Why don't we use more trick plays?

[Spartacus87]

Yeah Gibbs called a flea-flicker in one of the late-season games, I want to say the Eagles game? But it was a flea-flicker to Taylor Jacobs near the sideline, which is a bizarre placement of a flea-flicker to begin with, let alone to Taylor Jacobs, he wasn't really open either, AND Mark threw it pretty much out of bounds, Taylor could only get one foot in. So needless to say, it was a disaster. The Portis option worked well but we used it waaay too much at the end, especially without any variation, once the play started it was obvious what we were doing. I wouldn't mind using those same plays, just changing the set-up to them a little bit, like how the Steelers kept adapting the Randel-El option each time they used it.

[wahoos911]

there are 3 qbs turning into "athletes" this year

my personal fav: marques hagans (i might be a bit biased)

but yeah, there are more, but there are three main ones

[no1fanofno21]

Ok so all year long the steelers used trick plays to catch teams off gaurd and gain momentum in games. It showed up in the superbowl and produced points. I remember the cowboys winning one game against us by using a flea flicker, and yet another one against the boys where richie anderson(fb) threw a TD (not this past year of course since we swept them). Yes portis threw one touchdown to cooley and missed another but I kind of want to see more diverse trick plays and to see them more often. what do you all think what are the pros and cons of running trick plays often?

we dont do them cause gibbs is not creative enough, havnt you noticed we run the ball on first down 99% of the time right through the tackles for almost always none or 1 or 2 yds. Call me what you want but the only creative thing gibbs has done is throw on first down. Maybe this new offensive coordinator will come up with something but that is doubtful.

[Mania]

Need to get the basic plays down before you start working on the trick plays.

[MustangSteve]

Gadget plays kill defenses that over pursue like Seattle's and Tampa's. If the Steelers didnt use there trick plays, the Seahawks would have owned them because of the speed Seattle's defense has, and they are dayum fast if you watch them close.

Hopefully Saunders will throw in a few just for these over pursuing defenses to keep them on the heals, get a lead and let our D pound on QB,s through the whole game.

[frommd]

we dont do them cause gibbs is not creative enough, havnt you noticed we run the ball on first down 99% of the time right through the tackles for almost always none or 1 or 2 yds. Call me what you want but the only creative thing gibbs has done is throw on first down. Maybe this new offensive coordinator will come up with something but that is doubtful.

Wow, we need to get Dan Snyder on the phone. You have it all figured out. How did Gibbs ever get lucky enough to win three Super Bowls without thinking like this?

Fire Gibbs and Saunders, "no1fanofno21" for team president!!!

:doh:

[Bacon]

In short, we're pretty much good where we are with the trick plays.

Yep, we just need to execute the few we use, better.

[Butz65]

I think we used trick plays enough and, during the regular season, they worked well. Problem is - once you've used them a couple of times the opposing teams key on them (because they're easy to identify). The option pass from Portis to Jacobs in the Tampa game was an example of this. The Bucs read the play well (from the time we used it earlier in the season). Jacobs was covered well - and came up small anyway in not making the catch.

The other problem with reverses, flea flicker, option passes, etc. is that you have players who normally don't do those things at higher risk of creating turnovers (a Gibbs no-no).

An argument could be made that play action passes and draws are trick plays - you're trying to fool the other team into thinking you're going to run - and then you pass or vice versa (the WR screen to Moss fall into this category as well).

[Macd36]

I remember a flea-flicker this year...Mark threw it way off, and was laughing when the play was dead. :laugh:

can u recall wha game that was ? ?

:eaglesuck :gaintsuck :dallasuck :whoknows:

[skinfan133]

We used the HB pass and WR reverse plenty this year. If you do the trick plays too often they aren't surprising anymore.

the HB pass was used 2 times this year, thats not often. considering those were the only non-QB passes this season i'd say the non-QB pass is definatley underutilized ( look at LT's list this year) and i'd disagree with you on using it more often its not a surprise. in high school our football program used the single-wing offense which equates to the fullback and QB in shotgun, each not directly under center but 1 and a half yards to the left and right, so the D never knew who had the ball, who was running or passing and it worked very efficiantly, we had a very good winning streak through the regular season for about 3 years straight and we went to the state game once.

if we could get clinton to learn how to pass really good, or get one of our recievers to pass good (or even cooley when he lines up off the line of scrimage?) i think it can be used alot more and more efectivley and not just for big gains and touchdowns, but even for just average gains; that would really surprise foes, mostly trick plays are for long gains and they dont expect it to go only 4-10 yards.

this post has also inspired me to give a small talk on the rules of football playcalling and why trick plays are leagal:) (tune me out if you already know or don't care, and please dont give rude responses to this; im just inspired in the moment)

in the game of football there are certaint rules that govern how it is that formations are concieved and how plays can go, a basic play formation goes as follows:

00[]000 0

0 0 0

0 (edit-sorry the format screwed up)

at least one player is in "the box" or hash marks behind the line of scrimage, genrally this player is called the QB there are 7 men on the line and 4 men off and a proportioned amount of players on each side of the center, this is the basic form of any formation, so as long as these perameters are followed, the formation is leagal

for the rules regarding how plays can unfold: in every play, it starts with the center snaping the ball to the player he choses in the box wether it be a QB a FB, RB or HB. then the player with the ball has the following options, throw a lateral or backwards pass to another player (since thses are not forward passes a droped ball IS a fumble and muct be recovered by the offense to retain possesion), throw a forward pass (only ONE forward pass is alowed per play and only behing the line of scrimage), or hand it off in any fasion he choses.

the ball can be hand off any number of times on any side of the line of scrimage. a lateral is only legal past the line of scrimage if it is behind or to the side of the player in relation to himself, not the field (ex: if the player is facing the west sideline he can lateral to a player toward the endzone)

a forward pass can be completed by any of the four players off the line of scrimage if the ball get to them in leagal fasion. so in essence a WR, RB, TE, or QB can atempt a forward pass as long as it was lateraled to them, passed to them across the field horizontally, or handed off to them.

also any player other than the center and the first two guys on either side of the center can touch the ball ( unless a defender or another legal offensive player touches it, if the ball stays off the ground, any player can take posesion, so in essence, a lineman can record a reception and recieveing yards [this doesn't aply to the run unless the ball is fumbled])

so you can set up any play along these perameters, an unorthodox example would look like this:

QB is under center and gets the snap, he pitches the ball to the RB who runs with the ball to the right, the flanker (WR) then gets the ball on a handoff from the RB. the flanker runs the ball left back toward center. he then throws the ball horizontally to the strong end (WR) at the far left side of the field behind the line of scrimage. meanwhile the QB has begun runing a route upfield, the strong end then throws a forward pass to the QB for a postitive completion

it would look like this:

[BigRay]

Bring in Antwaan Randle El there will be more chances for those type of plays

[PCS]

Truth be told, (that is if you want to use Pittsburgh and the trick pass as a gauge) Randle El was the only non-QB on the Steelers to throw the ball during the regular season. He had 3 attempts, all completed. Clinton had 2 with 1 completed, ( and we know how close he came).

[MiamiCanesFan]

well this wasnt really a trick play, but i loved the WR screen to santana moss, if we could actually "block" properly it would work everytime.

[FootballGuy2677]

We used the HB pass and WR reverse plenty this year. If you do the trick plays too often they aren't surprising anymore.

Exactly...we musta been top 5 in trick play attempts if they kept track of them.

[Darth Tater]

this seems kind of like a catch 22. seems like you are saying that you can not run a trick play unless your offense works well but if your offense is working well you don't need tricks as much as if your offense isn't working.

kind of like money makes money

Not exactly. If my offense is working, you often can still stop it if you cheat to do so (like moving to what you think is the POA early). Trick plays punish you for doing that.

[ImmortalDragon]

We used the same trick plays over and over again. There are more than a couple trick plays.

[frommd]

Trick plays work much better when you are having success doing a certain thing. For example, if we are having success running the ball, the safeties and linebackers will have to cheat towards the line, thus opening up play-action passes. If we just run trick plays all the time, people will key on them and they will be harder to execute.

[cphil006]

Randle El could be our Brina Mitchell. He could contribute on offense, be PR/KR and #4 QB. We could def use him for trick plays.

[cphil006]

I remember that play from Little Giants...The Annexation of Puerto Rico