Air Raid Pass Protection

MGNation92 · May 6, 2016

Since I like to actually talk football and feel like our pass protection will be an area of concern I found this link(along with several others) on the air raid pass protection schemes:

http://www.cougcenter.com/2013/3/28/4093000/air-raid-playbook-pass-protection-schemes

I think the inherent problem will be the athleticism needed for the O-line in an air raid and our lack thereof, how do you think Littrell and staff will solve this?

Do you think we'll be hampered offensively by our O-line? Will the news guys come in and make an immediate impact? Will we use more quick screens than wanted due to bad O-line play?

Will Morris survive the whole season? What do you think?

MeanGreenTexan · May 6, 2016

11 minutes ago, MGNation92 said:

Since I like to actually talk football and feel like our pass protection will be an area of concern I found this link(along with several others) on the air raid pass protection schemes:

http://www.cougcenter.com/2013/3/28/4093000/air-raid-playbook-pass-protection-schemes

I think the inherent problem will be the athleticism needed for the O-line in an air raid and our lack thereof, how do you think Littrell and staff will solve this?

Do you think we'll be hampered offensively by our O-line? Will the news guys come in and make an immediate impact? Will we use more quick screens than wanted due to bad O-line play?

Will Morris survive the whole season? What do you think?

Our best offensive weapon is still Jeffrey Wilson. Littrell/Harrell will find ways to get him the ball quickly (be it a handoff, toss, flat pass, etc...) With his skillset, he is just as much a 'protector' as anyone on the OL.

Aldo · May 6, 2016

1 hour ago, MGNation92 said:

Do you think we'll be hampered offensively by our O-line? Will the news guys come in and make an immediate impact? Will we use more quick screens than wanted due to bad O-line play?

I mentioned in another thread, I am concerned our O-line isn't going to do us any favors this upcoming season. While the wide set should give the QB a tick longer to throw the ball, the QB may be facing a lot of pressure out there this fall.

I think we'll see more swing passes to rbs.

GrayEagle · May 8, 2016

I have some concern but somehow I believe that while we may not be as deep as we'd like, we'll have decent starters.

Fifteen practices don't seem enough to master a new blocking scheme. I think that if you have fairly quick feet that pass blocking is easier than run blocking. I watched the agility drills at one of the practices and most of the linemen seemed to move reasonably well except for Rice and Barr. But, since they are the two centers they don't need as much quickness in the middle.

Rice is such a competitor that he'll be ready by the beginning of the season. I'm a little disappointed in Barr and concerned that there could be a significant dropoff when Rice needs to come out. He does seem to have the physical tools and may just need a little mental adjustment.

I also believe that we'll be fine at the tackles. I expect Trey Keenan and Cody Hayes, both former Tech signees, to be the starters. Keenan was almost 4-star out of high school and seems to have settled in. Hayes picked up honors at Navarro last year and is another 3-star athlete. Elex Woodworth should be a capable backup but what happens to Jordan Murray will determine the other number two.

I realize that he awfully tall but I'd like to see them try Murray at guard. Quickness should be a smaller problem by having to fill less gap space. I would expect T J Henson to be the other starter at guard. Chris Miles could be a candidate to start and if he doesn't he will provide solid backup. Rentfro and Gunter should battle for playing time.

Somehow, I think that Coach Davis will have this group ready to start the season and that they will keep improving as the become comfortable with his system.

Wag Tag · May 8, 2016

On May 6, 2016 at 10:42 AM, MGNation92 said:

Since I like to actually talk football and feel like our pass protection will be an area of concern I found this link(along with several others) on the air raid pass protection schemes:

http://www.cougcenter.com/2013/3/28/4093000/air-raid-playbook-pass-protection-schemes

I think the inherent problem will be the athleticism needed for the O-line in an air raid and our lack thereof, how do you think Littrell and staff will solve this?

Do you think we'll be hampered offensively by our O-line? Will the news guys come in and make an immediate impact? Will we use more quick screens than wanted due to bad O-line play?

Will Morris survive the whole season? What do you think?

Looking forward to letting fly offense! Based off Littrels stats last year I believe we will be a little more balanced with the running back talent we have. Slants, pitch, screens , slot play will all be important, because I don't know how much time we will have for a deep ball! In looking at the schedule how hungry will the gators be for a little Bama blood? Morris stay healthy my friend!

TreeFiddy · May 8, 2016

Haven't seen much mention of the draw play. Expect heavy doses of the draw play in this offense if the line can't slow down the pass rush, not entirely unlike the Southlake Savant.

Let's hope we have a little better success with this version, and actually play some D this time.

GMG24 · May 8, 2016

4 hours ago, Wag Tag said:

Looking forward to letting fly offense! Based off Littrels stats last year I believe we will be a little more balanced with the running back talent we have. Slants, pitch, screens , slot play will all be important, because I don't know how much time we will have for a deep ball! In looking at the schedule how hungry will the gators be for a little Bama blood? Morris stay healthy my friend!

Should need 1.5 to 2 seconds as the WR should be even or behind the corner at that time easy read, throw it up or check it to your mesh routes.

Look for Littrell and co., to stretch field horizontally ( make LB and DL run side to side) as well as vertically. This staff will be looking for weaknesses in the opposing defensive alignment and check to something that gives them best chance for success Run or Pass. Based off coaching clinics they don't care which it is as long as it's the best play. They won't run it to run it and vice versa.

Edited May 8, 2016 by GMG24

MeanGreenTexan · May 9, 2016

22 hours ago, TreeFiddy said:

Haven't seen much mention of the draw play. Expect heavy doses of the draw play in this offense if the line can't slow down the pass rush, not entirely unlike the Southlake Savant.

Let's hope we have a little better success with this version, and actually play some D this time.

I also look forward to a screen play that doesn't result in an interception or 5-yd loss. We haven't seen a working screen play at UNT in quite a while.

FirefightnRick · May 9, 2016

Most of your big, slow-footed linemen are going to struggle in this offense,..so it'll take them some time to adjust to the D linemen running around and through their wide splits.

Question is...how much time will it take?

Answer:

No idea but it's taken Leach 4 years to have a winning season at WAZZU running the same offense. But........if we could put a solid defense on the field ASAP it would speed things up in the win department, I guarantee it!

Rick

Edited May 9, 2016 by FirefightnRick

untjim1995 · May 9, 2016

36 minutes ago, FirefightnRick said:

Most of your big, slow-footed linemen are going to struggle in this offense,..so it'll take them some time to adjust to the D linemen running around and through their wide splits.

Question is...how much time will it take?

Answer:

No idea but it's taken Leach 4 years to have a winning season at WAZZU running the same offense. But........if we could put a solid defense on the field ASAP it would speed things up in the win department, I guarantee it!

Rick

The defensive problems that this strategy inherently provides for your team, though, is the lack of hitting and tackling in practice. The only thing that the Old Man Buick offense helped you with was that your defense could be a huge weapon in today's flag football world because of the hits and turnovers that it can cause. Of course, when your defense sucks with this offensive strategy, you get years like the last two years or the last two years of the Dickster.

It would just be so nice to see a time here where our offense was balanced enough to do the Air Raid, but also go under center to pound the ball in when you need a firs down or need to score in the red zone. Since 1998, we have literally gone with the polar opposites: run the ball to run out the clock, throw the damn ball all over the place, go back to run the ball and never throw downfield, and now back to what appears to be a gameplan full of throw the ball and play every snap 5-7 yards behind the line.

MGNation92 · May 9, 2016

6 minutes ago, untjim1995 said:

The defensive problems that this strategy inherently provides for your team, though, is the lack of hitting and tackling in practice. The only thing that the Old Man Buick offense helped you with was that your defense could be a huge weapon in today's flag football world because of the hits and turnovers that it can cause. Of course, when your defense sucks with this offensive strategy, you get years like the last two years or the last two years of the Dickster.

It would just be so nice to see a time here where our offense was balanced enough to do the Air Raid, but also go under center to pound the ball in when you need a firs down or need to score in the red zone. Since 1998, we have literally gone with the polar opposites: run the ball to run out the clock, throw the damn ball all over the place, go back to run the ball and never throw downfield, and now back to what appears to be a gameplan full of throw the ball and play every snap 5-7 yards behind the line.

The main advantages of an air raid is it masks several deficiencies that any smaller football program has. In order to run the Dickey/McCarney three yards and a cloud of dust effective you have to have a mauling offensive line, good running backs, and semi competent QB/receivers to throw to keep the offense balanced. We have none of those outside of decent running backs(the jury is out on QB/receivers so far).

So the air raid spreads the defense both vertically and horizontally. The problem with Dodge is his offense on spread the field horizontally making it one dimensional, this is why 4 verticals is such a staple in an air raid offense. It makes the defense respect the deep ball, allowing the shorter stuff underneath. The line has wider splits to allow for guys who are 280-290 but quicker to excel. Right now our line doesn't have enough of these guys to effectively give the QB the time he needs,as we still have maulers from the Metamucil McCarney offense. Maybe they'll improve over the summer/fall and get it together. Maybe they won't and Morris gets hurt the 3rd game of the season