How Play-Action Is Supposed To Work Part 1

by Blitzburgh on Jan 14, 2009 9:15 AM EST Comment 24 comments

Wasn't it incredible to watch the Pittsburgh Steelers offense execute play action to perfection this past Sunday? It hasn't happened much this season. It rarely does for teams ranked in the bottom 1/3 rushing the football. Against the Chargers though, we ran it early and often. And not just like two times here, two times there. The Steelers had multiple occassions in which they ran it 4-6 times in a row. That's something we haven't seen all year.

The pay off for that committment to the run was the ability to make play action work for Ben Roethlisberger and his receiving targets. Let's take a look at a couple of the plays:

Above, you can see that there are 4 SD enders who have their eyes on either the Steelers backfield or the lone Steelers WR on the leftside. That's four guys with their eyes off of where the play is about the develop. That only happens when Chargers players highlighted #1 and #2 have to respect the threat of the running game.

Here you see Heath locked up with a SD player but because those LBs in the other frame did not begin fixated on what Ben and his WRs/TEs were going to be doing in the play.

When Heath lets his man slip off of him as Ben continued to run up to the goal line, the Titans defender more than took the bait, eager to get a hit on Roeth. Voila. Heath's open with a slew of Chargers defenders chasing Steelers WRs deep in the endzone. Miller, who we all know is not shy of contact, rumbled in for the score as they tried to stop him short of the goal line.

Not to be. 21-10 Steelers. Great execution! We'll need some of this on Sunday against Baltimore and I truly believe we'll get it as well. It must start with a true commitment to the run though like we saw last Sunday. None of the 1 or 2 runs in between 3 or 4 passes though. And of course we'll need more great play from the line. We can do it though and when it's done to perfection, there's nothing quite as fun to watch in football.

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Might I suggest using the alphabet tag in paint? :)

by steelguy99 on Jan 14, 2009 9:51 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

nah, it cuts into the background - makes the field have big splotchy white spaces :)

by Blitzburgh on Jan 14, 2009 9:54 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

We need to buy you photoshop. Or if you’re bored over the off-season you should consider getting familiar with gimp: http://www.gimp.org/

These are still solid though, but I’ll bet you didn’t like drawing the 2. :P

by steelguy99 on Jan 14, 2009 9:56 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

lololz

i have this brotha for my other work designing sites for clients:

http://www.adobe.com/products/creativesuite/design/?promoid=BPDDY

I love yall, just not enough to waste more time than i have to making a 2 look better than it needs to be. sorry!

by Blitzburgh on Jan 14, 2009 9:58 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

unless that is

u want to pay me good money which i dont think u do :)

by Blitzburgh on Jan 14, 2009 10:00 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

It would be nice if there was a hybrid between paint and the more complicated editing software.

by steelguy99 on Jan 14, 2009 10:01 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

yeah definitely

totally true.

at some point ill get some little custom created icons (numbers, arrows, circles, blah blah – the kind of stuff u see on replay shows) to just drop in these posts but no time for that right now. opportunity cost to do anything more than paint right now is too high for the short term. but in long term, ure right, need something better than these dumpy looking hand drawn graphics. but theyre the most time effective for time being

by Blitzburgh on Jan 14, 2009 10:04 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Make sure to dig for help this off-season in anything you need to help ease some of your time commitment. Plenty of people here would be willing to donate a few hours.

by steelguy99 on Jan 14, 2009 10:06 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

word to that

offseasons a great time for lots to join in. we’ll deploy the masses for best draft coverage we can do. ive been meaning to email u ’guy bout a number of things. will do so soon enough. but thanks for the idea and offer, its definitely something ill be doing, especially with mr. cgolden no longer available.

by Blitzburgh on Jan 14, 2009 10:09 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Paint Shop Pro

I’ve used Paint Shop Pro for years. It used to be made by Jasc, I think it is Corel now. Anyway, it’s pretty much like you explained.. A cross between paint and something more complicated. — It is very easy to use.

When I say who dey, you say we dey.

by sn0wballz on Jan 14, 2009 10:36 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Great post btw.

you did a much better job of illustrating the success =) I just want to point out again how I think Max Starks was a key in selling this one.

When I say who dey, you say we dey.

by sn0wballz on Jan 14, 2009 10:37 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

yeah definitely

good call. lineman have a big role in these plays. harder to tell in my photos but ure absolutely right. good pt.

starks was huge against sd!! Need another big game from him

by Blitzburgh on Jan 14, 2009 10:43 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Yes Starks does.

I’ve criticized him a ton throughout his career. I’m sure most of us have. I like to be quick to point out the good things he does as well (b/c honestly it doesn’t happen often) and hopefully he can keep this up.

When I say who dey, you say we dey.

by sn0wballz on Jan 14, 2009 11:24 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Doesn’t happen often? Starks has played at a very high level this year.

by steelguy99 on Jan 14, 2009 11:47 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

ill check out ps pro

for some short term solutions. thnx

by Blitzburgh on Jan 14, 2009 10:48 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

You can use the alphabet tags in paint without affecting the background. After you click on the “A” for a text box, there’s two new options that appear below. Click on the bottom of the two and it will make only the text show up without the white background. :-)

by TheRebelMonk on Jan 14, 2009 4:42 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Also

I mentioned this earlier, but I think this play works because we scored on a toss play from a similar position earlier in the game. This goes against BA’s natural inclination to continue running the same damn play over and over like he’s proving a point that it was a good call in the first place.

by Chicago Steeler on Jan 14, 2009 11:23 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

Definitely worth mentioning. The offensive gameplan was a plan.

I question how arians will do when the run is taken away against the ravens.

by steelguy99 on Jan 14, 2009 11:47 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

hopefully

we can take advantage of the raven’s aggressiveness with the misdirection play action that worked last week. I agree though, that unless we can establish some sort of running game, this will be less likely. I will give BA some credit (a first for me), his game plan was more creative and effective for a change. That is if it was his game plan

by qwikdoc on Jan 14, 2009 12:06 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

+1

i totally agree…this is my biggest fear going into this game. let’s say we run on first and second down and then face third and 9. let’s say we don’t get it. and we punt. then what happens on the next possession? same thing? how many times does that happen before we abandon the run, and allow the purple browns to play pass all the time? the only way i see us counteracting this is if we get above average play from the line and from FWP/MM. did i mention that i’m nervous?

...die trying
http://www.agentorangerecords.blogspot.com

by agentorange on Jan 14, 2009 2:05 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

One thing that gives me a little hope was that arians ran a lot of different run plays. We can’t give up on the run, but we can’t keep pounding the rock ineffectually. The only chances if the run is stopped is to run unexpectedly and to run in different formations and to different sides of the field. I thought arians did a good job of the that this past week, and I hope he can keep it up when the first five plays of the game don’t come up with decisive running yards.

Check out the playcalling for parker’s runs…
Middle, Middle, Middle, right tackle,middle,right tackle,middle,right guard,moore to left guard,right guard,left end,middle,right end,middle,left guard,middle,left tackle,right tackle,righttackle,left end,middle,right end,middle,right tackle,right guard,right end,left guard,right tackle,right end

The tone is set early with a ton of runs in the A-gaps. After that it’s all over the place, and the plays gradually shift toward being run on the outside more to take advantage of a defense that can’t keep up with willie’s speed on the edge.

by steelguy99 on Jan 14, 2009 2:19 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

that's a great point

and i also am sure that they will look VERY closely at why the titans were able to find some early success running the ball against the purple browns last week. you see? i waver from hope and confidence one moment to fear and loathing the next.

...die trying
http://www.agentorangerecords.blogspot.com

by agentorange on Jan 14, 2009 2:24 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs