Football Tactics

Hi,

Can anybody refer me to a good book on US football strategy / tactics. I've bet it for a few years now, scalps/middles etc, and enjoy watching it, but without an understanding of why a 3-4 defence playing zone beats a 4-3 defence playing man coverage in certain situations..

It's a book explaining that kind of thing I'm looking for.

Cheers

~S

Santo,

NFL is my main thing nowadays and I'm in touch with some cool guys. I bet at Betfair for the normal run of the mill and Sporting Index for Spead betting, especially rushing yards. Rather than get bogged down reading shitty books this time of year, if you want to get hold of me edentata@hotmail.com., by all means, your welcome. As I am in Ireland even phone calls will be nothing, no pressure, completely up to you.

Santo,
You may want to save some money (at least initially) and just do searches online. TONS of free online articles on American football. "Football for Dummies" by Howie Long is not too bad for a basic understanding. I have coached middle school football and have recently moved up to an assistant high school (prep school) coach. A lot of the decisions are based on the opposing teams personnel and tendancies. If a team throws a lot on offense you obviously want more defensive backs and less linemen or linebackers. The decision to play man vs. zone...just depends on the situation. In the NFL they try to mix up and even disguise coverages to confuse the quarterback. The may even play a combination coverage of man on underneath (short) routes and zone with safeties over the top to help out. Remember though that a zone has "holes" in it and a skillful QB and receiver can find these and exploit them. Having said that a good receiver can beat man coverage at times and get open for the reception. This is a huge topic and no strategy is foolproof or works 100% of the time. I think you should look more at personnel and which teams are up or down (playing well, or poorly) as the season shakes out or progresses and see how the spread corresponds. If for example Peyton Manning is playing against the worst secondary in the NFL, he is probably going to put up some big numbers no matter what coverage the defense is in and the over may be a consideration depending of course how high they make it. I mean if the U.S. draws England in the World Cup you probably won't care if we come out in a 4-4-2 or whatever...you will just look at the goal spread and see if England can cover. Good luck.

VOLTITAN said:

Santo,
You may want to save some money (at least initially) and just do searches online. TONS of free online articles on American football. "Football for Dummies" by Howie Long is not too bad for a basic understanding. I have coached middle school football and have recently moved up to an assistant high school (prep school) coach. A lot of the decisions are based on the opposing teams personnel and tendancies. If a team throws a lot on offense you obviously want more defensive backs and less linemen or linebackers. The decision to play man vs. zone...just depends on the situation. In the NFL they try to mix up and even disguise coverages to confuse the quarterback. The may even play a combination coverage of man on underneath (short) routes and zone with safeties over the top to help out. Remember though that a zone has "holes" in it and a skillful QB and receiver can find these and exploit them. Having said that a good receiver can beat man coverage at times and get open for the reception. This is a huge topic and no strategy is foolproof or works 100% of the time. I think you should look more at personnel and which teams are up or down (playing well, or poorly) as the season shakes out or progresses and see how the spread corresponds. If for example Peyton Manning is playing against the worst secondary in the NFL, he is probably going to put up some big numbers no matter what coverage the defense is in and the over may be a consideration depending of course how high they make it. I mean if the U.S. draws England in the World Cup you probably won't care if we come out in a 4-4-2 or whatever...you will just look at the goal spread and see if England can cover. Good luck.

Click to expand...

These were my exact sentiments. Getting involved in the defensive schemes of NFL teams of all teams in any sport would be a total waste of ones time. Basketball may be, hockey, may be...Football? NFL??? Do you guys ever watch any of those NFL network programs about training camp (right now they are recycling the Jaguars camp of the pre 2004 season.) i mean some of the stuff they show you is just plain bonkers. You would need to take an actual course in football to understand these schemes and the impact they have on a team. And after you understand the defensive schemes, then your problems have just began. Because understanding defense is of very very little use to you if you dont take time out to understand the offensive schemes that are constantly changed up and mixed 50 ways to bangkok every single sunday. But as they always say, when gambling, all the information you can get would be useful to one.