Formation Previews

[onegroove7]

I'm getting tired of reading your lengthy, childish responses. Seems like you're just upset that you're wrong. It's pretty simple but I'll explain this one more time for you.

You're using aggregate statistics, which can be misleading and here's why: If 32 NFL teams play an average of roughly 60 offensive snaps per game and 16 games per season, that's more than 30,000 offensive snaps in an NFL season. Like I said earlier, there are situations in game that force offenses to use more shotgun. For example:

• 2nd and LONG
• 3rd and MEDIUM
• 3rd and LONG
• 2 minute drill (hurry-up offense before the end of each half)
• trailing on the scoreboard
• shoot outs (not necessarily trailing but facing a team with a elite offense)

You don't seem to understand that all this does add up. Which is why I suggested using 1st down plays from the 1st quarter. A team's play calling is not affected by circumstance in this situation, so it should give us a better idea of what their gameplan or "regular offense" consists of.



It turns out the NFL hasn't gone away from under centre formations at all. In fact, there are 14 teams that use it more than 60% of the time to start each series. There are only 7 teams that use shotgun that often and 11 teams use a pretty even mixture of both, with most still favouring under centre.

So there you have it. I'm not going to keep going over this with you so please Shhh...

[tg88forHOF]

Quote: Originally Posted by onegroove7

I'm getting tired of reading your lengthy, childish responses. Seems like you're just upset that you're wrong. It's pretty simple but I'll explain this one more time for you.

I'm sorry, you're right...I'm sure attention span is a concern. I'll use fewer words:

Your initial statement was blatantly incorrect. Your follow-up, more specific statement was also incorrect. You're now getting into deeper and deeper levels of specificity, finding pockets where you can tell yourself you were right all along, when it's clear those levels of specificity were nowhere near the scope of your original few statements.

As briefly as possible: your theory was and is garbage, and this is transparently about you needing to be right.

Please let me know if any of that was too wordy for you to follow.

[reyes the roof]

The NFL has definitely gotten away from under center, in years past it wasn’t an automatic that you’re going to be in the shotgun in the passing situations that you excluded. Guys in the Coryell tree passed from under center in almost all situations

[tg88forHOF]

Quote: Originally Posted by reyes the roof

The NFL has definitely gotten away from under center, in years past it wasn’t an automatic that you’re going to be in the shotgun in the passing situations that you excluded. Guys in the Coryell tree passed from under center in almost all situations

To such an extent that being a QB from a spread or heavy-shotgun college was seen as detrimental for a draft prospect even just a few years ago...analysts would talk endlessly about how hard it would be for a QB to adjust to a "pro-style passing offense". There was a lot more to that than just shotgun vs. under center, of course, but it was part of it; analysts would talk specifically about the difference between passing from under center and from shotgun as if being used to passing from shotgun was an impediment.

If they saw passing downs as probable shotgun downs, why make that a talking point?

It's all still very much in flux....the first time the league aggregate numbers were heavier for shotgun was 2013, and it's been slowly taking over on running as well as passing downs since. If you look at that chart, the aggregate 1st down usage honestly was still predominantly under center as recently as 2017, while the aggregate numbers were higher for shotgun.

It's recent enough that for all we know, it could still flip back the other way as coaches continue to react to each other and innovate...the NFL is an arms race, and in 3 years, we could be right back at an under-center norm.

All we can really do is deal with where we are right now...and "right now" is a shotgun-centric league. Conventional wisdom is going to cause some people to miss that, or dig for edge cases and reasons the trend isn't really a trend...we see behind-the-curve coaches and executives do that all the time. Human nature is to be comfortable with what we already knew.

But as it regards Madden, shotgun formations in Madden 20 are so prevalent because they're more prevalent in the league at the time Madden 20 was made. It's really that simple.

[onegroove7]

Quote: Originally Posted by reyes the roof

The NFL has definitely gotten away from under center, in years past it wasn’t an automatic that you’re going to be in the shotgun in the passing situations that you excluded. Guys in the Coryell tree passed from under center in almost all situations

That's my point. Teams are using shotgun formations for passing situations more than ever but most teams still run their regular offense from under centre.

[Philosopher0]

the mere fact that you are saying the Arizona Cardinals were "under center" on any more than 3% of first down plays is baffling and mind numbing. i watched every game of theirs last year, they ran pistol and gun. Sure... I think I saw maybe 5 or 6 under center plays all year.

[Philosopher0]

Quote: Originally Posted by onegroove7

That's my point. Teams are using shotgun formations for passing situations more than ever but most teams still run their regular offense from under centre.

"regular offense"

The Shanahan coaching tree prefers running from under center largely. The Andy Reid tree mostly runs from gun. The Belichick tree runs from both equally depending on the opponent. Only teams whose identity are built around the run game are really running a "regular offense" under center. The Ravens ran more than anybody last year and also, had maybe a dozen under center runs all year.

[onegroove7]

Quote: Originally Posted by Philosopher0

"regular offense" The Shanahan coaching tree prefers running from under center largely. The Andy Reid tree mostly runs from gun. The Belichick tree runs from both equally depending on the opponent. Only teams whose identity are built around the run game are really running a "regular offense" under center. The Ravens ran more than anybody last year and also, had maybe a dozen under center runs all year.

You're a little off here.

Arizona, Atlanta, Baltimore, Buffalo, Carolina, Chicago, Cincinatti, Cleveland, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Green Bay, Houston, Indianapolis, Jacksonville, Kansas City, both Los Angeles teams, Miami, Minnesota, New England, New Orleans, both New York teams, Oakland, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Seattle, San Francisco, Tampa Bay, Tennessee, and Washington all ran more often under centre.