kingfish247 Posted January 31, 2007 Share Posted January 31, 2007 Kind of an under the radar NFL news byte but no more zone blocking means a lot to the ATL offseason, draft, and new offense. Should be interesting to see how everything pans out. Falcons' blocking guru Gibbs let go By STEVE WYCHE The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Published on: 01/31/07 Alex Gibbs, the former offensive line coach/consultant who implemented a zone-blocking scheme that contributed to the Falcons leading the NFL in rushing the past three seasons, will not be back with the team. Though coach Bobby Petrino has overhauled the coaching staff since being hired Jan. 8, Gibbs had been listed as an offensive line consultant, his title the past two seasons. The Falcons confirmed Wednesday that Gibbs, who came to Atlanta in 2004 with then-coach Jim Mora as the offensive line coach, was not retained. Mike Summers, who was on Petrino's staff at Louisville, was hired as the offensive line coach. Gibbs' departure signals a likely change in blocking philosophy from the zone/cut-blocking scheme to more of a traditional power game. Petrino has previously based his offense around a physical running game. The Falcons also will begin the transition to bigger, more physical offensive linemen from the sleeker, smaller linemen that fit better into Gibbs' scheme, Petrino has said in interviews since being hired. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skilly Posted January 31, 2007 Share Posted January 31, 2007 Good news for the Falcons. The zone blocking scheme is outdated and is horrible for pass protection. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rhippens Posted January 31, 2007 Share Posted January 31, 2007 at 6'-203, how does norwood fit in next year? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Swerski Posted January 31, 2007 Share Posted January 31, 2007 Good news for the Falcons. The zone blocking scheme is outdated and is horrible for pass protection. Too bad that the zone-blocking scheme is also what made their running game so powerful and that their offense will now have to rely on Vick's "accuracy" and the stone hands of his wideouts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Riffraff Posted February 1, 2007 Share Posted February 1, 2007 May end up in Oakland since he has ties with the OC. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
broncosn05 Posted February 1, 2007 Share Posted February 1, 2007 ... Good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chavez Posted February 1, 2007 Share Posted February 1, 2007 (edited) Good news for the Falcons. The zone blocking scheme is outdated and is horrible for pass protection. Den and GB seem to do well enough using the scheme. EDIT: just to check it out: GB - 24 sacks on 654 pass plays - sacked on 3.7% of pass plays Den - 31 sacks on 485 pass plays - 6.4% Hou - 43 sacks on 524 pass plays - 8.2% Atl - 47 sacks on 463 pass plays - 10.2% League average is 7% - so of the 4 teams that used the zone-blocking system (which may or may not affect pass pro anyway) one was exceptional, one was slightly above-average, one was slightly below-average (with the caveat that 8.2% is a BIG jump up for Houston, from 13.2% in 04 and 9.4% in 05), and one AWFUL team. Edited February 1, 2007 by Chavez Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HowboutthemCowboys Posted February 1, 2007 Share Posted February 1, 2007 Good news for the Falcons. The zone blocking scheme is outdated and is horrible for pass protection. does'nt help that they have a WR playing QB. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kingfish247 Posted February 1, 2007 Author Share Posted February 1, 2007 Good news for the Falcons. The zone blocking scheme is outdated and is horrible for pass protection. this is generally, not absolutely true of zone blocking. It still matters who your o-linemen and other personnel are. Atlanta's offense was the most schizophrenic of them all over the last few years. For example just this season, they started off with a "spread" offense then Knapp went to a textbook WC passing attack then went to a hybrid of the two. They very rarely even ran bootlegs which is a mainstay of Shanahan's system and mandatory when you can't consistently create a pocket or hope to keep DEs honest. One thing Knapp never did was "tailor" the offense to Vick or any of his other players' strengths as Petrino tends to do with his offense. Knapp was a WCO/49ers guy trying to run his offense with a group of players better suited for a very traditional, spread "high school" offense. I'm not getting into nor do I want to spark a thread with 90 replies saying "if Vick were a better QB and worth his pricetag he'd walk on water in any offense" debate. Knapp is a good o-coordinator for the WCO. Vick was never a QB that should be in a WCO. He never ran anything like at VT. Gibbs and the o-line wasn't suited for Knapp's WCO. They all just didn't fit. I'm looking forward to see what Petrino (and Jackson from Cincy) can do with the O this year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kingfish247 Posted February 1, 2007 Author Share Posted February 1, 2007 But there again, small athletic linemen seem perfectly suited at pass protecting in the west coast offense since they are good at pass blocking at first but can eventually get overpowered. Maybe this is why zone-blocking is always combined with the west-coast offense... this isn't necessarily true in fact the 2 teams left running the closest thing to a true WCO have beasts up front... Seattle and Philly. Philly especially. And neither employ zone blocking. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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