Learning Football / Football 101

[Son of a K-Gun]

11 minutes ago, Rc2catch said:

You are correct on madden. It has limits but it’s pretty great for diagnosing coverage and blitz packages etc etc.. 
I actually learned quite a bit about different RPO packages just from playing. 

So much more in depth than when I played Tecmo Bowl as a kid and we had like four plays to choose from...

[RocCityRoller]

I hate to admit it but Phinsider, a Dolphins fans forum/site has some great articles about football.

 

Look for the Football 101 articles. This is where I learned more about the Wide 9 defensive alignment.

https://www.thephinsider.com/football-101

[HoofHearted]

35 minutes ago, Rc2catch said:

You are correct on madden. It has limits but it’s pretty great for diagnosing coverage and blitz packages etc etc.. 
I actually learned quite a bit about different RPO packages just from playing. 

That's scary. The majority of them are ridiculously unrealistic.

[Rc2catch]

6 minutes ago, HoofHearted said:

That's scary. The majority of them are ridiculously unrealistic.

To each their own 

[WhoTom]

37 minutes ago, Son of a K-Gun said:

So much more in depth than when I played Tecmo Bowl as a kid and we had like four plays to choose from...

 

For me, it was Electric Football. You set up the guys on both sides, turn it on, the board vibrates, and the players go in random directions. Not a lot of strategy there. Scoring is about as frequent as it is in soccer.

 

Yeah, I'm old.

[Gen2]

1 hour ago, blacklabel said:

I would strongly suggest the Take Your Eye Off the Ball books by Pat Kirwan. He breaks things down really well and the books are super informative and not difficult to comprehend. 

 

I second that recommendation. I've bought three copies, one for me years ago, then when my son got old enough to be a "serious" fan, my copy disappeared to his bedroom. I ended up getting him an autographed copy of his own to ransom my copy back. Two years ago, my daughter decided she wanted to join our fun and watch with us, so I bought her her own copy and made it required reading before she was allowed to comment during the game. 

[BullBuchanan]

1 hour ago, SageAgainstTheMachine said:

I think YouTube is going to be a better tool than books here.  My favorite channel is Brett Kollman’s.

Kollman is fantastic. QB School w/ J.T. o'Sullivan is really good too and The DB Room with Glover Quinn.

I would start with Defense as I think it's easier to see the perspective of what happens on the rest of the field based on what the defense does. Specifically start with coverage schemes - Cover 1, 2,3,4,5,6,9 and then dive a little deeper into run fits. From there you can look at offensive packages and how they are designed to beat/exploit those coverages and how coverages can be masked/adapted on the fly to trick offenses into choosing the plays they do.

Edited December 14, 2022 by BullBuchanan

[Beck Water]

1 hour ago, blacklabel said:

I would strongly suggest the Take Your Eye Off the Ball books by Pat Kirwan. He breaks things down really well and the books are super informative and not difficult to comprehend. 

 

They don't necessarily give you the X's and O's understanding, but I endorse the recommendation.  I must have bought about 5 copies by now.  I can't keep them around, guests keep borrowing them and then I never see them again.  It's a good introduction to the Chess Match of football.

 

There are a bunch of Football Academies online that provide breakdowns of offensive plays, route concepts, and protections as well as defenses and coverages.

 

For film breakdown, I like

Cover1

JT O'Sullivan "The QB School" https://www.youtube.com/@TheQBSchool  https://theqbschool.com

Kurt Warner "QB Confidential" https://www.youtube.com/@kurtwarnerqbc  - he has stepped up his youtube game and is much clearer than he used to be

I used to like Brett Kollman "The Film Room" a lot but I feel he's kind of become a victim of his own success recently with his Whiskey and his sponsors - he seems to feel he has to choose a narrative to make each piece interesting, and then cherry-picks stuff to support it.  You can find stuff where you're "well that aged well" about how "Mac Jones terrifies me" "the Dolphins and Chiefs are the same team".  You can also find some really good stuff about run fits and his stuff from a couple years ago is IMO better.

 

Baldy's Breakdowns are always worth watching (twitter #baldysbreakdowns) and despite my occasional concerns regarding his current replicant status, Jim Kubiak's weekly articles breaking down the Bills offense for TBN are always worth reading.

 

What worked for me was to go from film breakdowns of actual plays from teams I was interested in, backwards into looking up the route concepts and protections and defensive coverages.  Like I saw the finished product, and then wanted to know and understand the pieces that went into it.

 

IMHO one of the best ways to learn used to be to subscribe to Gamepass and pick a play, then run it in slowmo and see what everyone is doing

NFL+ has ruined this - no slomo, can no longer choose an individual play.  I started out learning the game in more depth in the '80s and 90's when my family used to VCR Bills games and mail them to me and I could watch the same play over and over and in slo-mo and start to pick things out.

 

1 hour ago, RocCityRoller said:

I hate to admit it but Phinsider, a Dolphins fans forum/site has some great articles about football.

 

Look for the Football 101 articles. This is where I learned more about the Wide 9 defensive alignment.

https://www.thephinsider.com/football-101

 

Buffalo Rumblings used to have a bunch of good stuff too.

Edited December 14, 2022 by Beck Water

[In Summary]

1 hour ago, saundena said:

I've been watching the game for almost 30 years but admittedly, I'm not a very strong X's and O's fella. 

 

I know the basics of course and understand at a high level the chess match that is Offense versus Defens; but always find myself watching the ball versus diagnosing and recognizing what is happening before and after the snap. I think having a better understanding of these things and increasing my ability to recognize them in real time will enhance my enjoyment of the game.

 

Do anybody have recommendations for a really good football X's and O's book that really goes into the details on thing like blocking schemes, coverage packages, how players' talent and physical traits impact personnel groupings and substitutions, etc?

 

Thanks!

 

Good post.  I'm the same. 

 

I started watching some Cover 1 stuff and I had no idea how much I've always missed in terms of X&Os, individual technique, "concepts", etc.  My revelation is that what is happening is happening very quickly.  It's almost like the challenge of watching hockey and learning to not lose sight of the puck.  Cover 1 will break down a few plays and stop after just a few frames to break the plays or individual play into digestible segments.  Without this it's just a blur to me.

 

The TV coverage is selective and doesn't compare with the All 22.  Replays seem scarce.  We see a player "miss" a tackle when in analysis, it wasn't their assignment to begin with and the guilty party is out of the frame.  Interceptions always look like the QB's fault unless you know where the receiver was supposed to be.  Point being that bombastic claims of failure and incompetence are often un-justified.  Watching the Cover 1 segments has greatly softened my overly critical views on Edmunds.  I've come to really appreciate some of the D-line play.  

 

The more I understand the game, the more the peripheral stuff like gambling, player celebrities, non-game drama, sports politics, etc. have zero interest to me.

 

[Bills Fan In Pittsford]

3 hours ago, JMM said:

Possibly the post of the YEAR! 🤣👏👏

Reddit gold right there

[saundena]

Thanks everyone. I decided to start with Pat Kirwan's "Take Your Eye Off the Ball" book which incidentally is free for Kindle owners until tomorrow (or was for me).

 

 

Appreciate all your suggestion and will also look at some of the other suggestions and we videos like Cover 1, too!

[Over 29 years of fanhood]

8 hours ago, saundena said:

I've been watching the game for almost 30 years but admittedly, I'm not a very strong X's and O's fella. 

 

I know the basics of course and understand at a high level the chess match that is Offense versus Defens; but always find myself watching the ball versus diagnosing and recognizing what is happening before and after the snap. I think having a better understanding of these things and increasing my ability to recognize them in real time will enhance my enjoyment of the game.

 

Do anybody have recommendations for a really good football X's and O's book that really goes into the details on thing like blocking schemes, coverage packages, how players' talent and physical traits impact personnel groupings and substitutions, etc?

 

Thanks!

 

when Gabe Davis adjusts his chin strap … 32.8% of the time it’s a power dive left. 
 

 

knowledge dropped …

[LeGOATski]

10 hours ago, Big Turk said:

 

There is so much great content out there to watch on Youtube/Twitter/NFL.com etc I am not sure buying a book is even worth it

The sweet smell of a crisp new book is always worth it.

 

[GunnerBill]

15 hours ago, Donuts and Doritos said:

Is this Ken Dorsey?

 

Post of the year. Not because I hate Dorsey but because it made me actually spit out my coffee with laughter. 

[machine gun kelly]

16 hours ago, saundena said:

I've been watching the game for almost 30 years but admittedly, I'm not a very strong X's and O's fella. 

 

I know the basics of course and understand at a high level the chess match that is Offense versus Defens; but always find myself watching the ball versus diagnosing and recognizing what is happening before and after the snap. I think having a better understanding of these things and increasing my ability to recognize them in real time will enhance my enjoyment of the game.

 

Do anybody have recommendations for a really good football X's and O's book that really goes into the details on thing like blocking schemes, coverage packages, how players' talent and physical traits impact personnel groupings and substitutions, etc?

 

Thanks!

 

Go to First Take your eye off the ball, by Pat Kirwan and Bill Cowher.  They have I think two books and audio books to match.  It’s an easy read and very helpful to learn the X’s and O’s.

[Xwnyer]

17 hours ago, saundena said:

I've been watching the game for almost 30 years but admittedly, I'm not a very strong X's and O's fella. 

 

I know the basics of course and understand at a high level the chess match that is Offense versus Defens; but always find myself watching the ball versus diagnosing and recognizing what is happening before and after the snap. I think having a better understanding of these things and increasing my ability to recognize them in real time will enhance my enjoyment of the game.

 

Do anybody have recommendations for a really good football X's and O's book that really goes into the details on thing like blocking schemes, coverage packages, how players' talent and physical traits impact personnel groupings and substitutions, etc?

 

Thanks!

 

If Davis goes in motion toward the center of the field its gonna be a run play