We tried this, but the TV feed was behind the radio, not in front of it. We were wishing for a magical DVR that would let you go a few seconds forward in time instead of just backward.
I was 13 when this game aired and was expecting it to feel like I was at the stadium. Although it was nice to have no announcers, I was disappointed to see all the usual graphics (player names, statistics, scores of other games, etc.) flashing onscreen as always. At least that annoying (to me) electronic first down line didn’t exist yet.
I don’t watch football these days, but if I did I think I’d look for a broadcast in a language I don’t speak. Are Spanish-language broadcasts of NFL games available? My Spanish is bad enough that even if the shouting got annoying, I at least wouldn’t know how inane the commentary was.
OTOH, (I watched it, too) I liked having the information – you could follow what was happening. Remember, at a game, you can see the scoreboard to check the down and distance and score, and basic information about the play is announced over the PA. You can’t really hear that on TV and not having it would have made it very difficult to follow, especially if you weren’t watching every play closely.
I wish they’d do it again.
I want more control over sports broadcasts than just commentary. I want to choose what camera feed I watch*, and I want at least three audio options: Normal, new-to-the-sport, and in-stadium.
*: I want a really wide-angle on football so I can see the secondary, better yet, I’d love to watch a whole game from the SkyCam feed.
I agree they should try it again.
IIRC the graphics were the usual intrusive half-the-screen kind, and sometimes the info was unnecessary (QB has passed for X yards this season, etc.) – no change apart from cutting the announcers, in other words.
If they had a scrolling ticker or that tiny faux-scoreboard they use these days, that might have been better. I guess I’d want graphics if they were kept simple & minimal. You’re right about keeping track of basic information (though I’ll never get used to the fake first-down line).
I’d like to have the option of switching to SkyCam whenever I wanted, but I don’t think I’d like to watch an entire game that way.
Incidentally, NASCAR is going to be offering something on-line soon, whereby you can see, in real-time (or close to it), the view from any camera in any car. Your choice; you can switch whenever you want, etc. Sounds awesome.
Cover 2 refers to the two safeties; they each play deep zone responsible for their half of the field. There are many flavors of this, since the other 9 guys could be doing whatever, but the basic Cover 2 scheme was first popularized by Tony Dungy in Tampa Bay. Because of that, it’s also commonly referred to as Tampa 2.
Because the only deep coverage is two safeties playing half the field each, Cover 2 is susceptible to deep strikes down the middle. The most common way to cover the deep middle is to have the MLB line up deeper than usual and have him fade back if a receiver approaches the deep middle. As you can imagine, a MLB isn’t usually fast enough to be very effective at this, and even worse his extra-deep pre-snap position makes him out of position on running plays. If you have a truly exceptional MLB, Cover 2 can be quite effective. Brian Urlacher is said to be nigh-inhuman in his ability to both cover the deep middle and come up to stop the run when the Bears (quite frequently) line up in Cover 2.
The standard Tampa 2 involves everyone in zone, with the two cornerbacks bumping the receivers at the line and then releasing them to stay in and cover the flats. The OLBs then take over the middle routes, while the safeties and MLB cover the deep zones. The problem with the Tampa 2 is that you can only rush the QB with four, so your DL needs to be top-notch.
A zone blitz is where a DL drops back to cover a short zone instead of rushing the passer, and the LB whose zone is being covered by the DL blitzes. The sole purpose of the zone blitz is to confuse the QB into thinking an area is empty when in reality it’s being covered by a DL. The Giants used to run this all the time with Strahan, and every single time it made me want to vomit. Why send your best pass rusher into coverage, where he sucks balls? So many TDs were scored off of Strahan’s man on zone blitz that they eventually gave it up, thankfully.
3-4 instead of 4-3 changes the roles of what your front 7 do, so it’s very personnel-based. In a standard 4-3, you have:
2 pass-rushing DEs
1 run-stuffing DT (called nose-tackle, 1-technique, or 2-gap)
1 pass-rushing DT (called 3-technique or 1-gap)
2 all-purpose OLBs
1 run-stuffing MLB
The nose tackle’s job is to occupy the center and a guard. He must be big and strong, and doesn’t need to be very athletic. The 3-technique DT is smaller and quicker, and his main job is to penetrate into the backfield to either sack the QB or disrupt the running play.
The #-technique terminology refers to what OL spot the DL lines up across from. (It doesn’t actually refer to a technique.) The #-gap terminology refers to how many gaps between OL the DL is responsible for on a running play.
In the 3-4, you have:
2 all-purpose DEs (mostly end up being statless afterthoughts)
1 nose tackle
2 all-purpose OLBs
2 all-purpose MLBs
The lynchpin of the 3-4 is the nose tackle, who is the only DT on the field. His sole job is to completely occupy two OL, thereby giving the defense a numbers advantage. Because there are only three linemen, you generally won’t get much pressure from your DEs, but that’s okay because one of your four LBs (it’ll change each play) will “blitz” every down. It’s not really a blitz because it still only totals four players rushing the passer, but since the fourth rusher might be a different guy every play it can confuse the QB.
Another big change from the 4-3 to the 3-4 is the MLB, because now there are two instead of one. A great MLB is one who can defend the run from “sideline to sideline”, but in a 3-4 he is not allowed to do that. Instead, both only cover one half of the field. Ray Lewis is an example of a monstrous sideline to sideline MLB who got handcuffed in a 3-4 system for a couple years. His productivity took a nose-dive, and he (rightfully) complained publicly about his limited role in a 3-4 scheme.
Eric Mangini implemented a 3-4 when he took over the Jets last year, and it pisses me off every single week. Not only is Vilma a sideline to sideline guy – so his talents are effectively wasted – but there is no other MLB on the team nearly as good as Vilma, so half the field is a weakness on running downs. Also, former #4 overall pick Dewayne Robertson is a solid DT, but he is a textbook 3-technique guy; he’s a terrible and undersized NT, so that crucial piece of the 3-4 puzzle is still missing. Mangini is stubbornly wasting what few legitimate talents the Jets have on defense with his inappropriate 3-4 scheme. Drives me crazy, it does.
A more thorough discussion of the differences between 4-3 and 3-4 can be found here.
A generally excellent post, but my understanding is that “Tampa 2” and “cover 2” aren’t synonymous. The Tampa 2 specifically refers to a system where the deep middle zone is the responsibility of the mike, as you state later. But while that means the Tampa 2 defense is a form of cover 2, not all cover 2 defenses can accurately be called Tampa 2.
There’s a lot of downtime in a football game, and I like having announcers to fill it in. But I’d like to see a higher quality of announcing. Most announcers cover very generic, obvious things. You don’t hear things like “The strong safety moved up, so the flanker made a sight adjustment to a skinny post to occupy the vacated area”, you hear stuff like “the defense just out-physicaled the offense on that play” or “if your line can’t block, your QB doesn’t have time to pass”
During the preseason one of the Cleveland announcers for the games was former QB Bernie Kosar who was known for his deep understanding of the game. He would never make it as an announcer - he slurs his words, doesn’t have an announcer’s voice, tends to ramble - but he made observations that you never hear out of regular announcers. He’d notice, for example, the way corners would play off a certain receiver during different routes, and then he’d say what the offensive coordinator would have to start calling to exploit that, and then bam, a play later you see what he just predicted. Or he’d see interceptions practically before the ball left the QB’s hands. He gave the kind of insight I’d love to hear more often.
But you tend to get the lowest common denominator when it comes to announcing, so you mostly just have people verbalizing what you already knew
Well, I gave the surround sound thing a shot. It wasn’t great. First of all, it was a little strange to listen to the game (Maryland vs. West Virginia) through only the two rear channels. Secondly, I had to crank up the volume, because the ambient noise on those two channels was very quiet. Finally, and worst of all, a little of the commentary was leaking through to said channels. Just snippets, but they were distracting.
This surround system is my roommate’s; I don’t actually know much at all about home theater systems. Perhaps this would work better with a higher quality system. As it stands now, our receiver doubles as a DVD player. Something tells me that a dual receiver/DVD player doesn’t produce the greatest sound quality.
Well, it was worth a shot.
It’s true that the original cover 2 was different from today’s tampa 2, but the only difference is that the mike played short zone leaving a huge gaping hole in the deep middle between the safeties.
Due to this fatal flaw, I don’t think any team in the league has run a traditional cover 2 for years; pretty much every cover 2 run today is more properly called the tampa 2. That’s why I said they’re synonymous. In today’s game, when you hear cover 2, they really mean tampa 2. If they aren’t all in zone, it’s more aptly refered to as a 2-deep shell or cover 2 man than a cover 2.
This also was the practice among just about all the Redskins fans I knew, as the radio team of **Sonny Jurgensen ** and **Sam Huff ** was far superior to the television commentators.
My sport of choice is college basketball, and around here, there is a delay between the radio broadcast and the TV broadcast. It makes it unwatchable to me.
I totally agree and I hope this is the future of sports broadcasting. The ability to change video angles would rock. Football and Hockey especially. Hockey so you could see the line changes. Football so you could watch the ‘islands’ (WR v CB)
If the radio station broadcasts over the internet you could try using the internet feed instead.
I don’t know how this works with other sports, but Major League Baseball’s licensing rights prevent you from doing this. KFWB, which carries the Dodgers’ games locally, has to provide an alternate audio stream for internet listeners during games because MLB charges people to subcribe to their audio package.
You may be right - I was under the impression that some teams still ran a cover 2 with a vacated deep middle because they simply didn’t have a MLB that could move well enough to fill the role, which is why one of the most effective cover 2 busters is a fast tight end running a seam route up the middle.