Breakdown Sports

Previously, we looked at why throw back plays work. Next, we looked at OSU taking advantage of the throw back in their play against Minnesota This post will look at different version of the throw back that can be added to your playbook. Elsewhere - Leak Everyone has talked about leak, but at least on my blog, I've never explicitly wrote about it. So let's say this is the chance. Here is a diagram of leak: 2016 Falcons Playbook There are lots of iterations of Leak now, but I want to point out a few things that I like better than others.

Iowa wasn't able to pull out a win against Wisconsin, but that doesn't mean schematically they didn't do some interesting things. On their first long TD, they brought out a TE-Wing and ran a Dig-Wheel Concept. In this post, I want to show how this concept works within their offense and why the design was something worth looking closer at.

Iowa has long been known for its use of the stretch zone run scheme , and they love to use a FB within this scheme for a variety of reasons. In fact, one of their favorite runs is the lead outside zone play . Because it is such a staple of the offense, opponents have stressed the importance of defending this play whenever they face Iowa, to the point that Iowa has established a number of "counters" to take advantage of those defensive strategies. The most common strategy that Iowa utilizes is a pin and pull scheme, but they also incorporate other variations. In this post, we will look briefly at how defenses defend Iowa's stretch scheme, and how Iowa deployed a "gap counter" to effectively counter those strategies.

AP Photo/Al Goldis I got to rewatch the MSU-Iowa game in some detail. Here's my takeaways with some brevity (most of this comes from twitter with some edits, so sorry for it being poorly written. MSU D MSU DL did great job most of the game dealing with the Iowa stretch game. Did a great job getting helmet playside and limiting playside gaps  A bit of Iowa's success on ground game off gap schemes where DL overcommitted to what they thought was stretch; not really replicable for UM  Does mean something to UM tho: MSU is great at identifying/defending tendency. Need to strategically break tendency to get them out of pos (this is a common thing for all of Dantonio's good defenses, well schooled)  LBs/Safeties still flow very hard. Pursuit mostly disciplined but you can catch them out of gaps and can catch open grass away from action  And you can still play formation games to get matchups you want in secondary. Tight splits/TEs = knob adj = Safety on receiv...

Iowa football has been utilizing the base stretch run scheme that made the likes of the Washington Redskins and Denver Broncos dominant in the 90s and into the new century. I’ve discussed outside zone quite a bit before , as have many other places ; rather than continue along the same lines, I’m now going to make a distinction and a further distinction with regards to Iowa football. There is Outside Zone – also known as wide zone – where the intent is to out flank the defense and get to the edge; this is most commonly seen from spread teams. Then there is zone stretch, where the ball can bounce to the outside, but more often than not will be cut inside the EMOL, this is the classic Joe Gibbs and Shanahan offense. Both can be called stretch or wide or outside zone, it’s more of a philosophical difference (though in Gibb's case, he had a play called "bounce" and a play called "Outside", that were just that very distinction). Iowa also adds in the lead bl...

We talked previously about the variety of Cover 4 coverages that allow defenses to mix up their look and reaction to routes while still playing what is essentially the same basic scheme. This time, I’m going to move away a bit from what is done post snap and look at how a defense can be benefitted by pre-snap positioning; that is: leverage and depth. In this way, you can combat some of the offense’s strengths while still maintaining your base scheme. This article will focus on the position of the front 7 and what they can do to benefit the coverage scheme.

I'm writing about this only because it involves two B1G teams, one for which Rudock played, and another for which he is transferring to. (Charlie Litchfield/The Register) This is what I had to say about the Iowa QB situation early last season QB Situation I really don't think Rudock got any help from his receivers. His INT was just about a perfect throw, he also had a TE drop one that hit him in the gut. I thought, for the most part, his accuracy was good, arm strength was good enough. Where he struggled, IMO, was his eyes and getting to the right spot in his progressions on time. Missed a open bench route that should have been his first or second read in his progression (based on defensive key) that lead to Iowa's first punt, for instance. Beathard might have a little bit better arm strength, though his ball wobbles a bit more. But where he separated himself to me was that he tended to see the field better. Not always on time, but he got the ball where it needed...

Introduction This is intended to be a look at the B1G players participating in the NFL combine (and a couple others that I think may get drafted). I include combine results, though that is only a small part of the equation for me. I put much more value into what I've seen on film rather than by how well someone has been taught to run the 40 yard dash. I try to give a basic overview of strengths, weaknesses, fit, and where I'd expect them to be drafted based on "norms". What that means is that I'm not really looking at mock drafts, I don't have my ear to the ground for what Mel Kiper is saying about a guy. It's just based on what I've seen on film. This will be five parts long, with teams coming in alphabetical order. Brian Spurlock, USA Today Sports

Iowa

Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports Offense: Mostly 12 or 22 personnel, zone stretch run scheme Defense: 4-3 Over (Under mixed in) mostly 2-high safeties as it's always been.

Iowa Lots of people will complain about that Iowa playcall (deep pass on 3rd and short), but you won't run into the mouth of an 8 man MSU front. Even w/ INC it makes MSU respect pass in future Iowa LBs doing a good job meeting MSU's pulling OL in the hole. MSU needs to do better taking LBs out with their momentum The lead blocker on that roll needs to peak inside earlier. As soon as you find no one up-field, you become lead blocker playing inside/out. Blocked air for too long and forced QB to throw it away. Iowa CB too high on that tackle. Wrap and drive the player OOB if you don't want to tackle, but never go high there. (On MSU 3rd down conversion on catch short of the sticks) Iowa has been very disruptive with DL, preventing MSU from getting to LBs, and LBs on meeting blockers on inside runs, MSU trying to get outside now but not getting into Iowa defenders well. That's the area to attack MSU's cover 4. Short/intermediate out. That's a realyl tough...

Ceiling: 8               Ranking: 6                  Floor: 3.75 ( Ranking Explanation ) School: Detroit Country Day (Franklin, MI) Size: 6'3" - 200 lbs. Composite: 3 Star, 0.8697 ,  #25 Pro #476 Overall 247 : 3 Star, 83, #55 Pro Rivals : 4 Star, 5.8, #7 Pro, #180 Overall Scout : 3 Star, #35 QB Favorites:  Rutgers (Commit) Others:  Iowa, CMU, WMU Strengths Gets the ball deep and is a great passer on throws 10+ yards (particularly post patterns) Very comfortable throwing on the run, particularly moving right Keeps his eyes down field and gets the ball into the hands of his play makers. Can really push the ball deep by having good arm strength and a nice flight trajectory. Ball drops in pretty well and he allows for his WRs to make plays. Good throwing power on intermediate routes, gets good height and zip on his post and dig type routes, really steps in an...

Ceiling: 8                 Ranking: 6                  Floor: 3.75 ( Ranking Explanation ) School: Wheaton North (Wheaton, IL) Size: 6'4" - 195 lbs. Composite: 4 Star, 0.8973 ,  #15 Pro, #271 Overall 247 : 4 Star, 92, #11 Pro Rivals : 4 Star, 5.8, #7 Pro Scout : 3 Star, #43 Pro Favorites:  Northwestern (Commit) Other Notable Offers:  Boston College, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, NC State, Ole Miss, Penn St, Syracuse Strengths Strong arm on short passes, capable of firing ball in quickly Quick release and good at moving the pocket Underrated athlete that can keep defenses honest with his feet Strong arm, can really rocket a ball in there. Displays the ability to put some air on the ball and throw over top of defenses. Good height. Has a release point above his helmet, while still not with full arm extension, still gives him a high release point...

Ceiling: 6.75                  Ranking: 4.75                  Floor: 3 ( Ranking Explanation ) School: Wyandotte (Kansas City, KS) School: Ursuline (Youngstown, OH) Size: 6'0" - 210 lbs. Composite: 3 Star, 0. 8547,  #19 Dual, #716 Overall 247 : 3 Star, 88, #14 Dual Rivals : 3 Star, 5.6, ATH Scout : 3 Star, #27 Dual Favorites:  Minnesota (Commit) Other Notable Offers:  Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska Strengths Able to drop the ball into various levels of the defense Very good escapability in the pocket Physical player on defense Gets relatively good rotation on the ball so that it doesn't hang in the air much. Can drop the ball in between levels of the defense with little extra hang time because of this. When he does step into throws and get a higher release he is capable of hitting digs and some shorter posts with good ball velocity, putting ...

Ceiling: 9                 Ranking: 8.25                  Floor: 5 ( Ranking Explanation ) School: De La Salle Institute (Chicago, ILL) Size: 6'5" - 290 lbs. Composite: 4 Star, #4 OT, #49 Overall 247 : 4 Star, 97, #5 OT, #42 Overall Rivals : 4 Star, 5.9, #13 OT, #97 Overall Scout : 4 Star, #6 OT, #52 Overall Favorites: Ohio State (Commit) Other Notable Offers:  Michigan, Michigan St, Notre Dame,  Arizona St, Arkansas, Cal, Florida, FSU, Georgia Tech, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Maryland, Miss St, Nebraska, Northwestern, Oklahoma, Ole Miss, Purdue, Tennessee, UCLA, Vandy, Virginia, Wisconsin Strengths Mammoth body that moves well, especially forward. Can pull around the line as his straight speed is good for his size. Great, great down blocker. Gets under pads of kids that are much smaller than him, get into body, latches on, and drives. Very physical player...