Quote:
Originally Posted by DJ's left nut
I've always thought the "finds space" stuff was a little strange.
I mean - are these guys just much dumber than I realize? I don't think that's right.
Because how many of us played football growing up. I suspect ALL of us played at least the backyard version and most of us played it in some organized way.
And to a person, each one of us knew how to find space out there. Our plays were nowhere near as regimented and so we were far more likely to freelance and suddenly 'finding a soft spot' was as easy as breathing.
I really don't think it's the PLAYERS that struggle with the concept - it's the coaches. The coaches don't give them the rope to go off script. But you look at someone like DeMarcus Robinson - he was really good at that but also appeared to not have much of a clue how the offense actually worked. He just...found space.
Finding space is the easy part. The coaches trusting you to know WHEN to find that space is harder. I just think many coaches are too strict in when they let that happen. When the QB comes off his spot, all bets are off -- go find an opening. If the QB has moved, all the designed passing lanes are out the window as it is. Just go get open.
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The way Travis talks about it makes it seems much more complex. It's not just finding space, its understanding what defensive scheme you're looking at, what the defenses assignments are as it relates to you, and then using that knowledge to attack the rules of the defense.
https://youtu.be/SgQSjwKG2eM?si=mVM8uH9eeIxGfWmV
I'm on mobile so I can't embed, but he seems to focus way more on reading the defense and figuring out where the weakness is and how to use it to get open.
Now, like you say, if the QB is running and its a broken play, then yeah, find some space and get open.
I doubt rookies have that level of understanding of pro defensive schemes and how to beat them pre-snap, thus the half season or so of time needed for it to sink in for them.