Ever Been in a Huddle??

[Harlan Huckleby]

My brothers and a couple of the neighbors would play football games in the back yard that went on for like 6 hours. It would get dark, and we'd turn one set of spot lights so you could sorta see the ball.

Earlier in my career, my brother and I playing a game of football in the living room that we called "Bulldog". It involved a quarterback (who call signals very, very loudly "395! 395! hut! hut!" against a defensive lineman on a 3 foot field. It was all red zone, baby, very intense.

Organized football sucks ass for about 75% of the players. It's like joining the marines and getting yelled at for fun. Hell, if you want to knock your brains around and break a leg, join a rugby club, that looks like great fun.

[Harlan Huckleby]

Where is the post of the cornerback that shut down Darin Charles in HS football?

Where's Darin Charles?, for that matter.

[swede]

Where is the post of the cornerback that shut down Darin Charles in HS football?

That be Tank.


Who doesn't miss Tank?

[Fred's Slacks]

Passing plays are more complicated because the QB will tell each receiver what route to run. A typical pass play would be “ Red right 89 flow, x slant, y curl, z streak, 4 rainbow on one” Pass plays take longer to call because there are so many possibilities with the pass receivers.

That's one nice thing about WCO. You don't call out each individual route. You call out one concept and from that you know all the routes on the play. You have to know all the routes on each play because you could have a different route depending on the formation. Say I am playing X, when a play is called I may have a go if I line up on the backside but if I go into motion to play side or if I'm lined up in the slot, I may have a flat route or an out. You would also change your route depending on man or zone coverage. Crossing routes required that you sit in a soft spot against zone but you were supposed to keep running across the field against man. With the sail route you were supposed to run a hard out route against zone but more of a corner type route against man. So you can see how QB and WR can be on different pages when one of them doesn't recognize the coverage.

[4and12to12and4]

Passing plays are more complicated because the QB will tell each receiver what route to run. A typical pass play would be “ Red right 89 flow, x slant, y curl, z streak, 4 rainbow on one” Pass plays take longer to call because there are so many possibilities with the pass receivers.

That's one nice thing about WCO. You don't call out each individual route. You call out one concept and from that you know all the routes on the play. You have to know all the routes on each play because you could have a different route depending on the formation. Say I am playing X, when a play is called I may have a go if I line up on the backside but if I go into motion to play side or if I'm lined up in the slot, I may have a flat route or an out. You would also change your route depending on man or zone coverage. Crossing routes required that you sit in a soft spot against zone but you were supposed to keep running across the field against man. With the sail route you were supposed to run a hard out route against zone but more of a corner type route against man. So you can see how QB and WR can be on different pages when one of them doesn't recognize the coverage.

And we bitch when Favre throws an interception. No wonder he's always shaking his head at his receivers every other down, it sure would be nice to keep more than one around every couple of years, huh?

[4and12to12and4]

BTW, Swede, that was a great story and told wonderfully. Thanks.

[KYPack]

So KY, what was your take -- did you like playing rugby or organized football better? As I said above, I liked playing rugby a lot more, and I don't think Tar has missed much by not having been in a huddle. But I enjoy watching football more than just about any other sport.

There's different reasons to like both sports. They are different in a number of areas. In football there's contact all over the field. It's physical and it boils down to a game of speed and brute force. The mental aspect is there, but in any second you can find yourself in some real hairy situations.

Rugger is a game of continuity. You are on defense and then have the ball in a heartbeat. Rugby has most of the contact around the ball, while the off the ball play is real important strategically. Rugby is like a game of physical chess. You've got a bigger field and you can play field position to your advantage over thicker (stupider) opponents. One aspect of rugby I dug right away is the fact that a kick can be an offensive play. When you kick to your opponent, you can field it yourself (or any of your onside teammates) can get it and keep on truckin'.

I like 'em both, but definitely loved rugger.

One factor about Rugby is that there is a lot of contact with your old teammates. This last weekend, I played golf with our old captain & wing forward. Sunday I went to the Bengal Jets game with my old winger and partner in crime, Bomba.

They are both great sports & I loved 'em both, but Rugby is where I have the most contact with old pals.

Course, my favorite thing in the world is to attend a Packer game in Lambeau. There is nothing like that team and that place.

[MJZiggy]

Course, my favorite thing in the world is to attend a Packer game in Lambeau. There is nothing like that team and that place.

'Specially when you go with a bunch of Rats!!

[ND72]

Played in High School and College, and now Coach High School.

When I played in High school, we had 3 sets, so our base huddle would be something like "duece 35 belly on 1 on 1 ready break".

College...We'd have our formation. "offset Tiger Roger" (Tight End Right, offset I to the right) motions would be things liks zip, zag, zig, zan, zap. Run plays, zones would simply be 25 inside or 27 outside. we'd have 36 PS and 32 PT. Pass plays were all in either 300's, 500's, 700's, 900's.

300's were zone pass pro protection, 500/700's were 5 & 7 foot drops, 900's were 1 step drops. a 500 play would be something like 597, and then if there were any stipulations other than the 97 to the WR's, there'd be something like Offset Tiger Roger, 597 X-Drop, Y-Go.

The team I also coached in Winona was pretty complex. our base offense was Pro-I. If we ran a 26 Dive, it'd be Pro Right 26 Dive. we also had 300, 500, and 900 pass pro's. Except 300 & 900 told our lineman to cut right away, and 500 was man pass pro. my favorite play was Twins Right 575...4 Wide Receivers, strength to the right. 5, man pass pro, 7, WR did a 12 yard come back, 5, slot WR did a 5 yard out.