It would be nice if our 'setup' play was still good for averaging 3 positive yards.

That's exactly right and it's one of the reasons I almost never criticise an individual play call by any coach.

Right. Hey, I got an idea! Let's run a play that's almost sure to lose 8 yards so we can make the DE stay at home and maybe pick up four later in the game!

It's not about gaining the 4 yds later, it about the play action roll out deep pass to AJ or Jacoby for a TD. The play also makes the Safeties have to stay at home. This is a well crafted offense, even if most of the fans do not understand that.

Get back to me on this when the team shows some production in the red zone rather than anemic two-back sets and halfback passes.

While I get your point, I took Bob's point to be more about the personnel the Texans use for this play rather than the play itself. Also, I'm certain there must be a play beside an end-around with Kevin Walter that can keep a DE at home.

That said, it is a fairly well designed offense, but let's not go overboard. I think it's a mistake to read some misunderstood genius in every play Kubiak calls. Sometimes, it's just a bad playcall. At the end of the day, this offense is still middle of the pack when it comes to what matters-scoring points.

The Texans were 10th in scoring offense last year. That's not the middle of the pack.

As for the reverse to Walter. Walter has averaged 6 ypc in his career (higher the last two years). AJ has averaged 1.2 ypc. JJ 2.3 ypc. And AD 3.6 ypc.

So my guess is that calling that play is a bad play call. We have never run it well and none of our guys have had any success with it. And we already run the bootleg great and that keeps the DE home. And the end around doesn't help the bootleg at all. The end around is a wasted play.

But Bob's crusade against Walter is more about the "white boy" part then about the "reverse" part since Walter has run it better than the rest of our guys.

What makes any bootleg or rollout work is play action, not reverses. If we ran the ball more effectively, the end would have no choice but to respect it.

As for Walter having a higher success rate than the others, I presume it has to do with more opportunities. Besides, when Walter runs it, the defense has to stop laughing long enough to make the tackle.

If Walter is our best blocking receiver, as I hear told, then it makes less sense to have him running the play instead of blocking in front of it.

Back to the topic. Yes, the spin does have issues, but not so much for being catchable or not. If you watch a QBs throw down the sideline more than say 20 yards, you will notice the ball move either towards the sideline or towards the field depending on whether it is the left or right side of the field and whether it is a left or right handed thrower. The rotational spin causes the ball to move sort of like a baseball does when thrown. I have seen it move what looks like a foot or more on longer throws. The spin will also help it stay on track better in crosse winds, depending on what direction they are coming from. However, a tight spiral seems to have as much or even more to do with keeping it on track in wind.

I agree about playaction and bootlegs being key to the run game rather than the reverse.

But say what you want about opportunities (and AJ has had more than KW), say what you want about blocking, the bottom line is that Walter has been better on that play than any WR we have. So complain about the play call and not Walter.

Well, a few very successful QB's have been left handed such as Steve Young, Kenny Stabler, Boomer Esiason, to name a few. So, maybe Leinert can get there. But left handed QB are pretty rare in NFL overall.

As I think I understand spin on the ball, spin will cause the ball to change trajectory slightly off the straight line in direction of the spin and thus the drag of ball may cause some drift in that direction, as will wind speed and speed of the ball thrown over a distance, and delivery mechanics of the throw.

Bob dislikes white people. Huh. Who knew?

edo - that's an interesting observation. I'd never thought of that but I can see plainly that a ball could drift due to spin on some longer throws. I've never noticed this when I'm fooling around with a football but then again I can't throw a ball 60 yards either. Not usually.

Then please explain the 2-yards and a cloud-of-dust flare to (even slower than a white-boy) Leach they so love to run. Do they run other plays to setup that big gainer, or, do they run that play to setup other big plays? ;) For some reason that play never seems to keep defenses off-balance. :p

I bet he likes them just fine.

A failed play with a white guy is just more memorable than all the times that play failed with AJ and JJ.

The reverse is bad, but the flare to leach really is a good play. That pass being thrown means Schaub has gone through all of his progressions and has NOBODY else open. No way is Schaub throwing to him by choice. That play is about getting the ball out.

Believe it or not that play has to be run a few times a year, to keep defenses honest.

That is straight from a Bill Walsh's mouth. A few years ago they ran great film on Walsh and the WCO. They had clips from the hours of tape the 49ers have of Walsh talking WCO offensive. He talked about the reason you run plays that only get a yard or two. Everything has a purpose.

Kubiak's first order of business when hired by the 49ers to be QB coach way back in the day, was to watch all 200 hours of Walsh's tapes. That is how every 49ers offensive assistant was taught. At least until last season, not sure about the current guys.

Is that the play that came in handy against the Packers a couple years back? It was a big gainer on the game winning drive.

Yeah. That's the hope, and Schaub is good enough to make me believe it.

There are plenty of Checkdown Charlie's in the league though that I doubt go through their progressions enough.... David Carr, Trent Edwards, uhm Matt Leinart, and so on. Eh, I knock the FB checkdown, but it serves a purpose if used sparingly. Hopefully it allows Leach to unload on a CB at least.

chron has Leinart's contact details, including a noteworthy bit about Dan Orlovsky agreeing to a paycut.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/...t/7192079.html

Wow. Rick Smith is earning his money.