Spring Practice Day 4 (Monday)

[UOducksTK1]

http://ducksattack.com/?p=1831

Yesterday's practice. Interviews from Helf, Neal, Mariota, and Dargan.

[Duck07]

Saw an article that said that Marcus has been practicing snaps under center after practices. Will be interesting to see if the coaches have some new short-yardage formations or if its solely NFL prep on his part. I think we can still tempo our opponents and operate under center every now and then and it might really help us in the Red Zone.

[GoDuckYourself]

Why would going under center help us in the red zone? I remember every spring we run a few plays from under center. Ran 5-8 during last years spring game. Then we never see them again which is just fine with me.

[lukeyrid13]

I wouldn't mind a goal line package. We've seen the success Stanford has had in adding a few extra OL and going HB Dive. Against: Auburn, Arizona, Stanford, etc it's come back to bite us that we can't punch it in from 2-3 yards out.

[Duck07]

Why would going under center help us in the red zone? I remember every spring we run a few plays from under center. Ran 5-8 during last years spring game. Then we never see them again which is just fine with me.

Well for starters we've struggled in the Red Zone, especially against tougher defensive fronts. Every time we snap the ball in the shotgun we've got to make up for those 4 yards before you can get anything positive. Now Marcus isn't built like Masoli and nobody expects him to be a bowling ball, but if the defense has left either A gap open, its easier to exploit for a 1-yard gain. If you want to run a fade to a midget WR then you have a better angle to throw from too. I'm not suggesting we move away from what we do best, but we definitely struggle in the RZ and without going into all the details of a power runs from a zone scheme, we can still do everything we already do.

Also, since there is so much turnover from our squad and Philly there were quite a few times last season that Chip ran Foles and Vick under center too. It makes for a good play-action and again, anything we can do that makes the defense "think" longer, the better it is for us.