Here is what you need to know on this Saturday, January 18, 2013, 14 days before Super Bowl XLVII.
Morris to pay a friend a visit while he is at home
Alfred Morris was on Sirius XM NFL Radio on Friday with Adam Schein and Russ Tucker. The Redskins running back had to apologize for calling in to the show late because he forgot that he had to adjust things because he had just arrived to his home town for the offseason, which is in the Central time zone.
After a couple of questions, Schein asked him if he had called Robert Griffin III since the quarterback had knee surgery last week. And Morris replied that he had not. Instead, Morris said, “I’m going to pop in on him soon.”
Morris is from Pensacola, Florida. If that rings a bell, it’s because that’s where Dr. James Andrews is based and where RG3 underwent his surgery.
That’s right. While Griffin is spending the next month or so at Andrews’ facility during the early stages of rehab, he will have a friend in town. It’s not that Alfred and Robert are likely to go out and visit any of the hotspots in what is affectionately known as the Redneck Riviera (I know, I lived in the area for a while). But they can certainly swap stories and maybe view some game film together.
You know it’s a small world when by sheer happenstance your star rookie running back and star rookie quarterback will be spending part of their offseasons in the same town.
Rodgers thinks read option is a fad
Aaron Rodgers, who will be watching this round of the NFL playoffs, thinks that the read option offense is going to go the way of the Wildcat.
"Things have come back around that were being used 20, 30 years ago. But this too, I think, will pass. Some of the pistol, read option stuff will eventually pass … now it might not be for 10 more years," he said on 540 ESPN radio last week.
On the one hand, he may be right. If an offense is running the simplest form of the play, with the quarterback reading the defensive end or outside linebacker while deciding whether or not to hand off to the running back, the defense can force a handoff every time. If the outside defender doesn’t crash in to stop the running back, the quarterback will have to hand it off every time. That turns a dynamic attack into an up-the-gut running attack straight out of the 1960’s.
But there are wrinkles that an offense can throw into the read option. When Colin Kaepernick scored on a 58-yard touchdown run against Rodgers’ Packers last week the 49ers used a lead blocker on the play. It didn’t matter how the end read the play, the outside defender was take care of and Kaepernick was quickly into the second level of the defense.
The read option is not any different from any other offensive play—the defense will adjust to it so offensive coordinators will adjust to the adjustments. So Rodgers is right in that it may be going away when it comes to leaving the outside defender unblocked but other wrinkles will live on to take advantage of the talents of mobile quarterbacks like Kaepernick, RG3, and others.
In case you missed it
Days until: NFL Combine in Indianapolis 32; start of free agency 51; NFL Kickoff Sunday 231
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