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Texas WR/TE Passing Offense Talk


LTtxfan

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I don't know about a TD (safety would definitely have a chance to run him out of bounds), but certainly a very nice gain. I do think we have some issues with situational football. Early on, take that shot. But at that point in the game we really just needed the first down and it was there on a platter. It'd be nice if our offense would take the easy yards more often, particularly when it would result in a 1st on 3rd down. 

Yep. On this one there’s a chance Whittington get just as many yards if Worthy gets a block. But 95% conversion of the first versus 60% or whatever I take the higher.
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1 hour ago, Dahobbs said:

I don't know about a TD (safety would definitely have a chance to run him out of bounds), but certainly a very nice gain. I do think we have some issues with situational football. Early on, take that shot. But at that point in the game we really just needed the first down and it was there on a platter. It'd be nice if our offense would take the easy yards more often, particularly when it would result in a 1st on 3rd down. 

Agree, but that is just Sark. He changed Worthy’s route on that concept, so you know he was hunting the big play. You can bet your mortgage Worthy was the first read there. Texas ran 11 plays in the 3Q, if you include this one , it was 3 shot plays. People are talking about turtling, but his 3Q play calling was overly aggressive in my opinion. 

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23 hours ago, HtownHorn said:

If that 1st screen was a fake screen and go, Worthy would have walked into the EZ.

 

On the 2nd throw, I think Ewers made the decision to throw to Worthy too soon, and missed a wide-open Whittington. Who could have picked up 30+ yards down the sideline.

Worthy actually isn't even an eligible receiver there. That could be why their guy pounced on it so quickly.

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I’ve been watching a lot of highlight packages of portal additions, notably Bolden and Niblack. 
 

While the highlights are fun it would be nice, and far more telling, for someone to put together a player’s 20-30 worst snaps. If their worst plays are “average” then great. But if Niblack is getting blown up trying to block a couple times a game and Bolden misses a lot of easy catches, that would be good to know too. 

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Since a new innovative offensive trend discussed here, adding to this thread...

Screenshot_20240206-151038_kindlephoto-7698091.thumb.png.36888e5a670a9f6d216f5971714f8fe2.png

By:  Andrew Beaton     Updated Feb. 5, 2024 

Quote

Once quarterback Brock Purdy breaks the San Francisco 49ers’ huddle, opposing defenders face an endless set of problems. Running back Christian McCaffrey could blow past them in any direction. Wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk has the speed to torch them deep downfield. Tight end George Kittle can catch a pass on the sideline and steamroll his way toward a touchdown. 

Every blade of grass, from the line of scrimmage to the back of the end zone, presents imminent danger. 

But what makes the way the 49ers attack the entire field so menacing is something as simple as it is counterintuitive. When they snap the ball in the Super Bowl against the Kansas City Chiefs, they’ll be bunched up closer together than any other team in the league. 

For the last quarter-century, the trend in football has been to do the complete opposite. Spread offenses have trickled their way upward, from high school fields in Texas through the college game and into the NFL. The name explains the concept: receivers split out farther from the quarterback and even the offensive linemen space themselves out more, spreading the field and stretching the defense before the center even hikes the ball. 

But ever since Kyle Shanahan became San Francisco’s coach in 2017, his team has been at the forefront of football’s latest schematic evolution. The spread is out. The squeeze is in. 

Shanahan’s condensed formations, which are beginning to proliferate through the NFL, take the same principles as the spread—and completely invert them. The goal of any offense is to create and exploit space. Spread schemes do that by forcing defenders to line up from sideline to sideline. The 49ers achieve the same goal in an unexpected way: by forcing defensive backs to worry about the enormous empty patches of turf on the outside, it actually opens up the middle of the field to attack.

That surprising insight has made San Francisco’s offense the envy of the rest of the league. It’s why McCaffrey always seems to have cavernous holes to run through, and Purdy regularly has receivers who are yards away from the closest defender. It’s the reason the league is now littered with Shanahan’s acolytes—and why NFL offenses are shrinking. 

Kyle is one of the most creative guys in the league,” Chiefs coach Andy Reid said.

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Not long ago, the only record of the strategic trends shaping the NFL was anecdotal. New plays and formation wrinkles were fodder for discussion at coaching clinics. When they were documented at all, it was by sleepless analysts charting them by hand. But Keegan Abdoo, who works for NFL Next Gen Stats, had a different idea. He wanted to objectively quantify them with the billions of data points that are now flooding football. 

These days, an unfathomable amount of information is tracked on every single play, from a player’s speed at any given moment to how much separation a wide receiver gets from the defender assigned to cover him. Inspired by the tight splits he saw emerging across the league, Abdoo applied that same tracking technology to players when they’re completely stationary.  What he discovered is that the one of the most powerful X’s and O’s innovations of the past decade boiled down to something incredibly simple: Where the 11 players on offense line up before the snap.

For the last three years, the 49ers have lined up in condensed formations—ones fewer than 23 yards wide—more often than any other team in the league. In each of the last eight seasons, dating back to his time with the Falcons, Shanahan’s offenses have been in the top three of the league in this measure.

“The widest two players,” Abdoo explains, “the distance between them overall is a measure of how much you’re spreading out the defense—and how much of the field pre-snap you’re making the defense account for.” 

This season, Shanahan lined up his offense in tight formations more than ever before: San Francisco has run 63.9% of its total plays in this style. What that means is that when the offense lines up, the average width of the formation is just 19.9 yards, according to Next Gen Stats, or nearly 5 yards narrower than the NFL average of 24.6. 

Just a few years ago, playing this way directly contravened everything that was in vogue at the time. Back in 2016, spread formations—ones with at least 30 yards between the two widest offensive players—accounted for 46.1% of snaps, while condensed splits made up just 11% of plays. Spread offenses were indisputably king. 

But in each season since then, those trends have gone in reverse. Spread formations have receded and condensed ones have increased. Last year, for the first time since Next Gen Stats began comprehensively logging this data, tight splits actually overtook the spread. Over the same time span, the width of the average formation has shrunk dramatically, from 28.3 yards to 24.6. 

“Just looking at how the league-average tendencies have changed over the last eight years of our data is pretty fascinating,” Abdoo says. “It’s interesting comparing it to college football right now…it’s the exact opposite.” 

What’s so incredible about this transformation is how it can be traced back to one person, and it’s not actually Kyle Shanahan. It’s his dad.

Mike Shanahan, the coach who won two Super Bowls in charge of the Denver Broncos, assembled a staff of wunderkinds when he was coaching in Washington in the early 2010s. And all five offenses that led the NFL in condensed play percentage this season were part of it: His son Kyle, Los Angeles Rams coach Sean McVay (58%), Miami Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel (54.2%), Houston Texans offensive coordinator Bobby Slowik (47.3%) and Green Bay Packers coach Matt LaFleur (42.7%). Since 2016, the 10 offenses with the narrowest formation width in a season all belong to Kyle Shanahan, McVay or McDaniel. 

After McVay and Shanahan were both hired in 2017, they were so successful that they produced sprawling coaching trees of their own, which have driven this shift. McDaniel and Slowik were on San Francisco’s staff. LaFleur also worked for McVay in Los Angeles. 

Screenshot_20240206-150716_kindlephoto-7496902.png.bb908fadb46ea95e2152097415d4942f.png

The success of lining up in a formation that looks like the offense has barely broken the huddle has never been clearer. All six of the teams that led the NFL in condensed formation rate, including the Detroit Lions, reached the divisional round of the playoffs. 

The advantages to lining up like this are numerous. For one, defenses have a pretty good idea of what’s coming out of spread formations: 79% of those plays end up in a pass, yielding just 6.7 yards per attempt. Condensed formations, though, are nearly even, resulting in passes 49% of the time. While that’s a low number in a pass-happy league, offenses are rewarded by gaining 7.7 yards per pass—a full yard more. That’s aided by teams being able to credibly threaten to run the ball, allowing them to use play action 44% of the time, while that’s used on just 7% of spread passes. 

“It’s all about being unpredictable,” says Mike Band, a senior manager with Next Gen Stats. “When you’re in a formation that the defense doesn’t know if you’re going to run or pass, that in itself is invaluable.”

The irony is that by squeezing together in the center of the field, condensed formations actually make the middle of the field more vulnerable to attack. Because there’s so much space to the outside, guarding against that has to be a defensive back’s top priority. That’s exactly what Shanahan’s offense exploits, using in-breaking routes that prey upon the defense’s urge to protect the huge expanse of grass on the outside.

For six straight years, Next Gen Stats has found that the 49ers have targeted in-breaking routes more frequently than any other team in the NFL. 

Those passes explain Purdy’s incredible efficiency this season, when he led the league with 9.6 yards per pass attempt. In condensed formations, in-breaking routes average 9.2 yards per attempt with a 69.4% completion rate. Those numbers drop to 7.9 yards and 63.9% from spread formations. 

Screenshot_20240206-150844_kindlephoto-7584395.png.99a1e94debdbfb37a53e97451b089a0b.png

Not all of the NFL’s best offenses use these tactics. No team ran a lower percentage of condensed sets than the Buffalo Bills and Philadelphia Eagles, both of whom made the playoffs. The Baltimore Ravens’ offense that took Lamar Jackson to another MVP-caliber season also ranked near the bottom of the league. 

The Chiefs and Patrick Mahomes aren’t wedded to either style. They’re near the bottom of the league in spread plays and toward the middle of the pack in condensed ones. Which means when they line up, they’re not particularly bunched up or scattered apart. 

The true test will be for Kansas City’s defense, which was one of the top ranked units in the league and just held the Ravens to a measly 10 points in the AFC Championship Game. 

The Chiefs will discover that San Francisco’s offense presents an entirely different challenge. That’s because the 49ers squeezed their way to the Super Bowl. 

 

https://www.wsj.com/sports/football/kyle-shanahan-offense-49ers-brock-purdy-christian-mccaffrey-1776f02e?st=hqn7hg67tstr5wn&reflink=mobilewebshare_permalink

 

Edited by LTtxfan
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21 hours ago, LTtxfan said:

😋 Funny interview... 

Texas TE Gunnar Helm Talks Sark’s Offense & Leading by Example 

3rd & Longhorn        May 2, 2024

Interesting comments about building culture in TE room and team -- how practice t-shirt colors are used for workouts.  (13min mark)

white, grey, orange, black shirt rating system.

Gunnar:  "You don't want to be in a white shirt"

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On 5/5/2024 at 9:15 AM, LTtxfan said:

how practice t-shirt colors are used for workouts.  (13min mark)  white, grey, orange, black shirt rating system. Gunnar:  "You don't want to be in a white shirt"

Love the TE position requirements discussion and comments given to Gunnar about how "you sound like a pro" in your preparation.   22:10 min mark

 

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The WR room is packed to the rafters. Gonna be hard to get everyone the playing time they deserve.

Although... we could rotate 3 guys play-for-play and run pure vertical every snap at the opponent's CB until his ass is dragging and he just can't keep up any more. Then deep ball. Profit.

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NFL Draft stuff  (July 12th)

Isaiah Bond | Wide Receiver

ESPN's Matt Miller on Bond: "Elite downfield speed"

Prospect ranking: Pro Football Focus (No. 44.), Tankathon (No. 38), Pro Football Network (40)

Bond was one of the biggest names in the offseason transfer portal, and goes from one team coming off of a College Football Playoff semifinal loss to the other. He didn't have the most prolific season at Alabama (48 catches, 668 yards), but he did score a touchdown on one of the great plays in program history to beat Auburn, and vitally, showed the ability to be a receiver at the top level.

With Texas's top receivers from last year, Xavier Worthy and Adonai Mitchell, off to the NFL, Bond is in line to receive a healthy workload as Ewers's first option in a pass-friendly offense. Bond could put up a truly elite 40-yard dash time, perhaps below 4.3 seconds, giving him the speed to be a lethal downfield option- but we'll see if he has the refinement to consistently make plays all over the field this season. The 5-foot-11, 182-pound Bond is on the smaller side in terms of frame, but within the range you'd like to see for an NFL receiver with his skill set.

On most of the early prospect ranking lists, Bond grades as approximately the fifth or sixth receiver from the top, meaning that he'll probably be picked approximately in the early stages of the second round unless a run on the position helps him sneak into the first. However, with a strong season as the first read in the Texas pass game, it's not hard to envision him rising through the ranks.

 

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3 hours ago, DFW Horn said:

7 quality WRs and, what, at least 3 TEs? I hope we find a way to keep 'em all happy.

Exciting 2024 for Sark's passing offense.  Won't be surprised if our ground attack is even better than last season.  Texas must improve scoring more TDs in the red zone this year.  🤘

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Posted (edited)

WR Bubble screen RPO plays that can serve like rushing plays...

Sark at Bama

 

 

2023 Texas:  1st play vs Bama

Why This Bunch Empty Screen Worked

Empty formations are evidently the theme of the week as today we are discussing an empty bunch screen that the Texas Longhorns completed on their first play of the game against Alabama.

Take a look here at the play below 12:45 mark:

 

For the QB, it was an “easy” play number one on the script when you’re playing the Tide in their own home. Catch and throw the ball. The QB’s read was simply based on numbers. If he had a numbers advantage to the bunch, then throw the screen there. If he didn’t he could work the double slant concept to the field (which was the same double slant concept broken down yesterday here).

Because of a shift that happened super fast, the Tide had a tough time getting lined up and didn’t match numbers to the bunch.

So, let’s dive into why this WR screen worked.

Why The Play Worked

1.  Ball Out Fast
This is first on the list because the play was run into the boundary. There isn’t a lot of room, and in turn, not a lot of time to waste. A slow ball from the QB would’ve killed the play. Like all quick screens, the speed of the ball from QB to WR is critical and can’t be understated as a reason the play was successful.

Some people refer to quick WR screens as “long handoffs,” and that was the case here. The QB put the ball right on the WR so that he could catch and get upfield fast.

2.  Massive Shift into Empty
This wasn’t caught on film, but the Longhorns lined up in what looked like a heavy formation first and then moved into this formation. You can see some of it in the wide copy — they even had players switch sides of the formation. Tempo is a great lever to pull in making screens work since it forces the defense to line up fast and potentially misalign, but since this play was the first play of a drive (and the game), they couldn’t use tempo.

3.  Good Blocking

The final reason this play worked so well is because the Longhorns’ WRs blocked it up well. The point man took his man inside and out of the play. The TE on the inside of the bunch man-handled the corner and this allowed the WR with the ball to race upfield until he met a safety. At that point, he’d already gained 9 yards.

Conclusion

WR screens can be a great way to start the game since they are an easy catch and throw for the QB and aren’t a tough read. However, they do present challenges that I discussed heavily previously.

The smartest thing about this play, in my opinion, was the use of a big formation shift to mimic tempo. When trying to figure out why plays work, it’s best to look at the fundamentals of the play and see if they are present. Getting the defense to misalign and lose numbers is a key fundamental of the WR screen. And that formation shift was a creative way to do it since it was the first play of the game.

 

 

Hopefully, Texas will have better blocking from WRs in 2024

 

Edited by LTtxfan
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Screenshot_20240815-121544_kindlephoto-8711916.thumb.png.3cfeef884c4f08904ffd8a2d6664e683.png

 

Standing at just five feet, eight inches, and having 25 wide receivers ranked ahead of him in the 2024 transfer portal, it's easy to overlook Silas Bolden. Literally.

The Oregon State transfer was one that could've felt like overkill for the Longhorn receiving core in 2024. With two higher-rated transfers, three notable sophomore returners, and a five-star freshman, the fifth-year pass-catcher felt a bit out of place in the group.

But, like clockwork in fall camp, an unexpected veteran has emerged for Texas, and people are talking about him. In 2023, reporters were feeding the Austin area tidbits of a 360-pound mammoth in the trenches looking to replace NFL-gone DT Keondre Coburn. Six months later, T'Vondre Sweat was an All-American and the Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year.

Though depth charts are far from confirmed, Bolden seems to have earned the graces of head coach Steve Sarkisian and quarterback Quinn Ewers, likely earning a starting spot in Week 1.

"When he first got here, I could just tell how much he cared about the game of football and how much he really wants to succeed," Ewers said about Bolden. "He's been balling out. It's cool to see a guy like him do the things that he does."

Bolden's short stature is an anomaly for a receiver at this level of play. In the last three years in the NFL, just two players have recorded over 600 receiving yards in a single year while being shorter than 5'9, and neither eclipsed the 700-yard mark. Despite this, Bolden carved out a strong year for himself in 2023, still corralling 54 catches for 746 yards, 14th in the Pac-12 despite OSU throwing the second-fewest passes per game in the conference.

Bolden profiles most similar to Keilan Robinson from the 2023 team with Robinson's shorter stature and incredible burst. Bolden will likely see more snaps and will play much more out wide, but Sarkisian will likely include him in similar plays that Robinson saw. Bolden is great at getting deep downfield, but will also be a weapon in the screen, drag, and even out of the backfield. (Watch his highlights against Utah if you aren't convinced)

"He makes strong catches. He's a heck of a ballplayer, and he may be little, but he has some heart," veteran cornerback Jahdae Barron said. "He has a lot of heart to him (and) I love (Bolden) in routes."

If there's anyone who has had to endure the speed and quickness of Bolden, it's Barron. Barron's primary position as a nickel cornerback means he plays most of practice guarding slot receivers, which Bolden is expected to work out of in the fall.

Despite a loaded receiving group, Bolden adds something that few other players possess. Leadership and experience. The entire receiving core is either a junior, sophomore, or freshman, and Bolden is the only player to have spent more than three years in college football already. Though it took later in his career to see meaningful snaps, Bolden has embodied the culture and mentality that Sarkisian has brought to Texas: and plans to win with.

Later in the same media availability, Ewers described Bolden's leadership and energy on display. Working in the 'Red Zone Lockout' drill, where the offense competes against the defense to score from inside the red zone, Bolden's offense took the win in the drill, but not at the hands of the short route-runner. Juan Davis, a fourth-year tight end who looks to be primarily a backup in 2024, caught the game-winner, and the most prominent man in celebration was Bolden.

"Silas (Bolden) ran over to him, he's like jumping on (Davis) and firing him up," Ewers said about the drill. "You love to see things like that. Silas didn't get the ball, he didn't need to go over there and celebrate with Juan. But, you know, he does that. It's those types of things that really fire you up."

Bolden seems to have already assimilated himself into the culture and dynamic that this 2024 Longhorns team looks to play with, and getting in good graces with your quarterback means you'll be seeing the field. Despite him being the shortest player on the field, expect Bolden to make immediate and noticeable impacts both as a teammate and as a pass catcher in this explosive Longhorn offense.

 

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On 8/15/2024 at 12:20 PM, LTtxfan said:

Screenshot_20240815-121544_kindlephoto-8711916.thumb.png.3cfeef884c4f08904ffd8a2d6664e683.png

 

Standing at just five feet, eight inches, and having 25 wide receivers ranked ahead of him in the 2024 transfer portal, it's easy to overlook Silas Bolden. Literally.

The Oregon State transfer was one that could've felt like overkill for the Longhorn receiving core in 2024. With two higher-rated transfers, three notable sophomore returners, and a five-star freshman, the fifth-year pass-catcher felt a bit out of place in the group.

But, like clockwork in fall camp, an unexpected veteran has emerged for Texas, and people are talking about him. In 2023, reporters were feeding the Austin area tidbits of a 360-pound mammoth in the trenches looking to replace NFL-gone DT Keondre Coburn. Six months later, T'Vondre Sweat was an All-American and the Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year.

Though depth charts are far from confirmed, Bolden seems to have earned the graces of head coach Steve Sarkisian and quarterback Quinn Ewers, likely earning a starting spot in Week 1.

"When he first got here, I could just tell how much he cared about the game of football and how much he really wants to succeed," Ewers said about Bolden. "He's been balling out. It's cool to see a guy like him do the things that he does."

Bolden's short stature is an anomaly for a receiver at this level of play. In the last three years in the NFL, just two players have recorded over 600 receiving yards in a single year while being shorter than 5'9, and neither eclipsed the 700-yard mark. Despite this, Bolden carved out a strong year for himself in 2023, still corralling 54 catches for 746 yards, 14th in the Pac-12 despite OSU throwing the second-fewest passes per game in the conference.

Bolden profiles most similar to Keilan Robinson from the 2023 team with Robinson's shorter stature and incredible burst. Bolden will likely see more snaps and will play much more out wide, but Sarkisian will likely include him in similar plays that Robinson saw. Bolden is great at getting deep downfield, but will also be a weapon in the screen, drag, and even out of the backfield. (Watch his highlights against Utah if you aren't convinced)

"He makes strong catches. He's a heck of a ballplayer, and he may be little, but he has some heart," veteran cornerback Jahdae Barron said. "He has a lot of heart to him (and) I love (Bolden) in routes."

If there's anyone who has had to endure the speed and quickness of Bolden, it's Barron. Barron's primary position as a nickel cornerback means he plays most of practice guarding slot receivers, which Bolden is expected to work out of in the fall.

Despite a loaded receiving group, Bolden adds something that few other players possess. Leadership and experience. The entire receiving core is either a junior, sophomore, or freshman, and Bolden is the only player to have spent more than three years in college football already. Though it took later in his career to see meaningful snaps, Bolden has embodied the culture and mentality that Sarkisian has brought to Texas: and plans to win with.

Later in the same media availability, Ewers described Bolden's leadership and energy on display. Working in the 'Red Zone Lockout' drill, where the offense competes against the defense to score from inside the red zone, Bolden's offense took the win in the drill, but not at the hands of the short route-runner. Juan Davis, a fourth-year tight end who looks to be primarily a backup in 2024, caught the game-winner, and the most prominent man in celebration was Bolden.

"Silas (Bolden) ran over to him, he's like jumping on (Davis) and firing him up," Ewers said about the drill. "You love to see things like that. Silas didn't get the ball, he didn't need to go over there and celebrate with Juan. But, you know, he does that. It's those types of things that really fire you up."

Bolden seems to have already assimilated himself into the culture and dynamic that this 2024 Longhorns team looks to play with, and getting in good graces with your quarterback means you'll be seeing the field. Despite him being the shortest player on the field, expect Bolden to make immediate and noticeable impacts both as a teammate and as a pass catcher in this explosive Longhorn offense.

 

 

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