Tarlam!
08-19-2006, 07:05 AM
Apologies if this has already been posted....
Cut out zone blocking? Not in points-crazy NFL
Aug. 17, 2006
By Pete Prisco
Reggie Hayward spent his first four seasons in the league watching the Denver Broncos offensive line work every day in practice, a teammate on the other side of the ball. He saw the way they perfected their zone-blocking schemes, those dastardly cut-blocks repped over and over again.
Fair or not, George Foster has been the poster child for cut-blocking. (Getty Images)
Back then, Hayward didn't have to worry about the perils of the system. He was a teammate, a friend, a player those offensive linemen wanted to avoid cutting. So they practiced on dummies, rarely, if ever, cutting Hayward and his defensive line mates for fear of injury. There was too much risk, too much investment.
"There's no way it would have been live," Hayward said. "They had to protect the defensive linemen."
Those four years gave Hayward a real understanding of the system, even if he didn't face it in live work. Now as a defensive end for the Jacksonville Jaguars, Hayward is more than qualified to talk about that controversial style of line play, a style that is becoming and more prevalent in the NFL. What he has to say isn't very nice.
"It's dirty, there's no question about it," Hayward said. "It's a dirty way to play. But they use it because it works. That's why you're seeing more teams use it. It works. That doesn't make it right. The league has tried to do stuff to make it safer, but they haven't done enough. It's a way a guy can get seriously hurt. It's a dirty system."
The Broncos have used the zone-blocking system for years, leading a running game that is always among the league's best. It is a system based on smaller, athletic linemen who reach on the front side of the play in zone blocking and then cut on the back side. The idea behind the style is for the back to take a handoff, pick a hole, with the option of cutting it off to the backside of the play where defenders have been chopped down like pine tress at Christmas.
In addition to the Broncos, the Atlanta Falcons have used the system the past couple of years, brought to them by line coach Alex Gibbs, who perfected it when he was the line coach in Denver. This season, we have two more teams going to the system.
The Houston Texans, now coached by former Broncos offensive coordinator Gary Kubiak, will employ the style. So will the Green Bay Packers, whose offensive coordinator Jeff Jagodzinski came over from Atlanta, where he served as the team's line coach last season, learning the tricks of the trade from Gibbs.
That's four primary zone-blocking, cut-blocking teams, which doesn't make defensive players all that happy.
"Last year, I got caught on one and had a sprained ankle and slowed me down the last couple of game," Carolina Panthers defensive end Mike Rucker said. "What's the need for it? There are so many rules out there to protect players. What about us? One of our assets is our knees. This is a system that goes right after those. It's dangerous. It's one thing to slow a guy down, but to go at his knees and ankles. That's too much."
By league rules, the blocks are legal in close-in play, the areas extending laterally to where the tackles are positioned and 3 yards on either side of the ball. An offensive player can cut down a defensive player as long as he gets his head in front of the legs above the knee.
But getting the head in front doesn't necessarily make the block safe. A flowing defensive lineman can be looking at the ball on the front-side of the play, while getting cut down behind it. That's where injuries can occur.
In 2004, Cincinnati Bengals defensive tackle Tony Williams was cut down by Broncos tackle George Foster in a nationally televised game, a block that broke Williams' ankle. It was a block away from the play. Earlier that year, Broncos left tackle Matt Lepsis broke the leg of Jaguars defensive end Paul Spicer when he cut him down after he was beaten with a quick inside move. It was different than a normal cut, but a cut nonetheless, and borderline cheap.
Those incidents led to an outcry against the blocks, and many coaches came out publicly against them. The Broncos reacted in a defensive mode, with Mike Shanahan actually pointing to other teams, not strictly zone-blocking teams, that do the same thing. In other words, he who lives in glass houses shouldn't throw stones.
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The league's competition committee considered a change in the rules, but none occurred.
"It's always something the competition committee is looking at," said Mike Pereira, the NFL's director of officiating. "We always look at things when there is potential for injury. We hate to say we only react if certain people blow out knee or break legs. We're always looking at things where there is potential for injury. Since I've been involved with the committee, this is always something that is a major issue."
Since the blocks are legal, there's nothing the officials can really do about it. A few years back, they made it so the umpire stays home on the backside of the play to keep an eye out for any potential illegal cut blocks, the type where the player doesn't get his head in front or goes below the knee. They're also on the lookout for roll blocks, which are also illegal.
Those blocks, according to some defensive linemen, are where the real dangers come into play. The head gets in front, but the roll in the back is where the injuries occur.
"They not only cut, but they roll," Rucker said. "They might get their head in front, but then they roll. It's not supposed to happen that way, but it does. How can it not? If we're side-by-side, and he cuts me and his head is in front and the rest is behind me, the head won't hurt me. But it's the rest of him that catches the knee or the ankle. That's no good."
When it works, the system is an art form of sorts. It's precision blocking that gives the back the freedom to pick a hole and go. It helped Terrell Davis become a star in Denver. It helps the Broncos every year be one of the best rushing teams in the league. In Atlanta, the Falcons have been the top rushing team the past two seasons.
It does have its defenders, even among teams that don't use it as their primary blocking system. Most teams use some of the principles of the system.
"If you're running the stretch, you have to cut the backside," Tampa Bay Buccaneers coach Jon Gruden said. "I don't think they're doing anything malicious. It's a technique they need to run that offense. If you want to run that offense out of the league, then you take it out."
Said Packers coach Mike McCarthy: "It's a system that works and one we believe in. It is not something done with an idea of hurting people. Our guys will play within the rules."
And that's the key. Do the rules do enough to protect defensive players?
"I've spent an inordinate amount of time defending the tactic because it's legal," Pereira said. "By our rules, it is allowed. Our job is to find the illegal cuts, but the cut itself is allowed."
Houston Texans tackle Zach Wiegert, now playing in his first year in the system, has a different take on the defensive players who rip the cut-blocks.
"They say it's filthy?" Wiegert said. "Come on. They're always going to say that. You know how defensive players are. It says in the rule book that you can cut, so we cut. Look at the film. Those defensive players are taking on guards and holding them to let the linebackers run free. If you cut them, they take their hands off. It's no dirtier than some of the things they do."
As soon as Wiegert finishes, I ask him if the Texans cut their own players during practice.
He laughs and points to the far side of the team's practice bubble.
"No way," he said. "See those big black bags over there. We practice cutting on them. No way to hurt those."
With four teams now using the system, it will be closely watched this season. If the leg injuries suffered by defensive linemen goes up, we'll hear the uproar again. Maybe then, those linemen will get what they really want.
"They're big people, we're big people," Rucker said. "They should be able to block us without cutting us. Wouldn't that be nice?"
Better yet, it would be a lot safer. Then again, it might cut down on the offense the NFL so badly wants.
Protect the quarterbacks all you want, but damn those defensive linemen. Heck, it's only their livelihood.
Cut out zone blocking? Not in points-crazy NFL
Aug. 17, 2006
By Pete Prisco
Reggie Hayward spent his first four seasons in the league watching the Denver Broncos offensive line work every day in practice, a teammate on the other side of the ball. He saw the way they perfected their zone-blocking schemes, those dastardly cut-blocks repped over and over again.
Fair or not, George Foster has been the poster child for cut-blocking. (Getty Images)
Back then, Hayward didn't have to worry about the perils of the system. He was a teammate, a friend, a player those offensive linemen wanted to avoid cutting. So they practiced on dummies, rarely, if ever, cutting Hayward and his defensive line mates for fear of injury. There was too much risk, too much investment.
"There's no way it would have been live," Hayward said. "They had to protect the defensive linemen."
Those four years gave Hayward a real understanding of the system, even if he didn't face it in live work. Now as a defensive end for the Jacksonville Jaguars, Hayward is more than qualified to talk about that controversial style of line play, a style that is becoming and more prevalent in the NFL. What he has to say isn't very nice.
"It's dirty, there's no question about it," Hayward said. "It's a dirty way to play. But they use it because it works. That's why you're seeing more teams use it. It works. That doesn't make it right. The league has tried to do stuff to make it safer, but they haven't done enough. It's a way a guy can get seriously hurt. It's a dirty system."
The Broncos have used the zone-blocking system for years, leading a running game that is always among the league's best. It is a system based on smaller, athletic linemen who reach on the front side of the play in zone blocking and then cut on the back side. The idea behind the style is for the back to take a handoff, pick a hole, with the option of cutting it off to the backside of the play where defenders have been chopped down like pine tress at Christmas.
In addition to the Broncos, the Atlanta Falcons have used the system the past couple of years, brought to them by line coach Alex Gibbs, who perfected it when he was the line coach in Denver. This season, we have two more teams going to the system.
The Houston Texans, now coached by former Broncos offensive coordinator Gary Kubiak, will employ the style. So will the Green Bay Packers, whose offensive coordinator Jeff Jagodzinski came over from Atlanta, where he served as the team's line coach last season, learning the tricks of the trade from Gibbs.
That's four primary zone-blocking, cut-blocking teams, which doesn't make defensive players all that happy.
"Last year, I got caught on one and had a sprained ankle and slowed me down the last couple of game," Carolina Panthers defensive end Mike Rucker said. "What's the need for it? There are so many rules out there to protect players. What about us? One of our assets is our knees. This is a system that goes right after those. It's dangerous. It's one thing to slow a guy down, but to go at his knees and ankles. That's too much."
By league rules, the blocks are legal in close-in play, the areas extending laterally to where the tackles are positioned and 3 yards on either side of the ball. An offensive player can cut down a defensive player as long as he gets his head in front of the legs above the knee.
But getting the head in front doesn't necessarily make the block safe. A flowing defensive lineman can be looking at the ball on the front-side of the play, while getting cut down behind it. That's where injuries can occur.
In 2004, Cincinnati Bengals defensive tackle Tony Williams was cut down by Broncos tackle George Foster in a nationally televised game, a block that broke Williams' ankle. It was a block away from the play. Earlier that year, Broncos left tackle Matt Lepsis broke the leg of Jaguars defensive end Paul Spicer when he cut him down after he was beaten with a quick inside move. It was different than a normal cut, but a cut nonetheless, and borderline cheap.
Those incidents led to an outcry against the blocks, and many coaches came out publicly against them. The Broncos reacted in a defensive mode, with Mike Shanahan actually pointing to other teams, not strictly zone-blocking teams, that do the same thing. In other words, he who lives in glass houses shouldn't throw stones.
Advertisement
The league's competition committee considered a change in the rules, but none occurred.
"It's always something the competition committee is looking at," said Mike Pereira, the NFL's director of officiating. "We always look at things when there is potential for injury. We hate to say we only react if certain people blow out knee or break legs. We're always looking at things where there is potential for injury. Since I've been involved with the committee, this is always something that is a major issue."
Since the blocks are legal, there's nothing the officials can really do about it. A few years back, they made it so the umpire stays home on the backside of the play to keep an eye out for any potential illegal cut blocks, the type where the player doesn't get his head in front or goes below the knee. They're also on the lookout for roll blocks, which are also illegal.
Those blocks, according to some defensive linemen, are where the real dangers come into play. The head gets in front, but the roll in the back is where the injuries occur.
"They not only cut, but they roll," Rucker said. "They might get their head in front, but then they roll. It's not supposed to happen that way, but it does. How can it not? If we're side-by-side, and he cuts me and his head is in front and the rest is behind me, the head won't hurt me. But it's the rest of him that catches the knee or the ankle. That's no good."
When it works, the system is an art form of sorts. It's precision blocking that gives the back the freedom to pick a hole and go. It helped Terrell Davis become a star in Denver. It helps the Broncos every year be one of the best rushing teams in the league. In Atlanta, the Falcons have been the top rushing team the past two seasons.
It does have its defenders, even among teams that don't use it as their primary blocking system. Most teams use some of the principles of the system.
"If you're running the stretch, you have to cut the backside," Tampa Bay Buccaneers coach Jon Gruden said. "I don't think they're doing anything malicious. It's a technique they need to run that offense. If you want to run that offense out of the league, then you take it out."
Said Packers coach Mike McCarthy: "It's a system that works and one we believe in. It is not something done with an idea of hurting people. Our guys will play within the rules."
And that's the key. Do the rules do enough to protect defensive players?
"I've spent an inordinate amount of time defending the tactic because it's legal," Pereira said. "By our rules, it is allowed. Our job is to find the illegal cuts, but the cut itself is allowed."
Houston Texans tackle Zach Wiegert, now playing in his first year in the system, has a different take on the defensive players who rip the cut-blocks.
"They say it's filthy?" Wiegert said. "Come on. They're always going to say that. You know how defensive players are. It says in the rule book that you can cut, so we cut. Look at the film. Those defensive players are taking on guards and holding them to let the linebackers run free. If you cut them, they take their hands off. It's no dirtier than some of the things they do."
As soon as Wiegert finishes, I ask him if the Texans cut their own players during practice.
He laughs and points to the far side of the team's practice bubble.
"No way," he said. "See those big black bags over there. We practice cutting on them. No way to hurt those."
With four teams now using the system, it will be closely watched this season. If the leg injuries suffered by defensive linemen goes up, we'll hear the uproar again. Maybe then, those linemen will get what they really want.
"They're big people, we're big people," Rucker said. "They should be able to block us without cutting us. Wouldn't that be nice?"
Better yet, it would be a lot safer. Then again, it might cut down on the offense the NFL so badly wants.
Protect the quarterbacks all you want, but damn those defensive linemen. Heck, it's only their livelihood.