In Bob’s first piece below, he introduces himself and his feature. He also asks for some specific questions to get things rolling. Feel free to ask anything, no matter how arcane it seems. Want to know how to properly defend a power-I formation out of a base 4-3? Curious about the difference between a nickel and dime package and when to use either? Don’t understand the difference between a counter and a trap? Just ask in the comments section. Bob will hook you up.
By the way, I’m pretty giddy about this. Bob knows his football and I’m excited to learn and share that with ya’ll.]
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This is the first in what will hopefully be a weekly feature. I say hopefully as it’s highly likely that two of the following will happen in the up-coming football seasons: a) I will forget during the week, leaving it to be done during the weekend, only to get blasted watching games with friends both Saturday and Sunday, thus forgetting yet again, or b) Dave will be barraged with hate mail wondering why he let such irreputable trash sully his fantastic site. Either way, this is my virgin effort, so I humbly beg your patience and ask you to save your salvos for when I really stink things up.
As I’m an engineer by trade, and have little of what could be called ‘writing ability’ paired with even less creativity, I’m gonna do a little question and answer session to get this thing rolling. If it gets a little vain, I’m sorry, but I promise – It’s only X’s and O’s for the rest of the year:
So what is Eleven? Dave has asked me tend lend some knowledge of the finer aspects of my favorite sport, football. It’s called Eleven as it’s the greatest number ever worn (by me, of course), and refers to that aspect of the game which I love the most – every single play, offensive and defensive, requires eleven men to do their job if it is to succeed.
What’s the format? Uhmmm, evolving? Does that count? That fact is, I’m not sure yet. I might spend one week talking defensive fronts, the next I might cover a single play from both sides of the ball. I might breakdown one of the ‘hot topic’ schemes that the talking heads are babbling about. I hate to say it, but there’s a good chance that there will be one or two bits in which I get a little philosophical about the game and what it means to me. And yes, there will always be talk about my UW Cowboys, the mid-major everyone should love.
Why you? Like many former QB’s, I am the son of a high school football coach. From as early as I can remember, my Augusts through Novembers were spent lining practice fields, handing out second-rate gear, and collating playbooks. By the time I was twelve, I knew the ins and outs of my father’s offense better than his starting eleven. My weekends were simple – Friday night watch Dad, Saturday go to a college game, Sunday break down film from Friday and then watch NFL. My father was a fantastic QB coach, producing a string of kids who went on to play college and has one protégé in the NFL and another poised to make the leap after this year. My own high school career, while successful on an individual level and full of undeserved accolades, did not suffice to garner any real interest from DI schools. This wasn’t all that surprising or disappointing (Few Wyoming kids get any looks at all). I did get asked to walk on UW, but decided I’d rather focus on my education and go the small school route. It’s a decision I’ve never regretted. I got to see the field from the second quarter of my very first college game, all the way through to the tear soaked mud of my last game as a senior. I started my career as a QB, got pt in every game as a freshman, and then was splitting halves with another kid my sophomore year. After our fourth game of that year, our secondary had lost its third starter to a season ending injury. That evening, the HC asked me if I’d be willing to play some FS. As the choice was keep sharing time at QB, or play every snap at FS, I said yes in a heartbeat. I was tired of getting blindsided and wanted to dish out some fury of my own. It was a revelation, and as a college athlete I was reborn. From my QB experience, I could see plays develop at the snap, and was blessed with a massive chip on my shoulder from suffering so many rough tackles. In week eight of that year, the QB I formerly split time with snapped his collarbone midway through the second quarter, which left me playing both QB and FS. Now, that’s not a big deal, as a lot of kids play both ways through high school, but take my word on this – you don’t want to do it in college. I had to do it for two and a half games, during which I suffered a career’s worth of cheap-shots, a rib cage that was black and blue on both sides, and a wonderful episode of hypothermia. Fortunately, that was the last time I had to do that, and stuck on the defensive side of the ball for the rest of my career. My junior and senior years, I was honored by my teammates and selected as a defensive captain, and had the added onus of calling all of our coverages at the LOS. My experience at QB was a tremendous asset, and made me look much better than I really was. As football was fall, and fall was football, once my eligibility was up it was a given that I was going to stay for grad school and help coach for a couple of years. I coached both running backs and wide outs in season, and worked with the DB’s in the off season. Unfortunately, I was not a big fan of our offensive system or the madness (there was little to no method) behind it, so spent a good portion of both seasons frustrated. That frustration led to me saying good bye to my coaching career (kinda – I still work a camp or two) and reverting to full-time armchair quarterbacking. For the first time since then, at least outside of arguing at the bar and ruling on playstation, I’m hoping to use some of that knowledge.
One disclaimer I insist of giving, one law that must be laid down – Football terminology is different wherever you go, so don’t get your panties in a twist if I call something different than the way they do on TV.
So that’s that for this one. If you have comments, suggestions, or better yet, scheme-based questions, please give them.
— Bob Pentland
Eleven Archives
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Eleven – 1 – Introduction
Eleven – 2 – The Zone Blitz
Eleven – 3 – The Cover Two
Eleven – 4 – Zone Blocking
Eleven – 5 – The Bootleg
Eleven – 6 – Extra Points And Field Goals
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