A Back Involvement

[lastoption]

CPJ was asked again recently about the perceived lack of A Back involvement last year and whether he is doing anything to get them more involved. CPJ gave the answer you would expect that the defense can take them away if they want to, but should open up another option. Obviously that is true on the TO and other option variants and I think embedded in the question was whether Marshall is being asked to pitch more but it seems to me that CPJ is running less of the designated A Back non-option plays (rocket toss, a-back counter, and probably others) than in the past. I was curious if this is just my perception or if others see less designated a-back plays. In particular, it seemed that in the Tevin Washington years the a-Back counter was used quite a bit, and it seemed Orwin Smith ran the rocket toss every other play (and almost always worked better than I expected) and it appears to me at least that there are quite a few fewer of these run in recent years.

 

[YJMD]

His answer is still appropriate there. He calls those plays based on what the defense is doing. He won't call plays in order to try and force someone to get the ball or establish the edge or balance run/pass or any of the other things we hear as strategies. His play calling is purely based on what he thinks will work best based on how the D is choosing to defend us.

Since he doesn't use a playsheet, though, I sometimes wonder if he's not considering plays in certain situations just because they don't pop into his head. He also can get stubborn with sticking to something that should work but we aren't executing properly or the defense is using their athleticism to overcome.

 

[senoiajacket]

It seems like to me, the defense can also limit the designated A back plays, especially the rocket toss depending on what they do with their defensive backfield. I recall at least a couple of times in the past (not sure if it was last year or not) when we ran the rocket toss early with some success & then the defense took it away with alignment or "cheating" at or just before the snap.

I recall the segment of the interview you are talking about and recall thinking that CPJ contradicted himself. The questions was something to the effect if we are going to try and get the A backs the ball more and CPJ answered "No, the defense dictates that". And then in the same discussion he compared/contrasted TQM and JeT and said JeT liked to distribute the ball and TQM likes to keep it. Well, that tendency (liking to keep the ball) could/should certainly be able to be changed by coaching if that were the reason we are not getting the A backs the ball more.

 

[GSOJacket]

I seem to recall that in 2017 many of the plays that appeared to be TOs were in fact not due to TM not having mastered the TO reads, pitch, etc. Anybody else recall this?

 

[Oakland]

I'm not an expert, but three of things I've noticed that hurt us on the toss plays.
1. We did not play well at the tackle position last year.
2. I don't believe our wide receivers played as well as in the past few years. I'm talking about receiving and blocking.
3. I don't think our A-backs blocked well last year.

I think we will be better on the offensive line, but I don't know about the other two positions.

 

[lastoption]

I agree that there are definitely two related aspects of this. One is the defense within an option play choosing to take away an option and the other that the defense through alignment or hard outside flow could be selling out to stop rocket toss so CPJ not calling it as much.

On the option read issue I think definitely in Clemson there were called gives off the TO look. I would defer to longestday or others who know way more about this than I do but I believe it is very likely that there sometimes is a TO look with a called give/keep. I think CPJ is looking for keys early sometimes and will designate a give or keep even though blocking is pure TO.

 

[stech81]

I'm not an expert, but three of things I've noticed that hurt us on the toss plays.
1. We did not play well at the tackle position last year.
2. I don't believe our wide receivers played as well as in the past few years. I'm talking about receiving and blocking.
3. I don't think our A-backs blocked well last year.

I think we will be better on the offensive line, but I don't know about the other two positions.

You can add a 4th the QB took the A-Backs outside lane a lot .

 

[Deleted member 2897]

Johnson not only calls plays based on how the defense is playing, but based on what his players excel at...or said another way, he's not going to call plays that our players aren't good at executing. I'm not saying TaQuon can't pitch (pardon the double negative) or can't throw the rocket toss, but if he's not as proficient at those plays as others, Johnson isn't going to call those plays as much. And he's also not going to say publicly what we're good at and what we're not good at.

 

[MidtownJacket]

At the start, let me be clear this isn’t a flame post. I am not trolling anyone’s knowledge and am truly talking as a fan to another fan about how I’ve enjoyed this offense more.

When we first announced the CPJ hire I was unimpressed. I felt like it was a scrape the barrel kind of a hire, and was fairly ignorant about his version of the spread option. I vaguely knew of his success at southern, but felt like he ran a gimmicky offense that was better suited for the service academies and lower tier div1 teams. Essentially, I bought the narrative many of his detractors advance (even still to this day).

I got out in 2007, so had suffered through the bitter end of CCG’s tenure and was staying in the area so dutifully bought my season tickets and set about reading up on the spread option and specifically CPJ’s flavor of it.

The more I learned, the more I liked. It is built for a quick thinking trigger man at QB, with a set of quick but strong slot backs (ABacks) and a bull dozer of a true full back with finesse enough to move, run routes and pass protect combined with the toughness to run the belly dive 25 times a game.

The more I have learned about the nuance on blocking (both Oline and Skill Players) the more fascinated I have become and the more enjoyment I get watching the game.

The preamble above was to set up the Crux of my point. Often, especially with the media, CPJ is asked why he doesn’t do more of “x” thing. The issue here is a fundamental lack of understanding belied by the question. It would be like asking a coach why they didn’t throw a long hail marry attempt when they had their jumbo package in and the defense was in cover 3 with tight man coverage on the skill players. It just isn’t the right time for that call.

The major premise of this offense is to flow to where we have numbers or specific advantage. The second part of that explains why sometimes we have a QB who is a bruiser (read: JfN) who will tuck the ball and run tight off tackle, a QB who has mastered reading the keys and offloads like a point guard with near impossible precision (read: General Washington) or sometimes use their feet to make something of a play which is either busted by missed assignments up front or was misread due to inexperience by the QB (read: last year’s TM).

When we ask if the coach can direct the players to be more focused on doing “x” the answer is more nuanced than a yes or no. No - we wouldn’t want to direct them to always do a specific action regardless of what the defense is presenting; but yes we can/should/do coach them to make quicker/better/faster reads.

I have a lot of optimism for improvements in all three phases of the game this year. I believe CPJ has our offense coached up from the freak show injury problems in 2016 and the disappointment caused by inconsistency on the front 5 mixed in with a new QB. I believe CNW has the defense fired up to play with some swagger and aggression, and frankly if we can get one take away a game more than last season think we will be on a great spot. I am also hopeful that our ST will improve with the three kickers we have taking reps (though I’ll leave it to the talented @GTNavyNuke to talk more about that).

To get a clearer sense of CPJ’s philosophies I highly suggest perusing the old playbook of CPJ’s from 2001 at southern:
http://www.footballxos.com/download...n-offense-paul-johnson-pdf/?wpdmdl=4061&ind=0

Or this shorter article:
http://footballscoop.com/news/12-foundation-pillars-paul-johnsons-program/

I also highly suggest watch the breakdowns @Longestday and others do of the offense. I am looking forward to seeing what @Ibeeballin thinks of the new defense breakdowns too!



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[danny daniel]

His answer is still appropriate there. He calls those plays based on what the defense is doing. He won't call plays in order to try and force someone to get the ball or establish the edge or balance run/pass or any of the other things we hear as strategies. His play calling is purely based on what he thinks will work best based on how the D is choosing to defend us.

Since he doesn't use a playsheet, though, I sometimes wonder if he's not considering plays in certain situations just because they don't pop into his head. He also can get stubborn with sticking to something that should work but we aren't executing properly or the defense is using their athleticism to overcome.

Van Brockyln syndrone: "Winning teams run the off tackle play. We will run the off tackle play until it works". I called plays out of my head (no play sheet) and it worked really well while we were moving the ball. In looking back I did not always call the best play on a key possession down because it was probably outside of my rhythm (not on the tip of my tongue). I do believe CPJ's play calling is effective because (1) he knows what he is doing and (2) nobody else does.

 

[iceeater1969]

I guess we think the people defending us dont camouflage their reads . We think they just line up with a big sign saying we are stopping the outside. Yes sometimes we get to play poorly coached sec teams (Tenn, Ken, msu) and we have a field day.

What started w ND (besides defensive holding) is the defense seem to be lining up in let's call it the I between zone . Then on staples they move into their called coverage.
Our ol guys are a microsecond behind and guy gets free run at r b. At nd the MLB knew the play at the snap. It's a game of cat and mouse w very subtle moves .

As people play us over and over they get better at their defense.

However - we will be effective if we just hit a few big plays to get them off balence and away we go

TQM is a warrior. If he can stop and pop a pass or pitch we will be fine.

 

[bobongo]

I'm not an expert, but three of things I've noticed that hurt us on the toss plays.
1. We did not play well at the tackle position last year.
2. I don't believe our wide receivers played as well as in the past few years. I'm talking about receiving and blocking.
3. I don't think our A-backs blocked well last year.

I think we will be better on the offensive line, but I don't know about the other two positions.

I'm not too good with x's and o's, but it just seemed to me that our tackles got caved in a lot last year and that was the main problem with our outside running game. Gotta get better at OT.

 

[redmule]

Van Brockyln syndrone: "Winning teams run the off tackle play. We will run the off tackle play until it works". I called plays out of my head (no play sheet) and it worked really well while we were moving the ball. In looking back I did not always call the best play on a key possession down because it was probably outside of my rhythm (not on the tip of my tongue). I do believe CPJ's play calling is effective because (1) he knows what he is doing and (2) nobody else does.

As for calling plays out of his head, CPJ wears a headset during the game. I suspect, but don't know, there is an asst coach up in the box with lots of notes and diagrams that CPJ talks to when the D is on the field and between plays when the offense is on the field. Anybody know for sure?

 

[Ash]

Since he doesn't use a playsheet, though, I sometimes wonder if he's not considering plays in certain situations just because they don't pop into his head. He also can get stubborn with sticking to something that should work but we aren't executing properly or the defense is using their athleticism to overcome.

I have no proof other than I have watched every game GT game Paul Johnson has coached. I know both of those things happen. Calling games out of his head is our biggest advantage and weakness.

 

[takethepoints]

I think DCs at the beginning of last year did the obvious thing. We had a brand new QB who was not game tried. He's also not an imposing physical specimen. Let's structure the D to force him to keep the ball. That way he'll: a) get mixed up on his reads and b) they'll be a greater chance he'll get hurt.

Well, the reads part worked fine; TaQuon was brand new and missed a ton of them. Part b didn't work quite as well because he can run like a deer and takes a hit pretty well. Problem = his passing was deficient. Soooooo … try hard to force him to throw. That did work, especially on wet fields when the running game got bogged down. Whether it will work this year is the $64 question.

However, if the opposing DCs decide to force TaQuon to run by taking away the pitch, I'm guessing that Coach will be chuckling every time. And running a lot of mid-line options and dives, just to keep things interesting.

 

[Whiskey_Clear]

I'm not too good with x's and o's, but it just seemed to me that our tackles got caved in a lot last year and that was the main problem with our outside running game. Gotta get better at OT.

Will Bryan + Andrew Marshall

I’m more worried about the center position and RG. I really like Lee but he is too inconsistent at times. Hopefully Cooper gets back for game 2 or 3. At RG maybe this will be the year for Brad Morgan to bust out after battling some injury issues.

I think we will have some depth to roll in and several guys are cross trained at multiple positions.

 

[bobongo]

Will Bryan + Andrew Marshall

I’m more worried about the center position and RG. I really like Lee but he is too inconsistent at times. Hopefully Cooper gets back for game 2 or 3. At RG maybe this will be the year for Brad Morgan to bust out after battling some injury issues.

I think we will have some depth to roll in and several guys are cross trained at multiple positions.

Cooper is excellent at C. I thought the guards did okay last year, on the whole. I guess Bryan is moving to OT? If we can just get what we got last year at C and OG, and improve about eight notches at OT, we'll be ready to rumble. If we can get some improvement at OT, every other component of the offense will be better. The depth and cross training will help.

 

[alentrekin]

It seemed until this week that CPJ was leaning towards Lee at C and moving Kenny to RG. That seems ideal if Jahaziel is up to it.

IIRC the reporter's question was regarding a-back involvement. CPJ could involve the As more, but of course it depends on the D. I expect him to lean on Kirvonte a lot early -- get him on the edge one-on-one with FB toss, counter option, speed option and depending on the interiors we face, belly/trap etc and work TM into passing and option game. Our OL should be good enough to have all of that ready by week 2.

 

[nod]

I think playing in the rain factored in A-Back usage. Messed up timing and fear to pitch wet ball?

 

[MidtownJacket]

I think playing in the rain factored in A-Back usage. Messed up timing and fear to pitch wet ball?

I think the weather was a much bigger deal than it should have been for us last season. It’s hopefully something the coaches continue to work on (they showed some photos of camp with intentionally wet fields).


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