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Chuck Turtleman's avatar

'Spoon is my favorite player to watch in the league and I have receipts in this comment section that I wanted him over Carter. When I have watched him fall for a play fake or such, I have generally seen him recognize it the next time. He's so fun and energetic and smart and fast and strong and hits hard. My favorite type of defensive guy. But I have to admit that Carter is a guy who can play in any system down in and down out and be disruptive. Devon Witherspoon is arguably a more talented football player, but his strengths need to be utilized more than any DL's. Pick your favorite Hall of Fame DB, and he is more reliant on his assignments than a guy asked to run through a brick wall and tackle the man with the ball.

I used to think that I understood this game better than the average viewer, having played it most of my pre-adult life. But when I see terms such as:

Cover 1 double rat (drop-8) -Cover 1, got it. But REALLY, drop 8!?! 3 rushers and the rest of the TEAM drops into coverage? That would be suicide against a QB who has wheels -or even a good RB, which nearly all have. But I'm not thinking of modern high end NFL plays, as much as understanding watching the game in even the LOB era.

‘Boat’ (Double-B) Hot Palms -Am I holding a hot burrito fresh off of a food truck? Otherwise, I can't even think of an explanation for this. Let alone "boat," Double-B" or "rat."

Cover 0 double rate ‘‘Tag’ pressure - Cover 0: fine, I understand that. But "Tag" pressure? Are we sure they're not just making shit up?

I feel like a lot of analysts don't want to simplify, lest it makes them seem like less of a genius. Perhaps I'm just trying to make myself feel better for not understanding it but each team has its own terms for the same concepts. I watched a QB School where JT O'Sullivan broke down two AFC teams' offensive calls (I think Bengals and maybe Chargers), but it was two very talented QBs and JT pointed out the same concepts they were asked to run and talked about the difference in "verbiage," and that stuck with me. There aren't a lot of ways to vastly reinvent the wheel under current game rules, but coaches call them different things. And I don't desire to know "double x, y banana" as much as I just wish I grasped the more common intricacies in the modern NFL well enough to wrap my head around the things that seem to be more complicated than what I do actually understand. But for all the (probably hundreds) of hours of football I watch year-round; I have a job and family and enjoy movies and other things and I have a finite amount of attention to put towards my leisure.

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Tim McConnell's avatar

"Too spoon." Nice.

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