The sports footage you won't see on TV this Thanksgiving
online.wsj.com
online.wsj.com
Anyway, when you live around Football players 24/7 you start to learn facets of the game that you never knew about. You learn what every position is doing on every play and why they are doing it.Now when I watch Football it is more like a game of chess than a brutal grudge match. The real excitement in the game comes from watching the linemen and not the skilled positions.
On another side note, you would think that all of this football knowledge would help actual players when playing Madden (That was all that was played in those dorms. Hours and hours of Madden). It does but only to a certain extent. Football players take Madden too literally and try to play it as a simulation. They forget the video game part. I would use that to my advantage all of the time.
Every football player knows that the db's would be looking for this in real life and would step up and stop the play after one or two times of this happening. But in the old versions of Madden the corner back would not learn and you had an open man every time. The only way to stop this was to have a team with a good blitzing line backer or defensive end and hope he gets to the QB in time. (This glitch made McNabb almost unstoppable in several versions of Madden.)
Another problem in the old Maddens was that if you had the tight end lined up on the left and had him go up five yards and then had him cut left quickly then if the defense was in man he would get the ball every time. And when the defense was in zone he would probably get the ball 70% of the time. In real life a highly skilled LB would be able to stop a sub par TE on this play. Just by being faster. But in the world of Madden the worst TE would get a completion against anyone.
These and the other tricks I would use were effective in Madden versions 97-03. The AI is much better now but there are still glitches. I just don't play it enough anymore to have figured them out. Others have though.
I saw I believe Leon Washington for the Jaguars pull a similar stunt once, the D seemed to be giving him a free TD at the end of the game but he preferred to just take a knee right before the end zone. With the new Canadian Football rule requiring contact to end the play the D lost a few seconds not reacting fast enough (first year it was implemented I believe) thinking he was down.
The game is also teaching much better strategy to players, getting them to understand more than their position.
Maurice Jones-Drew did the same thing in 2009 against the Jets.
Any football player who was in college after 95 has been exposed to Madden in a big way. So even though I am surprised how big it has gotten when it comes to integration in the NFL, I really shouldn't be.
In case it gets pulled, here's the attached image: http://cl.ly/3e1m1b0x1L410V0I1i0h
The poll says "The NFL is evaluating an online streaming product providing consumers with exclusive Coaches Film footage of all 22 players on the field for every play and game."
The whole survey: http://cl.ly/1Q3R0h1L161b3J1a2J3u
http://www.slate.com/articles/sports/sports_nut/features/200...
A bit more from Football Outsiders: http://www.footballoutsiders.com/walkthrough/2006/too-deep-z...
The advent of HDTV has done a lot to fix this for hockey, where the rink is not so huge. But it would be awesome to have full-field perspective on football.
The only major issue with this is if you have friends watching separately who regularly text you about occurences in the game as it's going on. You'll also have to make sure you don't look at any NFL websites during the game.
What I enjoy in a football game is understanding the strategy thats being carried out and the efficiency of execution on every play. I've broken down a list of positions/schemes/plays to look for below.
The following applies when watching a regular play from scrimmage - ie one that will be either a run or a pass.
_The offense_
1. First pick out the number of tight ends and their position on the offensive line. This will tell you what base formation the offense is "telegraphing" to the defense. 2 or more tight ends implies that the offense is showing "run" unless its the damn Patriots of 2010.
2. Look at where the running backs are - the full back and the half back. This along with the above, will give you an idea of whether the offense is hedging towards a run or a pass. If they are in line, in front of the QB then you can safely assume a pass or trick play.
3. Next the formation of the wide recievers. Are they split, with a slot or are they bunched on one side.
_The defense_
1. Due to camera angles you wont be able to see some of the players on the defense. But its okay because you can workout where they would be (except for how deep they are playing) based on the offensive formation.
2. The rectangular area in front of the offensive line is called "the box". This is where the running back is expected to try to make a run. Count the number of players in the box. A fast way is to group the players in 3s going from bottom edge of the offensive line to the top.
The number of players in the box will tell you what the defense is showing the offense. If the number of players is >=8 then the defense is expecting a run.
Using the following formula, you'll be able to figure out the number of safeties.
Number of safeties = 11 - (the number of players in the box + the number of wider receivers on offense )
_Position of the safeties_
* 2 Safeties
If you've figured out there are two safeties then this implies that the defense is looking to take away big passing plays but give up the middle of the field. This will usually be a cover-2 formation or a derivative. If you see that a line-backer is cheating towards the safeties then you know its tampa-2.
* 1 Safety
If there's only one single safety then this usually means that the defense is being aggressive, ie they want to blitz, or are showing that they are expecting a run.
_Blitz_
If the number of players on the line of scrimmage for the defense outnumbers the number of players on the offensive and in the vicinity of the QB then this implies the defense is showing a blitz. Picking out the blitzing player is a lot of fun when watching the Jets, Eagles or Ravens play.
Player in motion
On a passing play, most teams will use the player in motion to figure out if the defense is in zone or man coverage. (They are mostly always in zones but do use man coverage to shake things up.)
So as the offensive player in motion moves, watch who covers him. Does he get handed off from one player to another on the defense or does the same defensive player follow him as he moves from one side of the field to the next. If the same player moves to cover the man in motion then it usually implies that the defense is playing a man-coverage. If the man in motion is handed off between players then this usually implies a zone.
Of course there could be special cases in which the defense chooses man/zone depending on which player is in motion at the time of the snap.
_Exercises_
How do you know if your seeing/understanding enough of the action:
1. On regular plays you should be able to see the "hold penalty" at the same time as it happens and before the commentator explains it on TV.
2. You should be able to call some percentage of the plays as you get familiar with understanding the strategy your team plays as well as the play callers idiosyncrasies and the players who get the most attention on the team.
3. Figure out if the defense is in a zone or man coverage. This will take a while because most defenses dont run a scheme which is instantly recognizable.
As you enjoy more aspects of the game, you'll realize the true brilliance of Peyton Manning, the genius of Rex Ryan and you'll be baffled by how precise these NFL plays are.
These are the basics and there is so much more happening on the field. If you have any questions then please ask them here and I'll update this answer.
1. See if they have the backup QB as one of the "backs" on a punt. This is hard to do on TV but the commentator will usually pick this up.
2. See if all players are matched up on the line of scrimmage. Especially the gunners who are out wide. If these guys arent matched out it might be a fake with a snap to one of the "backs" who throws it out to a gunner. (Similar to a smoke play a regular offense would run except much rarer).
Punters are very underrated by most NFL fans. You have to understand that a good punter can make the offense of the other team have to gain a whole hundred or more yards for the same, than they would have had to if they were facing a bad punter.
I heart Gronk and Hernandez!
> If they are in line, in front of the QB then you can safely assume a pass or trick play.
Not really, since defenses can see the same thing and know a team's tendencies from scouting. A better indication of pass vs. run is how far the tailback lines up behind scrimmage. For run plays, the RB tends to line up about 6-7 yards behind scrimmage to they can get up a head of steam as they go through the line. For pass and play-action the tailbacks line up closer (around 5 yards) so they can sneak through the line for pass routes or quickly block blitzers. It's harder for defenses on the field to see if a RB is lining up 5 yards deep vs 7 yards deep.
Yep, you're correct, we were only told to cheat up in play action when we knew we had to pick up a blitzer.
Here's a question: Where can I buy the equivalent of this post, but in video form with actual illustrative game footage?
I've wanted to see that for some time. Want it for every sport on earth, really.
I've thought about trying to watch a bunch of coaching videos for my sport of choice, but was never sure it would help. They aren't designed for me. I don't need to know how to think like an above-average high-school coach or player; I want to admire the work of top-level pros.
There is a plethora of this material for soccer, Zonal Marking (zonalmarking.net) is one major blog that covers apparently every match in most major world leagues.
Hmm I've never actually seen anything put together like this. But you can follow Chris Brown on Grantland.com who breaks donw plays (with video and diagrams) from each NFL week and you'll slowly figure out what to look for and understand the strategy within the game. Also nfl.com has PlayBook (show) videos which break down different plays from the week.
A great tool to watch plays in stop motion so you can figure out whats happening is NFL Game rewind.
What I've written here is more a structured way of breaking down an NFL play as its taking place.
http://www.grantland.com/blog/the-triangle/post/_/id/9595/dr...
What's sad is that I read a whole article about how much hard work it is for sports-game programmers to get all this stuff perfect and I still didn't get it until now!
Many thanks. Madden it is. ;)
For tennis I recommend a book by Brad Gilbert called "Winning Ugly". A treasure trove of tennis tips and tricks; opens up a whole new perspective at the tennis game - both yours and the pros' you watch on TV.
The picture pages are college football, not pro, but it is the closest I've seen to what you're asking for. Each post describes the details of a given play, and visually shows you each step. Then, you can watch a video of the play in real time at the end.
A number of posts have diagrams as well as a video. Some of the older posts point to videos that are broken now, but I was able to find most of them with a google search like "2009 Brady 46-yd TD". You'll find the video clips on youtube or NFL.com.
This post on the route tree will help you decipher some of the posts: http://www.nationalfootballpost.com/Inside-the-playbook-the-...
2 safeties is pretty standard and is just as much a run stopping defense. For example the corners in man on the exterior with the safeties in man on the interior is a run stopping defense. Backers often cover the apex or a safety roles to the center taking away the middle. Nice overal explanation but the strategy in football is to "show" one thing and do another which is why a pre-snap read only goes so far.
Watch the offensive linemen. If any one of them fires forward and crosses the line of scrimmage, it's a run. If either guard (guys to either side of the center) starts running to one side or the other, the play is almost certainly going that way. If the offensive linemen stand up and move backwards, it's probably a pass.
The quarterback and running back do a lot of things to disguise which way the play is going, but you can almost always tell what kind of play the offense is running by watching the offensive linemen.
One thing that isn't clear on TV is just how hard it can be during a play to see just where the ball is. Linemen are huge and RBs are typically shorter guys. When the play goes off it's often hard to see exactly what is happening and the defense is reacting to cues more so than seeing right where the ball is at that time.
1. The linebackers and safeties forget to watch the linemen, and watch the backfield. This isn't exactly dumb, because it's easy to take a bad angle on a runningback if you're paying too much attention to the linemen.
2. The linemen take one hard step forward, but not enough to get downfield, and then pass set.
One thing to remember about the NFL is that every single step matters. A linebacker doesn't have to run into the line and tackle the runningback for play-action to be effective. All he has to do is take one or two steps towards the line of scrimmage when he should be moving backwards and you can complete a pass over him.
You've posted some great information here, but actually viewing all 22 players from a birds-eye-view affords an exponentially superior quality of analysis.
There's a lot you can't see with the standard TV view that you get, and sure you can discern some things, but as the article says, a lot of the plays happen off camera, because the view is centered around the QB. You can see the QB throw the ball, and you can see running plays but you get no information on longer plays, or how the defense actually works.
As the article says, watching what's happening in the secondary has become a lot more important given that the NFL basically wants to turn itself into a passing league. More and more often, the action happens off camera and you only get a better view on replays.
The one thing I like about watching Sunday Night Football on NBC online is that you can actually change the view to the "Madden" view, so that you're right behind the QB and you can see the entire field. This gives a lot better insight into what the QB sees, and there you can really appreciate things like how even 1-2 feet of separation gives a skilled QB just enough space to throw a well placed ball away from the defender, etc.
What prevents owners from keeping the games close or trading wins/losses now to help a storyline in exchange for markers for future wins when they're on a championship track?
While it is illegal to fix sporting events for gambling purposes, evidently you can fix sports for entertainment purposes. The All 22 footage would make this more difficult because this type of stuff would be easier for fans to detect.
It would most certainly be a scandal, likely illegal or jeopardizing the NFL's Congressionally granted monopoly if it were fixed. One precedent is the quiz show scandals of the 50's.
b) is watched frequently and doesn't seem to be happening statistically a) has occurred but it's not secret and all teams know the rules. It's not really 'fixing' as much as it was the NFL wanting more scoring overall.
There is no way for the NFL to do mass game fixing because that's just too many people that have to agree to doing it. Keep in mind this means they would need current players, ex-players and the ex disgruntled players too all agree to not talk. I've talked to players from all 3 groups at the gym and fixing a game is simply something that doesn't happen. Some of these guys are very negative on the NFL and would have loved to say it's fake if it was true.
Couldn't it be as simple as wanting to preserve some value for the fans who actually buy tickets?
In any case, if this footage is so valuable, why can't somebody with a good camera phone buy a seat in the nosebleed section, set up a tripod, and charge for the stream?
But if you anyway do actually record I don't know of any law supporting their position that you are not allowed to transmit that recording.
In summary: unambiguously unlawful + powerful enemies = won't end well
Otherwise someone jumping on a trampoline in his backyard could claim that he is performing and forbid the neighbor from recording him on a copyright basis (rather than a privacy basis - they are completely different laws).
They can but they'd get sued.
Soccer also uses a lot more of the field at a time, instead of clustering around the line of scrimmage.
You got an SLR in, but try "filming" a game with it - you'll be stopped in under 10 minutes, I promise you
Also, that isn't like the streaming sites where you can be at a desk in Sweden and re-broadcasting games fairly anonymously... they'd just walk up to your seat and escort you out.
Regardless, its an awful lot of work which is a) still illegal (therefore risky) b) difficult to market and c) completely obsolete the second the NFL network starts a new TV/online network for it
Um, no? There is nothing copyrighted about the on-field action of a football game. All they can do is kick you out of the stadium.
By your logic, If Fox has the superbowl, NBC could sit above an open stadium in a helicopter and broadcast the whole game - I don't think thats the case, but I don't have the laws to back it up.
That is exactly what he just said....
The NFL leases exclusive rights to TV stations to broadcast the action.
Anyone else who broadcasts the action will get sued and shut down.
As far as I know I am allowed to record anything I want. Perhaps not with audio, but I am not aware of any law that gives someone the right to prevent video recording.
They have the right to kick you out (if they catch you), but not to prevent recording.
If you know of such a law, please post it.
2007 the 2nd circuit upheld an anti-bootlegging law, that prevents people from selling unauthorized recordings of live concerts.
I don't agree with it, but I think that under the law an NFL "performance" might be covered.
Of course the concert is a performance of a copyrighted work so who knows unless the teams are merely "performing" copyrighted written plays?
I agree it's likely that a live stream would be shut down fairly quickly, particularly at scale, but I'm thinking a combination of after-the-fact + some intelligent post-processing might be useful/valuable.
Admittedly, the majority-value is in the real-time production, but, by providing after-the game all-22 videos, you might be able to fly somewhat under the radar.
I've never been asked to stop taking pictures with my (admittedly small) 70-200 lens - and it's usually perched atop a rail for the entire game - I could just as easily have been filming the entire game as snapping pictures.
Looking at various venue's policies - it would be hard to do this on a reliable basis with a larger lens: http://www.coliseum.com/info/prohibiteditems.php
But, the all-22 isn't really a zoom situation anyways...
Televised baseball consists almost entirely of views of the pitcher and the batter, and only turns somewhere else to show where the ball ended up or to focus on a runner who's doing something.
And that misses out on so much of the actual game. The standard view from center field, looking at the pitcher and the batter, can't show you an infield shift. It can't show you how deep the outfielders are playing. It can't show you players reacting to signs from managers and coaches. It can't show you anything except one tiny portion of what's actually happening on the field.
And so you can't really understand why things happen the way they do -- somebody hit a little bloop single into right field? Maybe it was poor defense that allowed it to happen, but maybe there was a shift on and the outfield was playing deep. You don't know, and won't see, any of that in a televised game.
The bookmakers would already have access to this footage, because it is a competitive edge over the public. If the public suddenly had access to the all 22, there might be a correction in those betting markets.
And if the bookmakers don't have access to the footage? Could be an opportunity to capitalise on their in-efficiency ;)
Now we have ESPN.
Hats off to keeptrying. You are a true fan.