Can you distinguish different coach's schemes in your league?

[Reginald Rutledge]

One of the great things about being in a miniature football league is analyzing various teams schemes offensively, defensively, and special teams.

In the DFW, where there is a no-hands barred, stack if you want kind of action, it becomes rather apparent week-to-week that many of the coaches run different schemes.

Some coaches learn under one type of system and apply those concepts in offense and defense and others may learn off another. One of the great coaches in the DFW League, Don Hudson runs a particular scheme where his linemen are on regular TTC bases. He runs double-TE, one back and one receiver sets a lot. Because he does not use athletes of FF.COM, he employs the TEs to chip swoopers (loopers) and then go out for passing.

On defense, he runs a 2-deep zone sometimes using zone blitzes to try to bait you into throwing. Many of those who studied under Don tries to use similar schemes. Some add a little twist but by and large, it is eerily similar.

Then you have DeWone "Parcells" McDaniel who's philosophy is to slow the game up. Use the clock, ball control-type offense. He loves running off right tackle a lot. He uses 3 and 4 receiver sets from time to time but his intentions are to pound the rock. The linemen are closely intertwined. DeWone averages about 17 pts a game.

On defense, he plays a bend-but-don't break defense. A tyrpical 4-3 with pretty physical corners. He plays dime coverage a lot but will from time-to-time, bring the safeties up to threaten against the run. Needless to say, he's the second winningest coaches in league history. Others who have mimicked his stype have had difficult with it.

Then there's Mike Robertson. A 4-time champion who has etched his own mark. Mike tries to run my offense, the spread, but excels in running traps. Everyone thinks the play will not work but with constant practice, this guy has it down to a science. Mike is like a hound-dog in the game. When he knows he has you on the ropes, he will continue to pound you. Mike use a multitude of schemes but most are centered around his ability to run trap plays on you. He is willing to give up 10 yards on a run to set you up for a big play on the next play.

His defensive schemes are copied directly from what I do. Neither him or myself have the strongest teams in the league, so we do a lot of exotic coverages that the other team can not recognize. We leave our corners on islands, knowing 9 of 10 times, they will win the battle against the receiver. Mike's safeties are sometimes in a double zone coverage scheme but for the most part, he plays a base 4-3 or 5-2. The only difference in Mike's defensive scheme and mine is that his middle linebacker is on a rookie base, adding added pressure on run plays and mine is on a lateral, giving me the ability to rush ahead on runs and drop back on passing plays.

I run the spread offense. In past years, we had steroids in the league. Guys were killing me in a head-to-head battle! So I was desperate to compete but I did not want to resort to the limitations of straight ahead run blocking. I was watching a pro game and the analyst was speaking about how one team was stronger than the other (physically) but the weaker team was winning because of technique. Actually it was the Broncos that I was watching. I saw their zone blocking and wondered, "Could this be done in miniature?" That's when I re-shaped my philosophy. All gaps are base length a part. Defenses line players in the gap to no avail. With my athletes, who's hands are able to hit a player and knock the defender off course, we have a field day getting people open!

With such wide spacing and the ability to audible, it becomes a matter of which hole do you want to run in. Defensively, my Cowboys rank among the Top 3 every year. In a style of play that gets 100 plays in, giving up 11.0 pts a game is something I am very proud of.

So I guess my question becomes to you is that how diverse is your league in schemes? Do everyone have different schemes or is it pretty basic as far as being the same? And can you recognize those schemes and feel comfortable about your chances for success?

Sorry for the length. It's just a topic Greg Hardmon (Detroit League) and myself were discussing the other day.

Reginald Rutledge
DFW Dallas Cowboys 2007

...but you probably know MY answer - it depends which team I'm using. Just like you saw Denver's runblocking scheme and adopted it into your COWBOYS' attack, I use the REAL team's schemes all the way. For example, if I'm using Tampa Bay, you're gonna get a TON of Alstott and on Defense, the Tampa 2 will bend but not break. It usually takes 10+ plays to score against it because you never know if my MLB is playing the run or dropping deep into pass coverage. Or if Barber is playing pass or is he blitzing the QB?

On my BEARS, Rex actually throws 3 INTs per game (LOL!) but thankfully Thomas Jones is an animal running the ball. Urlacher, Briggs and Co. can squeeze the life out of the opponent's Offense. And Devin "The Windy City Flyer" Hester and Robbie "The Man With The Golden Foot" Gould do their thing on special teams.

College is no different. ILLINOIS runs a Pro Style Offense and a 4-3 Base Defense. NORTHWESTERN runs a Spread Option and a 4-4.

So, bottom line is, no two teams run the same Offense or the same Defense, at least not their Base packages.

[Anthony D Burgess]

In my league it's the same as real life, there are coaches who tend to not understand the reasons for running a type of formation. Some call plays and set up like they are making it up as they go along, not aware of who has what assignment.

Some rely on speed and other on power as they run the same formation all game. Some rely on there TTQB skills but under the pressure of the game miss passes, or are sacked because they cant stop the board to avoid it.

SS's to deep or too close to the line, one on one on the outside, no out side containment by the LB. Lack ot footballball knowledge is evident, but as the season goes on you can see that they are learning more about the actual game.

I see the coaches thinking more on how to out smart the other and not totaly depend on speed and power along with the TTQB skills.

The true chess match begins, they begin to play an area of the field and to not just the man, they understand the discipline for each position in the formation they are running, thou some EF/MF influences tend to bleed through resulting in a negative play they quickly learn from that.

However most of them make themself one dimensional ( Passing ) they live by it and have not learned that you need to pick up first down. They run the QB and not the RB, they are prone to 3rd and long.

A few are beginning to see that you are actualy coaching a football team and not just watching a simple game. It is a beautiful thing to see the light come on in there minds

You can see that there philosoph of the game has changed from hoping and wishing and relying on none relayted football elements to thinking and understanding the game of football and knowing what is required to develop a successful play.

It is truly move and counter move as John Facenda has said, coaches are watching more of the NFL PLay Book on the NFLNetwork.

Seeing the coaches film they understand that each player has a responsibility on a given play and how there movement or lack of it effect the total concept of the play.

Hey Reg, nice post

[Coach K-LO]

i HAVE NOTICED THAT THERE ARE SOME COACHES THAT USE DIFFERENT SCHEMES THAN OTHERS....

... WE HAVE SOME COACHES THAT DO THE SAME THING OVER AND OVER ... (THEY ARE THE NON-PLAYOFF TEAMS)

... WE HAVE SOME COACHES THAT USE GIMMICKS TO MOVE THE BALL DOWN FIELD AND RUN A BASIC 4-4 DEFENSE TO SLOW DOWN THE RUN AND ARE EASY PICKINGS FOR THE PASS WHEN THEIR COVER GUYS ARE TOO SLOW ....

... THEN WE HAVE THE ELITE COACHES THAT USE A VARITY OF PLAYS AND FORMATIONS ON BOTH SIDES OF THE FIELD TO CONFUSE YOU AND TAKE ADVANTAGE OF YOUR WEAK SPOTS......

MYSELF, I MIX IT UP ..... DEPENDING ON WHO i AM PLAYING........