 and U12 teams play 8 v 8 with maximum rosters of fourteen. In my experience, the 6 v 6 teams often carry ten or eleven players, and 8 v 8 teams average about fourteen players.

Football teams play 11 v 11 at all ages, and rosters can become quite large - but coaches and area directors don't really like that, and we usually see teams try to have between fifteen and twenty-two players. I estimate eighteen as average.

Soccer is far more stratified than football. Both FCCJC and Blue Valley Football seed their teams, placing them in A and B leagues. FCCJC occasionally has divisions within a league for scheduling purposes, but they are equal. 

Soccer has as many as five premier divisions, and sometimes 2 or 3 recreational divisions. These numbers consolidate somewhat at higher ages 11 v 11 teams, but there are almost always three or more divisions, even through high school. Their seeding meetings can sometimes be quite contentious.

Finally, all these numbers are somewhat cloudy due to players that play both sports. Not every soccer team has a football player, but an awful lot of football coaches I talk to have kids rostered that also play soccer.

Just doing the math of my unscientific estimates (10.5, 14, and 18-player rosters) here's a snapshot of how football numbers might look versus soccer in Johnson County. I looked at top divisions, then second level divisions (usually one B division in football, and as many as six in soccer), and then a grand total.

Football Soccer Teams Estimated # Players Comparison	FB Teams	S Teams	FB Players	S Players
4th Grade/U10 A Divisions	16	7	288	75
4th Grade/U10 B and C-G Divisions	21	46	378	483
4th Grade/U10 TOTAL All Divisions	37	53	666	558
5th Grade/U11 A Divisions	16	8	288	112
5th Grade/U11 B and C-G Divisions	25	58	450	812
5th Grade/U11 TOTAL All Divisions	41	66	738	924
6th Grade/U12 A Divisions	21	7	378	98
6th Grade/U12 B and C-G Divisions	21	49	378	686
6th Grade/U12 TOTAL All Divisions	42	56	756	784
All 3 Grade-Ages, A Divisions	53	22	954	285
All 3 Grade-Ages, B-G Divisions	67	153	1,206	1,981
All 3 Grade-Ages, All Divisions	120	175	2,160	2,266

I'm not sure what, if any, conclusions to draw from these extrapolated numbers. Both FCCJC and Blue Valley are 1/2 the size of Heartland Soccer, but taken together are right there in terms of numbers. And that surprised me.

Emory Ballard

Almost missed this.

Emory Ballard died earlier this month. In 1968 he was an offensive coordinator for Daryl Royal at Texas, where he invented the wishbone formation.

Later on as head coach at Mississippi State, he 'broke' the 'bone by putting a wingback on one side or the other and bringing him in motion. This ultimately lead to the flexbone formations seen today at the service academies, Georgia Tech, and others (including our FCCJC ONW Ravens 2018 teams.)

You can read more about the history of Emory Ballard here, and the wishbone formation here.

When I started playing youth football in 1972, everybody knew about the wishbone of course, because Texas won about 30 games in a row and two national championships running it.

We started using it on my youth team in 1974 because our coaches had seen Oklahoma start running it, and they thought it was the wave of the future.

I'm pretty sure that influential KU alumni must have seen our Indian Hills Warriors running the wishbone and decided then and there to hire Bud Moore, an Alabama assistant coach, to bring the formation to the hill.

(Bud probably wasn't a great head coach, but he had a great safety from Ransom, Kansas named Nolan Cromwell. The 'Ransom Rambler' as Tom Hedrick used to call him, was turned by Coach Moore into one of the very best option quarterbacks ever. He held the single game rushing record for quarterbacks for many, many years. KU lost to Pittsburgh and Tony Dorsett in the '75 Sun Bowl. We wuz robbed - I spoke to Cromwell about it when I saw him at a wedding in 1976, and he agreed. So there.)

As a long-time high school coach, Ballard was probably influenced by a Fort Worth, Texas junior-high coach named Charles 'Spud' Cason, who was having success with a third back in the backfield. And Ballard himself had seen another high school coach put a offensive guard in the backfield to give him a running start.  When Royal asked him to create a three-back triple option offense for the Longhorns in '68, undoubtedly those memories were influential.

Nevertheless, Ballard was the first one to introduce the system at the college level, and he really organized and perfected it.

It is amazing to me that the imagination of a long-time high school football coach ended up touching so many lives, and creating so much athletic history.

Parent Treat

http://joeposnanski.blogspot.com/2011/01/katie-prefect.html

Go Chiefs!

Good luck to my favorite professional football team in the playoffs Sunday! You guys are fun to watch, and you play hard. In your honor, I bestow the following lengthy post.

Coach Schriner asked me tonight who I thought the all time best Kansas City Chief player was. Trevor told him it was Priest Holmes. He was certainly a good one, and absolutely one of my all-time favorites.  It got me thinking about my 'best' and 'favorite' lists - which are two distinct things. So I will list them for you. Not because I'm right (though I am) but because these are fun.

I'll start with the list of the BEST Kansas City Chiefs. I admit a bias toward players that had the majority of their glory days in KC.

The top 7 are all members of the NFL Hall of Fame. And they were easy to put on the list, though difficult to sort. Numbers eight through ten though were very difficult, as I've left off Will Shields (who is the best guard to ever play for the Chiefs), as well as Marcus Allen, Joe Montana, Ed Podalak, Jerrel Wilson, Jonny Robinson, Art Still, Curly Culp, Deron Cherry, Jim Tyrer, Christian Okoye, Willie Roaf, and Joe Delaney. I'm sure any number of those guys would be on other people's lists.

• 10. Otis Taylor - the best wide receiver to ever wear the red and gold.
• 9. Tony Gonzalez - he redefined the position of Tight End in the NFL. Now everybody looks for ex-basketball players. He will be in the NFL Hall of Fame.
• 8. Priest Holmes - the best offensive player from the best offensive teams in the history of the franchise.
• 7. Emmitt Thomas - the best cornerback to ever wear the red and gold.
• 6. Jan Stenerud - Redefined the position of place kicker in the NFL.
• 5. Buck Buchanon - 6' 7", 287 pounds, and the best defensive tackle the Chiefs have ever had. Aside from being an 8-time All AFL or All Pro player, he did two other really amazing things. The first is that he completely changed the Oakland Raiders, because they got Art Shell (another NFL Hall-Of-Famer) specifically to block Buck. The second is, he ran a 10.2 second 100 yard dash at Grambling. That's probably 11 flat for 100 meters. Think about a 6' 7" guy moving that fast just to lay you out... and tremble. 
• 4. Willie Lanier - Redefined the position of middle linebacker in the NFL.
• 3 - Derick Thomas - Most thrilling player ever to wear the red and gold. I loved going to the 'military flyover' games. Hardest I ever laughed after a Chiefs loss was the DT-7-Sacks-of-Dave-Kreig game, when Bill Grigsby and Len Dawson were chatting about the devastating last-second loss on the post-game radio show:

G: "Lenny, I'm too old to cry, and not quite sick enough to puke."

D: (chuckling) "So what are you going to do then?"

G: "I'm gonna go home and have a big stiff one. 

D: "Well." (starts laughing)

G: (starts laughing)

D & G: (now they are getting each other going and neither one of them can stop laughing.)

As funny as those guys were, it made it a little better day. And it was the greatest single individual defensive performance I have ever seen. 

• 2 - Len Dawson - The first and still greatest 'face of the franchise' type guy in this town. Lenny the cool.
• 1 - Bobby Bell - Redefined the position of outside linebacker in the NFL. 

And now, because first and foremost I'm a FAN, I get to give you my ten FAVORITE players. These are the guys that I loved to watch, and made the game a blast for me.

• 10. Ed Podalak. Christmas Day, 1971. I WASN'T there for the longest game in NFL history, because my dad gave MY ticket to my great uncle Blair. But I watched the whole thing on TV, and it was the greatest offensive performance I have ever seen. What an incredible player he was, and we were so lucky to watch him play.
• 9. Super Gnat - Long before Dexter McCluster, ages before Dante Hall, the Chiefs had a diminutive, hold-your-breath-there-he-goes kick returner named Noland Smith. He was good, he was tiny, and he was in the movie MASH. Which is pretty cool.
• 8. Jerrel Wilson. I know, he was a punter. But so was I in junior high, so it's OK for me to put him on my favorite list. Plus, he was really, really good. He absolutely KILLED the ball. You could hear the WHUMP from the upper deck.
• 7. Mike Garrett. 65 Toss Power Trap. Enough said.
• 6. Kevin Ross. I told anybody that would listen, after his rookie season, CUT HIM, he will never be any good. He taught me why I am not a professional football coach, or a general manager. His effort, and attitude, and indomitable willpower made him an incredible team leader. Every other member of that secondary he played in is now a member of the Chiefs Hall Of Fame. He needs to be there too.
• 5. Dino Hackett. On the day they drafted Hackett, I was watching ESPN. They did a little interview with this backwater hick kid, and they asked him some inane thing about his greatest strength or something. Hacket kind of got this sleepy-eyed assassin look in his eye and drawled, "I just like to hit." Right then and there - favorite. And he did not disappoint.
• 4. Art Still. He was huge. And he was un-blockable. And he had nine kids and he just ate nuts and berries and really didn't give a darn what anybody thought about it. He was the coolest of the cool.
• 3. Willie Roaf.  To watch him pull and lead was awe inspiring. He was a devastating and dominant machine. Mind-boggling athlete in a body that large. NFL Hall of Famer for sure.
• 2. Priest Holmes. Incredible, amazing, unbelievable. Favorite offensive player ever.
• 1. Derrick Thomas. Incredible, amazing, unbelievable. Favorite defensive player ever. RIP.

Good luck Chiefs!