Take a second here at half time to mention this...
Really interesting decisions coming up. For those who like the technical side of football, their O is basically playing chess with us. The wide splits had hurt us earlier in the season and we didn't come out of our base D and coverages. Instead, we relied on the opponent's self-destruction. So, Wake is just using our own inflexibility against us.
For all those who want to say football is about athletes and motivation (psychology, etc.) and Xs and Os are for the birds, our athletes and their focus are completely out of rhythm because they're in poor position. There are only two ways those wide splits work consistently. We're currently providing them the easy way.
We'll they sure made it look easy. We'll see how we adjust.
When you refuse to shoot the gaps given to you because that's not what you do + play mostly zone behind it, the weaknesses of going 3'-5' splits are nullified. So, all you have left are the advantages: clear passing lanes, edge pass rush is basically irrelevant, more room to operate the zone-read and zone schemes.
Toss a LB in an A gap, bring down the SS to the LBs spot, and mix in man on the outside. I know people will mention the Burns play, but he wasn't roasted. The kid just isn't completely comfortable with the ball in the air. He misjudged and played the ball with his wrong arm (short arm).
