Inside Mike Leach's Airraid Playbook: Shallow Cross, Via Cougar Sports Weekly
by Jeff Nusser on Dec 19, 2011 12:11 PM PST
in 2011 WSU Football News
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PrintBroke down another one of Mike Leach's favorite plays in today's edition of Cougar Sports Weekly. Here's a small snippet:
Ace Rip 6 Shallow -- also known as just the Shallow Cross -- is one of the most Airraid of Airraid plays. Its beauty is that virtually any quarterback can complete a pass to a receiver running that route, and if the defense is in man-to-man and the H is being covered by a linebacker, watch out -- he can run for days. In essence, it's a running play with a pass option.
After breaking this play down, one thought keeps crossing my mind: This is a play where Marquess Wilson is really going to thrive. We saw what Wilson could do in space with the ball in his hands this year on the rare occasions the line was able to successfully block the inside screen, and I'm just imagining a corner -- who is going to start the play terrified that Wilson is going to beat him over the top -- trying to keep up with Wilson running a shallow cross all the way across the field from his Z position.
I also had my take on just what Ken Bone might be thinking when he decides that his best option is to put Faisal Aden right back in for 23 minutes.
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Hope Wazzu's getting some TV time this fall...
cause you aren’t gonna believe what his offense will do. Did you know that his second QB at Tech, B.J. Symons, threw for almost 700 yards in a game against Ole Miss and Eli Manning in 2003? You’re likely to see stuff like that on a regular basis—I can’t wait until this fall!
All Pac-12 football games will be on national television per the new contract.
CougCenter In Reid We Trust, Twitter!
by Craig Powers on Dec 19, 2011 1:49 PM PST up reply actions
i always thought eli was decent in coverage
Never woulda guessed he’d get lit up for so many yards…
by Blackie1829 on Dec 19, 2011 7:53 PM PST via mobile up reply actions
ENOUGH
Why don’t you and the other Tech Trolls just shut up.
Stop making fools of yourselves and go back to DTN where you belong.
“This offense” ! You and the other Tech Trolls like Austin, Blackturd, etc. are
obnoxious and tiresome with you pandering, argumentative, comments.
It is embarrassing to me to read them.
by ting a ling on Dec 20, 2011 12:09 AM PST up reply actions
This person does not speak for us
by Jeff Nusser on Dec 20, 2011 2:29 PM PST up reply actions 4 recs
Like as BOSS......
"Nothing can bring you peace but the triumph of principles." ~ RW Emerson
by raider realist on Dec 20, 2011 2:57 PM PST up reply actions
"I also had my take on just what Ken Bone might be thinking when he decides that his best option...
…is to put Faisal Aden right back in for 23 minutes."
Maybe it’s “I promised Faisel when he signed that he’d get 23 minutes a game…no matter what!”
:-)
by westsidecougar1 on Dec 19, 2011 2:53 PM PST reply actions
Why?
He mentions it.
#CougHarmonyOnTwitter #teamnopants
by TiltingRight on Dec 19, 2011 3:06 PM PST up reply actions
You are right...
I’m jumping around on too many message boards.
by westsidecougar1 on Dec 19, 2011 3:15 PM PST up reply actions
Aden a conundrum
Aden continues to make me scratch my head with his flashes of brilliance and non-brilliance. I was just watching the highlights where he steals the ball drives the court switches the ball from right to left as a defender attacks the ball and then passes the ball behind his back to his right hand and up to the board then back to left hand for a layup. Earlier he took the ball on a fast break and blew an easy layup that was followed up by Motum for two. Glad I’m not the coach. Gotta believe Bone knows what he is doing maybe with the conference games coming up.
Totally OT, but relevant.
If you didn’t watch the New Orleans bowl with ULL and SDSU, you should pull it up on ESPN3. ULL runs an Air Raid (I’m pretty sure, if not, it’s REALLY darn close) and ran it pretty darn well. Fun to watch, and it was a HELLUVA game.
One thing I watched for was the Mesh plays with two crossing receivers running past each other shoulder to shoulder in front of the QB. I think I saw them run the play 6 or 7 times, and every single time it got a first down. If SDSU played zone, they’d cross in front of the MLB. If the MLB committed to one WR, the other was wide open. If he froze or sat, a step later both of them were wide open. If they were in man, it acts like a pick play, and often times, an LB was stuck guarding a speedy little WR and someone came open.
Seriously, so much fun to watch, and got me JACKED about next year.
#CougHarmonyOnTwitter #teamnopants
BTW,
they probably ran it 12-15 times total, because I wasn’t focusing on looking for it, but noticed it a lot. Also, I didn’t even start paying much attention to the game until half way through the 2nd.
#CougHarmonyOnTwitter #teamnopants
by TiltingRight on Dec 19, 2011 3:07 PM PST up reply actions
Lots of Coach Leach here .......................................
http://xandolabs.com/2011/10/mike-leach%E2%80%99s-mesh-concept-a-video-analysis/……………………... sorry for the repeat, but I didn’t want ya’ll to miss this.
Well, Mike Leach himself called it “Air Raid” in his book, so I’d consider him a little more of an authority. ;)
more importantly,
who’s bringing the big ass siren?
"Nothing can bring you peace but the triumph of principles." ~ RW Emerson
by raider realist on Dec 19, 2011 7:23 PM PST up reply actions
UW has a siren.
We aren’t having a siren.
CougCenter In Reid We Trust, Twitter!
by Craig Powers on Dec 19, 2011 8:19 PM PST up reply actions
What--no siren?
Well, hell! Maybe Texas Tech can send you our old one, since we don’t seem to use it anymore.
As far as the cannon...
we used to have a full scale modern US Army artillery piece set up in our north end zone during Leach’s first year, complete with soldiers in camouflage unis. Looked cool as hell and that sucker (firing blanks, of course!) was LOUD!
Only thing louder...
was the B2 bombers that flew over Jones Stadium before the OK ST game—you couldn’t hear ANYTHING! A precursor to the bombing we got in that game.
Gardner is gone too...
I am thinking Leach has the new kid’s in his sights. Smallish WR’s don’t hold up well in the Air Raid- and he often used bigger bodies at TT.
If you can't Go Cougs... don't go.
by hollyweirdcoug on Dec 19, 2011 10:33 PM PST up reply actions
Smallish is what he built the offense around
It’s not about big, though he will use some of those guys, but you’ll see more 6’0 and 6’1 guys than anything else. A few elfin dudes (I’ll add Eric Morris to the list Red Bull gave below), but it’s about creating space and quickness, not stretch the field speed (though Carlos Francis and a few others would argue that).
11/12/11...66-6...I once was blind, but now I see.
http://xandolabs.com/2011/10/mike-leach%E2%80%99s-mesh-concept-a-video-analysis/
http://xandolabs.com/2011/10/mike-leach%E2%80%99s-mesh-concept-a-video-analysis/ ……………. lots of Coach Leach stuff here !!
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