Super Bowl Sunday will be the culmination of a dream for one of two franchises. History only remembers the winner of this the ultimate game. However, there is so much sweat that goes into getting to this finale. The construction of each part of your team in March, April, and May is so vital to completing this journey. Building a football team is an in exact science. The saying goes there is always more the one way to skin a cat. Which if you think about it is a horrible, outdated saying because I don’t think cat skinning is very prevalent today or I hope it isn’t. Let’s just say there is not one set way to success. When constructed a team for a championship run they always talk about the core. The core is usually a set of players that make up the most valuable parts of your team. In the body, balance comes from your core strength, in your home solid foundation is your core, and in a car the engine that makes it run is your core. So when constructing a successful football team, you don’t have to look any further than up the middle than to find your core.
The old adage in baseball has been you build your teams up the middle with the catcher, pitcher, second base, shortstop and centerfield. You can apply the same philosophy in football. On both sides of the ball the players at the center of the action are vital to team success. These positions can be found in a variety of ways and some of them have been undervalued over the years. All these positions work together and support the players on the perimeter. Whether it’s a top ten pick, a late round pick, a high paid free agent, or a rookie free agent, finding smart and tough leaders at these positions is crucial.
Offensively the center, quarterback, and running back make up the core of the offense. Each position plays a significant part in team success and has multiple responsibilities that make them invaluable.
The quarterback is the easy one. No one will debate that the quarterback is the key to an offense being able to move the football consistently. In today’s game where offenses are pass-centric having a signal caller who is smart, makes great decisions, and can improvise when he has to are the most important characteristics. You can win a championship without an “elite” quarterback it’s been proven with a certain type of teams (strong running game, defenses, and special teams) but if you want sustained success you need a top performer behind center. Mahomes, with on win today, is well on his way to joining the elite quarterbacks in the league (Brady, Brees, Wilson, and Rodgers). Jimmy Garoppolo is one that is aided by very strong supporting cast and when utilized properly is capable of winning a championship.
The center is the quarterback’s right hand man. Peyton Manning had Jeff Saturday, Tom Brady had Dan Koppen, and both Russell Wilson and Drew Brees had Max Unger. This weekend is no different with Pat Mahomes has Austin Reiter and Jimmy Garoppolo has Ben Garland. Both centers are journey men who have survived in the league. Garland is a tough intelligent player from the Air Force academy and Reiter is a late round pick you took every snap offensively for the Chiefs this season. Although the left tackle gets most of the attention and money on the offensive line the center has a ton of extra responsibilities. The center is usually a leader/captain, Sets the protections, must be perfect on the exchanges, and is assigned to block nose guards or defensive tackles that can ruin any play design.
The running back has become another devalued position amongst people around the sport. You can’t be one dimensional in modern offensive schemes. Running backs from the 60’s and 70’s were just asked to carry the ball and run block. However, with the introduction of the west coast and spread offenses the positions responsibilities have expanded. Today’s back has to pick up the blitz, catch the ball out of the back field, lineup in various formations, and still carrying the ball and get tough yards when they need it. You can find stars that can perform all these tasks early in the draft like Saquon Barkley, Ezekiel Elliot, and Christian McCaffrey or you can find a stable of backs to get the job done. Sunday’s game each team deploys multiple backs to make their offenses go.
The term “defense wins championship” is over used but building a core defensively that compliments your offense and Vis versa is paramount. In order to build a great defense your foundation has to be versatile, physical, and smart. Defensive tackles or nose guards (3-4), middle linebackers and safeties posses all these attributes on successful football teams.
Defense tackles / nose guards and linebackers work with the same philosophy as the quarterback and center. They need each other. A good defensive tackle gets consistent penetration and eats up double teams so the middle linebacker can run free. In pass rush situations a lot of times a sack by an outside linebacker or defensive end comes from the defensive tackle getting a push up the middle and getting a quarterback off of his spot. While these actions can go unnoticed by fans, the job of a pass rusher and defensive coordinator benefit from them greatly. Names like Joe Greene, Dan Hampton, and Warren Sapp come to mind when I think of great defenses with great defensive tackles. Aaron Donald is the top defensive tackle in the league today. The 49ers Deforest Bunkner and the Chiefs Chris Jones have been anchors for their respective defenses and will be huge factors in Sundays contest
It’s no mistake that the great defensive tackles I mentioned above were all backed up by hall of fame middle linebackers. This position by name is in the middle of all the action. The middle linebacker sets the strength of the offensive formation and makes any checks needed in response to the offensives tendencies. In order to play the “Mike” position against modern offenses like the running back you can’t be one dimensional. Along with all your pre-snap responsibilities you have to be able to diagnose plays within milliseconds, have great blitz timing, and cover backs anywhere on the field. Ray Lewis, Brian Urlacher, Luke Kuechley, and Derrick Brooks made seamless transitions to become the prototype to the modern middle linebacker. San Francisco’s 2nd year linebacker out of BYU Fred Warner is a tackling machine and ready to take the next step in becoming one of the best backers in the league.
The safety position has evolved over the years as well. It can no longer be looked at as just the last line of defense between first down and a touchdown. As a safety you need to be able to cover skilled tight ends, speedy slot receivers and multidimensional running backs. Today defenses use the safety as a hybrid type of player that can play in the box and have the ability to rush the passer in the blitz packages. The Seahawks with Earl Thomas (now a Raven) and Kam Chancellor are a great example of today’s new safeties. Sunday at 6:30 don’t be surprised if the honey badger Tyrann Mathieu comes away with the MVP award with his fantastic ball skills and great blitz timing.
If you are solid up the middle in football you will always be in contention. If you look at the successful teams such as the Patriots, Seahawks, Ravens, Steelers and even the Eagles (as much as it pains me to say) they all got built strong up the middle. In pregame shows you will hear about Kansas City’s Pat Mahomes and his weapons at tight end (Travis Kelce) and wide receiver (Tyreek Hill) and San Francisco’s Nick Bosa and his pass rushing exploits or Richard Sherman and his veteran cover skills. During all that talk don’t forget about the guys up the middle that make everything work.
Prediction for the game:
Kansas City 31 San Francisco 24
Interesting report.