Speed Kills: Breaking Down the Chip Kelly Offense by Alex Kirby

Speed Kills: Breaking Down the Chip Kelly Offense by Alex Kirby (lifeafterfootballblog.com) looks at the different parts of the 2013 Eagles Offense that blended Kelly's successful Oregon Offense with its option schemes along with a pro-style passing attack.  Alex Kirby does a nice job of breaking down and explaining this offense to the casual fan as well as giving enough X's and O's for fellow coaches looking to study and or incorporate elements of Kelly's offense.

4-3 vs. the Oregon Spread - DB Play / Coverage Fundamentals

Introduction

Chris Vasseur will write this piece at a later date, but I wanted to add a couple of diagrams to go with the video.  The FS destroying the QB on the Gun Triple Option is a beautiful thing, as you will see when you watch the cut-ups.  However, it is a bit susceptible to Play-Action as you will also see.

4-3 vs. the Oregon Spread - Defending Bash and Midline

Introduction

Bash and Midline are two plays in the Oregon Spread offense that are giving a lot of Defensive Coordinators headaches.  Both plays have recently burst onto the scene, but they both have actually been around for some time.  I saw Texas A & M run a form of Bash in their 2006 bowl game (Editors note: I found out in 2019 that it actually was Bash) and North Alabama ran the Midline from Gun as far back as 2003.  I will talk about Bash and Midline, but I will talk about defending Midline only.

4-3 vs. the Oregon Spread - LB / Nickel Play

Introduction

How you defend the Spread formation depends on what kind of Spread formation you are facing.  Some teams are better at throwing the ball than running the ball.  The Oregon Spread of 2010 is a more dangerous beast than earlier versions in that it can beat you both running the ball and passing the ball.  Still, the explosive Oregon run game is what opposing DCs must stop first.  Most 4-3 teams play Quarters coverage vs. the Oregon Spread to help to defend the run.

LBs like Quarters coverage because it allows them to run and play fast.  The safeties will be involved in run support and they will take care of the cutback, which allows the LBs to attack and play downhill.  The Quarters Safeties will also take care of Gap Exchange and scraping to take the QB on the Zone Read play, allowing the LBs to only to focus solely on the RB and the Dive portion of the Gun Triple Option.

4-3 vs. the Oregon Spread - Fire Zones and Blitzes

I cut up all the Fire Zones and Blitzes vs. Oregon from the Boise St., Arizona, and USC games from last year.  I don't have time to diagram and talk about each and every blitz right now, but I will try to get more in-depth analysis at a later time.  Meanwhile, make sure to check out Blitzology's blog, which is back rocking and rolling again if you want to learn about the science of getting after the QB.  Some of the blitzes were ran from more than one front and I named these blitzes without naming all of the fronts as I made the video, so I hope the nomenclature police doesn't get after me too bad. 

4-3 vs. the Oregon Spread - DL Play

The Oregon Spread - definitely "blurrier" this year

I am starting a five-part series on defending the Oregon Spread offense that will run up until the National Championship game.  This series was inspired by watching the DL play of Arizona and Boise St. vs. Oregon last year.  I have always heard that the 4-3 DL's top priority was to not get reached.  This made sense since the 4-3 is a gap-control defense that is dependent on each defender playing his gap.

I heard a different viewpoint of 4-3 DL play last year on the Coach Huey site.  Coach Currier said that he taught his DL to work vertically vs. a reach block.  He also mentioned that this is the way that Nebraska teaches their DL.  I looked at all the Oregon Stretch plays from 2009 vs. Boise St. and Arizona, and these words came back to mind as I saw this same technique being used very effectively.