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The Play That Will Define the 2017 NFL Season - the Run-Pass Option
- By Prime Time
- RAMS / NFL TALK
- 0 Replies
https://www.theringer.com/nfl/2017/...s-option-rpo-aaron-rodgers-ben-roethlisberger
The Play That Will Define the 2017 NFL Season
Meet the not-so-secret weapon that Aaron Rodgers, Ben Roethlisberger, and others are using to flummox even the league’s best defenses: the run-pass option
BY KEVIN CLARK
The life cycle of NFL schemes is predictable. A play gets invented by some innovative coach and chugs along for a few years with some success, but doesn’t really enter the mainstream football conversation until the play wins big games. Then it gets stolen by everyone in football, and after defenses adjust, it dies a gradual death.
No one was talking much about the read option at the NFL level until it started getting teams deep into the 2012 playoffs. Remember when Colin Kaepernick did this?
In 1940, the T formation—where the backfield shape forms a T—became the scheme du jour because the Chicago Bears used it to torch the Redskins in the NFL title game, 73-0.
Login to view embedded media View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ee7fZykLH60
The West Coast offense wasn’t revolutionary until Bill Walsh started winning Super Bowls with it.
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6mFQvZxX88
Another play is about to have its moment: the run-pass option. The play is simple but can be almost defense-proof. The quarterback has multiple run or pass options on a given play and the decision on which play to run isn’t made until after the ball is snapped.
Unlike other plays in the post-snap-decision genre—the option or the zone read come to mind—these plays can include any kind of pass that the play-caller wants to include in the playbook. It’s already ubiquitous at the college level and growing at the NFL level, and it’s hard to find a coach who doesn’t think it’s influence is about to take off. “It’s already here in the league,” said Houston Texans coach Bill O’Brien, “and it’s a trend you’re going to see more of.”
The RPO has the one trait that NFL teams can’t ignore: it works. Pro Football Focus’s Michael Renner calls the play “free yards.” He found the average NFL game featured about five RPOs last year, the first year the company tracked the play. The Bengals—the Bengals—had the most yards of any team on RPOs last year, at an average of 6.2 per play, or more than a half yard higher than the league average for yards per play in general
At the end of last season, Trent Dilfer told me that these plays had about a 90 percent completion rate league-wide when the quarterback opted to pass. The RPO, in part, fueled Dak Prescott’s record-breaking rookie season, and most college systems run some variation of the play. Unlike many college schemes, it translates well to the NFL level.
“I think this play can be great for a lot of teams,” said Kansas City Chiefs offensive coordinator Matt Nagy.
In simplest terms, Packers coach Mike McCarthy told me, the RPO is a rewriting of what’s possible on a play. Green Bay runs the play with Aaron Rodgers, and it basically works like this: Once the quarterback determines what the defense is doing after the snap, he has three options—two passes and a halfback run, or vice versa—all of which are designed to be executed quickly.
For most of his time in the league, McCarthy said, plays were either “locked” plays, in which you’d come to the line and run the called play no matter what, or “two-way” plays, where you could audible into a pre-set adjustment. “So what the RPO is, it’s the expansion to the ability to run a three-way play,” he said.
That means you can basically do anything—multiple types of runs or passes—on a given play. Crucially, most plays feature changes before the snap, but the RPO adjusts to the defense after the snap, giving the offense maximum flexibility.
Mike Kuchar, who runs football-research company X&O Labs, said the concept is simple: There’s going to be one defender, typically an outside linebacker, on a given play who is going to commit to playing the run or pass post-snap. Once that player makes their decision, you run that play “to the space he vacated.” If he commits to the run, you pass, and if he doesn’t, you run.
All decisions are made quickly after the snap. “It’s the modern-day triple-option,” he said, referring to the old-school run option in which a quarterback can keep the ball, or has two options to give it to his fullback or running back.
But the most dangerous option in this play comes in the passing game. The Cowboys had success with a “third-level” RPO last year, which requires the quarterback to read the safety and helps exploit secondaries even more. “I’ve seen so many more RPOs this preseason,” Kuchar said. The play looks like this:
Login to view embedded media View: https://twitter.com/PFF_Mike/status/883340468414795777?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theringer.com%2Fnfl%2F2017%2F8%2F25%2F16201116%2Fmost-important-play-2017-run-pass-option-rpo-aaron-rodgers-ben-roethlisberger
The RPO play is equipped to dominate the modern defense, which has become faster and more athletic in recent years in order to keep up with offenses that consistently trot out three and four receivers. The RPO works because it doesn’t rely on trying to outrun anyone; it relies on going to the most empty part of the field in the most efficient way possible.
Various offensive coordinators said the two biggest traits needed to run the play as a quarterback are quick hands (to get the ball out before the defense can recover) and decision-making (to pick the right option). The vast majority of NFL quarterbacks have both.
Even if the signal-caller struggles with the big picture of NFL quarterbacking (and there are many of those), the RPO creates easy passes or wide-open runs if he properly reads one or two keys. Done right, it’s the perfect modern play.
Todd Haley, the Steelers’ offensive coordinator, said the team runs it effectively because Ben Roethlisberger is one of the fastest distributors in football, and thus his instincts and ability to quick-throw allow the team to pounce on defenses with it.
“The thing that helps is that it keeps everyone alive on a play,” Haley said. “Any time every skill guy on the field think they can get the ball, they’re excited.”
* * *
Every NFL coach is fairly confident that nothing is new. If a team ran plays that started with a snap into shotgun and ended with all 11 guys doing a full rendition of Guys and Dolls, other coaches would claim Clark Shaughnessy was running that with the 1949 Rams.
Kuchar thinks the RPO originated at Purdue during the Joe Tiller–Drew Brees era, when the Boilermakers would combine bubble routes with runs and make a read after the snap. It was now-Auburn head coach Gus Malzahn, he said, who popularized the play when he was Auburn’s offensive coordinator.
“Once he started it, it’s now hard to find someone at the college level who is not doing it.” Kuchar also mentioned Penn State offensive coordinator Joe Moorhead as someone designing the best RPOs in the NCAA.
The trickle up to the NFL level has been slower than the explosion in the college game. The Carolina Panthers have used the play with Cam Newton. Their offensive coordinator, Mike Shula, said the play is helpful because, with the lack of blocking tight ends throughout the NFL, you need quicker options to get the ball out as soon as possible—and the RPO is an extremely quick play since it requires the quarterback get the ball out of his hands in about a second. This is especially important if the defense is bringing significant pressure.
If these plays become widespread, it would change the face of defense. Paul Guenther, the Bengals defensive coordinator, said the key to containing such a play is to disguise coverages. Essentially, offenses in an RPO read which play they’ll go to by checking out easy-to-read seven-man defensive fronts. So disguising the player with the responsibility to commit to a run or a pass early is a good way to mess with an RPO team.
Kuchar said the biggest difference between college and pro RPOs is the protection schemes. Unlike in the NFL, where a quarterback’s going rate is above $20 million, some college RPOs rely on the quarterback rolling to the perimeter of the field and leaving him open for big hits. That won’t fly in the pros.
But, Kuchar said, the NFL has evolved to where they’ve taken college RPOs and designed blocks for everyone on the field and kept the quarterback in the pocket instead of a perimeter rollout—it defeats some of the purpose of the college RPOs, which rely on ignoring one player entirely in the blocking scheme to create a numbers advantage elsewhere, but NFL teams will take the tradeoff.
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/9112877/Stick_Draw_RPO_Image.jpg)
Kuchar also said that teams in college and the pros are getting more aggressive with the routes they are calling in RPOs. After years of focusing on quick, short passing, teams are going downfield, designing RPOs with skinny post routes or other big-play patterns. The ceiling of the RPO still hasn’t been scratched.
* * *
Florida State head coach Jimbo Fisher made news last fall when he dubbed RPOs “illegal,” suggesting they often led to an ineligible man downfield but that refs rarely called the infraction. There is a subtle but crucial difference between ineligible man downfield in the pros and college.
In the NFL, offensive linemen cannot be more than 1 yard (as opposed to 3 in college) downfield at the time the ball is thrown. This complicates the professional RPO, since offensive linemen, cognizant of the R in the RPO, explode forward to block for a run at the beginning of the play. Even if the quarterback opts to throw, the pass will oftentimes be so short and quick that run blocking principles will be in effect.
This is going to create a massive gray area once the play reaches its peak.
“It’s hard to see [linemen downfield] as an official,” O’Brien said. “There’s a lot of examples where that’s not called.”
Referee Jerome Boger told me that the gray area was a topic of interest at the league’s refereeing meetings before the season. He said referees are supposed to be watching the play closely this season and that calling ineligible receiver downfield is simply a matter of watching the timing of the play with greater scrutiny.
So, as long as the referees allow some envelope pushing, the RPO is going to be The Play of 2017. When there’s a play that is dubbed “free yards” by smart people, you can expect it to spread. So, how hot can this play get?
Bengals backup A.J. McCarron thinks it’ll retain its popularity just because it ensures teams won’t have to rely on “checkdowns,” which are essentially audibles into short passes that do little more than gain a handful of yards.
Designing a play with a big pass option that can be utilized post-snap will always be appealing. “Every team can pass out of the gun,” McCarron said, “but this allows you to run out of the gun. And if you wanted to, you could run this under center, too.”
Bengals quarterbacks coach Bill Lazor also said the RPO is an efficient way to keep possession since all of the plays are designed to limit risk and thus turnovers.
So, given all the advantages they seem to provide, will the RPOs have a multiseason run before flaming out, as the read option did? Or will it become like the shotgun pass or crossing pattern from a slot receiver—something that endures for long enough that it’s hard to remember a time it wasn’t part of the game?
“And then in four years,” Lazor said, talking about the life cycle of the read option and RPO, “someone will be asking me about the new thing, and asking if it will be the new RPO.”
The Play That Will Define the 2017 NFL Season
Meet the not-so-secret weapon that Aaron Rodgers, Ben Roethlisberger, and others are using to flummox even the league’s best defenses: the run-pass option
BY KEVIN CLARK
The life cycle of NFL schemes is predictable. A play gets invented by some innovative coach and chugs along for a few years with some success, but doesn’t really enter the mainstream football conversation until the play wins big games. Then it gets stolen by everyone in football, and after defenses adjust, it dies a gradual death.
No one was talking much about the read option at the NFL level until it started getting teams deep into the 2012 playoffs. Remember when Colin Kaepernick did this?
In 1940, the T formation—where the backfield shape forms a T—became the scheme du jour because the Chicago Bears used it to torch the Redskins in the NFL title game, 73-0.
Login to view embedded media View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ee7fZykLH60
The West Coast offense wasn’t revolutionary until Bill Walsh started winning Super Bowls with it.
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6mFQvZxX88
Another play is about to have its moment: the run-pass option. The play is simple but can be almost defense-proof. The quarterback has multiple run or pass options on a given play and the decision on which play to run isn’t made until after the ball is snapped.
Unlike other plays in the post-snap-decision genre—the option or the zone read come to mind—these plays can include any kind of pass that the play-caller wants to include in the playbook. It’s already ubiquitous at the college level and growing at the NFL level, and it’s hard to find a coach who doesn’t think it’s influence is about to take off. “It’s already here in the league,” said Houston Texans coach Bill O’Brien, “and it’s a trend you’re going to see more of.”
The RPO has the one trait that NFL teams can’t ignore: it works. Pro Football Focus’s Michael Renner calls the play “free yards.” He found the average NFL game featured about five RPOs last year, the first year the company tracked the play. The Bengals—the Bengals—had the most yards of any team on RPOs last year, at an average of 6.2 per play, or more than a half yard higher than the league average for yards per play in general
At the end of last season, Trent Dilfer told me that these plays had about a 90 percent completion rate league-wide when the quarterback opted to pass. The RPO, in part, fueled Dak Prescott’s record-breaking rookie season, and most college systems run some variation of the play. Unlike many college schemes, it translates well to the NFL level.
“I think this play can be great for a lot of teams,” said Kansas City Chiefs offensive coordinator Matt Nagy.
In simplest terms, Packers coach Mike McCarthy told me, the RPO is a rewriting of what’s possible on a play. Green Bay runs the play with Aaron Rodgers, and it basically works like this: Once the quarterback determines what the defense is doing after the snap, he has three options—two passes and a halfback run, or vice versa—all of which are designed to be executed quickly.
For most of his time in the league, McCarthy said, plays were either “locked” plays, in which you’d come to the line and run the called play no matter what, or “two-way” plays, where you could audible into a pre-set adjustment. “So what the RPO is, it’s the expansion to the ability to run a three-way play,” he said.
That means you can basically do anything—multiple types of runs or passes—on a given play. Crucially, most plays feature changes before the snap, but the RPO adjusts to the defense after the snap, giving the offense maximum flexibility.
Mike Kuchar, who runs football-research company X&O Labs, said the concept is simple: There’s going to be one defender, typically an outside linebacker, on a given play who is going to commit to playing the run or pass post-snap. Once that player makes their decision, you run that play “to the space he vacated.” If he commits to the run, you pass, and if he doesn’t, you run.
All decisions are made quickly after the snap. “It’s the modern-day triple-option,” he said, referring to the old-school run option in which a quarterback can keep the ball, or has two options to give it to his fullback or running back.
But the most dangerous option in this play comes in the passing game. The Cowboys had success with a “third-level” RPO last year, which requires the quarterback to read the safety and helps exploit secondaries even more. “I’ve seen so many more RPOs this preseason,” Kuchar said. The play looks like this:
Login to view embedded media View: https://twitter.com/PFF_Mike/status/883340468414795777?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theringer.com%2Fnfl%2F2017%2F8%2F25%2F16201116%2Fmost-important-play-2017-run-pass-option-rpo-aaron-rodgers-ben-roethlisberger
The RPO play is equipped to dominate the modern defense, which has become faster and more athletic in recent years in order to keep up with offenses that consistently trot out three and four receivers. The RPO works because it doesn’t rely on trying to outrun anyone; it relies on going to the most empty part of the field in the most efficient way possible.
Various offensive coordinators said the two biggest traits needed to run the play as a quarterback are quick hands (to get the ball out before the defense can recover) and decision-making (to pick the right option). The vast majority of NFL quarterbacks have both.
Even if the signal-caller struggles with the big picture of NFL quarterbacking (and there are many of those), the RPO creates easy passes or wide-open runs if he properly reads one or two keys. Done right, it’s the perfect modern play.
Todd Haley, the Steelers’ offensive coordinator, said the team runs it effectively because Ben Roethlisberger is one of the fastest distributors in football, and thus his instincts and ability to quick-throw allow the team to pounce on defenses with it.
“The thing that helps is that it keeps everyone alive on a play,” Haley said. “Any time every skill guy on the field think they can get the ball, they’re excited.”
* * *
Every NFL coach is fairly confident that nothing is new. If a team ran plays that started with a snap into shotgun and ended with all 11 guys doing a full rendition of Guys and Dolls, other coaches would claim Clark Shaughnessy was running that with the 1949 Rams.
Kuchar thinks the RPO originated at Purdue during the Joe Tiller–Drew Brees era, when the Boilermakers would combine bubble routes with runs and make a read after the snap. It was now-Auburn head coach Gus Malzahn, he said, who popularized the play when he was Auburn’s offensive coordinator.
“Once he started it, it’s now hard to find someone at the college level who is not doing it.” Kuchar also mentioned Penn State offensive coordinator Joe Moorhead as someone designing the best RPOs in the NCAA.
The trickle up to the NFL level has been slower than the explosion in the college game. The Carolina Panthers have used the play with Cam Newton. Their offensive coordinator, Mike Shula, said the play is helpful because, with the lack of blocking tight ends throughout the NFL, you need quicker options to get the ball out as soon as possible—and the RPO is an extremely quick play since it requires the quarterback get the ball out of his hands in about a second. This is especially important if the defense is bringing significant pressure.
If these plays become widespread, it would change the face of defense. Paul Guenther, the Bengals defensive coordinator, said the key to containing such a play is to disguise coverages. Essentially, offenses in an RPO read which play they’ll go to by checking out easy-to-read seven-man defensive fronts. So disguising the player with the responsibility to commit to a run or a pass early is a good way to mess with an RPO team.
Kuchar said the biggest difference between college and pro RPOs is the protection schemes. Unlike in the NFL, where a quarterback’s going rate is above $20 million, some college RPOs rely on the quarterback rolling to the perimeter of the field and leaving him open for big hits. That won’t fly in the pros.
But, Kuchar said, the NFL has evolved to where they’ve taken college RPOs and designed blocks for everyone on the field and kept the quarterback in the pocket instead of a perimeter rollout—it defeats some of the purpose of the college RPOs, which rely on ignoring one player entirely in the blocking scheme to create a numbers advantage elsewhere, but NFL teams will take the tradeoff.
Kuchar also said that teams in college and the pros are getting more aggressive with the routes they are calling in RPOs. After years of focusing on quick, short passing, teams are going downfield, designing RPOs with skinny post routes or other big-play patterns. The ceiling of the RPO still hasn’t been scratched.
* * *
Florida State head coach Jimbo Fisher made news last fall when he dubbed RPOs “illegal,” suggesting they often led to an ineligible man downfield but that refs rarely called the infraction. There is a subtle but crucial difference between ineligible man downfield in the pros and college.
In the NFL, offensive linemen cannot be more than 1 yard (as opposed to 3 in college) downfield at the time the ball is thrown. This complicates the professional RPO, since offensive linemen, cognizant of the R in the RPO, explode forward to block for a run at the beginning of the play. Even if the quarterback opts to throw, the pass will oftentimes be so short and quick that run blocking principles will be in effect.
This is going to create a massive gray area once the play reaches its peak.
“It’s hard to see [linemen downfield] as an official,” O’Brien said. “There’s a lot of examples where that’s not called.”
Referee Jerome Boger told me that the gray area was a topic of interest at the league’s refereeing meetings before the season. He said referees are supposed to be watching the play closely this season and that calling ineligible receiver downfield is simply a matter of watching the timing of the play with greater scrutiny.
So, as long as the referees allow some envelope pushing, the RPO is going to be The Play of 2017. When there’s a play that is dubbed “free yards” by smart people, you can expect it to spread. So, how hot can this play get?
Bengals backup A.J. McCarron thinks it’ll retain its popularity just because it ensures teams won’t have to rely on “checkdowns,” which are essentially audibles into short passes that do little more than gain a handful of yards.
Designing a play with a big pass option that can be utilized post-snap will always be appealing. “Every team can pass out of the gun,” McCarron said, “but this allows you to run out of the gun. And if you wanted to, you could run this under center, too.”
Bengals quarterbacks coach Bill Lazor also said the RPO is an efficient way to keep possession since all of the plays are designed to limit risk and thus turnovers.
So, given all the advantages they seem to provide, will the RPOs have a multiseason run before flaming out, as the read option did? Or will it become like the shotgun pass or crossing pattern from a slot receiver—something that endures for long enough that it’s hard to remember a time it wasn’t part of the game?
“And then in four years,” Lazor said, talking about the life cycle of the read option and RPO, “someone will be asking me about the new thing, and asking if it will be the new RPO.”
Justin Tucker’s Quest for the 70-Yard Field Goal
- By Prime Time
- RAMS / NFL TALK
- 19 Replies
https://www.si.com/nfl/2017/08/24/t...n-tucker-kicker-morten-andersen-opera-singing
Talking Football with Justin Tucker: It's Not Over Until the Kicker Sings
After a near-perfect 2016 season, Ravens kicker Justin Tucker is at the top of his game, and chasing perfection in 2017. Tucker talks about his favorite kicks, finding inspiration from Morten Andersen, and his passion for singing opera
KALYN KAHLER
PATRICK SMITH/GETTY IMAGES
OWINGS MILLS, Md. — While his teammates practiced on the secluded fields behind the Ravens’ castle-like headquarters, Justin Tucker got in his reps 22 miles away at Baltimore’s M&T Bank Stadium. The first preseason game was on the horizon, and the kicker wanted to practice in game-like conditions. Tucker had a ridiculously automatic 2016 season, putting together one of the most efficient seasons at any position.
Tucker went 38-for-39, with a blocked field goal as his only miss. He also tied the NFL single-season record by connecting on 10 field goals from 50 yards or more. After he returned from his stadium reps after a recent training camp practice, Tucker, still buzzing with energy, sat down to talk to The MMQB about his plans for 2016, finding inspiration from Morten Andersen and his passion for singing opera.
KALYN KAHLER: You had one of the best seasons for a kicker last year. How will you top that this season?
JUSTIN TUCKER: In years past I have always made it a point to say to myself, or when somebody asks me publicly, that I want to make all of my kicks. I think more practically, I want to just kick the ball well and I want to win games.
There is a lot of stuff that happens in between the lines that not a lot of people know about, like what happens out here on the practice field, what happens in my own film study, what [longsnapper] Morgan [Cox], [punter/holder] Sam [Koch] I are all able to do collectively, both on and off the field—it all contributes to the ball coming off my foot well. I think that is what my primary focus is, continuing to hit the ball well.
KAHLER: Do you have a favorite from last season?
TUCKER: If I had to pick a favorite, it would probably be the 52-yarder into the wind, when we were playing Cincinnati at home. As we were lining it up, I was telling Sam, it was in the middle of the game, so we know that there is a lot of football left to be played on this particular Sunday, but as I am lining it up with Sam, we're looking at our target line and picking out a spot and I say to him, kind of halfheartedly, When we make this, this will be legendary.
It's just the middle of the game, and we knocked the kick down. It was probably the toughest kick that I've made in a game. The feeling of watching the ball split the uprights, I felt like the ball could have gone forever—but then I see that it barely got there! It's a good feeling.
KAHLER: You have to work in perfect synchronization with your snapper and holder. How does that affect your relationship and friendship with Cox and Koch, whom you call your Wolfpack?
TUCKER: First thing I’ve got to do: I have to give them credit for how good they are at what they do. Morgan is an excellent snapper. Sam is an excellent punter and holder. It's due to a combination of talent and incredibly hard work. They make my job significantly easier. At the same time, off the field, we all get along great. Morgan and Sam are both good friends and I think that makes what we do on the field, when we are successful, it makes it that much sweeter.
When there are tough times, we are all able to pick each other up in a way that might be unique. We definitely hang out outside of practice, we all know each other's families, and we're all supportive of everything that everybody's got going on. I would certainly consider Morgan and Sam two of my best friends. It's a unique friendship in that we have fortified our relationship through the trials and tribulations that come with playing pro football together.
We all know exactly what we are going through at any given time. There's an understanding there that nobody else really has, and I think that has certainly contributed to how close we all are off the field.
KAHLER: Do you have any rituals that the three of you do before you go out for an attempt?
TUCKER: No, we don't have any rituals or quirks. I do on my own. Before games, I lay out my uniform in the shape of a man on the floor, and it's my own little—I don't want to call it a superstition—but it's just my ritual.
KAHLER: Do you say anything to yourself or do anything on the field before every kick?
TUCKER: Yeah, I don't want to give away trade secrets, but I am happy to share that I acknowledge the moment with a quick prayer and I make the sign of the cross on myself as I am lining up to kick.
More than anything, to show gratitude for the opportunity and the moment, because as anybody who has played professional football, they know that these moments can be fleeting and I'm certainly blessed to be able to do what I do for a living and I would like to share that idea with whoever is watching. If somebody gets something positive from that, then that is great.
KAHLER: Kicking is a mentally stressful position. Have you ever sought out help from a sports psychologist?
TUCKER: In a game where one-on-one battles frequently determine the outcome of a game, or even more specifically, a play in a game. My one-on-one battle is me vs. myself. I never really think about it as a battle, I just think about being the best me that I can be, and that is a lot easier to do when I have Morgan and Sam right there and I know that I don't even have to think twice about where the ball is going to be once it leaves Morgan's hands and Sam puts it down.
I know it is going to be there. It's just about being the best me that I can be. I've never sought out a sports psychologist to help me hone my craft. It's something that I just haven't needed.
KAHLER: You're a big advocate for the kickers are people too movement, and you recently tweeted that you voted for all kickers this year for the NFL’s top 100 rankings. Can you share your list?
TUCKER: I can't share the exact order because that wouldn't be fair to everybody but I basically just filled out- they give you a list with like 20 blanks and I just filled out ten of them. I wrote down all of the kickers that I could think of off the top of my head.
I will say though that there are guys that I will pick and choose different parts of their technique and I will try to make it my own, and I certainly have some respect for everybody out there and what they are doing and their preparation, because at the end of the day, we're all playing a game.
I want him to do well. If they happen to be playing us and the game comes down to a kick, I don't know, that's a tricky one, but I still want to see all those guys doing well and I would think they feel the same about me.
KAHLER: Von Miller had a pass rush summit at Stanford this offseason, where he invited some of the league’s best pass rushers to learn from each other. Have you ever thought about doing something like that with kickers across the league? Would that be helpful to get together and talk about this really unique skill?
TUCKER: Yeah, it might be. I don't know, I think I prefer to keep my cards close to the chest. I will say, I'll bounce ideas off of one or two other guys, there are a lot of different ways to kick a ball and I think only a handful of guys are really doing it consistently well.
KAHLER: I recently did a story on Patriots kicker Stephen Gostkowski, who said that he struggles with the monotony of being a kicker. Do you ever struggle with the routine and repetition of kicking?
TUCKER: If every ball is the same and it gets to a point where it is monotonous, then that is probably a really good thing. That makes sense coming from Stephen because he is one of the best kickers to ever play, so yeah when it gets boring, it's probably a good thing. I think the head coach would agree. Being bored during field goal period, knowing that everything is going to get made, is a good feeling.
KAHLER: How did fellow kicker Morten Andersen's induction into the Hall of Fame make you feel? Were you inspired by it?
TUCKER: I love it. I think he was deserving from the get-go. You talk about a game where you win by scoring more points than your opponent, right? And the leading scorer in the history of the game played 25 seasons? That's a no brainer, you should be in the Hall of Fame . . .
I want to say he converted 22 game-winning field goals. So, over an entire regular season worth of wins he is responsible for. That's really cool. I don't think that many people could say anything even close to that, regardless of their position.
KAHLER: Do you think you could play that long?
TUCKER: I just try to take it one kick at a time, and put one foot in front of another and make kicks. That's another reason why he should be in. To play for as long as he did at such a high level, it's remarkable.
KAHLER: You're classically trained in opera. Do you listen to a lot of opera? What type of music do you listen to?
TUCKER: I listen to a whole bunch of different types of music. I get on a kick where I'll listen to like, late ’90s, early 2000s, post-grunge Seattle rock. For awhile I was just obsessed with Third Eye Blind, Chili Peppers, Incubus, that whole kind of range of music—and recently I've been listening to a lot of ’80s hair rock, like Scorpions, Poison, Cru, Guns N’ Roses. I'll throw in a little Outfield. I'll listen to just about anything and try to enjoy it.
KAHLER: Do you ever sing for your teammates?
TUCKER: Yeah I got up in one of the team meetings recently and I sang a song for everybody to provide a little entertainment, camp can be long.
KAHLER: What did you sing?
TUCKER: Well, it was in a team meeting so I can't divulge that. But it was good to get a laugh and a couple smiles from the guys.
KAHLER: You've never missed an extra point in your career, so clearly the increased distance for the PAT didn't affect your results. But was it an adjustment? Is it still an adjustment?
TUCKER: There certainly is an added component there when you just back it up 13 yards from what it was, but more than anything, I just treat it like another field goal attempt. Whereas, in the past, I would certainly treat a 20-yard PAT like another field goal attempt, but you kind of know in the back of your mind that you have a little bit more room for error.
Whereas, on a 33-yard PAT, if that angle changes from the point of contact one or two degrees outside of where you could have erred on a 20-yard PAT, that ball might hit the upright or it might miss. It does make you lock in just a little bit extra.
Talking Football with Justin Tucker: It's Not Over Until the Kicker Sings
After a near-perfect 2016 season, Ravens kicker Justin Tucker is at the top of his game, and chasing perfection in 2017. Tucker talks about his favorite kicks, finding inspiration from Morten Andersen, and his passion for singing opera
KALYN KAHLER
PATRICK SMITH/GETTY IMAGES
OWINGS MILLS, Md. — While his teammates practiced on the secluded fields behind the Ravens’ castle-like headquarters, Justin Tucker got in his reps 22 miles away at Baltimore’s M&T Bank Stadium. The first preseason game was on the horizon, and the kicker wanted to practice in game-like conditions. Tucker had a ridiculously automatic 2016 season, putting together one of the most efficient seasons at any position.
Tucker went 38-for-39, with a blocked field goal as his only miss. He also tied the NFL single-season record by connecting on 10 field goals from 50 yards or more. After he returned from his stadium reps after a recent training camp practice, Tucker, still buzzing with energy, sat down to talk to The MMQB about his plans for 2016, finding inspiration from Morten Andersen and his passion for singing opera.
KALYN KAHLER: You had one of the best seasons for a kicker last year. How will you top that this season?
JUSTIN TUCKER: In years past I have always made it a point to say to myself, or when somebody asks me publicly, that I want to make all of my kicks. I think more practically, I want to just kick the ball well and I want to win games.
There is a lot of stuff that happens in between the lines that not a lot of people know about, like what happens out here on the practice field, what happens in my own film study, what [longsnapper] Morgan [Cox], [punter/holder] Sam [Koch] I are all able to do collectively, both on and off the field—it all contributes to the ball coming off my foot well. I think that is what my primary focus is, continuing to hit the ball well.
KAHLER: Do you have a favorite from last season?
TUCKER: If I had to pick a favorite, it would probably be the 52-yarder into the wind, when we were playing Cincinnati at home. As we were lining it up, I was telling Sam, it was in the middle of the game, so we know that there is a lot of football left to be played on this particular Sunday, but as I am lining it up with Sam, we're looking at our target line and picking out a spot and I say to him, kind of halfheartedly, When we make this, this will be legendary.
It's just the middle of the game, and we knocked the kick down. It was probably the toughest kick that I've made in a game. The feeling of watching the ball split the uprights, I felt like the ball could have gone forever—but then I see that it barely got there! It's a good feeling.
KAHLER: You have to work in perfect synchronization with your snapper and holder. How does that affect your relationship and friendship with Cox and Koch, whom you call your Wolfpack?
TUCKER: First thing I’ve got to do: I have to give them credit for how good they are at what they do. Morgan is an excellent snapper. Sam is an excellent punter and holder. It's due to a combination of talent and incredibly hard work. They make my job significantly easier. At the same time, off the field, we all get along great. Morgan and Sam are both good friends and I think that makes what we do on the field, when we are successful, it makes it that much sweeter.
When there are tough times, we are all able to pick each other up in a way that might be unique. We definitely hang out outside of practice, we all know each other's families, and we're all supportive of everything that everybody's got going on. I would certainly consider Morgan and Sam two of my best friends. It's a unique friendship in that we have fortified our relationship through the trials and tribulations that come with playing pro football together.
We all know exactly what we are going through at any given time. There's an understanding there that nobody else really has, and I think that has certainly contributed to how close we all are off the field.
KAHLER: Do you have any rituals that the three of you do before you go out for an attempt?
TUCKER: No, we don't have any rituals or quirks. I do on my own. Before games, I lay out my uniform in the shape of a man on the floor, and it's my own little—I don't want to call it a superstition—but it's just my ritual.
KAHLER: Do you say anything to yourself or do anything on the field before every kick?
TUCKER: Yeah, I don't want to give away trade secrets, but I am happy to share that I acknowledge the moment with a quick prayer and I make the sign of the cross on myself as I am lining up to kick.
More than anything, to show gratitude for the opportunity and the moment, because as anybody who has played professional football, they know that these moments can be fleeting and I'm certainly blessed to be able to do what I do for a living and I would like to share that idea with whoever is watching. If somebody gets something positive from that, then that is great.
KAHLER: Kicking is a mentally stressful position. Have you ever sought out help from a sports psychologist?
TUCKER: In a game where one-on-one battles frequently determine the outcome of a game, or even more specifically, a play in a game. My one-on-one battle is me vs. myself. I never really think about it as a battle, I just think about being the best me that I can be, and that is a lot easier to do when I have Morgan and Sam right there and I know that I don't even have to think twice about where the ball is going to be once it leaves Morgan's hands and Sam puts it down.
I know it is going to be there. It's just about being the best me that I can be. I've never sought out a sports psychologist to help me hone my craft. It's something that I just haven't needed.
KAHLER: You're a big advocate for the kickers are people too movement, and you recently tweeted that you voted for all kickers this year for the NFL’s top 100 rankings. Can you share your list?
TUCKER: I can't share the exact order because that wouldn't be fair to everybody but I basically just filled out- they give you a list with like 20 blanks and I just filled out ten of them. I wrote down all of the kickers that I could think of off the top of my head.
I will say though that there are guys that I will pick and choose different parts of their technique and I will try to make it my own, and I certainly have some respect for everybody out there and what they are doing and their preparation, because at the end of the day, we're all playing a game.
I want him to do well. If they happen to be playing us and the game comes down to a kick, I don't know, that's a tricky one, but I still want to see all those guys doing well and I would think they feel the same about me.
KAHLER: Von Miller had a pass rush summit at Stanford this offseason, where he invited some of the league’s best pass rushers to learn from each other. Have you ever thought about doing something like that with kickers across the league? Would that be helpful to get together and talk about this really unique skill?
TUCKER: Yeah, it might be. I don't know, I think I prefer to keep my cards close to the chest. I will say, I'll bounce ideas off of one or two other guys, there are a lot of different ways to kick a ball and I think only a handful of guys are really doing it consistently well.
KAHLER: I recently did a story on Patriots kicker Stephen Gostkowski, who said that he struggles with the monotony of being a kicker. Do you ever struggle with the routine and repetition of kicking?
TUCKER: If every ball is the same and it gets to a point where it is monotonous, then that is probably a really good thing. That makes sense coming from Stephen because he is one of the best kickers to ever play, so yeah when it gets boring, it's probably a good thing. I think the head coach would agree. Being bored during field goal period, knowing that everything is going to get made, is a good feeling.
KAHLER: How did fellow kicker Morten Andersen's induction into the Hall of Fame make you feel? Were you inspired by it?
TUCKER: I love it. I think he was deserving from the get-go. You talk about a game where you win by scoring more points than your opponent, right? And the leading scorer in the history of the game played 25 seasons? That's a no brainer, you should be in the Hall of Fame . . .
I want to say he converted 22 game-winning field goals. So, over an entire regular season worth of wins he is responsible for. That's really cool. I don't think that many people could say anything even close to that, regardless of their position.
KAHLER: Do you think you could play that long?
TUCKER: I just try to take it one kick at a time, and put one foot in front of another and make kicks. That's another reason why he should be in. To play for as long as he did at such a high level, it's remarkable.
KAHLER: You're classically trained in opera. Do you listen to a lot of opera? What type of music do you listen to?
TUCKER: I listen to a whole bunch of different types of music. I get on a kick where I'll listen to like, late ’90s, early 2000s, post-grunge Seattle rock. For awhile I was just obsessed with Third Eye Blind, Chili Peppers, Incubus, that whole kind of range of music—and recently I've been listening to a lot of ’80s hair rock, like Scorpions, Poison, Cru, Guns N’ Roses. I'll throw in a little Outfield. I'll listen to just about anything and try to enjoy it.
KAHLER: Do you ever sing for your teammates?
TUCKER: Yeah I got up in one of the team meetings recently and I sang a song for everybody to provide a little entertainment, camp can be long.
KAHLER: What did you sing?
TUCKER: Well, it was in a team meeting so I can't divulge that. But it was good to get a laugh and a couple smiles from the guys.
KAHLER: You've never missed an extra point in your career, so clearly the increased distance for the PAT didn't affect your results. But was it an adjustment? Is it still an adjustment?
TUCKER: There certainly is an added component there when you just back it up 13 yards from what it was, but more than anything, I just treat it like another field goal attempt. Whereas, in the past, I would certainly treat a 20-yard PAT like another field goal attempt, but you kind of know in the back of your mind that you have a little bit more room for error.
Whereas, on a 33-yard PAT, if that angle changes from the point of contact one or two degrees outside of where you could have erred on a 20-yard PAT, that ball might hit the upright or it might miss. It does make you lock in just a little bit extra.
Greatest Rams Alphabetically...H-I
- By Farr Be It
- RAMS / NFL TALK
- 10 Replies
No. Kind of a common thread. Seemed like a lot of guys that plug a hole, and stay back to keep the quarterback clean.Hmmm..... Your blue collar Hall of Fame is all Fullbacks and Tight Ends. Coincidence?
Rams QB coach likes Goff's growth, but 'he's far from a finished product'
- By Farr Be It
- RAMS / NFL TALK
- 11 Replies
daunt·ing
[ˈdôn(t)iNG, ˈdän(t)iNG]
ADJECTIVE
- seeming difficult to deal with in anticipation; intimidating:
"a daunting task"
synonyms: intimidating · formidable · disconcerting · unnerving · unsettling
Really? When I watch Jared Goff play, or hear him in interviews, I don't sense that the job is daunting for him. I see a 22-year-old, wise beyond his years, humble enough to accept instruction, who does not wilt under criticisms, and patient enough to accept gradual progress. Unlike most of his media, and sports critics, he also does not resort to petty hyperbole, and self-glorification. Jared deflects praise, accepts blame, and elevates his teammates and coaches. Though he would be morally correct to do so, Jared also does not lash out at critics when they slander him and say factually incorrect things about him.
**Ironically, Jared Goff, (and Sean McVay, for that matter) tend to be the adults in the room.
...like that day, for example. He thrived that day.
Kind of like all of us. We are all a work in progress. Tom Brady will tell you he is still working at getting better. But that is true. Jared is working at getting better. How exciting for all of us.
**Those that have arrived, usually do so in a hearse.
Wait...your talking about a practice? Really? Other than Aaron Rodgers famous article where he tested his limits in practice, a few years back, throwing multiple interceptions, and he was positioned as a genius for doing so, is there another example of a quarterbacks training camp results someone can point me to that have been scrutinized like this? STRUGGLED? In practice?
I don't sense this is going to be a tough threshold. He will have his bad days, don't get me wrong, but I look at Jared Goff, and his team of coaches, and I see, "We got this."
Boom. Maturity. A quiet leader.
True. @OldSchool knows the drill.