It was either cfrs or eo that mentioned the benefit of going empty backfield (helps Baker pre-snap read). I never would've realized that, so I'm appreciative of that person pointing it out.
Which I get but it seems that tipping your hand that you are going to throw and not run would be the trade-off... Baker's completion % inside the opponent's 10 yard line is 18%... not sure it's working.
Along the same lines, I'm generally not a fan of many of the trickery plays we run (it did look to me like Landry just kinda failed to execute on that one).
I agree, but I will make my point using the logic that my dad used when coaching me in baseball so many years ago.. the reason you want to hit line drives and hard ground balls instead of trying to hit homeruns and risking hitting pop ups is simple.. hit a pop up it takes one person to get to the ball and make a simple catch and you are out... hit a hard ground ball, somebody has to get to it, they have to catch it (risk of bad hops), then they have to get set and throw it accurately, then somebody on the other end has to catch, and all of this has to happen before you beat it out.. much greater chance of something going wrong in your favor..
So Baker handing it to Chubb, the way he does 100 times a week between practice and games, and the OL blocking a normal blocking scheme is a low risk, but proven play to get 1 yard..
Baker handing it to Landry (not practiced a lot), who has to run the option and pitch it to Chubb (hardly ever practiced), and the OL having to pull for a play they are not used to... the risk of something bad happening goes up exponentially.
Straight handoff and running Chubb about the worst that is going to happen is you go from 3rd and 1 to 4th and 1 and you can do it again if you want... running his trick play greatly increases the odds you go from 3rd and 1 to 4th and 6.. or you lose the ball on a fumble.. now going for it on 4th down is off the table.. I just think it's stupid to insert those levels of risk in executing something so unique when it's totally unnecessary. I get the argument that every play can work if properly executed, but the chances of proper execution are not the same for every play.
