Forum Replies Created
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I DIDNT BLOCK YOU FROM ANYTHING.
Do I condone the actions by X? Your damn right I do.
Yes I asked RM to ban him. He would not get off attack mode so I deleted a couple of posts. The thing is, there can be a one-time exception as people sort out what happened on the 28th–there are a lot of upset posters who suddenly with no warning found themselves without a board. But it has to stop sometime.
Did you know I was blocked? You already say you condone it, which is half of the story. (See saying YOU personally didn’t do it is simply an evasion when the question is whether you knew about it. Assuming that’s even true and it actually happened the way X said.)
For that matter, did you know about it the first time it happened, when I was just blocked from ROD (that was about the time when you bought ROD, the buzz went down with a virus soon after, and then came back up minus many features, including the Rieker donations, and when I asked about them, your response was to say you could just take the board down. I was blocked from ROD round about then.)
And my question to you was not if X is in on all of your sites, the question is whether you informed me, your partner, that he was not only an admin but was reading PMs and according to him blocking people. You think you should have been trusted implicitly…but did I really know how the buzz worked if an outside party was reading mod PMs, later to talk about them in public. Don’t be so defensive…this one is a minor issue.
You keep raising the level of provocations, including trying to get in a dig at me when you apologized to all the posters whose site you blew up. So you didn’t really take responsibility for anything. It was sort of “I am sorry and it’s his fault.”
And then on to the name-calling we’re not supposed to do because it’s so wrong. ER’s post stands because X’s post stands. That’s my call. Unless the other mods want me to take down both. Or for that matter, a couple by you, too.
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Huge Akmann
Just read a tweet from Steadman Bailey saying he’s heading to OK in the morning for some workout sessions with Bradford. This is something Bradford hosts every summer with his receivers.
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STEDMAN BAILEY SR @iamSB3 · 2h
Flight out to Oklahoma in the AM to link with Sammy B for some workout sessions! #ChemistryActually all I see so far is Bailey doing it…don’t know if it’s others too.
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Should I hold my breath waiting for an apology?
I said several times throughout the thread I shouldn’t have name-called you. Go back and look. Not sure what else you want.
But then in spite of your denial, I WAS blocked. So let’s begin one small step and see how it goes. X said I WAS blocked (like I knew I was). Did you know about that or not, and do you condone that or not now that it’s completely public?
Either X did it like he said, without your knowledge…which means you were running a site where someone could do that (plus read mod PMs and talk about them in public). Or you knew X did it. Or he’s just covering for you.
Did I ever know I was running a site where someone other than you was reading mod PMs and could block whoever he wanted? Did I know that was the deal I signed on to? How does that sit with you? We fell apart because of distrust. How does something like that contribute to distrust?
You could give an honest answer, or you could do more zn bashing. But that rings hollow because I asked you to partner up on a site in the first place because you had already invited me to front one for you (that happened when you were impatient with RM because at that point the huddle kept going down). You had known me since the herd. You had known me on the huddle. When my solution to the huddle wars was to make a new site, that was fine with you…and you saw the huddle wars while they were happening. (To the point where you even told me on the buzz that Arsenic was Pancake). Your idea, as you kept telling me, was to have the biggest, most advanced Rams board, and you clearly thought you could do that with me–you even said so, and praised the board (until you bought ROD). That’s all completely understandable, but as I said all the subsequent zn bashing rings completely hollow now.
Let’s see how this goes. Did you know I was blocked, and/or do you condone it now that it’s completely public?
So X was the Dick. RM wouldn’t sell us out because well X is a dick . Most left the Huddle because of Thordaddy being a dick. X let Bob take the heat for him which is very high on the dickish scale. So the Huddle basically went out on it’s own got rid of the dicks (the goal when we left the herd) and now we are back home with out the dicks . Nice work Dick!
Sigh. Sooner or later we have to get back to order and the Rams, ER. As a rule we shouldn’t be doing any of this stuff—naming posters, attacking old warriors. Just go forward. Thor, for example, is ill…I wish him the best, frankly. People can move on and change.
But…under the circumstances…as long as it doesn’t leave this thread…it doesn’t feel right to delete it. Not if X’s post stands (and X’s post in this thread will stand.) And this isn’t a “warning.” Just a hope. Let’s go on and be better than this. Fair enough?
X
So now you know. I was able to block you from both sites, and I did. I blocked you from ROD because of your constant pilfering of my posts, and because of your incessant whining about being talked about by guys like Les and Thor and Albe and Boffo. So out of sight, out of mind, yeah? I blocked you from The Buzz because I felt like it. I’ve always had administrative access to both sites, even after I sold ROD. I knew when Bob was going to be away, and I’ve been planning on nuking you for a few years now. So I did. Not unlike Samir Suleiman, I’m a fucking throat slasher. And you deserved all of it.
The fact that you petulantly demanded satisfaction without knowing the full story is just typical of your past, present, and future behavior. Bob hooked you up BIG TIME, and you repay him by calling him a dick? Who the hell do you think you are? The “inconvenience” that I caused you for all of one day was for all of your lectures via PM for the things I posted and the way I posted them. That was for turning every good poster into a shitty poster because you lack even a rudimentary understanding of how to speak to people without condescension. Les, Thor, Albe, Boffo … those are all genuinely good and interesting people that you turned into assholes because you can never, ever, ever, humble yourself and see another person’s point of view OR take even the slightest bit of criticism and gain a little introspection from it. But mostly, it was because you decided to turn on me one day before I even knew who the fuck you were. And I forget nothing. I’ve been stringing you along for years now. Pretending to be your friend, taking shots at you, apologizing to get you on the hook again, taking shots at you, apologizing, dogging you, apologizing, and so on and so on and so on. You. Are. My. Puppet. My greatest revenge comes this day, “Rick.”
So here’s my advice to you going forward. Shut the fuck up and listen once in a while. Don’t challenge people’s intellect because you think yours is superior. Don’t make the mistake of thinking everyone is forgiving, and stop leeching off of other people to get what you want. But most of all, take a goddamn look in the mirror. You’ve been ostracized from every board not named the PD, and for good reason. Dozens upon Dozens of people registered and left The Huddle because of you. You alone. A jury of your peers booted you off of ROD, and The Herd still mocks you to this day. You want a place to call home so that you can stop being the leader of the martyred flock of the internet? Buy one. Register the name, “ZNsWorld.tv” and pony up $8.95 a month to host your own site. Push a goddamn button to install a board, and lord over it like the creepy pie eating internet fascist you are.
For the rest of you who thought I was a decent guy, and was trying to help? Nah. I tried to buy The Huddle from RM, but he never responded to any of my emails. I was going to make that board great and ban the one guy responsible for destroying it. Some of you would have followed him through the gates of Hell I’m sure, but many of you would have noticed that the guys who were “ALLEGEDLY” responsible for its demise are actually the ones who have the personality to make a board click. And without them, that board died. I realize most of you are happy with a small community revolving around ZN and the face he shows you in public. I get that. But if you were ever exposed to the other face? The one that puffs out his chest behind the scenes because he can’t STAND being anything other than the center of attention and the sole voice of authority? Well, you’d know you were being duped.
Ban me now. I have no desire to respond to the inevitable victim speech that’s sure to follow.
My work is done.
Rules violating posts by you in the future will get torched. This post will stand though. It’s really a testimony to a lot of things. Including your own essentially vindictive spirit. Even if it’s one big game for you.
I will call you on a couple of your misconceptions and bs. And this will not lead to an argument. That WILL get nuked. No responses–you just posted the most petty attack post this community has seen since the old huddle war days, and you don’t get to continue with it. I never incessantly said anything about any poster at ROD (meaning, the ex-huddlers who still post there)…I double-checked on it with Bob to ask if he had zapped out the names posters were trying to bash. I asked if he had done that, and he said yes, and I basically said good job (because we had the same policy at the buzz, basically…no old wars. At the time I thought Bob and I were friends when I asked that…and for you to know it means you were reading buzz board PMs). I never “stole” anything from you and all boards copy posts, including ROD. But I did ask people to not copy mine, and if this is your way of doing the same, so be it. I didn’t petulently demand anything… I knew I was blocked and thought Bob was doing it for a reason. I wanted to know the reason, so we could have honest communication. What does one do when one is blocked and they know it, recite hindu prayers? Turns out, either you were his proxy or you’re covering for him or you just used him in a set up. If anything you said is even true. It doesn’t matter much if it is or not. Either way, he crashed a whole board community because of it.
The one thing I do want to stress is that describing my FRIENDS as “followers” is just a piece of projection on your part.
We have a board, X. That’s all that matters. You haven’t “gotten” anybody. But think so if you want. Shrug.
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Are Hybrid Defensive Fronts the Future of NFL Defenses?
By Ty Schalter
Atlanta Falcons fans everywhere want to know the answer to one simple question: Will they be running a 3-4 or 4-3 base defense in 2014? Head coach Mike Smith is being obtuse about it.
“We’re going to play with 11 players on the field,” Smith told Vaughn McClure of ESPN.com.
Thanks for clearing that up, Coach.
Falcons defensive coordinator Mike Nolan has an extensive history with the 3-4 defense, and the Falcons acquired several 3-4 players this offseason, but Smith refused to admit such a switch was in the works. Instead, he argued the difference is much smaller than most football watchers realize.
“When you start talking about 3-4, 4-3, they’re very similar in principles,” Smith said. “You line up on a 4-3 in a base down, you slide your tackle in and under and over defense. You line up in a 3-4 and slide your tackle over, you’re in an over defense. You slide him under, you’re in an under defense.”
This runs counter to almost everything today’s fans know about defensive football.
The dominant defenses of the late 1990s and early 2000s relied on specialized schemes with defined roles and prototypes. Football fans who grew up watching Dick LeBeau’s 3-4 zone blitz and Monte Kiffin’s blitzless 4-3 Tampa 2 struggle to imagine the two base alignments as different names for similar things.
Even so, we’ve seen some of this flexibility elsewhere in the NFL; the New England Patriots have flexed between 3-4 and 4-3 fronts based on personnel throughout much of Bill Belichick’s tenure. Rob Ryan’s extremely multiple defense worked wonders in New Orleans last season—and the struggles of Ryan’s replacement in Dallas, Kiffin himself, had some Cowboys fans missing Ryan more than they might have expected.
What’s happening to defensive football? How are base alignments converging, and what does it mean going forward?
‘Base’ Alignment
When we talk about the differences between the 3-4 and 4-3 alignments, we need to know what those things are. There’s no better primer than Bleacher Report NFL Lead Writer Matt Bowen’s Football 101 articles on the topic.
Here’s Bowen’s “The Basics of the 4-3 Defensive Front” (http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1999358-nfl-101-the-basics-of-the-4-3-defensive-front), which walks us through the way 4-3 linemen and linebackers lineup and their relative responsibilities against the run and pass.
There are “Over” and “Under” 4-3 alignments. They’re “one-gap” systems, where each defender is responsible for defending one running lane. All of it is keyed off which side is “open” or “closed,” i.e. on which side the tight end is lined up.
This optimizes the run fits for the defense’s best run-stoppers. The nose tackle, strong-side linebacker and strong safety are all put into the best position to collapse the prime running lanes, and the defense’s best athletes (weak-side linebacker, pass-rushing defensive end, free safety) are free to chase down the play from the backside or guard against a counter.
Now, check out Bowen’s “The Basics of the 3-4 Defensive Front,” and scroll down to the 3-4 Under. Like a traditional 4-3, it’s a one-gap scheme keyed off the alignment of the tight end:
Just like Smith said, a one-gap 3-4 Under and a one-gap 4-3 Under are practically indistinguishable, as are a 3-4 Over and 4-3 Over:
Defensive coordinators running these alignments are asking similar athletes to do similar things—note that this open-side 4-3 “defensive end” isn’t even playing with his hand down.
Asymmetrical alignments, though, assume the offense is trying to run to the strong side—or even run at all. As New Orleans Saints tight end Jimmy Graham argued in his (unsuccessful) bid to be franchise-tagged as a wide receiver, today’s NFL tight ends function more like overgrown slot wideouts than hole-opening run-blockers.
In 2009, now-Buffalo Bills defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz told Detroit media members, quoted here via The Lions in Winter, why he prefers symmetrical linebackers and safeties:
We sort of got away (from WILL and SAM linebackers) because we saw so many shifting teams and teams get out of shifting real quick if they’re moving four people and you got all these guys on defense going, are you ready yet? But if they’re moving one guy and you’re flipping four, they’ll just do it 60 snaps a game.
That’s why you start getting a little less compartmentalized with SAM and WILL, strong safety and free safety. If you’re a strong safety and you line up to the tight-end side and that tight end motions across, you can’t flip because you don’t know if he’s going to stop and come back and if he does you’re looking bad. Guess what, if you have a 230-pound strong safety that’s an in-the-box strong safety you can turn him into the free safety just motioning one guy across the formation. So it puts more (emphasis) on having multidimensional (guys).
Old School, New School
As I recently wrote in a piece about the disappearance of the traditional between-the-tackles run-stuffing middle linebacker, NFL teams no longer run to establish the pass.
Leaguewide, NFL teams averaged 35.4 passing attempts and 2.5 sacks per game, compared to 27.1 rushing attempts. That means NFL teams averaged a 41.7/58.3 percent run/pass balance in 2014, per Pro-Football-Reference.com—and, of course, average means many teams are passing even more often. Even when teams run, it’s often out of passing formations.
That’s why when we talk about “base alignments” and “two-down linebackers,” we’re using outdated terms. Weak-side linebackers who are too small to cover tight ends like Jimmy Graham and strong-side defensive ends who are too slow to rush the passer will struggle to find work in today’s NFL.
Pure run-stuffing middle linebackers and strong safeties who play like linebackers aren’t useful when teams are running three- and four-receiver sets and passing almost two-thirds of the time.
That’s why teams are using nickel and dime packages at unheard-of rates.
“The thing that I think people don’t realize,” Smith said, via McClure’s report, “is that the game has become substitutional defense. About 65 to 75 percent of large snaps have been in sub defense where you’re playing with five defensive backs. There are more snaps with five defensive backs than four. That nickelback is more of a starter than your fourth linebacker or your third linebacker. The multiplicity and the complexity of the game have changed.”
As Bowen wrote, the traditional 3-4 Okie front uses a symmetrical defensive alignment: Three big, strong defensive linemen each responsible for two running lanes, leaving the outside linebackers responsible for edge containment. The power of old-school, aggressive 3-4 defenses like LeBeau’s is that they disguise where the pass rush is coming from.
The power of new-school 3-4 hybrids is that they disguise what the coverage is.
Ryan’s “base” defense is theoretically a two-gap 3-4, but as the author of the blog Code and Football wrote, he’ll use four, two, one or even zero defensive linemen to keep opposing quarterbacks confused. Ryan doesn’t need to overload the defense with six or seven pass-rushers to get a sack; he can do it by rushing an unexpected set of four or five and constantly changing which four or five come.
The limitation on 3-4 Okie front defenses has always been that two-gap nose tackle up front. There just aren’t enough athletic, 350-plus pound men who can handle two running lanes by themselves. When so few offenses rely on a traditional power run game, though, that’s not nearly the problem it used to be.
The door is open for coordinators like Nolan to go find talented, versatile players and start swapping them around.
Defender Taxonomy
The shift toward indistinguishable one-gap 3-4 and 4-3 fronts and wildly multiple “amoeba” defenses like Ryan’s is causing just as much confusion in football scouting and analysis.
When scouting, grading, ranking and giving awards to defenders, we break them down into categories that no longer make sense.
A 4-3 3-technique tackle such as Ndamukong Suh is similar to a 3-4 defensive end such as J.J. Watt, not a 3-4 tackle such as Vince Wilfork. A 4-3 defensive end such as Robert Quinn is similar to a 3-4 outside linebacker such as Brian Orakpo—not a 3-4 end such as Watt. A 4-3 outside linebacker such as Lavonte David doesn’t play anything like Orakpo.
Going forward, the football-watching world needs to consider classifying defenders in an alignment-agnostic way. These old descriptors (“tackles,” “ends,” “outside linebackers”winking smiley just don’t mean the same thing anymore.
Just like offensive coordinators are aggressively spreading the field, eliminating some positions (like fullback) and de-emphasizing the roles of others (like tight end), it makes sense that defensive coordinators are responding in kind.
Already, defensive coordinators are moving toward complex, hybridized, symmetrical alignments that give them maximum flexibility in coverage (and create maximum confusion). As the 2014 season approaches, don’t be surprised to hear more teams like the Falcons eschewing the idea of a “base alignment” altogether.
