Tag Archives: football

An Introduction to American Football

The point of this is to explain some basic strategy and why the people on the field do what they do. I will be writing on more particular aspects of the game as football season progresses. 1. Downs: Attempts to march down the field and score points Imagine you had 22 people to entertain, and

On the Eagles’ Prospects for Next Year:

Ned Macey at Football Outsiders put it perfectly: A rehabbing quarterback, inconsistent secondary, and poor red zone offense have spelled the difference between a 9-5 team heading to the playoffs and a 6-8 team questioning the direction of the franchise. If they stay the course, odds are they would be right back in the thick

On Giants-Eagles, 12/9 – Are You McNabb Haters Going To Blame Him For This One?

Let’s get this out of the way now: that Giants pass rush is ferocious, and with targets like L.J. Smith and Reggie Brown doing their best to jog to and sit down in completely covered zones, McNabb’s avoiding the rush was quite frankly spectacular. He’s moving incredibly well and with good speed. Oh, and in

On the 11/25 Sunday Night Eagles-Patriots Game, and Why I’m Not Praising Andy Reid

1. I want to thank John Madden for actually doing a great job of announcing and explaining key things happening during the game. He picked up on Patriots taking away the sideline throws and playing a soft zone inside; thus, the Eagles receivers making catches (like the Detroit game in one way) wasn’t too surprising

College Football

For those of you economically inclined: Is every resource devoted to college football a direct attack on resources I can make use of? (i.e. tenure-track positions I can apply for, books in the library, conferences and grants and journals)Or does the money pumped into college football find its way into academic spending somehow? Would there

What My Undergrad Spends NJ Taxpayer Money On

I can’t believe this. Except for a number of professors I can count on one hand, I had an awful education at this school, and until junior year, the dorms were terrible. There’s more, since football isn’t the only thing Rutgers spends money on. For those of you interested, if I can get some German

On Football, Determinism, Science and Utopia

My brother and I got into an argument that was ostensibly about American football. He argued that there are coaches who have the best schemes, bar none, and that other coaches are only as good as they measure up to those schemes. Furthermore, such schemes emphasize the interchangeability of players: find the right players for

I Love Football, But Football Fans Have An Average IQ of 7

Hmm. Add to this the following anecdotes: the amount of bitching about Andy Reid, which assumes that he can control injuries when his team plays in the toughest division in football; the time Notre Dame fired Tyrone Willingham after convening an emergency meeting of the Board of Trustees (or Governors, or something) after having lost

I’m not a Pittsburgh fan…

262 — The number of yards Oakland was outgained by Pittsburgh in the Raiders’ 20-13 win over the Steelers. Pittsburgh had more total yards (360-98), first downs (15-9), a far better third-down conversion rate (7-of-19, compared to 1-of-11), the time of possession battle won by ten minutes — and they couldn’t beat what had seemed