Diagrams of the Ace Formation

The following diagrams are examples of the different ways the Colts use the Ace Formation.

There are about six formations that the Colts use, that are based on the Ace formation.

What’s great about the Ace Formation, and how the Colts use it, is that they can disguise they’re plays without have to substitute, huddle, or call a timeout.

For example, let say the play called is an Outside Zone, Peyton gets to the line, reads the defense, and decides the play isn’t going to work.

So he audibles, drops back into the Shotgun, and calls a Half-Back Draw. The defense has no clue what just happened. In fact they’re probably thinking pass now, but the Colts are still going to run the ball.

That’s the genius of the way the Colts use this formation.

Begin Slideshow

Tom Moore, Peyton Manning, and the Ace Formation

I read a post the other day saying that the Colts offense needed to be changed up. It was so predictable, so obvious. Au contraire my friends, au contraire.

Before we get into what the Colts do—and why they have been one of the most prolific offenses over the past decade—let’s get some rules, and verbiage out of the way.

 

Rules, Verbiage, and Other Things to Put You to Sleep

The so-called “7-4” rule

1. The real rule is that you must have at least seven men on the line of scrimmage. This leaves you with four in the backfield (anywhere behind the offensive lineman). Hence, the “7-4” rule.

2. Notice I didn’t say you had to have four in the backfield. The reason is the bare minimum you can have at the offensive line of scrimmage is seven. You can add additional players to the line, but they become ineligible receivers.

3. It’s rare to see teams put more than seven on the line, because you are depleting the number of guys who can block.

4. All pro formations are based on this rule.

5. If you have seven on the line and want to add a receiver to the formation, he must be off the line of scrimmage: the receiver is usually about a yard or less away from the line. If he screws up and lines up on the line of scrimmage, it’s an illegal formation, and a penalty.

6. There is no such rule for the defense: If they want to, they can line one guy up on the defensive line of scrimmage.

 

Names of the Receivers and General Alignments

1. The outside receiver, to the left of the QB, is the X receiver, or split-end. Typically he is lined up on the line of scrimmage.

2. The outside receiver, lined up to the right of the QB, is the Z receiver, or Flanker. He is usually lined up about a yard off the line of scrimmage. Given that most QBs are right-handed, the flanker is often the first place the quarterback looks. Again, this is a generality.

3. In a three-receiver set, the third receiver is called the Y receiver, or the slot receiver. Remember, he can be on the line of scrimmage, as long as it doesn’t violate the seven-man rule.

4. In a four-receiver set, you will see two on the line and two off of the line. Who is lined up on the line and who is off, depends on the play.

5. In a five-receiver set, you will see two on the line and three off the line.

Remember, this is just a real general description. There are lots of different formations, such as trips bunch, for example. In this formation, the split end could be on the line, and on the other side of the formation, the slot might be on the line, with the other two receivers forming a triangle behind him.

 

An Important Term

Flexing the tight end: When a tight end is flexed, he basically becomes a receiver instead of a blocker.

The Colts like to do this a lot out of the ace formation. Basically, what they do is come out with two tight ends on the line, two receivers off the line, and a single back in the backfield.

Typically, Dallas Clark is the tight end that is “flexed” or, in other words, becomes the receiving tight end.

 

Routes

This is not an all-inclusive list of routes that receivers for the Colts run. This list just includes the ones that you will most often by the Colts.

Curl route: The receiver runs straight up the field, about six to eight yards, and then comes back towards the QB. The turn he makes towards the QB is like a curl. This route is good against both zone and man coverages.

Quick out/quick in: The receiver runs straight up the field for three to five yards, then cuts toward the sideline at a 90-degree angle, over the middle of the field. Sometimes you will see the Colts have the slot receiver or tight end running this route.

This is one of the routes Manning uses to get rid of the ball if he reads blitz, or nothing is open down field.

Drag route: The receiver runs up field two or three yards, then cuts across the middle. The cut isn’t as sharp, as it is in an in-route, where the route looks like two straight lines joined together. This is a great route if everything is covered down the field, or maybe if there is a heavy blitz and Manning needs to get rid of the ball quickly.

Slant route: Basically, the receiver runs straight up the field for about three to five yards, then cuts towards the middle of the field at a 45-degree angle. Usually, you will see two or more receivers running this route.

The idea is to get the defenders covering the receivers running into each other, leaving at least one guy open. Though slant routes are more of a West Coast offensive pattern, you will see the Colts use them.

The flat route concept: The flats are the two areas on both sides of the field between the hash marks and the sidelines, which are very close to the line of scrimmage. A lot of plays have the backs coming out of the backfield and catching the ball in the flats.

The Colts love to run plays where they stretch the defense vertically. If nothing is open downfield, their running backs come out of the backfield running a swing route and go to the flats. Time after time, you will see Manning dump the ball off to the back in the flat for a big gain.

If you want to see examples of how the Colts use the flats, then watch the Colts/Patriots AFC Championship Game, and the Colts’ Super Bowl.

Out/in route: These routes are the same as the quick out/in route, except they are run much deeper down the field. The receiver may run 10-15 yards down the field before he makes his 90-degree cut out or in.

This play is good against man coverage and some zone schemes.

One thing to remember is the deeper the route, the better the protection the quarterback needs.

Angle route: The best way to describe this route is by using the symbol <. The route basically looks like this symbol. Often you will see tight ends and RBs running this route. This is a great route, because there are two points the QB can hit the receiver, the first line of the arrow or the second.

Circle route: The RB runs a circle out of the backfield and ends up running across the middle of the field parallel to the line of scrimmage.

Corner route: The receiver runs straight up the field, then cuts at an angle towards the sideline or end zone.

Post route: The post route is an intermediate route where the receiver runs seven to ten yards down the field, maybe more, then cuts at a 45-degree angle towards the goal post.

A variation of this route is the skinny post, where the receiver runs up the field but makes a much shallower cut. In other words, when he cuts towards the middle of the field, the angle may be about 20 degrees instead of the typical 45.

 

The Colts run the post from any position: flexed tight end, slot receiver, outside receiver, etc.

The idea of running the post is to either expose weaker safeties, who are in deep coverage, or to run it and force the defense to drop into a cover 3. Once the defense is in cover 3, this opens up the run.

Go routes/streak routes: The go route and the streak route are the same thing. The wide receiver runs straight up the field as fast as he can, hoping to beat the man coverage.

Whenever Manning sees that the coverage called is cover 0 or cover 1—which usually, but not always, means blitz—he’ll audible to a hot route where one or both of the wide receivers run go routes, because he knows he has man coverage on the outside.

Teams have learned it is very risky to blitz Manning, unless they can disguise it.

His father Archie once said, Manning’s like an old hunting dog. You throw the same blitz at him more than once, he’s going to sniff it out.

Fade route: The fade route can have two meanings. The first definition below, is the most common meaning:

1) A fade route is usually used near the goal line, where you run straight five or six yards and break toward the back pylon, looking for the ball over your inside shoulder.

2) The term fade route may also be used as a variation of the go route. The difference between the go route and the fade route is on the fade route, the receiver makes an outside release on the cornerback and runs straight up the field.

The terms inside and outside release simply mean that at the snap of the ball, the receiver either makes a move to the outside or the inside of the defender before running their route. The idea is to get by the defender by putting a quick move on him. The receiver may also fake an outside release and then release inside, or vice versa

These are most of the routes you will see the Colts run. There are more, but I just wanted to go over the basic ones.

One thing to remember about routes is each team has its own terminology for them, and these are just general definitions.

Take the dig route. To me, when I hear dig route, I expect the receiver to make an inside release, run seven to nine yards straight up the field, then make a 90-degree cut so he is running straight across the middle of the field, parallel to the goal line. However, if you were to look this route up online, you would see a lot of definitions that leave the inside release out of it.

My point is, don’t take this as the gospel on routes.

 

The Ace Formation:

First, 99 percent of the Colts’ offensive formations are based off of the ace formation. The ace formation is a single back set with three wide receivers and a tight end.

Except in short yardage situations—when they switch to the I formation or the offset I—the Colts use some variation of the ace formation.

From this formation you can add an extra receiver, add an extra tight end or halfback, and the quarterback can drop back into the shotgun with the back lined up next to him.

The tight end can stay in and block, be flexed, or moved into the slot. The back can run out of it, become a receiver coming out of the backfield, or be put in motion and line up on the line of scrimmage.

Another great thing about the ace formation is it spreads the defense out horizontally, making it harder for them to load up the box with eight or nine guys.

The way the Colts use this formation allows them to make minimal substitutions, which helps them wear down the defense, all the while disguising whether the play called is going to be pass or run.

 

How the Colts Attack Opposing Defenses:

There are basically two different ways you can attack a defense. One is to stretch them out horizontally, and the other is to stretch them out vertically.

The West Coast offense is based on stretching the defense out horizontally. The basic idea behind stretching the defense horizontally is you’re forcing the defenders to cover the field from sideline to sideline, parallel to the goal post. This type of system is based on short and intermediate routes, and yards after the catch.

The idea behind stretching the defense vertically is to use a lot of four and five-receiver sets from the ace formation or shotgun. You want to attack the defense by creating a nice balance of intermediate and deep passing routes. You also want to establish a running game to keep the defense honest. You must force them to respect both the run and the pass. Otherwise, they will just call plays to shut down your passing attack, such as blitzing.

The Colts are basically a vertical passing team. However, there are elements of the horizontal attack in there as well.

The majority of the routes the Colts run have at least one receiver going deep, the others running intermediate routes, and at least one or two receivers running short underneath routes.

This is what makes the Colts’ passing attack so difficult to defend: They attack every area of the field, stretching you vertically and horizontally. This puts them in a position where they can beat man or zone coverage on any given play.

Typically, when you’re attacking a defense vertically, you read high to low. This means after the ball is snapped, the quarterback reads what the safeties are doing to get an idea of what the coverage is.

With Manning, there is no set rule on how he reads a defense. Typically, first he comes to the line and tries to figure out, pre-snap, what type of coverage the defense is in. He also tries to get the defense to show if they are blitzing.

One of the reasons he waits at the line so long is it is hard for defenders to disguise their coverage for that amount of time. More often than not, at least one guy will give away what the defensive attack is going to be. Then Manning decides whether to stay in the play, audible to a different one, or call a hot route.

There are two ways a quarterback can “read” the defense to figure out where to go with the ball: 1) the progression read 2) the coverage read.

In the progression read, the quarterback tries to get an idea pre-snap what the coverage is going to be. Once the ball is snapped, while he is dropping back—whether it be a three, five, or seven-step drop—he is progressing through his receivers to see which one is open.

What’s most important about the progression read system is the quarterback has to know where his receivers are going to be when his foot hits the last step of the drop. As soon as his foot hits the ground, the ball should be coming out. If the receiver runs an incorrect route, breaks it off, or does something else stupid, then bad things usually happen. The progression read system is what is called a rhythm and timing-based offense.

In a coverage read system, you are looking more at defenders, watching what they do, before determining where you are going with the ball.

In this system, the idea is to determine what kind of coverage the defense is in: cover 0, cover 1, cover 2, cover 3, or cover 4, then base where the ball is going on the type of coverage the defense has called.

A quarterback will either read the coverage from high to low or low to high. For example, I asked Jim Miller how he used to read coverages. He told me he used to read the Mike linebacker first and the safeties second.

The reason he did this was, by reading the Mike, he knew if he had a blitz coming through the A gaps or if the Mike was dropping into man or zone coverage. This was his first clue on where to go with the ball. Next, he would read the safeties and see if he the defense was in cover 1, cover 2, etc. This is an example of reading “low to high.”

The other way to read a defense is “high to low.” The first thing you do in this case is look at the rotation of the safeties to determine what kind of coverage the defense is in.

For example, if you see the free safety rotate to the center of the field and the strong safety drop down, then you know you are in safety single high, or cover 1. This usually means man coverage underneath and some kind of blitz.

If your line has picked up the blitz, then your first read is going to be to the outside, because you know that one of your outside receivers is going to be in single coverage. If he’s faster than the corner covering him, that’s where you’re going with the ball.

Peyton Manning uses a combination of progression reads and coverage reads. The Colts’ passing game is definitely based on rhythm and timing. However, Peyton spends a lot of time looking at pictures on the sideline trying to decipher the coverages the defense is using on different plays. By the time the ball is snapped, Peyton usually has a pretty good idea of where he is going with the ball.

As you can see, what the Colts do on offense is very complex: It takes hours and hours of repetition to learn their system.

The most impressive thing this year about the Colts on offense (besides Peyton Manning) is the ability of Austin Collie, Pierre Garcon, and Donald Brown to learn the system so quickly. Dallas Clark once said that it took him three years to get the system down. These are three very bright young men who, barring injury, are going to have a huge impact on the Colts offense for years to come.

Please check out the link below to see diagrams of some of the other formations that the Colts use. Remember, they are all constructed around the ace formation.

Read more NFL news on BleacherReport.com

The Two Men Responsible for the Destruction of the San Diego Chargers

In 1994, Alex Spanos, owner of the San Diego Chargers, turned over daily operations of the team to his son, Dean Spanos.

Dean was named President/C.E.O. of the organization. During his tenure as President, he has presided over a team that has only had six winning seasons over the past 15 years.

John Butler, former general manager of the Bills, was hired as the general manager of the Chargers in 2001. He took control of a team that had only two winning seasons in the prior seven years.

The hiring of John Butler is the only good thing that Dean Spanos has done since he became President of the team in 1994.

For those of you who don’t recall, Butler was instrumental in helping Bill Polian build the Bills into a team that set a record in the 1990s of four consecutive Super Bowl appearances.

After constructing a team that went to three consecutive Super Bowls, Bill Polian was fired because of a mysterious dispute between Treasurer Jeff Litman and Polian.

John Butler took over as GM in 1993, and the team went to its fourth straight Super Bowl.

During his eight seasons with the Bills, they made five playoff appearances. Like Polian, Butler had an uncanny knack for recognizing talent.

In 2001, his first year with the Chargers, he drafted running back LaDainian Tomlinson and quarterback Drew Brees. Too many people credit Smith with these draft choices.

In 2002, after the firing of head coach Mike Riley, Butler made his next brilliant move: He hired coach Marty Schottenheimer.

Marty opened the 2002 season with four straight wins. He is the only head coach in Chargers history to do so. Marty went on to lead the team to a record of 8-8. Given that in 2000 they went 1-15, and in 2001, went 5-11, this was certainly an improvement.

Sadly, John never got to see the fruits of his labor pay off. He succumbed to cancer in April 2003.

In his determination to destroy the team, Spanos replaced Butler with former pro personnel director for the Chargers, and Bills assistant, A.J. Smith.

Spanos gave complete control of the team to a man whose reputation as an egomaniac preceded him.

He has also been criticized as a hardball negotiator, whose dealing with players has hurt the team, as many times as it has helped it.

Smith’s approach to management might be summed up as, “My way or the highway!”

This attitude, as well as his mixed bag of draft picks, has taken a team that should have won a Super Bowl by now, and slowly run it into the ground.

Smith’s inability to get along with legendary Coach Marty Schottenheimer is well documented.

The first public signs of the problems in their working relationship, started to appear in the infamous parting of ways with Drew Brees. 

Smith, the supposed genius GM, didn’t even slap Brees with a franchise tag so that the Chargers could at least get some kind of compensation for a Pro Bowl quarterback.

Instead, they just let him go onto the market as a free agent.

The reality of the situation is that Brees was never Smith’s guy. In fact, Smith never liked Brees and wanted to get rid of him much sooner.

After spending a boatload of money on draft pick Phillip Rivers, Brees’ shoulder injury was a great excuse for finally getting rid of him.

In this brilliant move, not only did Smith lose one of the top five quarterbacks in the league, but he also further increased the rift between himself and Coach Schottenheimer, who wanted Brees back, because you know, Marty actually knew what he was doing.

As relations further deteriorated between Marty and Smith during the 2006 season, to the point where the two weren’t talking, and Spanos had to order them to speak with each other, Marty coached the Chargers to a 14-2 record with basically, a rookie quarterback; their record earned them the first seed in the playoffs.

The team would go on to lose to the Patriots in the fourth quarter of the second round of the playoffs.

Thus the tumultuous offseason for the Chargers began. The team lost both their offensive and defensive coordinators to head coaching, but Dean Spanos guaranteed Marty that he was going to keep his job. In fact Marty was offered a one-year extension.

However, in another brilliant move by Smith, in February he went to Spanos and said he couldn’t work with Marty. Keep in mind, that this was February, after all of the good head coaches already had jobs.

Spanos, standing firm by his conviction to field a crappy product for the fans, stood by Smith, and Marty was fired, only to be replaced by soon to be Hall of Fame coach (read with dripping sarcasm), Norv Turner.

Turner, whose brilliant head coaching career, contains a total of 79 wins and 98 losses, overnight became the new head coach of the San Diego Chargers.

So let’s pause for a second to get this straight. Dean Spanos just fired a guy who took his club to a 14-2 record, and has a career record of 200 wins and 126 losses, which equates to a winning percentage of 61.3, for a guy that has a 44.1 percent winning record.   Now that’s what I call excellent management.

What about this idea that Smith is excellent at bringing in talent. Sure, he has made some great draft picks and built up a Super Bowl caliber team, but when I did a little research on Smith’s draft record I discovered, thanks to fellow Bleacher Report writer Mike Kranzler, that A.J. has actually picked more losers than he as winners.

According to Kranzler, A.J. has picked 14 winners and 20 losers, and has failed to build depth along the offensive and defensive line.

The great A.J. Smith has only had 41.1 percent of his draft picks work out. Compare that with future Hall of Fame GM. Bill Polian who is well above the 50 percent mark with his draft picks.

For more information about A.J. and the draft here is a link to Mike’s article which I strongly recommend you read .

With the way Smith has treated his players, bungled his dealings with Drew Brees and Marty Schottenheimer, and his inconsistent performance in the draft, it’s no wonder that this team has missed its opportunity to win a Super Bowl.

As long as Smith is GM, and Dean Spanos is President of the Chargers, I guarantee that their losing ways will continue. This team will not go to a Super Bowl with the two of them running things.

Here is my solution, so the Chargers can win a Super Bowl, and end the long suffering of Chargers fans:

1)   Alex Spanos needs to fire A.J. Smith.

2)   He then needs to fire his son Dean.

3)   Next he needs to fly to Marty’s house with a dump truck full of money and the keys to the corporate jet, and beg him to come back.

4)   Then, he needs to fire himself for being so stupid to turn the team over to his son.

Read more NFL news on BleacherReport.com

The Two Men Responsible for the Destruction of the San Diego Chargers

In 1994, Alex Spanos, owner of the San Diego Chargers, turned over daily operations of the team to his son, Dean Spanos.

Dean was named President/C.E.O. of the organization. During his tenure as President, he has presided over a team that has only had six winning seasons over the past 15 years.

John Butler, former general manager of the Bills, was hired as the general manager of the Chargers in 2001. He took control of a team that had only two winning seasons in the prior seven years.

The hiring of John Butler is the only good thing that Dean Spanos has done since he became President of the team in 1994.

For those of you who don’t recall, Butler was instrumental in helping Bill Polian build the Bills into a team that set a record in the 1990s of four consecutive Super Bowl appearances.

After constructing a team that went to three consecutive Super Bowls, Bill Polian was fired because of a mysterious dispute between Treasurer Jeff Litman and Polian.

John Butler took over as GM in 1993, and the team went to its fourth straight Super Bowl.

During his eight seasons with the Bills, they made five playoff appearances. Like Polian, Butler had an uncanny knack for recognizing talent.

In 2001, his first year with the Chargers, he drafted running back LaDainian Tomlinson and quarterback Drew Brees. Too many people credit Smith with these draft choices.

In 2002, after the firing of head coach Mike Riley, Butler made his next brilliant move: He hired coach Marty Schottenheimer.

Marty opened the 2002 season with four straight wins. He is the only head coach in Chargers history to do so. Marty went on to lead the team to a record of 8-8. Given that in 2000 they went 1-15, and in 2001, went 5-11, this was certainly an improvement.

Sadly, John never got to see the fruits of his labor pay off. He succumbed to cancer in April 2003.

In his determination to destroy the team, Spanos replaced Butler with former pro personnel director for the Chargers, and Bills assistant, A.J. Smith.

Spanos gave complete control of the team to a man whose reputation as an egomaniac preceded him.

He has also been criticized as a hardball negotiator, whose dealing with players has hurt the team, as many times as it has helped it.

Smith’s approach to management might be summed up as, “My way or the highway!”

This attitude, as well as his mixed bag of draft picks, has taken a team that should have won a Super Bowl by now, and slowly run it into the ground.

Smith’s inability to get along with legendary Coach Marty Schottenheimer is well documented.

The first public signs of the problems in their working relationship, started to appear in the infamous parting of ways with Drew Brees. 

Smith, the supposed genius GM, didn’t even slap Brees with a franchise tag so that the Chargers could at least get some kind of compensation for a Pro Bowl quarterback.

Instead, they just let him go onto the market as a free agent.

The reality of the situation is that Brees was never Smith’s guy. In fact, Smith never liked Brees and wanted to get rid of him much sooner.

After spending a boatload of money on draft pick Phillip Rivers, Brees’ shoulder injury was a great excuse for finally getting rid of him.

In this brilliant move, not only did Smith lose one of the top five quarterbacks in the league, but he also further increased the rift between himself and Coach Schottenheimer, who wanted Brees back, because you know, Marty actually knew what he was doing.

As relations further deteriorated between Marty and Smith during the 2006 season, to the point where the two weren’t talking, and Spanos had to order them to speak with each other, Marty coached the Chargers to a 14-2 record with basically, a rookie quarterback; their record earned them the first seed in the playoffs.

The team would go on to lose to the Patriots in the fourth quarter of the second round of the playoffs.

Thus the tumultuous offseason for the Chargers began. The team lost both their offensive and defensive coordinators to head coaching, but Dean Spanos guaranteed Marty that he was going to keep his job. In fact Marty was offered a one-year extension.

However, in another brilliant move by Smith, in February he went to Spanos and said he couldn’t work with Marty. Keep in mind, that this was February, after all of the good head coaches already had jobs.

Spanos, standing firm by his conviction to field a crappy product for the fans, stood by Smith, and Marty was fired, only to be replaced by soon to be Hall of Fame coach (read with dripping sarcasm), Norv Turner.

Turner, whose brilliant head coaching career, contains a total of 79 wins and 98 losses, overnight became the new head coach of the San Diego Chargers.

So let’s pause for a second to get this straight. Dean Spanos just fired a guy who took his club to a 14-2 record, and has a career record of 200 wins and 126 losses, which equates to a winning percentage of 61.3, for a guy that has a 44.1 percent winning record.   Now that’s what I call excellent management.

What about this idea that Smith is excellent at bringing in talent. Sure, he has made some great draft picks and built up a Super Bowl caliber team, but when I did a little research on Smith’s draft record I discovered, thanks to fellow Bleacher Report writer Mike Kranzler, that A.J. has actually picked more losers than he as winners.

According to Kranzler, A.J. has picked 14 winners and 20 losers, and has failed to build depth along the offensive and defensive line.

The great A.J. Smith has only had 41.1 percent of his draft picks work out. Compare that with future Hall of Fame GM. Bill Polian who is well above the 50 percent mark with his draft picks.

For more information about A.J. and the draft here is a link to Mike’s article which I strongly recommend you read .

With the way Smith has treated his players, bungled his dealings with Drew Brees and Marty Schottenheimer, and his inconsistent performance in the draft, it’s no wonder that this team has missed its opportunity to win a Super Bowl.

As long as Smith is GM, and Dean Spanos is President of the Chargers, I guarantee that their losing ways will continue. This team will not go to a Super Bowl with the two of them running things.

Here is my solution, so the Chargers can win a Super Bowl, and end the long suffering of Chargers fans:

1)   Alex Spanos needs to fire A.J. Smith.

2)   He then needs to fire his son Dean.

3)   Next he needs to fly to Marty’s house with a dump truck full of money and the keys to the corporate jet, and beg him to come back.

4)   Then, he needs to fire himself for being so stupid to turn the team over to his son.

Read more NFL news on BleacherReport.com

The Two Men Responsible for the Destruction of the San Diego Chargers

In 1994, Alex Spanos, owner of the San Diego Chargers, turned over daily operations of the team to his son, Dean Spanos.

Dean was named President/C.E.O. of the organization. During his tenure as President, he has presided over a team that has only had six winning seasons over the past 15 years.

John Butler, former general manager of the Bills, was hired as the general manager of the Chargers in 2001. He took control of a team that had only two winning seasons in the prior seven years.

The hiring of John Butler is the only good thing that Dean Spanos has done since he became President of the team in 1994.

For those of you who don’t recall, Butler was instrumental in helping Bill Polian build the Bills into a team that set a record in the 1990s of four consecutive Super Bowl appearances.

After constructing a team that went to three consecutive Super Bowls, Bill Polian was fired because of a mysterious dispute between Treasurer Jeff Litman and Polian.

John Butler took over as GM in 1993, and the team went to its fourth straight Super Bowl.

During his eight seasons with the Bills, they made five playoff appearances. Like Polian, Butler had an uncanny knack for recognizing talent.

In 2001, his first year with the Chargers, he drafted running back LaDainian Tomlinson and quarterback Drew Brees. Too many people credit Smith with these draft choices.

In 2002, after the firing of head coach Mike Riley, Butler made his next brilliant move: He hired coach Marty Schottenheimer.

Marty opened the 2002 season with four straight wins. He is the only head coach in Chargers history to do so. Marty went on to lead the team to a record of 8-8. Given that in 2000 they went 1-15, and in 2001, went 5-11, this was certainly an improvement.

Sadly, John never got to see the fruits of his labor pay off. He succumbed to cancer in April 2003.

In his determination to destroy the team, Spanos replaced Butler with former pro personnel director for the Chargers, and Bills assistant, A.J. Smith.

Spanos gave complete control of the team to a man whose reputation as an egomaniac preceded him.

He has also been criticized as a hardball negotiator, whose dealing with players has hurt the team, as many times as it has helped it.

Smith’s approach to management might be summed up as, “My way or the highway!”

This attitude, as well as his mixed bag of draft picks, has taken a team that should have won a Super Bowl by now, and slowly run it into the ground.

Smith’s inability to get along with legendary Coach Marty Schottenheimer is well documented.

The first public signs of the problems in their working relationship, started to appear in the infamous parting of ways with Drew Brees. 

Smith, the supposed genius GM, didn’t even slap Brees with a franchise tag so that the Chargers could at least get some kind of compensation for a Pro Bowl quarterback.

Instead, they just let him go onto the market as a free agent.

The reality of the situation is that Brees was never Smith’s guy. In fact, Smith never liked Brees and wanted to get rid of him much sooner.

After spending a boatload of money on draft pick Phillip Rivers, Brees’ shoulder injury was a great excuse for finally getting rid of him.

In this brilliant move, not only did Smith lose one of the top five quarterbacks in the league, but he also further increased the rift between himself and Coach Schottenheimer, who wanted Brees back, because you know, Marty actually knew what he was doing.

As relations further deteriorated between Marty and Smith during the 2006 season, to the point where the two weren’t talking, and Spanos had to order them to speak with each other, Marty coached the Chargers to a 14-2 record with basically, a rookie quarterback; their record earned them the first seed in the playoffs.

The team would go on to lose to the Patriots in the fourth quarter of the second round of the playoffs.

Thus the tumultuous offseason for the Chargers began. The team lost both their offensive and defensive coordinators to head coaching, but Dean Spanos guaranteed Marty that he was going to keep his job. In fact Marty was offered a one-year extension.

However, in another brilliant move by Smith, in February he went to Spanos and said he couldn’t work with Marty. Keep in mind, that this was February, after all of the good head coaches already had jobs.

Spanos, standing firm by his conviction to field a crappy product for the fans, stood by Smith, and Marty was fired, only to be replaced by soon to be Hall of Fame coach (read with dripping sarcasm), Norv Turner.

Turner, whose brilliant head coaching career, contains a total of 79 wins and 98 losses, overnight became the new head coach of the San Diego Chargers.

So let’s pause for a second to get this straight. Dean Spanos just fired a guy who took his club to a 14-2 record, and has a career record of 200 wins and 126 losses, which equates to a winning percentage of 61.3, for a guy that has a 44.1 percent winning record.   Now that’s what I call excellent management.

What about this idea that Smith is excellent at bringing in talent. Sure, he has made some great draft picks and built up a Super Bowl caliber team, but when I did a little research on Smith’s draft record I discovered, thanks to fellow Bleacher Report writer Mike Kranzler, that A.J. has actually picked more losers than he as winners.

According to Kranzler, A.J. has picked 14 winners and 20 losers, and has failed to build depth along the offensive and defensive line.

The great A.J. Smith has only had 41.1 percent of his draft picks work out. Compare that with future Hall of Fame GM. Bill Polian who is well above the 50 percent mark with his draft picks.

For more information about A.J. and the draft here is a link to Mike’s article which I strongly recommend you read .

With the way Smith has treated his players, bungled his dealings with Drew Brees and Marty Schottenheimer, and his inconsistent performance in the draft, it’s no wonder that this team has missed its opportunity to win a Super Bowl.

As long as Smith is GM, and Dean Spanos is President of the Chargers, I guarantee that their losing ways will continue. This team will not go to a Super Bowl with the two of them running things.

Here is my solution, so the Chargers can win a Super Bowl, and end the long suffering of Chargers fans:

1)   Alex Spanos needs to fire A.J. Smith.

2)   He then needs to fire his son Dean.

3)   Next he needs to fly to Marty’s house with a dump truck full of money and the keys to the corporate jet, and beg him to come back.

4)   Then, he needs to fire himself for being so stupid to turn the team over to his son.

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Patriots Fans—Enough With the Hatred of Manning

 

If there is one thing worse than the Colts fans bashing of Brady, it’s the flat out hatred of Manning that comes out of the mouths of Patriots fans.

Maybe it’s because it’s so damn cold up there in Boston, and everyone has to find something to be pissed off about, but the rhetoric about Manning varies from such intelligent comments like “Manning sucks!” to, when they’re not getting drunk to stay warm, say, “Well Peyton hasn’t won enough championships.”, or “Peyton doesn’t have the grit that Brady has.”, “He can’t win in inclement weather”,  and my personal favorite, “Peyton chokes when it comes to the playoffs.”

Let’s take a look at Manning’s career, and what he has accomplished.

First let’s address the comments above, and then move on from there:

1)   Manning doesn’t have the grit that Brady does? If people recall the AFC Championship game against the Patriots, Manning smashed his throwing thumb, almost breaking it, on his second to last drive of the game.

On the next series he drove the Colts down the field on a seven play, 80 yard drive, in 1:17 seconds, which was topped off by a three yard touchdown drive by Joseph Addai.

2)   In 2008, Manning missed all of training camp with a busted bursa-sac, which later got infected twice. He still started the season even though he could barely move around.

On top of that there were so many injuries on the offensive line, it was like a turnstile at the supermarket. 

The defense was terrible that year and the Colts could not run the ball to save their lives.

Through the first seven games of the season Manning was hit so many times, he was like a piñata at a child’s birthday party. Yet he still managed to get the team to a 3-4 record.

He then went on a nine game winning streak, and the Colts came in second in the division.

Other than Ronnie Lott cutting his finger off, and then going back into the game to play, you’d be hard pressed to find better examples of toughness, grit, or whatever you want to call it.

3. Manning played a masterful game against the Chicago Bears in the pouring rain. Conventional wisdom said that the Bears would have the advantage because they’re an outdoor team. One more time, Manning proved the critics wrong.

4. Winning Playoff games, and Super Bowls is about teams playing well; not just one guy. If you look at the playoff losses that the Colts had, there were always serious deficiencies in the team, mainly the run defense and special teams.  When Peyton had a bad game, he didn’t have the luxury of the defense being there to bail him out. It was literally all on his shoulders.

No one would dare say that Dan Marino isn’t one of the greatest quarterbacks to play the game.  He is in the Hall of Fame, yet he never won a championship. Why? He never had the team around him (except in his rookie year) to help take him to the Super Bowl.

At the end of the day, the Playoffs and the Super Bowl are much more about the team than the quarterback.  Unlike in the regular season you are playing the best of the best, and the intensity level is turned up a couple of notches. One guy can’t take the team all the way on his own, no matter how good he is.

Before we go into all of the records Peyton has set, there are a couple of facts that need to be gotten out of the way. In the first 11 seasons that Manning has played for the Colts, he has only had a top ten defense twice over that time period; furthermore, only once did he have a top five defense.

To give you some perspective, that means that only 18.18% of Manning’s career has he played with a top ten defense. Compare that with Tom Brady, who has played with a top ten defense 56% of his career, or Ben Rothlisberger who has played with a top ten defense his whole career.

The second thing is, that since 2002 the Colts have averaged two fewer offensive possessions per game than the league average, which is ten. To make matters worse, from 2005 to 2008 the Colts had the fewest offensive possessions of any team in the NFL.

Keep those facts in mind when looking at what Peyton has done in his career.

Peyton Manning’s Records and Stats:

1)   Third all time in career touchdowns, only behind Dan Marino and Brett Farve.

2)   Fifth all time in career completions.

3)   Fifth all time in career passing yards.

4)   Super Bowl MVP.

5)   Only second player in NFL history to be a three time league MVP.

6)   Nine Pro Bowl selections.

7)   Four First-team All-Pro Selections.

8)   Three Second-team All-Pro Selections.

9)   Holds record for consecutive 4000 yd seasons—six.

10)  Holds record for most seasons with at least 4,000 passing yards—nine.

11)  Holds record for most games with a perfect passer rating—four.

12)  Holds record for highest career touchdowns/game average.

13)  Holds record for highest career completions/game average.

14)  Holds record for consecutive seasons with 25+ TD passes—eight.

15)  Holds the record for the highest passer rating in a complete season: 121.1

16)  Since Manning was drafted in 1998 the Colts hold the highest conversion rate on third and fourth down.

17)   In 2006 the Colts set an NFL record, converting 56.1% of their 3rd downs.

18)   Led the biggest comeback in conference championship game history—18 points—against the New England Patriots.

19)   Most consecutive playoff games with 20+ completions (tied with Tom Brady.)

20)   Tied with Joe Montana for most 300+ yard passing games in the playoffs—6

21)   Tied with Dan Marino for Most 400+ yard passing games in the playoffs—2

22)   First quarterback to beat all 31 teams.

23)   37 fourth quarter/overtime comebacks. Mr. Clutch, Tom Brady, has 28, and John Elway has 46.

24)   Manning helped the Colts beat the Miami Dolphins while possessing the ball for only 14:53 seconds. That’s the lowest time of possession by a winning team in 30 years.

25)   Manning helped the Colts become the first team in NFL history, to win a game with less than four minutes to go, after trailing by 21 points or more, on Monday, October 6th, 2003 against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

 

The records and accomplishments go on and on. To catalogue them all is beyond the scope of this piece.

What these accomplishments do, though, is belie claims by Patriots fans that Brady is clearly the better quarterback.

Peyton has proven to be one of the best, pure quarterbacks, to play the game in the past thirty years.

So, Patriots fans, calm down, enjoy your three rings, have a few more drinks, and stop already with the Manning bashing, because the facts don’t match up with your ridiculous criticisms of Manning, and they just make you look, well, ignorant.

Read more NFL news on BleacherReport.com

Colts Fans: Enough With the Brady Bashing

 

Most of you do not know this, but I run my own Colts Blog on Facebook. It has 264 Colts fans from all over the country, and they all have one thing in common: They hate Tom Brady.

Not only do they hate Tom, but they say ridiculous things about him, his record, and what the Patriots have accomplished over the past decade.

To see if this was just an isolated phenomenon, I decided to look at some other Colts sites on the web, as well as comments posted on NFL.com. Lo and behold, what did I find? The exact same anti-Brady rhetoric on every site.

So, here I am, a die-hard Colts fan, put in the position of defending our rivals, Tom Brady and the New England Patriots.

The reason I am writing this piece is because I am a football fan first, and a fan of my team second.

Tom Brady and Peyton Manning are the two best quarterbacks playing the game today: Period.

Their play defines the demarcation line between themselves and the rest of the quarterbacks in the league. One could spend hours debating who is 1a and who is 1b, but you would be hard-pressed to name another quarterback better than the two of them.

Sure, you could say such and such a quarterback is statistically having a better year so far, but no one else playing right now has put together a body of work like these two have over the past decade.

So let’s take a look at what Tom Brady, a future Hall of Famer, has accomplished:

Unlike Peyton Manning, Tom was almost an afterthought in the draft. He was a sixth-round pick by the Patriots, who almost took Tim Rattay instead.

Even though he moved up from fourth to second on the depth chart near the end of his rookie year, he might have floated off into the annals of NFL history had it not been for an injury to Drew Bledsoe at the beginning of the 2001 season.

Rather than go through a long dissertation on the greatness of Brady, here are some of the most important achievements of his career.

1) Brady has played in four Super Bowls, winning three of them.

2) Of the four, two of the Super Bowls were won by Brady, on drives with barely over a minute reaming.

3) Most completions in one Super Bowl

4) Two-time Super Bowl MVP

5) Four-time Pro Bowl Selection. He was actually chosen to a fifth Pro Bowl, but did not go.

6) Holds the record for most playoff wins by any quarterback.

7) Holds the record for most touchdown passes thrown in a single regular season.

8) Highest winning percentage of any quarterback, ever, during his first 100 starts.

9) The longest streak of games with three or more touchdown passes.

10) Brady is the first quarterback in NFL history to reach 200 career touchdowns with under 100 career interceptions.

How can anyone knock this guy? There are those that say, “Oh, he’s just a system quarterback,” or, “The Patriots cheated and that’s why they won all those games.”

Let’s address both these issues.

First, as between Peyton Manning and Tom Brady, Peyton is more of a system quarterback than Brady. He has only had one offensive coordinator throughout his entire career. There is no question that Tom Moore helped Manning become the great he is today. Unfortunately, Tom doesn’t get enough credit for it.

Brady, on the other hand, is on his third offensive coordinator. With each offensive coordinator comes a new system. Even if the coordinator just tweaks the old system, he still brings his own personality and ideas to the job.

Spygate is ridiculous. Everyone who is in the business of football—and is being honest—will tell you that videotaping your opponent’s signals gives you little to no advantage. Just ask the great Jimmy Johnson, who was doing it in the ’90s. He said the exact same thing.

Everyone in football cheats, but everyone got their panties all in a bunch because it was the Patriots, and people are jealous of their success.

The difference between reading other teams’ lips to get their signals, and videotaping them is minuscule. Sure, you probably catch a few more signals than you would by lip-reading, but that’s about it.

To prove how silly all of this “it gave the Patriots an unfair advantage, and that’s why they won all of those Super Bowls” nonsense is, consider this: Nick Harper was recently quoted as saying, “[He] was surprised when [he] got to the Titans that they already knew 90 percent of the Colts’ signals.”

If knowing signals is somehow correlated to wins and losses, then by that logic, the Titans should hold the advantage in the head-to-head series between the two teams.

So riddle me this: If that’s true, why do the Colts hold a 16-12 lead in the series instead of the Titans?

What you have to understand is, even if the opposing team knows what play is being called, they still have to execute. They still have to go out and make a play. They still have to stop the other team.

At the end of the day, Brady is a Hall-of-Fame quarterback, and Colts fans should relish the fact that every year we get to see two of the best quarterbacks playing the game today go at each other.

Granted, you will hear Patriots’ fans make similar, baseless, criticisms of Manning.  Go ahead and let them. We’re Colts fans, and we should be better than that.

Remember, in life, and in football, always keep your side of the street clean.

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Teams Can’t Run the Ball out of the Ace Formation: A Response to a Fan

 

 

Rich Cannon   Oct. 15 at 6:31am Report

“All we do is run outta single back n shotgun formations…we don’t have edge james anymore we can’t do that..we never run any I formation and give addai any extra back field blocking.. U can’t tell me a team in the nfl that is successful running the ball out of single back formation all the time!!!!”

Sent via Facebook Mobile

 

This is a great email. I chose to post my response on the Bleacher Report because this is a misconception held by many fans and analysts.

Now, let me disprove it.

When we go back and look at the running stats between 2002 and 2007, the Colts had great success running the ball out of the Ace Formation.  If you look at when the drop-off started to occur, it was after Tarik Glenn retired at left tackle, and Jake Scott was not re-signed at right guard.

Keep in mind that the Colts are a team that throw the ball to set up the run. Peyton forces teams to play a cover-2 shell because this is an offense that stretches teams vertically, leaving seven in the box against the run.

If teams decide to go to Cover-0 or Cover-1, then Peyton will call an audible and get out of the running play.  He knows he is going to have man coverage on the outside. Peyton’s going to call a hot route and have Reggie Wayne run a go route. With no safety help over the top (Cover-0) or a single high safety (Cover-1), this adjustment at the line usually results in a touchdown.

Keeping that in mind, both the “Edge” and Joe Addai have run the ball very well out of this formation.  One has only to go back and look at the tape or the stats to see that this is true.

Here are the problems that we have running the ball now: 1) If you read my article about “Offensive Line Basics II: Run Blocking,” you know that one of an offensive lineman’s most important tasks is to “blow his man off the line.”

2) Jeff Saturday is getting older and he is having a harder time doing that.

3) To Jeff’s right is Mike Pollack, an inconsistent blocker who affects Jeff Saturday’s and Ryan Diem’s ability to run block.  Remember, an offensive line is like a machine; if one of the parts is faulty, then the machine doesn’t run well.

4) The Colts can’t seem to seal off the edge when they run the stretch play to the right. This falls mainly on the shoulders of the right guard and right tackle; though, to a lesser degree, the tight end and the flanker are also responsible for sealing off the edge.

When the edge is penetrated, the RB is supposed to be able to bounce the run inside and run through the “6” hole.  Too many times, defensive linemen and linebackers are getting penetration through that hole because Mike Pollack has problems blocking.  What is weird about Mike is, when it comes to pulling him and trap blocking, he does a very good job. The left side of the line plays very well, and runs to that side almost always gain yards.

Also, don’t forget that when Manning throws the ball to Addai in the backfield, that is just like an extended handoff.  In reality, those are running yards. If you go to NFL.com and look up total rushing yards for the Colts from 2002 to 2007, they have run, on average, 1713 yards per season. Their best year for running the ball was 2004, when total yards were 1,852.

The bottom line is that it’s not the formation and it’s not the backs fault that the Colts struggle running the ball; it’s the line. It started in 2008 and it’s continuing into 2009. I encourage you not to take my word about the rushing yards. Here is the link to the rushing stats for each year:

http://www.nfl.com/stats/categorystats?archive=true&conference=null&role=TM&offensiveStatisticCategory=RUSHING&defensiveStatisticCategory=null&season=2002&seasonType=REG&tabSeq=2&qualified=true&Submit=Go

 

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Run-Blocking Diagrams

This slideshow is a companion piece to my recent article, “Offensive Line Basics Part II: Run Blocking and The Colts Line.”

It contains diagrams of the different blocking techniques discussed in the piece.

Here is a portion of the piece to whey your appetites: “This slideshow is a companion piece to my recent article, “Offensive Line Basics Part II: Run Blocking and The Colts Line.”

It contains diagrams of the different blocking techniques discussed in the piece.

Here is a portion of the piece to whey your appetites:”
To understand why the Colts are ranked 29th in the league running the ball, you have to understand the basics of run blocking.
When you have a Pro-Bowl running back on your team, and an explosive backup running back as your number two, and you can only average around 3.8 yards a carry, then something is wrong with your offensive line.
The Basics:
For the most part, the way offensive lineman run block is different than from the way they pass block, although there is some overlap in the two different styles of blocking.
The biggest trait the two styles of blocking have in common is aggressiveness.
An offensive lineman should always strive to be more physical than his opponent; if not, then he will lose the battle every time.
One of the first things an offensive lineman must learn, the thing that run blocking is all about, is he must be able to “to blow the defender off the ball.”
An offensive lineman should hit the defender with such force that he actually pushes him back towards his own goal line.
Next time you see a running play that goes for big yards, you will see an offensive linemen who pushed the defenders out of the way, creating huge running lanes for the ball carrier.
This is why run blocking is usually taught before pass blocking: Coaches want players to develop that physical and mental aggressiveness so critical to playing on the offensive line. Once this trait is developed, it carries over to pass blocking.
An offensive lineman has a lot to learn about different ways to frustrate and defeat a defensive lineman; however before he learns the techniques and blocks necessary to do this, he must master the key to success: He needs to be able to move with great quickness on the snap count….”

Begin Slideshow

Offensive Line Basics Part II: Run Blocking and The Colts Line

 

To understand why the Colts are ranked 29th in the league running the ball, you have to understand the basics of run blocking.

When you have a Pro-Bowl running back on your team, and an explosive backup running back as your No. 2, and you can only average around 3.8 yards a carry, then something is wrong with your offensive line.

Before I go any further here is the link to the diagrams that show the different techniques discussed in this article:  http://bleacherreport.com/articles/272211-run-blocking-diagrams

The Basics:

For the most part, the way offensive lineman run block is different than from the way they pass block, although there is some overlap in the two different styles of blocking.

The biggest trait the two styles of blocking have in common is aggressiveness.

An offensive lineman should always strive to be more physical than his opponent; if not, then he will lose the battle every time.

One of the first things an offensive lineman must learn, the thing that run blocking is all about, is he must be able to “to blow the defender off the ball.”

An offensive lineman should hit the defender with such force that he actually pushes him back towards his own goal line.

Next time you see a running play that goes for big yards, you will see an offensive lineman who pushed the defenders out of the way, creating huge running lanes for the ball carrier.

This is why run blocking is usually taught before pass blocking; coaches want players to develop that physical and mental aggressiveness so critical to playing on the offensive line. Once this trait is developed, it carries over to pass blocking.

An offensive lineman has a lot to learn about different ways to frustrate and defeat a defensive lineman; however, before he learns the techniques and blocks necessary to do this, he must master the key to success: He needs to be able to move with great quickness on the snap count.

From that one single skill all others flow. It’s what makes some great while others wallow in mediocrity.

Defensive linemen learn to react. They key off the movement of the ball and the movement of the offensive lineman.

While a defensive lineman is reactive, an offensive lineman has the luxury of being proactive.

That’s why quickness, at the snap of the ball, is so important. If executed properly, it gives the lineman an advantage over his counterpart on the other side.

If the snap count is not anticipated, then that advantage is squandered, and it increases the chances that the offensive player will get beat.

 

The Different Types of Blocks:

Drive Blocking:

The drive block is the most basic block an offensive lineman can make, and is usually the first taught.

A drive block occurs when the defensive lineman is lined up directly in front of the offensive lineman on the line of scrimmage.

On the drive block the lineman has two goals: 1) Drive the defender back toward his own goal line. 2) He must keep the same relative position between the defender and the ball carrier.

Since both linemen are so close to each other, there is very little room for error on this type of block.

The lineman must be in a good stance, anticipating the snap count, and burst off the line when the ball is snapped; all his focus must be on his target—the opposing defender.

 

Hook Blocking:

Hook Blocking is used when the defensive lineman is playing an outside, or inside technique, relative to the offensive lineman.

For example, if the defensive lineman is lined up in a five technique, then he is lined up to the outside of the right guard.

On the other hand, if he were to line up in a four technique, then he is lined up to the inside of the right guard.

Since the defender is no longer in front of the guard a drive block will not work.

Ideally, the lineman would still like to push the defender back toward his own goal line; however, in this scenario it is pretty hard to do.

Instead, the lineman attacks the defender at an angle, pushing him laterally down the line of scrimmage.

At the same time, he must make sure he is preventing the defender from penetrating the backfield.

 

Angle Blocking:

Angle blocking is the most difficult to explain.

In this scenario the defender is actually lined up directly in front of another lineman.

He can be either to the left or the right of the lineman that is actually supposed to block him.

To make this as simple as possible, let’s say the NT is lined up directly in front of the center. Instead of the center using a drive block on him, the right guard is going to come at him from an angle, at full speed, and block him.

Meanwhile, the center is going to angle block the defensive lineman lined up over the left guard, or right guard, depending on the play.

Like the hook block, the lineman must prevent penetration into the backfield, and make sure that he attacks the side of the defender’s body that is exposed to him.

This is a watered down version of a complicated blocking scheme.

Hopefully, you get the basic gist of it.

These are some of the most basic blocks.

Please see the slide show I put together to get a better understanding of what I am talking about.

In Part Two of run blocking, I will discuss some of the more complicated run blocks used.

 

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