dead-ball pitch

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[Barron/MGoBlog]

I asked coach Harbaugh about the final play in double overtime, the stop-and-go route, and he said that that was something you guys hadn’t repped [that week], wasn’t in the gameplan and wasn’t on the call sheet but was something coach Fisch saw from the box and added. How often does that kind of thing happen where the two coaches work something out that you don’t expect to run but you’ve worked on in the past?

“I don’t know. I’m not sure how often. It probably has been done but I don’t think very often, and I think that the protection was something that we’ve always worked. It was just a slide, you know. Just something very basic, very simple. I think it was just one of those things like if you see it why not take what they’re giving you. That’s just good coaching.”

We talked a little about it [this took place after the presser that ran this morning –A.] but Penn State has two great defensive tackles. What kind of challenge does that present to you when you’ve got a guy to the left who can do damage in the backfield and a guy to the right that can do the same?

“I mean, we’ve gone against them the past few years. Zettel’s a great defensive tackle and the other guy’s fantastic also. I literally always forget his name. I think it’s Hamilton.”

I think you’re right.

“I was gonna say, I’m positive because I went against him last year.”

I looked it up this morning and forgot, but I think you’re right. [Turns out we were wrong. It’s not Hamilton, it’s Johnson. Graham mentioned Hamilton in the media scrum earlier, and after I finished my interview a reporter asked whether Graham was still around; they wanted to tell him he got his presidents mixed up*. –A.]

“He’s also fantastic. He’s a good nose, but if we focus on what we need to improve on and what we need to do with good pads and good hands I think we’ll have a good day.”

What’s the key to that technique-wise? What’s most important when you know you’ve got a guy who can rush the passer as a nose tackle?

“Just not falling asleep on him. You want to make sure you’re always ready to go. A lot of times when you’re playing a nose you don’t expect him to really be able to rush the passer well so you’ll have bad technique or you’ll sort of just be lulled to sleep. He’ll rush the passer badly a few times, just like velcro up to you and then one time he’ll put a move on you, you know what I mean? You just have to make sure you’re ready for everything, and that just comes from studying film and looking at what he likes to do and being ready for it.”

[After THE JUMP: how to do the dead-ball pitch, and full-grown lion vs. bear vs. Houma]