July 27, 2006

The Evolution of the Two-Tight End Set: and a bit on why it works.

posted by yerfatma to football at 01:01 PM - 12 comments

Nice post, yerfatma, it's one of the reasons I'm optimistic about Patriots' chances this year despite the personnel losses. I can see how having Graham and Watson in tandem will be effective in itself. When you add an H-back who has some hands and fair speed, you now have weapons. The real key will be Maroney. The reports out of minicamp were that he was an excellent receiver as well as a rusher. Think about the possibilities on let's say 3rd and 9. Branch runs a sideline route about 15 yards down. If he's not doubled, Brady has a better than even chance at the completion. Meantime, Watson and Graham are running complementary routes through the middle of the field about 10 or 12 yards out. this should draw at least one corner, one safety, and maybe a linebacker. Now the H-back puts a brush block on a defender as part of a play-action fake, then runs a short slant route to the first down marker. It's a linebacker on him, just trying to keep up. In behind all of this chaos come Maroney after the run fake. He should be just about uncovered 5 yards beyond the line of scrimmage in the center. If he gets the ball in stride, he will easily make up the rest of the yardage. The only way to have enough defenders against this is to employ a 3 - 4, and to rush only your down linemen. Then Brady will stand back in the pocket, send out for pizza, sign an autograph, and wait for Branch, Watson, or Graham to be open deep. I'm drooling over the prospects.

posted by Howard_T at 02:19 PM on July 27, 2006

Nice article. Great explanation. I was hearing a lot about this very set being a Philly fan. New OC Marty M. states with L J Smith , and Matt Schobel (FA from Cinncy) he will be able to exploit this very scenario (with Westbrook in the back-field). Some may say it may not be as effective because the Philly receivers can be left in single coverage. By all means, please leave Reggie Brown (who?) in single coverage. Don't mean to turn this into a my team rocks thread, but this article was very helpful.

posted by Bishop at 02:20 PM on July 27, 2006

it works well in madden 07

posted by soccerman12 at 02:47 PM on July 27, 2006

Don't mean to turn this into a my team rocks thread Don't worry about it. I felt a little queasy posting a "The Patriots Offense Will Be Unstoppable!" local article as a tutorial on the two tight end formation, but then I considered some of the posts that show up nowadays and figured I wouldn't look too bad.

posted by yerfatma at 03:09 PM on July 27, 2006

It should be and interesting season in the NFC East with the personel everyone has. I'm really interested in seeing how it will play in Dallas. Fasano looks to be a real stud with some experience.

posted by COWBOY BLUE at 04:32 PM on July 27, 2006

I didn't know much about the 2 tight end offense...but we're missing the fact that Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts made great use of this form of offense in Peyton's early years, lining up Ken Dilger and Marcus Pollard with Marvin Harrison and another wide receiver and the Edge in the backfield. So this isn't a new formula...New England, Dallas and San Fran just have the tight ends to make it work

posted by chemwizBsquared at 04:45 PM on July 27, 2006

I've always thought that the two TE set would work well for passing if you had two TEs with good hands. Detroit has used a lot of two TE sets for several years, but they did it exclusively to add a blocker for the run game. Only two problems. First, their blocking would have still sucked if you let them play with 13 guys. Second, they always ran from the set, so opposing defenders got to tee off on whatever RB the Lions had who was relatively in one piece. Run by someone who's a little creative, especially if he has good receivers at the position, the two TE set has a lot of potential to do major damage.

posted by ctal1999 at 07:04 PM on July 27, 2006

So this isn't a new formula The formula's not new, the type of personnel playing in it are. Ben Watson and Antonio Gates are boyd types that weren't in offensive football back in the day.

posted by yerfatma at 07:30 PM on July 27, 2006

Tight end is the greatest position in football.Big and strong enough to knock defenders on their butts,hands and the reach to make clutch catches in traffic, mean enough to make jarring tackles after an interception. One guy like that is good;but why not put two athletes of that caliber on the field at the same time?

posted by judgedread at 08:52 PM on July 27, 2006

The patriots should use a two tight end offense,they have good ones.their receivers are'nt that great.The Raiders on the other hand were using it to their disadvantage.if you have Moss,,Porter,Gabriel,you should spread the field and take advantage.maybe that's why they have a new head coach.

posted by mars1 at 01:37 AM on July 28, 2006

It helps that more teams are moving to the Cover-2 defense. The two tight end set is the perfect antidote to that defense. However, the second your offensive line looks weak one of your talented TEs with great hands is just a blocker.

posted by bperk at 01:11 PM on July 28, 2006

I wouldn't be suprised to see the Giants use a two tight end formation with the newly aquired Boo Williams and or course, Jeremy Shockey. The 49ers could really benefit from this, especially with the speed of Davis. I personally think that the Falcons should try this, with Crumpler, and two solid backs. Vick isnt that accuratte of a passer, so this could benefit him in many aspects. Nice article yerfatma.

posted by redsoxrgay at 02:58 PM on July 28, 2006

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