|
CK: What types of plays
would you design for Onterrior Smith?
Doc MM: Let’s face it Cindy,
if you can’t run the football at the pro level, that’s like not being
able to pinch effectively in racquetball, then the defense can sit back
in Zone and Two Deep coverage and cover the Pass all day long.
Okay, the
Eagles want to blitz, I’ll design more plays for my running back Smith
to run right at them. By running more into the Eagles blitz-oriented
defense, I’m giving our Vikings linemen more leverage to be aggressive
and fight back.
The Vikes get down to the Eagles’ 30 yard line and both times
faltered and had to settle for field goals? Why?
CK: Why? Those field goals
were just not going to win the game against a high caliber team like the
Eagles.
Doc MM: Right CK. The
Vikings got down to Eagles’ territory and they are so dang predictable,
even though I was at home watching it on television, I knew exactly that
they were passing on 1st down. I say "mix it up for Cats Sake
and run the ball on 1st down or fake a run and do a boot leg,
look at the Denver Broncos and their Flea Flicker plays that won John
Elway and the Broncos countless Divisional Championships and a Super
Bowl! I mean, do something different to keep the defense on their toes."
CK: But they didn’t Doc,
they threw on first downs on the Eagles’ 30 yard line and ended up with
several drives killing Illegal Motions penalties on a rooky that
resulted in another field goal.
Doc MM: Yes, I don’t blame
the rooky, I don’t blame anyone for the Vikes’ blunder in the Red Zone,
they needed to mix up their offensive plays and provide the rooky
linemen more chances to be aggressive, but instead the Vikes let the
Eagles do whatever the heck the Eagles wanted to do on defense. It’s
just like racquetball, if my opponent is stepping over and killing my
drives, I’m going to vary the velocity, height and types of serves to
throw his defensive timing off, I’m going to make it as tough as
possible for him to figure out what I’m going to do, we’re talking about
buying a few precious seconds of time and everything falls into place.
CK: What do you mean by that
last sentence Doc?
Doc MM: If the Vikings could
have established Moss on shorter, but quicker slant patterns to take
advantage of his amazing foot speed over most corners, then the Eagles
would have to pull in their safeties and this would open up the field
for Moss to run longer pattern down field. And once Moss catches several
long bombs from Culpepper, the Eagles would stretch their defense so far
that Culpepper and Smith could do some major damages on the ground. This
is analogous to the Pass-Pinch Strategy in racquetball. I’m going to
pass to pin my opponent deep and finish him off with a pinch or vice
versa, I’m going to pull his defensive close in with pinches (running
plays) and then when their defense has collapsed in to defend against
the run, then I’ll throw it into their depleted secondary (Pass).
|
