[81alum]

What's most disturbing to me is that Stanford's defense keeps on being victimized by the same play -- motioning a man out of the backfield onto the flanks. We've seen this motion extensively since the UCLA game and have nothing to combat it. This is disturbing.. ...That's not the case with the defense, where we've been unable to deal with a specific kind of play, where most of the players seem to have stagnated or regressed, and where there's a lack of trustworthy defensive linemen.

I worry about both offense and defense now--but then again, I've been proven to be a pessimist.

With regard to your concern about defense, I share it.  I do not think, however, that our players have regressed.  I think, rather, that other defensive coordinators have had a year to scheme and figure out exactly what works against our front seven.  Arizona last year started it but somehow we figured out how to use our linebackers to shut down Oregon.  UCLA continued it, and even though they lost, they provided the exact--and I really mean exact--blueprint that Utah just used.  They will undoubtedly be using it the same way this weekend--so we only have a few days to install a fix.

The bubble screens are relatively new and a feature of most spread offenses.  The swing passes, though, are old and were one of the most characteristic plays in the Walsh I era.  Walsh used them to great effect to tire out big defensive lines and linebackers.  I remember Francis or Finley or Nelson catching them out in space.  When the defense adjusted, then Nelson would squirt up the middle.

Nelson at 12:25 motions out of the backfield to catch a swing pass
Nelson at 13:56 catches a straight swing pass.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1gITbgpvnQ
Then you can listen to Burt Reynolds (why was he commenting on football?) say that Darin Nelson "was almost as pretty as a Dallas Cowboy Cheerleader."  Really.

It is maddening to see others using this play to clobber us.  Can't we claim a copyright or patent on it?

[81alum]

What's most disturbing to me is that Stanford's defense keeps on being victimized by the same play -- motioning a man out of the backfield onto the flanks. We've seen this motion extensively since the UCLA game and have nothing to combat it. This is disturbing.. ...That's not the case with the defense, where we've been unable to deal with a specific kind of play, where most of the players seem to have stagnated or regressed, and where there's a lack of trustworthy defensive linemen.

I worry about both offense and defense now--but then again, I've been proven to be a pessimist.

With regard to your concern about defense, I share it.  I do not think, however, that our players have regressed.  I think, rather, that other defensive coordinators have had a year to scheme and figure out exactly what works against our front seven.  Arizona last year started it but somehow we figured out how to use our linebackers to shut down Oregon.  UCLA continued it, and even though they lost, they provided the exact--and I really mean exact--blueprint that Utah just used.  They will undoubtedly be using it the same way this weekend--so we only have a few days to install a fix.

The bubble screens are relatively new and a feature of most spread offenses.  The swing passes, though, are old and were one of the most characteristic plays in the Walsh I era.  Walsh used them to great effect to tire out big defensive lines and linebackers.  I remember Francis or Finley or Nelson catching them out in space.  When the defense adjusted, then Nelson would squirt up the middle.

Nelson at 12:25 motions out of the backfield to catch a swing pass
Nelson at 13:56 catches a straight swing pass.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1gITbgpvnQ
Then you can listen to Burt Reynolds (why was he commenting on football?) say that Darin Nelson "was almost as pretty as a Dallas Cowboy Cheerleader."  Really.

It is maddening to see others using this play to clobber us.  Can't we claim a copyright or patent on it?