Mailbag? Mailbag!
I used to do AMAs once a week on Twitter, but I stopped because of reasons (one of which is just because it’s harder to find time for those these days). But I still like answering questions, because living in my head is scary. So, today, we’re doing a little mailbag. Thanks for your questions. Hoping to make these a semi-regular occurrence, but I suppose we’ll see how that works out.
Oh man. Right off the bat. Okay, how do I find time?
It’s not easy, man. The first thing you need is a healthy dose of insomnia. Sure, I could go to bed earlier, but I’ll just lay there awake and thinking about an interaction I had as a freshman in high school for 2 hours, and how awkward I was and what I would have changed and what must that person think of me now and blah blah.
The football stuff specifically, I have a system for how/when I do everything. For a Sunday game, I watch the game, then try to rewatch it as a condensed version later that night. Maybe a make a note or two, but that’s kinda rare these days. Monday morning I wake up, pull the play-by-play data and snap counts from Pro Football Reference, run them through a workflow in a data blending program I use to classify the plays and look at numbers. What was the run/pass breakdown? What did they look like during the script and after? What did each quarterback do by passing zone/depth? That kind of thing.
By Monday night, I usually have the All 22, so I spend the MNF game going through that; film on one screen, Excel spreadsheet on the other. I make notes, do some light charting and start marking what plays go to which site. “Okay, 4 instances of All Go HB Seam? That’ll go in one article. This big-hitter? That’s another.” After that, I mark up the plays. Draw the lines and whatnot. Usually takes me a few hours. I go to bed around 1-2am with all my notes taken & all my videos marked up.
I started taking PTO on Tuesdays for half a day, and I use that time to just bang through my writing. By 5pm, I usually have 3 articles written (sometimes 4, if I’m feeling froggy). I record a podcast on Tuesday night and then I’m good.
For me, it’s a sprint for a couple days, then I’m good. I’m free. It can sometimes feel like a slog and a little overwhelming, but by Tuesday night, I have fulfilled my football obligations and I’m good.
My family typically goes to bed early, so all my work is done either when they’re all in bed, or when I’d be working for my job, anyway. Before work? Making dinner? During dinner? I’m there. I’m present. I push myself on Sunday-Tuesday, but only during time that is usually solo time for me anyway. So it’s a sprint, but I can still live my life and be with my family just as much as I would be if I wasn’t devoting so much time and energy to football.
That football time? That’s time for myself. Sometimes it can feel like a slog, but it’s really interesting, and, sometimes, very rewarding. When I see something I’ve never seen before, or start to notice patterns? I’m on cloud 9. It’s a time-consuming hobby, but I wouldn’t make time for it if I didn’t love it.
This is really long. I would say find something that you love; something that makes you, you. And if you can carve out time for yourself - before everyone wakes up, after everyone goes to sleep, during a quiet moment in the middle of the day - do that thing. Don’t just kill time on your phone, because then you feel like you haven’t done anything. Unless killing time on your phone is your goal, in which case knock yourself out.
I don’t know if that’s helpful.
I don’t know about new concepts, but certainly tweaks on existing ones. I just wrote about the ways they’re looking to do counters to their PA Boot. They’re using more fake RPO releases from Adams to try to hit something down the field. They’re removing the seam route from the All Go HB Seam concept and deploying that receiver elsewhere.
I did notice them working on a bit more of the pitch-to-inside-zone running concept during the preseason. Kind of working that as a way to get the defense flowing hard on the pitch, then cutback against it. I haven’t really seen it during the season so far, but it’s something I’m keeping an eye out for. It didn’t really work well in the preseason so maybe they’ve scrapped it for now, but it’s something I’m looking for.
Just looking at what I’ve got from this past game, it’s a lot of the same concepts. Stick. Middle Read Dagger. Mesh. Drift. All Go. Smash Fade. Again, more tweaks on those than we’ve seen in the past, but I don’t know that I’ve seen anything that really made me sit up and say, “Oh hey! I’ve never seen that before.” Still, I’m really excited about the tweaks.
Mike & I kind of talked about this a bit already, but, with the way teams are crashing the drag routes on the Mesh concept, I’d love to see them bend those upfield. Cross the mesh point, look like you’re running to the sideline, get the safety crashing hard, then bend vertically.
The Mesh/Pivot thing is something I always like, but it seems like the safeties are waiting to trigger. They’re not really crashing hard until that mesh point is completed.
Boot-counter? It’s Y Leak, man, but they haven’t run it yet. I’m a sucker for the half-boot with the deep route reversing to the backside pylon. They’ve hit that a couple times over the years and I’m always a fan. They’ve started sending the jet motion guy on a wheel route this season, and I’m here for that. On the half-boot, it can kind of act as a substitute for the Leak concept.
I’m really hyped to see Laurie Strode in this, man. Everyone in her family thought she was crazy in the last one, and it really looked like she was unravelling. Now, with everyone on board, I’m excited to see the Strode women rally to take Myers on head-to-head.
I’m also expecting boat loads of blood and for me to be thoroughly entertained. I can’t wait, man. Gonna be watching it tonight.
I really don’t know. I have zero feeling for how the front office is going to handle this. With the way Rodgers is playing now and the dumpster fire that is the 2022 QB class, I think they could get a decent return for Love from a quarterback needy team. But so much of this is tied up in interpersonal relationships that we only know a fraction of the story.
I think he’ll get there eventually, he he was never going to be a huge factor out of the gate. I love him an think he’ll be very good in Green Bay, but a 3rd round rookie receiver is usually not a guy you’re looking to get touches for right away. He had some rough moments early - not knowing where to line up and whatnot - but he’s a smart, hard-working guy. I think he’ll get more snaps as the season progresses, but, barring injuries, I don’t see him getting a ton of touches this year.
I don’t really keep up with the new bourbon market. I just kinda go to the store and buy something I like or something that looks interesting. I’ve always got my eye out for Weller Full Proof, but there’s zero chance of finding that on the shelf anywhere.
They’re a flawed team for sure, but I don’t see anything right now that feels like a fatal flaw. I’m guilty of being overly optimistic at times, so that’s what’s gonna happen here. Super Bowl, buddy.
Thanks to everyone for your questions! Like I said, I hope to be doing this a little more going forward, so if you didn’t get a chance this time, get me next time.