Seahawks at Rams gifs

by Nate Dogg on Dec 2, 2011 12:21 PM PST

Late gifs are better than no gifs. Thanksgiving slowed me down but there was too much good stuff from the Rams game for me to skip it all together. I'm hoping to have the Redskins up soon, but I'm not sure when I'll be able to get that done. Not that anyone wants to see more of that game.

Play 1: Brandon Mebane vs Tony Wragge part 1. Unstoppable forces meets oh so movable object.

Play 2: Chris Clemons vs a triple team. Something to keep in mind before you get excited about every undersized speed rusher in the upcoming draft: The Leo needs to be able to play the run. A lot of people, myself included, thought the Leo position would leave the Hawks vulnerable to runs on his side. And if the Leo was what myself and others thought it would be that would've been true. Clemons is no Red Bryant but he can hold his own in the run game. He probably deserves more credit than we give him, he's a really well rounded player.

Play 3: Red Bryant and Brandon Mebane vs the right side of the Rams line. These guys manhandled the Rams offensive line all game.

Play 4: Leroy Hill vs Tony Wragge. Hill had 7.5 sacks as a rookie and has been used very little as a pass rusher since. I'd be interested to see if he can do more of this.

Play 5: Alan Branch vs Harvey Dahl. Branch embarrasses Dahl by pushing him back about 4 yards before joining Hill and Wright in cleaning up the play.

Play 6: Brandon Mebane vs Tony Wragge part 2. You know who's not very good?

Play 7: Marshawn Lynch vs CJ Ah You. Beef Moe in pass pro. Nastiest chip block I've seen in a while.

Play 8: Russell Okung and Max Unger vs Robert Quinn and Gary Gibson. Gary Gibson looks silly here and it's nice to see Unger finish off a pancake, but I'm guessing Gary Gibson looks silly a lot. Quinn on the other hand is a premier pass rusher that the Rams took 14th overall last year, and Okung black holes him.

Play 9: Brandon Mebane vs Sam Bradford. It's a little hard to tell from this gif but Bradford gets absolutely thumped on this play. There's an audible crunch on the TV broadcast when Mebane hits him.

Play 10: Zach Miller vs Brady Poppinga. This is Miller just doing his thing. The entire left side of the line seals off well and Lynch has a nice gain.

Play 11: Justin Forsett vs the run scheme. The very first one of these I did focused on the Seahawks run schemes. I was critical of a few plays, none more than this one. Look familiar?

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Comments

Great work. How long do each of these take to produce by the way?

I appreciate your little blurb about Clemons. I remember all the hate he received in the game threads last year in Run D, especially from JM and co.. I think people were trying very hard to justify their hatred of the Tapp trade by pointing out every little mistake Clemons made, so his play was under the microscope.

by 12thman on Dec 1, 2011 8:58 AM PST reply actions

I always thought John was pretty careful to distinguish

what he was concerned about, and what he had observed so far. If some of us were looking to corroborate that we were right about Tapp for Clemons, some of us were also looking to corroborate that we were right about buying in to the Leo concept.

Head of catering.

by jacobstevens on Dec 1, 2011 10:53 AM PST up reply actions

But yeah I noticed last year

and much more so this year, Clemons hasn’t hurt vs. the run, and indeed he’s helped. One reason why, I just posted this on the Eagles site, one reason why is his best rush move is his inside move, so being assigned the B gap doesn’t slow down his rush, and it’s hard to make him pay for being too aggressive.

But hey, I just realized something. See, James Harrison with the Steelers, often has B gap assignment. You’ll see a lot of teams try to counter Harrison & the zone blitz by motioning a TE to the left side. When they do, he moves from the 9-tech alignment to 5-tech, but he only plugs the B gap if a run comes his side. One of the ILBs is always the one to set the edge.

So I’ve loved the simplicity of assignment, and the more complex assignment is the one less likely to be impeded by a blocker.

But now that we’ve got stout 1-gap DTs, I just realized that Clemons taking the B gap is possibly the biggest reason why Branch & others at 3-tech aren’t Tommie Harris penetrators. They don’t get the B gap, they get an A gap. Even with Red Bryant covering 2 gaps it’s hard not to double our nose tackle Mebane, and the guard automatically has the 3-tech more contained, one-on-one on the inside.

Usually the guard is facing a 3-tech lined up in the B gap, off his outside shoulder, and the tackle will be fanning out or kick stepping to block the end. 3-tech has an advantage as space opens up. The guards we face are having the advantage of contained space vs. a bigger man.

See, in Pittsburgh the rush is assisted by assignment issues, zone blitz, and when their main rusher goes wide on the tackle the end, again, has space to cut back inside, almost never double-teamed. So they can get interior pressure. And 4-3s with traditional ends can get interior pressure. I think it’s not just the 3-tech personnel or the philosophical prototyping, it’s the defensive scheme that is impeding interior pressure.

Makes me think the answer is making the full transition to 3-4 if we’re keeping this personnel, or moving back to traditional 4-3 if we’re reaching the end of Clemons’ peak and we need a new rusher.

Head of catering.

by jacobstevens on Dec 1, 2011 11:07 AM PST up reply actions 4 recs

Damn, Jacob...

I’ve had to re-read this entry 5+ times to completely grasp your understanding of our 4-3 LEO scheme vs. tradtional 3-4 or 4-3 groupings. You NEED to get your thoughts up in a concentrated Fan Post. Please. Talented writing and analysis is found here. Do it!

by 12thman on Dec 2, 2011 12:43 AM PST up reply actions

Wow, thanks. I think you're right, it's worth bringing up.

We were a 3-4 defense last night.

Head of catering.

by jacobstevens on Dec 2, 2011 9:28 AM PST up reply actions

Really great analysis

by Greetings from the Lord Humongous! on Dec 2, 2011 12:53 PM PST up reply actions

I've gotten a system for making them so the part that takes the longest is just rewatching the game and finding plays I want to use.

I would probably fall into the “JM and co.” group. Clemons defied a lot of expectations when he got here. I don’t think every little mistake he made was pointed out, it was impossible to deny what he brought as a pass rusher right off the bat. His abilities in the run game took longer to prove, and plays like the one above should sway and lingering doubters.

by Nate Dogg on Dec 1, 2011 9:09 PM PST up reply actions

I appreciate all the work put into this,

…but where is the gif for Big Red’s stiff arm and interception?

by Dizzy Saturn on Dec 1, 2011 11:56 AM PST reply actions

I figure the big plays, stuff like turn over and touch downs, you can find anywhere.

The Bryant gif was already posted in the post game thread and you can find video of it on nfl.com. My goal with these is to highlight interesting plays that might otherwise get missed.

by Nate Dogg on Dec 1, 2011 9:15 PM PST up reply actions

I understand why you post these and I very much do appreciate it.

But also, thanks for the link to the Bryant gif; I missed it the first time around. I just really wanted that one, as I like to put those highlight gifs(been mostly Kam all year) as my wallpaper. They do play on Windows background in case any one hasn’t tried.

by Dizzy Saturn on Dec 1, 2011 9:36 PM PST up reply actions

Yep, no problem.

And if there’s ever a big play that doesn’t make it onto nfl.com or the Seahawks site let me know and I can probably throw it up on youtube or try to gif it.

by Nate Dogg on Dec 1, 2011 9:39 PM PST up reply actions

So how bout Trent Cole on Okung, 1:57 remaining, Q4.

Head of catering.

by jacobstevens on Dec 2, 2011 9:18 AM PST up reply actions

I'll look for it.

by Nate Dogg on Dec 2, 2011 9:22 AM PST up reply actions

It doesn't look as egregious as people are making it out to be.

IMO. Not necessary. But just chippiness from getting dominated. The result is making it feel like hip tossing him was an outrageous thing to do.

Head of catering.

by jacobstevens on Dec 2, 2011 9:27 AM PST up reply actions

I love these Gif posts you do

but I wouldn’t mind if you skipped the Redskins game and just went straight into the Eagles game.

Pain or damage don't end the world. Or despair or fucking beatings. The world ends when you're dead. Until then, you got more punishment in store. Stand it like a man... and give some back. - Al Swearengen

by Lo Pann on Dec 2, 2011 12:46 PM PST reply actions 1 recs

Awesome work, Nate

Thanks for putting these together.

by Greetings from the Lord Humongous! on Dec 2, 2011 12:53 PM PST reply actions

Yeah. Thanks Nate

Seahawks are really starting to show dominance in the trenches. Loving it.

A fistful of brass. My sigs are always behind the times.

I'm a one man rec'n crew

by jubelthebear on Dec 2, 2011 1:42 PM PST reply actions

Play 4

Is it just me or does it look like there are 2 rams players blocking each other at the end of that gif?

by beckyatthebeach on Dec 2, 2011 3:46 PM PST reply actions

Just wanted to say

As a baseball fan that just started closely following football this year I love these posts.
The gif’s let me focus a lot more on whats happening off the ball so I can actually follow the line and understand what really makes these plays happen. Hope you keep doing these every week!

by cedarA on Dec 2, 2011 3:55 PM PST reply actions