How the other teams know what play is coming

[3CardMonte]

From Fox pre-game guys Fox Round Table (http://msn.foxsports.com/story/3066846)

Has the game passed Joe Gibbs by? Do opposing defenses really know what plays are coming, as Redskins RB Clinton Portis asserted after last Sunday's game against the Browns?

James Brown: "I was talking to (Cowboys safety) Roy Williams and he was chuckling about what Portis said, that the Browns knew what was coming last Sunday. Roy said to tell Joe's offensive linemen to quit digging their hands into the ground when it's a running play and to quit rocking back in their stances when they are getting ready to pass block. Can they fix this?"

Howie Long: "If they really don't change, things won't get any better. Joe Gibbs said after last week's game they still gained four and eight yards on plays he thought the defense knew was coming."

Jimmy Johnson: "But the Redskins do seem so locked into formations, play wise. What I mean is that from some formations they are running only certain plays. I talked to a coach who watched their tape and he predicted 90 percent of their plays. I think Joe has had to gear everything back because he doesn't have time for all the shifts and motions he used to run."

Terry Bradshaw: "Then the simple solution is for the linemen to grab the dirt, dig in, and then throw the ball. The bad thing is that with the play clock running down, QB Mark Brunell hasn't been able to audible out of anything, especially if he anticipates the defense has it figured out."

Jimmy: "They should be able to eliminate some of these looks and run more plays out of every formation this week. That's all it takes. To run two or three different plays from the same formation."

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[dj_stouty]

Wow.

This is really getting to be a problem when NFL coaches and players are chuckling about our players telegraphing the upcoming play. An NFL coach predicted 90% of our plays? Our O-line is giving away "tells" by the way they stand? Damn!

I've always noticed our WRs to telegraph if they were about to run a route or be used in rush blocking. At the Monday Night game, I was predicting the plays to my wife at about 75% accuracy.

This is getting to be a big problem that the players AND the coaching staff need to address.

[PennSkinsFan]

Yup.

Makes you wander if Portis was right, Gibbs was embarassed, so the denial was offered.

Wow.

This is really getting to be a problem when NFL coaches and players are chuckling about our players telegraphing the upcoming play. An NFL coach predicted 90% of our plays? Our O-line is giving away "tells" by the way they stand? Damn!

I've always noticed our WRs to telegraph if they were about to run a route or be used in rush blocking. At the Monday Night game, I was predicting the plays to my wife at about 75% accuracy.

This is getting to be a big problem that the players AND the coaching staff need to address.

[LATrueRedskin]

I always had a hunch that the Olineman were doing that, because thats how we figured it out in high school. If thats the problem, we can easily fix that. I think we can run our usual offense with the shift formations if we just practice at it and come together more. The players are still learning Gibbs' offense, it needs some time to sink in and become second nature.

[chrisbcbu]

Sad thing is that we had to have a COWGIRL point out the fact that our lineman were doing that.

[dj_stouty]

This is truly embarrassing.

The only "good" to come out of this is the fact that the Ravens know our "current" tendencies. Now all Gibbs and Buges need to do is make sure our O-linemen flip-flop their tells and "dig in" on pass plays and "roll back on their heals" for rushing plays. Mix it up so the defense doesn't know what hit them.

I remember Spurrier did this last year during the Falcons game. The big news story prior to the game was about the Falcon's QB (his name escapes me) who was coached under Spurrier at UF. This QB was running his mouth about the hand signals Spurrier was having Ramsey do at the line for audibles. The TV announcers even picked up on this...and in the first half, everyone was correctly predicting the plays when Ramsey made a certain hand signal. UNTIL...a very important 3rd down came up...Ramsey made the signal, and the defense and the announcers immediately picked up on it and predicted the play. Unfortunately for them, it was a smokescreen...as the Redskins used it as a fake signal and did a totally opposite play, faking out the defense, and the broadcasters...and eventually getting a 1st down. The camera faded into Spurrier on the sidelines and he was gleaming. THat was my favorite Spurrier moment during his short tenure here.

I hate to say it...but I think Gibbs needs to take a page out of the Spurrier notebook and do this to the Ravens.

[NamVet4]

This is truly embarrassing.
I hate to say it...but I think Gibbs needs to take a page out of the Spurrier notebook and do this to the Ravens.
Blasphemy! Pure Blasphemy !!! :D

[openallnight]

O lineman ALWAYS give away pass or run. Some players do a better job of hiding it than others. Usually, it's the tackles that most often give it away. Especially, when they're facing a speed outside rusher. They really need to get back on their heels to react to the rush. Strahan for example probably reads pass/run correctly 90+% of the time. One situation where the offense really can get an upper hand is in play action. If the lineman do a good job of selling run this can really put the defense back on their heels.
Perhaps the BEST reader of offensive tendencies is the LB coach for the Ravens. Singletary was a master of reading offensive plays. Things like reading players eyes, stances, QB head movement, hand movement all gave him a huge pre-play advantage.

[joethefan]

WOW Very interesting.....I hope this can be fixed.....SOOOOOONNNNNN!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Skinzaholic]

I cant believe this is a new problem soley against the Skins. It seems Brunell should be able to adjust to this... with more practice with the offense.

[Ohiofan]

I am glad to hear this coming from a more authoritative source than me, but I mentioned this in some of my threads about the Browns game that I attended. Just watching from the stands as a fan, it really was pretty easy to guess the plasy that were coming based uopn the formations useed. It really was as bad as during the Browns game as the FOX guys described

[IowaSkinsFan]

I am sure during the 0-5 start in Gibbs' 1.0 alot of plays looked like the defense knew what was coming. Things got straight after that. Let it play out and stay on task.

[BRAVEONAWARPATH]

I hate to say this but has anyone considered the possibility that Portis was
telling the true. And that Bugle was quick to dismiss Portis' claims because
he was in fact, covering up for Gibbs' ineffective(currently) offensive schemes.

[bgforever]

I did look at Buges comments on how things were smoothed out as a bit overly, but not alarming.

I could tell you that on obvious passing downs, most NFL lineman tip thier hat. However, run plays take a bit more savvy.

Funny should we have done that, we still were in all those games. Simply amazing isn't it.

That Defense of ours was soooo questionable coming into the season and the offense was so set. Yet here we are talking about the POP WARNER LEAGUE 101 moves for lineman. Simply amazing!

[BIGSEF3]

MAYBE gibbs has been telling the players to play poorly so that our later opponents will underestimate us and think they know us, so we can dominate them!

(and yes, please read that comment with the most sarcasm you can imagine)

[SkinsKY]

I think the tells Roy indicated are probably true and things you can't get away with in today's game. Run some more plays out of the same formation. We played a team in High School who ran four formations and two plays out of each. So we yelled at them and told what play they were running. If high schoolers can spot it, then it won't fly in the NFL. We need to do some different things, add some plays to the book and open things up. I think some 3WR sets (or the H-back out wide) would do wonders at giving Portis room and forcing mismatches.

I am actually planning on taping the game and logging all plays/situations. We'll see just how predictable it is.

[Ohiofan]

Skinsky, i think your idea of taping the game & logging plays woldl be very informative. Best of luck.

[3CardMonte]

I also listened to some of the cowboys post game after the monday night game. Babe Laughenberg is the color analyst on that broadcast and they played a clip of him correctly calling one of Brunells audibles. Through the sound reciver they use he heard Brunell say white 10 and Babe says watch the hitch to the H-back and sure enough thats what it was. When asked about it he said it was the same audible he had when he played for Gibbs.

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[LadyNRedskinsfan]

with as much film the coaches do, im sure they'll realize this and fix it soon. they better.......