Option?

[JS19]

Originally Posted by Huckleberry

He rarely ran through or bounced off guys. He was very elusive at the college level and he absolutely always ran out of bounds if it was available. I'd say he was actually tackled by a defender on around 50% of his running plays. Probably less.

That being said, he obviously won't be as elusive for NFL defenders. But the weirdest thing about this thread is the general take that the Titans are planning to run the option often. Do you guys seriously think they're planning on running more than 2-3 option plays in a given game, tops? The likeliest scenario by far is busting it out once per game if the situation arises.

Even so, that one time just may be one time too many. As it was said before, when a DE or LB sees the number 3 pick in the draft pitching the ball they are gonna welcome him to the NFL in not the nicest of ways.

[Poli]

Originally Posted by Honolulu_Blue

I used a similar offense with Chiefs. It involved using "the motion" play and was near unstoppable. The Steve DeBerg to Christian Okoye "option" play was what allowed me to have an undefeated season, even beating those late season games were the computer "picks" your play almost every down.

I liked to use the run and shoot with Grogan and the Patriots.

Run Grogan Run. I'd use the R&S QB Sneak 7 out of 10 plays, regardless of human or CPU opponent. The rare 10th play was a bomb to Dykes...please catch the lob!

[TroyF]

I think this is a great idea for a lot of reasons. The Titans can get Young involved in the game even if he's sitting on the bench a good portion of the time. The option/roll out type plays are usually fairly safe, with very few reads to make.

Providing they aren't using this thing fifteen or twenty times a game, I think it could be a nice weapon. it'll give Vince a chance to get involved in some game action without the pressure he'll face when he starts his first game.

[Daimyo]

Bringing in Young to run the option in the red zone and other special situations is a great idea right out of the Buddy Ryan playbook! How can it possibly fail?

http://www.footballoutsiders.com/200...eep-zone/3698/

[Logan]

Originally Posted by TroyF

I think this is a great idea for a lot of reasons. The Titans can get Young involved in the game even if he's sitting on the bench a good portion of the time. The option/roll out type plays are usually fairly safe, with very few reads to make.

Providing they aren't using this thing fifteen or twenty times a game, I think it could be a nice weapon. it'll give Vince a chance to get involved in some game action without the pressure he'll face when he starts his first game.

So you're just going to bring him in to run the option or the short pass? You're going to end up with 7 lightning-quick, strong defenders camped out in a straight line about 5 yards behind the LOS just waiting to tee off.

But I do disagree with the popular belief that the reason the option doesn't work in the pros is because of the better speed of the defenders. Rather, in my opinion, it won't work in the pros because defenses are more disciplined. In college, defenders aren't disciplined enough to stay in their lanes, as they get the urge to just attack the ball, which makes them end up committing too soon, which frees up running lanes (for either the QB or the back). Bill Parcells' defense would never let that happen. And if they did, I guarantee it won't happen a second time.

[Abe Sargent]

I am so happy to be a Jags fan. Not only did we dodge two bullets with the Texans waffing on Bush and the Titans miffing on Leinart, but now, the Titans are going to install the *giggle* option.

HAHAHA

-Anxiety

[IMetTrentGreen]

first off, its pretty clear nobody here ever watched vince young play. or, more likely, don't know what they are watching on a football field. ive seen him play since high school and never seen him take a hard, square hit. never. when you can cut like he can, with the violence he can, and when you have the stregth he has, you don't hit him hard. if you try, he'll run right past you and break your weak arm tackle. anyone with a minimum understanding of football knows this. also, i dont think he ever even got hit hard in the pocket because his pocket awareness is so good, and nobody wanted to be the one that busted contain

second . . .

I hate to break it to Tennessee, but in college, Vince wasn't the master of eluding defenders...from what I saw, he had a tendency to run through or bounce off guys. That ain't gonna happen in the pros...he's gonna get decapitated.

welcome to wrongtown, population you. he bounced off a lot of guys, but juked others. and the reason he bounced off of so many people is because he kept them off balance with his moves, and could get side to side as well as anyone i've ever seen. hard to wrap that up. i still remember the time he clowned some poor kansas lb by juking back to his right, off his right foot. really think about that. if you want a good example, look at waht he did later in that game on the 4th and 18 run, where he juked a guy by going across the lb's body, from inside to outside, and still didn't even get touched. or his td run vs. colorado last year where he went aobut 3 yards laterally as fast as most people take on stride going forwards.

third, like i said in the other thread, tennessee might run the option, but they aren't going to rely on it. that would be stupid. you can't have the defense ready to hit the qb, even if its vince. however, if they aren't mentally prepared for it, or they aren't aligned right, it could be a huge advantage. it pretty much ruins any 7 man front, meaning more guys in the box meaning less option in coverage meaning easier to read defenses.

if i had to guess, they'll likely just do what spurrier did -- and i assume stoops learned from him, since he did it too -- short yardage speed or load option where the qb is mostly just a decoy for the de. a de facto blocker. and as huck said, there are a lot of ways to run an option, one being the zone read, which doesn't put the qb in much danger

[Passacaglia]

Originally Posted by Logan

So you're just going to bring him in to run the option or the short pass? You're going to end up with 7 lightning-quick, strong defenders camped out in a straight line about 5 yards behind the LOS just waiting to tee off.

But I do disagree with the popular belief that the reason the option doesn't work in the pros is because of the better speed of the defenders. Rather, in my opinion, it won't work in the pros because defenses are more disciplined. In college, defenders aren't disciplined enough to stay in their lanes, as they get the urge to just attack the ball, which makes them end up committing too soon, which frees up running lanes (for either the QB or the back). Bill Parcells' defense would never let that happen. And if they did, I guarantee it won't happen a second time.

Aren't the division rival Colts a notable exception to this? I remember hearing somewhere that the Colts defensive ends are instructed to bull rush the QB every play, and let the linebackers worry about the run.

[TroyF]

So you're just going to bring him in to run the option or the short pass? You're going to end up with 7 lightning-quick, strong defenders camped out in a straight line about 5 yards behind the LOS just waiting to tee off.

I'm a little stunned by this Logan. A quick, safe read doesn't necessarily mean short pass. In fact, a lot of times it means the exact opposite. Long passes are usually pretty safe in the NFL. They can get picked off like any pass, but being that it's 40-50 yards downfield, it's just a punt.

That's not even talking about the easiness of the read though. When you run a roll out or a pass option play, you take away half the field for a QB to read. He only has to worry about a WR/TE and a few specific defenders.

It's the way Jake Plummer was protected by Shanahan this year. Difference is that Plummer didn't have the speed or athletic ability of Vince Young to make a lot happen if nothing was there, so he had some five yard gains or threw the ball away.

This isn't a horrible idea if used correctly.

[TroyF]

Originally Posted by Daimyo

Bringing in Young to run the option in the red zone and other special situations is a great idea right out of the Buddy Ryan playbook! How can it possibly fail?

http://www.footballoutsiders.com/200...eep-zone/3698/

I have 3 major issues with your comparison of the two situations:

1) I've seen it said nowhere that the Titans are going to throw Young out there every third and long.

2) The Titans coaching staff is superior to Buddy Ryan and the Eagles staff. They've developed a QB before who became an all star in the league. They aren't going to continue to do something that isn't working.

3) Young and Cunningham are two completely different players. Cunningham is a scrambler first a thrower second. Young can throw the football and he can do it with accuracy. Young isn't going to be looking to run every play, nor will he hold onto the football for a ridiculously long time. I think you are off base with this one.

[Logan]

Originally Posted by TroyF

So you're just going to bring him in to run the option or the short pass? You're going to end up with 7 lightning-quick, strong defenders camped out in a straight line about 5 yards behind the LOS just waiting to tee off.

I'm a little stunned by this Logan. A quick, safe read doesn't necessarily mean short pass. In fact, a lot of times it means the exact opposite. Long passes are usually pretty safe in the NFL. They can get picked off like any pass, but being that it's 40-50 yards downfield, it's just a punt.

That's not even talking about the easiness of the read though. When you run a roll out or a pass option play, you take away half the field for a QB to read. He only has to worry about a WR/TE and a few specific defenders.

It's the way Jake Plummer was protected by Shanahan this year. Difference is that Plummer didn't have the speed or athletic ability of Vince Young to make a lot happen if nothing was there, so he had some five yard gains or threw the ball away.

This isn't a horrible idea if used correctly.

Well, first let me say that I misunderstood what you said--thinking you did say short passes. And what you're saying about Plummer is definitely right. It's also what Pittsburgh did with Big Ben when he came in to simplify everything. So if that's what you're looking for in Young's case...why not just do that? Run a simple, safe offense that allows him to think pass-first, then use his ability to improvise. Why even bring the option into it with all the downside it could have?

[Buccaneer]

This would be my worse nightmare as an NFL fan. I really have nothing against athletical QBs but it does remind me of what I truly hate (and always have hated) most - the option play, whether out of the wishbone or T or something else. It goes back to my early years as a fan when I was kid in the late 60s and early 70s and seeing these white boys running the option for the schools in the midwest and some of the south. God I hated watching those teams and eagerly awaiting when the exciting teams like Plunkett's Stanford and others came on. This extended into NFL where I loved to see Namath's Jets, Brodie's Niners and others, as oppose to the third-yards-and-a-cloud-of-dust boredom. When Bobby Douglas did his thing for the Bears in the mid-1970s, we all that it was stupid joke. And today, the one local D1 program still run that fucking play over and over with these small but quick white boys. That's where my hatred comes from, not that a QB can run (I love mobile, avoid-the-sack type QBs) but some of the plays remind me too much of those teams that had and still run the option over and over and over.

Now I will became a non-hater of the Falcons and turn my animosity towards the Titans.

[Joe]

Originally Posted by Buccaneer

This would be my worse nightmare as an NFL fan. I really have nothing against athletical QBs but it does remind me of what I truly hate (and always have hated) most - the option play, whether out of the wishbone or T or something else. It goes back to my early years as a fan when I was kid in the late 60s and early 70s and seeing these white boys running the option for the schools in the midwest and some of the south. God I hated watching those teams and eagerly awaiting when the exciting teams like Plunkett's Stanford and others came on. This extended into NFL where I loved to see Namath's Jets, Brodie's Niners and others, as oppose to the third-yards-and-a-cloud-of-dust boredom. When Bobby Douglas did his thing for the Bears in the mid-1970s, we all that it was stupid joke. And today, the one local D1 program still run that fucking play over and over with these small but quick white boys. That's where my hatred comes from, not that a QB can run (I love mobile, avoid-the-sack type QBs) but some of the plays remind me too much of those teams that had and still run the option over and over and over.

Now I will became a non-hater of the Falcons and turn my animosity towards the Titans.

Namath was a no-talent jackass

[Buccaneer]

Originally Posted by George W Bush

Namath was a no-talent jackass

Except for a couple of seasons he did put up some awesome numbers and with the hype after his SB win, it was exciting for a 10-11 year old. You had to have been there.

[Daimyo]

My comparison of the two situations is only that they're talking about using him mainly in special situations where they will be essentially bringing a cold, inexperienced QB into the game in situations that tend to be less successful anyway (red zone, third and long). IMO, that is a recipe for disaster where the best case is he gets hit a lot and the worst case is his confidence is ruined.

They should either play him fulltime and let him take his lumps or play him sparingly only in high success situations.

Originally Posted by TroyF

I have 3 major issues with your comparison of the two situations:

1) I've seen it said nowhere that the Titans are going to throw Young out there every third and long.

2) The Titans coaching staff is superior to Buddy Ryan and the Eagles staff. They've developed a QB before who became an all star in the league. They aren't going to continue to do something that isn't working.

3) Young and Cunningham are two completely different players. Cunningham is a scrambler first a thrower second. Young can throw the football and he can do it with accuracy. Young isn't going to be looking to run every play, nor will he hold onto the football for a ridiculously long time. I think you are off base with this one.

[TroyF]

Originally Posted by Logan

Well, first let me say that I misunderstood what you said--thinking you did say short passes. And what you're saying about Plummer is definitely right. It's also what Pittsburgh did with Big Ben when he came in to simplify everything. So if that's what you're looking for in Young's case...why not just do that? Run a simple, safe offense that allows him to think pass-first, then use his ability to improvise. Why even bring the option into it with all the downside it could have?

IMHO, I think that's exactly what they are talking about. Vince rarely ran the full fledged option at Texas.

I don't think the plan is going to be to have him run a straight option in the pros. I'd be stunned if that were the case. I think they are talking about pass/run options based on limited reads as opposed to run/run options. Maybe on the goal line they'll try a true option once in awhile, but I don't see them running straight option in the middle of the field.

Not that I couldn't be wrong on this.

My comparison of the two situations is only that they're talking about using him mainly in special situations where they will be essentially bringing a cold, inexperienced QB into the game in situations that tend to be less successful anyway (red zone, third and long). IMO, that is a recipe for disaster where the best case is he gets hit a lot and the worst case is his confidence is ruined.

I think people are reading far to much into this. I think Young is going to have a basic package of plays to run when he's in these situations. From a good coaching staff who prepares him well. This isn't going to be idiot Buddy throwing a green QB out on a third and long and saying "make something happen kiddo"

And my guess is the Titans put him in situations to be successful. I could be off base here, but after watching how they handled McNair, I find it hard to believe this coaching staff and this organization are going to set their QB up for failure. I think they'll put him in spots and plays that help him and the team. I'm certain he'll make a few mistakes in those situations, like all QB's do. But I'm also fairly certain after watching Vince Young play, that he'll make some incredible football plays as well.