Dr.Z: vintage article on running game.

[CHETtheJET]

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2006/writers/dr_z/09/21/running.game/index.html

Great stuff. Pure football. Terrific insightful quotes. Analysis...Love it when he writes serious football like this.

 

[Oz]

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2006/writers/dr_z/09/21/running.game/index.html

Great stuff. Pure football. Terrific insightful quotes. Analysis...Love it when he writes serious football like this.

Read that story last night and loved it. Dr. Z is my favorite NFL read, easily.

 

[Huggy]

Dr. Z is the man when it comes to football. Anyone ever sat close enough to him at a game to see him chart one? I'm fascinated by that....

 

[MacDaddy]

He really needs to write more about his travel troubles and what his favorite Starbucks beverages are.

 

[Flying Headbutt]

That was a hell of a read.

 

[da man]

I love any kind of analytical stuff about the offensive line because it's all new to the ordinary reader. They've all watched QBs and RBs and WRs and heard endless opinions on why they're great and how they do what they do. But the OL is a mystery to most because they never see it or hear about it. Explaining why the running game works, like this story, or why that guard is so great or how they work together, etc., that's all new to most people.

 

[Ben_Hecht]

I'm a HUGE fan, and he still has a good eye . . . Old School rules, and the offensive line is the soul of the game at
any level . . . but it's still sweet to have the
luxurious comfort of keeping a record of STRAIGHT-UP wins and losses in
predictions . . . rather than ATS.

 

[tommyp]

I love football season more because I get to read more of Dr. Z. This could lead to a good thread of why we love football...

1. The Sunday ritual
2. The excitment of rooting for your team.
3. Dr. Z on Wedesday, Thursday and Friday.
4. Edge Matchup (Best football-related TV show)
5. NFL Films is back!

Then there's the flip side of it...things I hate about football:

1. Any pregame show.
2. Touchdown. Commercial. Kickoff; Play stops with 2 seconds left in a quarter. Commercial. Run play, end of quarter. Commercial.
3. Bad announcers. (Many come to mind; the best regulars, IMO are CBS' Ian Eagle and Solomon Wilcots)
4. Taking way more time than allotted on replays.
5. Five-yard out gets a first down, and the receiver gets up and gyrates because he caught a five-yard out for a first down.

 

[Columbo]

I saw two things with that Patriot ground game, which looks like the best since Martin was on their team. Their left tackle Matt Light, smaller and less gifted athletically than some of the ballet masters who play the position, is one of the best drive blockers in the game at that position. Pass blocking? Well, I've seen him give up sacks, and they'll occasionally protect him with a tight end chipping on the rusher. But he gets a lot more thrust on that side than almost everyone else in the league at the position. And he's a guy who probably will never make a Pro Bowl squad.

The second thing I noticed was the quickness of New England's center, Dan Koppen.

-------------------------------

I wonder if he noticed the Patriots played the Bills' and Jets' run defenses.

 

[DisembodiedOwlHead]

it's still sweet to have the
luxurious comfort of keeping a record of STRAIGHT-UP wins and losses in
predictions . . . rather than ATS.

Ben, I'm pretty sure his picks are ATS. He just doesn't post a line because he has to make his picks with the early Monday lines ... he references that situation often in his web column.

 

[hondo]

Bill Parcells doesn't have a good running game because it "takes too much time to coach in practice?" No wonder the fat turd can't get it doen anymore.

 

[Ben_Hecht]

DOH . . . trust me, they're not ATS. They're straight-up.

If they WERE ATS, he'd have to quote something resembling a line, which he doesn't do.