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Scarnecchia: new offensive line scheme not written in stone

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Dec 7th


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Interesting stuff. Scar says the Pats will scrap the zone blocking scheme sooner rather than later if Bill finds it’s not working and not to panic at this point…

Scarnecchia believes Bill Belichick will know after joint practices with the Panthers and Raiders and the team’s three preseason games if the scheme is a worthy pursuit or if the Pats should just keep it in their back pocket.

“I would say this, in fairness to everyone, I just think this is the wrong time to evaluate it. The pads have come on, but they’re not playing real football yet,” Scarnecchia told the Herald on Monday. “Whenever they play the Giants, we’ll have a better idea where this thing is. Even at that point, it’s not totally fair to say they can’t (do it).

“I think there’s a (three-game) process at hand, where we’ll have a better idea where this thing is going. … What doesn’t look good in training camp early, has no bearing on anything.”

But what if the offense still looks clunky at the end of the month?

In Scar’s view, Belichick will scrap it. Others who have played for Belichick — former linebacker Ted Johnson for one — disagree, believing the head coach will stubbornly stay with the new way. Scarnecchia, however, was firm in his take.


“Bill’s never been one to say, ‘we’re going to run this no matter how it looks,’’’ he said. “He won’t do that. I can remember him saying numerous times, ‘we’re going on to something else’.”

The article also says that Ted Johnson thinks Bill will stubbornly keep the new scheme. I don't know about you, but I tend to believe Scar over a guy who hates Bill...:rolleyes:
 
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denverpatsfan

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If Jake Plummer could eviscerate the Pats D time and time again, there is no limit on how good Mac Jones could be in this offense.
 

RobertWeathers

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Interesting stuff. Scar says the Pats will scrap the zone blocking scheme sooner rather than later if Bill finds it’s not working and not to panic at this point…





The article also says that Ted Johnson thinks Bill will stubbornly keep the new scheme. I don't know about you, but I tend to believe Scar over a guy who has hated Bill in the past...:rolleyes:
Ted Johnson will never waste an opportunity to put BB in a negative light.
 

TheRainMaker

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It might be the teacher's rather than the students at fault on this one.
 

PatsFan2

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Interesting stuff. Scar says the Pats will scrap the zone blocking scheme sooner rather than later if Bill finds it’s not working and not to panic at this point…





The article also says that Ted Johnson thinks Bill will stubbornly keep the new scheme. I don't know about you, but I tend to believe Scar over a guy who hates Bill...:rolleyes:
Well I would believe Brady and Gronk same circumstance. :)
 

Zuma

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“Bill’s never been one to say, ‘we’re going to run this no matter how it looks,’’’ he said. “He won’t do that. I can remember him saying numerous times, ‘we’re going on to something else’.”
 

SHOWTIME15

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Bill earlier today....

"Sure. Yeah. In camp. In preseason. During the season. Midseason. Yeah, I think you see things that are going well and you try to figure out a way to maybe exploit that more, do more of it. And when you see things that aren't going well, you try to figure out a way to improve it or get rid of it and move onto something else that's more productive," he shared. "So you have a couple of different options there, you just have to decide which one is the right one for that. If you're spending time on something that's not productive, then you need to change it or find something else. It's just not efficient."
 

Wozzy

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Zone blocking requires repetition, players have to adjust on the move, know what the person next to them is doing. Gap blocking is usually determined pre-snap, zone blocking is often post snap.

Repetition, repetition, repetition... and if at that point it still looks like garbage, go back to what you know.
 
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Ross12

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I like the sound of bootlegs and having the QB roll out.

Im envisioning like Elway did in Mike Shanahans zone scheme.
Mac's legs are underrated. He's not shifty but he's fairly fast in a straight line. If the D plays max cover and he sees a hole, he can run through it and get a big chunk of yards. Might be more such opportunities on rollout type plays.
 

raduray

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Interesting stuff. Scar says the Pats will scrap the zone blocking scheme sooner rather than later if Bill finds it’s not working and not to panic at this point…





The article also says that Ted Johnson thinks Bill will stubbornly keep the new scheme. I don't know about you, but I tend to believe Scar over a guy who hates Bill...:rolleyes:
On Sports Tonight Bedard and Johnson faced off with Bedard taking the Scarnecchia position that Bill will scrap the scheme if it doesn't work with Ted Johnson insisting Bill will not not change.
 

captain stone

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One thing I know for sure: Trent Brown & Mike Onwenu are NOT “zone blockers”… They can stand their ground in pass protection or knock you into next week while rolling down-hill, but they’re not going to fire out and hit the next level on sweeps, cut-backs etc; so the “brain trust” better figure out how best to use them… After all, they’re only our best two OLmen…
 

patfanken

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One thing I know for sure: Trent Brown & Mike Onwenu are NOT “zone blockers”… They can stand their ground in pass protection or knock you into next week while rolling down-hill, but they’re not going to fire out and hit the next level on sweeps, cut-backs etc; so the “brain trust” better figure out how best to use them… After all, they’re only our best two OLmen…
Not for nothing, but can I ask what you particular area of expertise that allows you to make these blanket judgements from the keyboard of your laptop?

Not picking on you per se, Captain. I am starting to get REALLY pissed off about what is going on about this issue. Do you really understand zone concepts and the skills you would ideally like to have when running them. You DO NOT have to be a gazelle to be successful. What you DO need to have is the ability to identify the defender who comes into your zone, and THAT comes with reps and there is no short cut to get from here to there.

There is a REASON why more teams are going away from power blocking concepts. The plus for that concept is when the OL gets to the LOS and look at what's in front of them, they have all have a SPECIFIC man to block based on their particular rule for that particular play. On, over, inside, usually. As defense have become more complex, less static and the athletes have become MUCH more athletic on the first 2 levels offenses have had a harder time matching up man blocking schemes because of post snap movement along those 2 levels.

Brown and Owenu might not be the ideal athletes to run this scheme, but believe me, teams have successfully run zone blocking schemes with OLmen that are NOT the athletes that Owenu and Brown are.

Just sayin'
 

mgcolby

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“Bill’s never been one to say, ‘we’re going to run this no matter how it looks,’’’ he said. “He won’t do that. I can remember him saying numerous times, ‘we’re going on to something else’.”
That whole definition of insanity is...gotta know when to fold 'em!
 

PowerRunRevival

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I agree with Scar no way the Pats keep running their head into a wall if the zone scheme isn’t working.

Since the defense in the past has had trouble against zone schemes having the offense exclusively run the zone scheme in camp creates a big benefit for the defense. The offense can always scrap the zone blocking scheme in the future but the helpful reps the defense faced against that scheme have already happened by that point.
 

TomPatriot

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A bunch of points.

It’s harder to power block with 8 in the box.

Zone blocking and EP are complimentary because they’re both flexible.

Probably good for Harris because he has good vision and can find his own hole.

Both blocking schemes can be used. That’s where I think they’re going with this.

I think the Pats have used zone blocking before and I am surprised Scar didn’t mention that, so maybe I’m misremembering.

Brown is a damn good athlete for his size and moves well laterally.
 


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