I was watching a little of the NW game again last night and it made me think back to some noted differences that I’ve picked up on compared to last season. One thing that has jumped out is the backside action from our WR’s on run plays. I thought it was a nice wrinkle because I’ve seen it occupy S’s and LB’s for a split second and that can help the offenses spacing once the ball is snapped.
Now, and I hope guys like @wolverineluke and @LosAngelesWolverine, a couple guys who’s opinions I respect but are admittedly concerned (if not pessimistic) about our offense will appreciate this; I should’ve noticed this earlier but I don’t think the true intention of the backside action is simply to stave off backside pursuit. I think we’re still in the building phase of this offense and what we’ve actually been doing is installing the framework of our RPO’s.
You can see it in the receivers routes and the OL’s blocking. You’re seeing slants (yes, slants) and hitch routes from our receivers along with our OL setting and engaging the DL before working up field (this is to allow Patterson time to get the ball out and avoid an ineligible receiver downfield penalty).
I also mistook Patterson’s reads. You’ll see these looks where Patterson squares and rides Higdon while reading what looks like the DE; sometimes he is reading the DE in a true read option look, but there have been other times where I thought Patterson missed the read and should’ve kept based on the DE crashing. That’s probably because his read was at the second level as part of the RPO package.
To this point I haven’t seen us actually utilize the full scope of the RPO’s, but I think the infrastructure is in place and I think it’s ***possible*** that we weren’t quite ready to use it at ND and we’ve since decided to work out the kinks of the action through the weakest part of our schedule before flipping that switch and letting Patterson make the reads.
At this point we should be ready to go live with it so it wouldn’t surprise me to see us work in a handful of RPO’s this week against Maryland and then start to incorporate more and more of it as we enter the meat of the schedule.
I could be completely wrong, but looking at the collective action of the offense it sure looks like we’re gearing up for another facet that could be a game changer against the better (and more aggressive) defenses that are awaiting us. Just a hunch, but something to keep an eye on.
Now, and I hope guys like @wolverineluke and @LosAngelesWolverine, a couple guys who’s opinions I respect but are admittedly concerned (if not pessimistic) about our offense will appreciate this; I should’ve noticed this earlier but I don’t think the true intention of the backside action is simply to stave off backside pursuit. I think we’re still in the building phase of this offense and what we’ve actually been doing is installing the framework of our RPO’s.
You can see it in the receivers routes and the OL’s blocking. You’re seeing slants (yes, slants) and hitch routes from our receivers along with our OL setting and engaging the DL before working up field (this is to allow Patterson time to get the ball out and avoid an ineligible receiver downfield penalty).
I also mistook Patterson’s reads. You’ll see these looks where Patterson squares and rides Higdon while reading what looks like the DE; sometimes he is reading the DE in a true read option look, but there have been other times where I thought Patterson missed the read and should’ve kept based on the DE crashing. That’s probably because his read was at the second level as part of the RPO package.
To this point I haven’t seen us actually utilize the full scope of the RPO’s, but I think the infrastructure is in place and I think it’s ***possible*** that we weren’t quite ready to use it at ND and we’ve since decided to work out the kinks of the action through the weakest part of our schedule before flipping that switch and letting Patterson make the reads.
At this point we should be ready to go live with it so it wouldn’t surprise me to see us work in a handful of RPO’s this week against Maryland and then start to incorporate more and more of it as we enter the meat of the schedule.
I could be completely wrong, but looking at the collective action of the offense it sure looks like we’re gearing up for another facet that could be a game changer against the better (and more aggressive) defenses that are awaiting us. Just a hunch, but something to keep an eye on.
