Setting Slide or Turnback Pass Protection

Okey dokey. So the other day I was talking about the Colts O-line and how they seem to have become dependent on Peyton Manning to set protections for them. But what the hell does that actually mean? "Setting Protections" or "Adjusting Protections"? It's a good question (why thank you) and one I intend to answer now.

So the long and short of it is that when a pass play gets sent in to the quarterback, part of the play call will tell the linemen and backs how the offense is supposed to account for pass rushers. Sometimes the backs stay in, some times the tight end stays in, sometimes it's just the five guys up front on their own. Now that's all fine and dandy, what with the protection being organised in such way as to compliment the pass being called, but what happens when the defense comes out and gives you a front you don't like the look of?

Say for example you have no running backs staying in to protect, but your looking at the left side and you can see three guys waiting to rush, plus a safety walking down who could potentially be a fourth rusher. That's not good. So what are you going to do? Just roll with it and hope everything turns out ok? I wouldn't recommend that.

It's at this point that a guy like Peyton Manning steps in and changes the protection, directing the offensive line towards the danger, or telling the running back to check a certain player before releasing, or telling the tight end to stay in and help out. Something which Manning has plenty of experience with and Curtis Painter doesn't!

At this point going to the drawing board could prove useful I think. The first diagram we'll look at it is a very basic pass protection set, known as "BOB" or "Big On Big", just to get a feel for the kind of protection a team might start with;

As you can see we have our offensive guards and offensive tackles matched up against the four defensive linemen, hence the "big on big" name. In this case the center takes the Mike linebacker, the running back takes the Will backer, and if needs be the tight end could block the Sam linebacker. Now while this seems on the surface like a very sound protection, very rarely are teams actually gifted with such a perfectly even and tidy defensive front.

This is something the Dolphins found out in their game against the Giants the other week as demonstrated here. One blitz in particular that I diagrammed could come in useful for this discussion, as it has all the features that we need in order to take a good look at changing protections. So here's the blitz as it happened in the game;

What we have here is a blitz that is designed to occupy the middle of the offensive line, setting up the blitzing linebacker to go one on one with the running back. The Mike linebacker actually steps up to show blitz initially before dropping out, and the two defensive tackles attack the inside shoulders of the guards, making sure that all three of the interior offensive linemen get bunched up in the middle, with the B backer hitting the gap that's created between the left guard and left tackle. The right tackle is the only guy without someone to block, but has no realistic chance of getting across to pick up the B backer, meaning the running back has to take him.

Now obviously this is a mismatch in favour of the defense, but what other choice did the offense really have? We've already seen that the interior linemen couldn't ignore the danger posed by the defensive tackles and the Mike linebacker. We know that as athletic as the right tackle might be, he isn't going to cut across the back of the line in time to stop the blitz. So the only possible solution is for the backer to take him... right?

Wrong.

There is one thing that the offense can do in this situation, albeit an option that requires some good coordination between the offensive linemen. When presented with a front like the one above the quarterback - having got a good look at the defense (one of the reasons the shotgun is so popular with pass heavy teams) - can check the protection to a slide or "turnback" protection.

Basically what's going to happen is that the quarterback is going to take advantage of that right tackle who has nothing to do by asking the offensive line not to take the man immediately over them, but instead to take the next defender to the left. This is where the terms "slide" and "turnback" protection come from, because the offensive line is "sliding" across one man, usually executed by taking a step straight backwards off the line and then "turning back" to the left (in this case) with their next step. Let's take a look at the new assignments with another diagram;

As you can now see the right tackle now turns inside and takes the defensive tackle. Knowing that the defensive tackle is now accounted for, the right guard is free to turn inside and take the Mike linebacker if he blitzes. Knowing that the Mike linebacker is now accounted for, the Center is free to turn his attention left to the next defensive tackle. Finally, knowing that the defensive tackle over him is now accounted for, the left guard can turn to the left and take on the blitzing B backer.

With the left side of the defense covered all that remains now is for the running back to go right and fill the gap between the right tackle and tight end. In this case we'd like to keep the tight end in to block the defensive end, but if needs be you could release the tight end and simply have the running back cut down the defensive end, though that's not ideal.

Mainly the running back serves to fill that gap that will open up on the right side, keeping his eyes out for potential delayed blitzes from the safety, or the possibility of the Mike linebacker hooking around over the top. If the defensive end to the right is a major threat and you're not sure how the tight end will cope, you can have the back chip him with his shoulder on the way out into his pass pattern. You can even have the tight end shoot out immediately and strike the defensive end to delay him, before the tight end releases and the back picks up the pieces.

The uses of slide protections are numerous, as you can see. You don't even have to go to the extreme shown above with four players all turning back to the left. If needs be an offense can just slide two players across, for example when the team comes up against a 3-4 defense that puts a defensive end over the offensive tackle and then has an outside backer (especially one known for his pass rushing abilities) outside of him. In this case the offense can slide the tackle and guard on that side, so the guard now takes the defensive end and the tackle takes the outside backer, as demonstrated below;

On the left you can see the back is responsible for the outside backer. If that Will backer is DeMarcus Ware and the running back is Chris Johnson then suffice to say we have a mismatch. A better option is to slide the protection so that your left tackle (who should be your best pass blocker) ends up on Ware, the left guard handles that end and then the back is responsible for picking up the Mike linebacker if he blitzes (an even better option is just not to waste/trust Chris Johnson in pass protection).

Before we wrap this up I just quickly want to give you a flavour for the footwork, just so I don't leave people thinking that the offensive linemen are pulling flat across the line of scrimmage to get to their man;

The key is trying to balance the need to get across and block the man, while also understanding that you need to get some depth, otherwise you end up delivering a glancing blow to the mans side as he flies right past you on his way into the backfield.

Lastly the quarterback needs needs to be aware of two things when his offensive line is sliding; 1) that if only part of the line is sliding then it often results in a gaping hole developing between the sliding men and the rest of the line - don't unquestioningly rely on the running back to protect this hole! 2) The offensive linemen don't always get great initial blocks and so he must be prepared for the risk of rapid of penetration coming from the sliding side and needs to be ready to step laterally and/or up in the pocket away from that pressure;

As you can see the pass rush gets pushed to the left so the quarterback must slide to the right and step up, helping to keep his blockers between him and the pass rush.

Using slide protection is just one of the many great ways for quarterbacks to adjust to what the defense is doing. It allows the quarterback to account for potential overload blitz's to one side or for a defense that's trying to manipulate the numbers game in order to get a favourable match up on the running back. One of the things that separates the best from the rest at the quarterback position is the ability to read the defense, identify the main thrust of the pass rush and then adjust the line to neutralise that threat. It's one of the reasons that Peyton Manning is so valuable to the Colts, and helps us to partially explain why the Colts O-line has struggled so much this season without Manning's experienced eyes and his in-depth, almost automatic knowledge of the playbook.

So keep an eye out next time you see a quarterback calling an audible in the face of an unbalanced looking defense. He might just be switching to a slide protection.

I hope you enjoyed the article and found it useful. If so, don't be greedy with your new knowledge and share a link somewhere or click that facebook button.

Week 5 Monday Night round up

Bears @ Lions

God. I'm now going to have to have to listen to talk about the Lions going to the Super Bowl for at least another week. In fact the Lions have three weeks till their bye, and each of those games has the potential for the opposition to slip up and fuel the Lions hype fire.

Because let's face it, that's what it is. I don't care about the Lions record. I'm not a huge stats fan anyway. I include numbers on this blog for the sole purpose of giving people a guide and because I know a lot of people care more about Fantasy football than actual football.

Me personally, I'm interested in what happens on the field. I'm interested only in whether I think a team can win the Super Bowl, because what you do in the regular season means nothing once you reach the playoffs. And the only team anyone ever remembers is the team that lifts the Lombardi trophy.

And I'm saying now, I don't think the Lions will.

It happens every year in the NFL. There's always at least one team, sometimes two that enter the playoffs with grossly inflated opinions of themselves. Last year it was two teams; the Falcons and the Bears. By any reasonable stretch of the imagination, neither team should really have been there. How the Bears made it as far as they did says more about their opponents than it does them.

This year it's the Lions, and as much as I hate to admit it, my own 49ers. Both teams are doing well... on paper. On the field it's a different story. Anyone who watches a 49ers game this season and thinks that team could win the Super Bowl this year is dreaming. The same applies to the Lions.

Detroit got mauled in the first half of both the Vikings and Cowboys games. If the Vikings had applied the same winning game plan from week 5 to week 3 (hammering the ball on the ground in the second half), then the Lions would have gone in to the Cowboys game at 2-1 having been trashed the week before. Then if only, if only the Cowboys (re: Romo and Garrett) hadn't blown the massive lead they built up, then the Lions would have come into this game 2-2, having been blown off the field in back to back games.

But sadly the footballing gods have deemed that Detroit came into this one 4-0, with all the hype that entails. They set about proving that they were the real deal and not just the all hype team by having a terrible first quarter, followed by a terrible second quarter, with the bomb to Calvin Johnson being the exception to their play, not the rule.

At least things got a bit better in the third. They put together a much better drive that ended with the Pettigrew TD. Then they ripped off an 88 yard touchdown run by Best, which basically ended the game. From that point onwards the Bears pretty much stuck their heads in the sand and tried to just avoid being beaten any further. They certainly didn't look like they were fighting to get back in it.

And that's what frustrates me. For the next week the media and the Lions fans will be going ape shit over this win and the Lions 5-0 record. The stupid thing is, last season I was saying that this season might be the year Detroit pulled it all together! Now they're 5-0, which in a way proves my point, but actually watching them play I think I might have been wrong. If you follow me.

I just look at it this way. If a) Johnson doesn't get such a massive free release on his touchdown and b) someone actually plugs that run gap on Best's 88 yard scamper, then the Lions probably don't win this. And that fact they struggled so much in such a scrappy game against the Bears of all people doesn't bode well.

The Bears have absolutely got more to worry about than the Lions though. One of the reasons I don't like statistics is because the official records will say that the Lions only had 3 sacks, which doesn't tell the story of just how chronically bad the Bears O-line were. They were even back to their old tricks of putting Cutler under center despite an empty backfield, an issue I've moaned about at length before.

The Bears just can't protect Cutler. Each pass play seems to consist of him either panicking, getting hit, or running for his life. It's an old complaint about Mike Martz and his system. Just ask Alex Smith how it worked out for him. I don't think Bears fans care how they do it, but somebody needs to step in and find a way to keep him clean. Maybe a little more play action, maybe some more eight man protections. But something has to be done.

The sole glimmer of hope for the Bears was Matt Forte, who carried 22 times for 116 yards (longest; 23). Though considering the game was never really out of sight until perhaps the Best TD went in, I'm surprised that Forte didn't carry more. It's the old cliche about putting the ball in the hands of your best players, playing to your strengths etc.

It took the Vikings five weeks to learn how to do it properly, that is to close out the win by sticking with the hot hand that you put you so far out in front. I presumed foolishly that the Bears had learnt from their 34 point offensive show against the Panthers, but apparently not. And I except that under normal circumstances, when you're behind you throw a lot to get yourself back in the game, taking the gamble because if you don't then you lose anyway.

But that's the sad thing about the Bears. Their O-line is so horrible in pass protection and Cutler is so nervous now behind that shaky line that running the football is literally the Bears best chance of picking up any significant yardage and scoring.

Of course we can't blame it all on the offense. The defense is not what it was in 2010. The pass rush is steadily going flat, the coverage has wide open holes in it and the run defense - as evidenced by the 163 yards that Jahvid Best put up on just 12 carries - needs some serious attention.

It's going to take more than a few Devin Hester kick and punt returns to fix the Bears woes. At least their bye is only three weeks away, after entertaining the Vikings next week and then playing in a half empty stadium against Tampa in week 7 (I got a phone call today from the official ticket agents for the Wembley game, who are trying desperately to flog off cut price tickets. Oh dear).

The Lions - the jammy bastards that they are - have a nice schedule ahead. They have two more home games against the 49ers and Falcons, who are apt to piss games away. Then the Lions travel to Denver and we'll know more in the coming week about whether Tebow starts in week 6, which will have a significant impact on the potential for the Lions to go 8-0 into their bye.

The second half of the season looks much tougher for the Lions, with two games against the Packers, a trip to Oakland, a visit from Adrian Peterson and the Vikings, and a trip to the Saints. We'll see how long that -0 lasts...

Right, that's your lot for today. I'm off to write a complaint letter to ESPN, kindly requesting that they gag Jon Gruden in future so we don't have to listen to him giving effusive praise to everyone on the field, regardless of how good or bad they may be.

Tomorrow... I had something planned, but I can't remember what it was now. I'll probably just end up drawing a random diagram of something as a result. Also, if the site appearance changes over the coming days don't be alarmed, I'm just trying to figure out ways of squeezing more money out of you.

Did I say that out loud? I meant to say, enhancing your reading experience.

To help with this, I highly recommend you click that Facebook like button thing at the bottom of this post. Go on, you know you want to find out what it does.

Protecting the quarterback in empty sets

Right. I have finally beaten Microsoft's insistence on making everything about their products as unintuitive as humanly possible and figured out how to export my funny little diagrams made in PowerPoint onto the blog, although at the minute the process of enlarging those images makes them look they were made using a BBC basic, but one step at a time and all that.

So the first subject that I've decided to turn my arty hand to (stop laughing) is the Chicago Bears and their troubles with keeping Jay Cutler upright. The specific example I want to look at is notable because a lot of teams in the NFL do this and it drives me insane.

As the league as a whole expands its offensive wings, we're seeing a much greater rise in empty sets - where the quarterback is left alone in the backfield and five receivers are set out wide to run routes - during the course of normal play (outside of the final two minutes for example). It's something that those who watch College ball will be entirely familiar with (a bit more on this, sort of, later).

Now, empty sets are not what draws my ire. What annoys me is that the whole point of setting up with an empty set is to spread the defense out, make them extend their lines over the whole field, and hopefully make the quarterbacks reads a little easier.

Why then do teams - like the Bears - insist on lining up receivers in the slot?

There are two important things that happen when the offense does this. First of all, they somewhat compact the defense in again, dragging defenders towards the middle of the field. Secondly, without any backs in the back field to help the O-line with blocking, it leaves the quarterback exposed to blitzes off the edge. Even worse - and the Bears are probably the most heinous perpetrators of this crime - if you're in an empty set then chances are you're not going to run the ball unless it's a designed QB draw or some kind of sweep play with jet motion from a receiver (think the Dolphins and their 'Wildcat' package), so why in the name of God would you line up in an empty set with the QB under center?

It's like the Bears are trying to find an excuse to put Jay Cutler put on IR. In the diagram below I've tried to demonstrate where the problem lies. I've taken the liberty of cutting the offensive line in half, which as far as the Bears are concerned isn't entirely a bad thing. "N" represents a Nickel back lined up over the slot receiver. For the benefit of easy diagram drawing I've assumed that the other three receivers are on the other side of the field, that we have a 3 man line with two backers (only one shown) and I've shifted the safety over more than he likely would be against an empty set (unless the defensive coordinator felt the two receivers on the weak side to be more of a threat than the three on the other side).



As you can see, having a receiver that close to the formation provides the defense with an opportunity to blitz the Nickel defender (or whomever that may be over the slot receiver). With the defender that close, and with the quarterback under center, it gives the blitzing player a great chance to get the sack, or at the very least get in the quarterbacks face and force him to make a pressure throw of his back foot.

With an end over the tackle who can rush outside, you make it very difficult for the offensive line to pick the blitz up, requiring either the guard to drop back and come outside, or for the tackle and guard to open out, with the tackle taking the Nickel and the guard taking the end. Of course that would then leave a vulnerability to a blitz from the Will backer....

Now the best solution to a blitz from a secondary player such as this is to have the quarterback throw the ball "hot", that is as soon as he sees the blitz he looks to the receiver who was originally being covered, who should have also identified the blitz and turned immediately to look at the quarterback. The problem in this case is that the close proximity of the receiver shortens the path of the blitzing player to the quarterback. I would guess that few quarterbacks could take any more than about three steps back before that blitzer gets home.

That doesn't leave a whole lot of time for the quarterback to recognise what is happening and then make the throw. Worse, the Will linebacker is in such a position that he can take a step forward to hold the guard momentarily, then drop off to cover the receiver, anticipating the quarterbacks decision to throw "hot".

Alternatively the Will backer can blitz as well, presenting three rushers for the guard and tackle to deal with - which is obviously a bad numbers mismatch (over load blitz). All you need now is for the safety to come flying downhill to cover the potential for the "hot" throw and your quarterback is in a bad spot. If he doesn't throw it, he's going to get hit. There is no way that an unblocked defender is going to take so long to get home that the quarterback will be able to leisurely sit back and wait for his receiver to get open downfield (as Cutler found out Sunday).

The best solution, in my opinion, is to simply not put your quarterback in that position in the first place. Don't go to an empty set and then line up a receiver just a few yards outside the tackle. And put the QB in the gun. You're not going to be running the ball anywhere unless your QB is carrying it, so put him back somewhere safe where he can read the field properly.

In the above diagram we can see that now the Nickel defender has a much greater distance to cover. With the Quarterback already 5 yards back in the gun, he's likely to end up as much as 9-10 yards deep when he hits the top of his drop. Coupled with the greater horizontal separation from the blitzing secondary player, it gives him much more time to read the field and make his throw.

Importantly, if the Will linebacker or the Free safety is going to be taking over in man to man coverage, the sheer width of that inside receivers alignment means that they would have no hope of making it across without cheating pre-snap, giving the quarterback a much clearer read of what was coming, as well as making the use of a "hot" route a lot more viable.

So there you go. That's a pet peeve of mine. If you're going empty, get those receivers away from the quarterback and stop giving teams an opportunity to smash your QB around. Get him back in the gun and let him read the field properly. That goes double for you Mike Martz and the Bears!

I hoped you enjoyed the introduction of the diagrams. Now that I've finally figured this stuff out I plan to make much more use of it. Hopefully that will continue later this week with a diagram of a running play from the Eagles game which caught my eye, because it harked back to the heyday of the split backs sets in the 70' and 80's, when pass and run combined so gloriously (for some teams anyway).

Ohh, I almost forgot!

I mentioned earlier about College football. Now one of the great pains of living in the UK from the perspective of a football fan is that watching lots of College ball is basically out of the question, but I recently realised ESPN has highlights so I can keep up.

Now when I first clicked on one of the games and went to the highlights I was dreading what I might find. You have to understand that my only comparable experience of watching such highlights online has been on NFL.com, an experience that can best be described as being slightly more painful, annoying and frustrating than having a loose tooth.

So there was the first game, there was the first highlight. I hovered my mouse over it in trepidation. I took a deep breath, expecting the worst. Then I clicked that fateful left mouse button. And the result was almost unimaginable.

It was.... good. It was really good.

First thing I noticed - no advert. None. If this was NFL.com then the 40 second clip would have been proceeded by a 30 second advert for NFL Game pass, a product which I can only imagine (judging by the normal standards of NFL.com's content delivery) would be an extreme waste of money. Then once the clip started it loaded no problems. None. No delays, no glitches, no picture freezing while the video skipped backwards. Nothing. Just normal video delivery, you know, the same thing you would expect of every video content delivery system in the world, except NFL.com.

I could click backwards and forwards to certain points and the video would load and play instantly, without me having to wait ten seconds while the video tried to figure why anyone would be insane enough to want to choose a certain section of the video that they wanted to watch again.

There was no auto play shoving a video (and an advert) down my throat before I was ready to watch, or deciding for me what video it was that I'd chosen to log on and view. There was no continuous play, deciding for me that once I'd watched one video I would instantly want to watch the next one in the list, regardless of whether its content interested me or not.

And the sheer number of highlights was amazing. Well, compared to NFL.com anyway. 19-25 videos per game, covering all scoring plays, some of the big runs and passes, and what's this?

Sacks! Interceptions!

They have video clips dedicated to defensive plays! Are they insane?! If the NFL were to be believed, then there would be nobody on the planet who might be interested in something as uncouth and unworthy as defensive plays. But as someone who loves seeing defenses get air time, I was very heartened to see this.

Now I know, I know, not a lot of people like ESPN. I've been critical on here about them in the past. But sometimes you just have to take your hat off and applaud good work. This is such a case.

ESPN's College highlight delivery service is - frankly- exceptional when compared to NFL.com. It represents the polar opposite, righting all the wrongs of the NFL's service. If only - if freaking only - the NFL would learn from this, then I would be delighted. Of course ESPN has picked up additional rights to show NFL highlights now, which if they deliver them as well as they do College ball, will surely spell the beginning of the end for NFL.com.

I live in hope. Goodnight.

Covering your backside

Jingle Bells! Jingle Bells! I hate Christmas. But in the spirit of generosity, giving and good will, I've taken time out from the nauseating, overly commercial spectacle that is Christmas and finally finished my article for the "Most Improved Analyst From a Major Network" award, otherwise known as the MIAFMN. And the winner is....... Michael Lombardi, of the NFL Network. I know. WTF? But it's true. My knock on him is that previously he's always tried to write articles from the perspective of an analyst, a commentator, a journalist or one of many other persona's that just doesn't fit, trying to do things he's not really well accustomed to. But as you can see in this article, when Lombardi sits down and writes from his experience as a former front office personnel guy, he makes a lot of sense. These articles tend to be a bit more cold and detached. There's no hype or gimmicks. He just tells the truth straight from the hip, as if he was briefing an owner on the current state of the NFL. The results are excellent and it offers an interesting perspective. But of course, nothing and nobody can be perfect. That applies to Lombardi as much as the rest of us. Just check out this video. Admittedly Lombardi places some blame on the Ravens protection scheme as a whole, but putting the pressure largely on Joe Falcco is wrong in my opinion. Particularly the criticism that Flacco didn't find his hot route quick enough is well off the mark. To demonstrate, I'll try and use some diagrams. Which now explains why it's taken so long to produce this article. Through the wonders of the "Print Screen" function and some dicking about with files, Jpeg's and God knows what else, I can now finally do some interesting diagrammatic analysis. It should be noted that all the images are screen captures taken from the NFL Networks "Playbook" show and there has been no editing afterwards of the images. So anyway, here we go. The problem with the play in question is that the Steelers have six men at the Line Of Scrimmage, ready to blitz, with a middle linebacker possibly making a 7th rusher. The Ravens obviously have their 5 linemen and they also have a tight end to the right and running back Ray Rice in the backfield. That's seven men to potentially pick up seven. Except the Ravens are using a 6 man protection, involving the lineman and the RB. The tight end is going to release. In the event of a heavy blitz, the Ravens are largely relying on the "hot" principle to pick up one of the blitzers. Now as you can see in the image below, Troy Polamalu is coming from the back side and eventually it will be him who makes the sack.

The "hot" route in this protection is to the tight end to the right. The Tight end is responsible for reading the defender over him. If that guy blitzes, then he breaks off his route and runs quickly into the flat. The quarterback is responsible for reading the linebacker, recognizing the blitz and then throwing the ball quickly to that man, as demonstrated in the next image.

As you can clearly see in the next picture, both the quarterback and the tight end make the right read. They see the blitz, the tight end breaks off into the flat and the quarterback Joe Flacco can clearly be seen starring right at his receiver, looking to the throw the ball quickly. If you watch the video again and look at Flacco's head, he never takes his eyes off that side of the field, first reading the defender and then looking for the throw to the tight end.

Unfortunately there is a problem. Troy Polamalu is about to come free on Flacco's blindside. The blitzer to the right (our left) is accounted for by the "hot"route. The four rushing defenders up the middle are being blocked. So who is accounting for Polamalu, who you can see ringed on (our) right of the picture below?

The answer is of course; nobody. And this is where the problem comes in. Lombardi is blaming Flacco for not seeing Polamalu and thus getting the ball out quickly, but I'm not sure that is Flacco's responsibility. If you look at the picture above you can see the running back is headed to the his right (our left) and by comparison to the picture below you can see that the back ends up picking up the blitz that was already accounted for by the "hot" route. This poses a problem. We have one blitzer being picked up by two people, a case of "double accounting" you might say. This is how Polamalu ends up coming free and I'm inclined to blame the back for this. It's obvious that the "hot" route has one of the blizters covered, so I imagine the back was supposed to go to his left (our right) and pick up Polamalu. Except the back goes the wrong way and as you can see in the picture below, the end result is Flacco trying to give Polamalu an unintended piggy back, which lead to a game changing fumble.

So what have we learnt? Hopefully, that Michael Lombardi is best utilized not analyzing plays on Playbook, but cutting through the layers of bureaucratic and politically correct crap that often surrounds NFL teams and their interactions with the media, and of course the media's own guilt when it comes to shovelling bullshit. And we've also learnt that the Ravens have serious protection issues, mainly involving their backs. Maybe one of the reasons for their offensive success last week against New Orleans stems from the fact that they used Ray Rice much more as a receiver in the passing game where he excels, and relied on him much less for protection purposes. I'll be back later to recap the Saturday night game and give you my picks for Sunday, but until then, Merry Christmas everyone. Bah Humbug