Breakdown Sports: WHAM! and the Return of the Trap
I love trap plays; I think they are one of the most effective and most under-utilized schemes in modern football. Luckily for me then, Harbaugh agrees. His offense in San Fran had Wham blocks, Short Traps, and Long Traps.
Let's think about why this scheme is so effective:
- DEs are currently flying upfield in an effort to get any sort of pass rush, especially with the prevalence of 1-step and 3-step quick passing games;
- DTs are tasked with getting quick penetration to disrupt any run play in their direction and get pressure right in the QB's grill up the gut, which is allowed because;
- Safety sized defenders are being moved to LBs and told to chase the football as quickly as possible, as this reduces their need to take on blockers and have to read schemes.
Unfortunately, Harbaugh isn't the only one that has turned to this scheme more and more. Meyer used a Zone Wham heavily in the National Title Game against Oregon. Michigan State began using traps more and more last year, and from the look of their Spring Game, plan on running it even more often this year.
Feel free to include your "Trap" music and Parent Trap references too. Mouse Trap was an alright game as kid, too, but ain't no body got time to set that damn thing up every time they want to play a board game; and it never worked properly anyway.
This is the first thing I thought of...
I had the same thought initially myself, but then at least Andrew Ridgeley would get another chance to make a little money again and - hear me out - I think a player doing a decent rendition of "Everything She Wants" randomly in the middle of a play probably wouldn't be a bad trap as it would certainly momentarily stun other players.
isn't with the team anymore.
You scared me. I thought this post was going to be about hockey and I was going to have light a torch and march to Gary Bettman's doorstep.
Return of the mack?
Awesome song, great for "getting busy" with....
Gotta love the Wesley Snipes looking backup singers!
completely different when I see the word Trap.
I spend too much time on the internet.
That's great and all, but maybe this is one of those things that would be better to keep to yourself.
I didn't post a picture. The WHAM album cover up-thread was sufficient I think.
With our guards I suspect we will be trapping quite a bit this year.
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I don't agree that one man has to take himself out of the play. Good defensive linemen can squeeze the hole when they see their guy pulling. I've also seen defensive tackles get in the hip pocket of the puller and make the play in the backfield if the back block doesn't get there in time.
All that being said, I like trap plays. The way to beat zone runs is by getting penetration, and the way to make penetration hurt is by trapping the penetrators. It's a good idea to have some traps in your arsenal if you are also running the zone.
But yeah, you can squeeze or wrong-arm (which is a havoc method). I just think there are a lot of DTs in today's game that don't have the eyes to find the far defender in their triangle. You can squeeze the play, but you better also diagnose it quickly
Yeah, and that's why I think traps are successful these days - because the defensive linemen aren't taught to defend it. There are always ebbs and flows in the game, and one reason Michigan State, Ohio State, and (hopefully) Michigan can have success with these plays is so many defenses face zone runs on such a regular basis. Teams get used to defending zone, so then traps and such work. When teams get used to defending traps, whams, etc., then zones start to work. You see the same thing with defenses going from predominantly 4-3 to predominantly 3-4 and back and forth.
Ohio St. ran this over and over against Oregon. It reminded me of the Wisconsin game several years ago during the RR period when you knew they were going to run but couldn't stop it.
Who on this roster is going to be the best fit for the H-back/TE motion guy who slams into LBs?
I think Khalid Hill is probably best suited for it, even though he's coming off the ACL tear. Henry Poggi might be able to do it, too. Otherwise, maybe Kerridge with Houma in the backfield.
Think the Wham play will be on the back burner until some other plays are further developed though. Wham doesn't work as well if the other plays aren't clicking, and it's not always easy for TEs/H-backs and interior OL to identify targets when you start shifting defenders around and blitzing guys.
Do you think Winovich will remain at TE or could it be a temporary move for depth?
From what I've seen, I don't see much upside in putting him at tight end. He doesn't have great ball skills, and he's not very big right now. I think it would be best to put him on defense and special teams. He was a good offensive player in high school, but he was basically a wildcat quarterback.
Line him up in the backfield with the ol' number 6 jersey just like daddy and let him go. Usually not a fan of the whole legacy jersey thing but this is different :)
When he's not wham blocking and catching passes just line him up at DE and let him chase down QBs too!
Wisconsion game in 2010. I could be wrong but I recall Mike Martin losing a knee because Bielema thought Martin was holding their pulling tackles. IIRC, Wisconsin didn't need to throw a pass in the 2nd half.
Also the game when a drunk townie accused me of sitting in "her" seat and wouldn't let it go during Denard's 3rd quarter dilithium binge.
That game is when I checked out on RR.
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I'm sure Brian will have something a little more Harbaugh specific, but I've (along with some others on the internets) have delved into the Wham quite a bit.
Multiple Back Zone Blocks (includes Wham blocks)
Read Option with Multiple Backs (including Wham blocks)
And then you have the "read variants":
These give you a little bit of a feel, along with the trap and wham article in the OP, for how these plays fit into the greater scheme of things.
/shameless_plug
for that
Prefer Counter F/H over Counter Trey (Counter OT) anymore. But there is something impressive about getting two extra OL at the point of attack that I love still.
which we ran back in my day (30years ago). As a tackle that was one of only a couple of plays that I got to pull, or try to. It wasn't an easy technique , especially without a lot of practive but when it worked it was a lot of fun to crush a LB who didn't see you coming.
I am a big fan of the trap. Back in my playing days (says in fake old man voice) I used to love when we ran the trap. I loved pulling from the backside and drilling an unsuspecting DT or DE.
The play calling is going to be fun to watch.
I would like to be a fly on the wall in the video room breaking down these spring games. These posts make that happen if only for a few minutes. Personnel get moved around in the spring games but the nuts and bolts of fall offense are installed and reinforced here. This is a savvy way to pick out trends.
Great write up.
Until DL coaches stop coaching the sprinter's stance and explosive first step, I'd be trapping the hell out of them. Rex Ryan is the best DL guy I've ever known and he teaches normal stance and first step a power step; i.e., under control to be able to react to different types of blocking techniques a player has to defeat.