Football 101: "He's the Mike" Identifying the Mike Linebacker and why.

[Tony2046]

Some of you already knew but out of curiosity I wanted to find out why Brady and other QB's point out which defensive player was the Mike Linebacker.

Found a great site that explained it perfectly and I thought it would be fun to pass it along.

We know from @K. Dog 's thread a few weeks ago that the Mike Linebacker is either the middle LB or the strong side middle LB depending on whether the defense is in a 4-3 or a 3-4.

So my curiosity was why was there a need to identify the Mike Linebacker ? Surely the players already knew.

Identifying the Mike LB is simply the QB telling the rest of the offense which defensive player to treat as the Mike LB. Basically setting up blocking assignments. It doesn't have to be the actual Middle linebacker.

Here's the link. (Good stuff)

What is identifying the Mike linebacker in football? - Dear Sports Fan

You might be thinking to yourself, “That’s silly, I can look on any team’s website and find out before the game who is playing middle linebacker. Why would the quarterback need to scream about it before each play?” It’s a good point. The thing is, what’s on the website is the player who plays the middle linebacker position in an absolute sense. What the quarterback cares about is who is playing the middle linebacker on each play in a relative sense. Or, to be more realistic about it, he is identifying the player he wants his teammates to consider the middle linebacker of the defense on that play no matter what position he’s actually playing.

A little humor. Romo identifies the Mike and the Mike denies that he is.




The more I learn about this game the more the Chess vs Checkers analogy rings true.

 

[luuked]

Wonder if we can get some kind of "technical side of football" subforum to get to discuss things like that without the topics getting lost between all the useless noise here (i.e. "Brady and the 3 year plan" kinda posts).

 

[Tony2046]

Wonder if we can get some kind of "technical side of football" subforum to get to discuss things like that without the topics getting lost between all the useless noise here (i.e. "Brady and the 3 year plan" kinda posts).

There are many, including yourself, that have a lot of football knowledge. (Funny how you found my OP useful because I doubt it was for you) haha

Personally I've just recently started to study the game at a deeper level and have enjoyed the X/O type discussions. I've gained a greater appreciation for how complex the game really is.

For example the Collins trade. A lot of mediots focussed on what kind of freakish athlete he is and he is but that focus also reflects on how little the mediots understand the game itself. Being a great athlete and being a great football player don't always go hand in hand.

My 10 y/o son and I have been watching games differently lately. He likes to predict if the next play is a run or pass among other things.

Anyways good stuff.

 

[SlowGettingUp]

Identifying the Mike LB is simply the QB telling the rest of the offense which defensive player to treat as the Mike LB. Basically setting up blocking assignments. It doesn't have to be the actual Middle linebacker.

I've always wondered what would happen if just before the snap the (identified) Mike swaps position with the Will or Sam so as to try to confuse the blocking pattern.

 

[luuked]

There are many, including yourself, that have a lot of football knowledge. (Funny how you found my OP useful because I doubt it was for you) haha

Personally I've just recently started to study the game at a deeper level and have enjoyed the X/O type discussions. I've gained a greater appreciation for how complex the game really is.

For example the Collins trade. A lot of mediots focussed on what kind of freakish athlete he is and he is but that focus also reflects on how little the mediots understand the game itself. Being a great athlete and being a great football player don't always go hand in hand.

My 10 y/o son and I have been watching games differently lately. He likes to predict if the next play is a run or pass among other things.

Anyways good stuff.

I understand basic concepts but still am learning a **** ton from more insightful people like @KontradictioN, @long distance and sometimes even @Rob0729 whenever I start arguments with them, that are based on X&O stuff. And of course most of the crew from the draft board. There are so many people with deep insight into the sport that we all love that it is kinda a waste that their posts get lost between the noise.

In any case, anything that actually helps people go from "fantasy-level" stats insight into actual things that happen on the field will always be upvoted by me because it might allow more interesting discourse during games than usual "**** playcalling, **** McD, **** everyone".

 

[Tony2046]

I've always wondered what would happen if just before the snap the (identified) Mike swaps position with the Will or Sam so as to try to confuse the blocking pattern.

Good question and it's funny you brought that up. I was just watching a game in which the Patriots shifted most of their defensive front and the Will LB moved up to the LOS. It resulted in a safety.



But to attempt to answer your question I think that if the Mike and Will swap positions the Will would become the new Mike automatically because that's where the play or blocking scheme would be directed. So if Brady calls out the Mike and in that particular play Gronk would be responsible for the Mike he would just stick with whoever stood in that position. If the Will and Mike switched he would go with the new Mike. imo.

But if you look what the Patriots did at the LOS against the Ravens they shifted a lot of guys which resulted in the Giants OL blowing the blocking scheme allowing Brown to blow through and get the safety.

 

[fightingirish595]

It all depends on how many are in the box. A safety could be the mike

And alignment by both sides matters too