What is Smashmouth Football?

From TurboCASH Wiki

Iron Rugby Home

Contents 1 Definition 2 The Golliwog 3 Structured Offense 4 Plan B - Run And Shoot

Definition

What is Smashmouth Football and why does it still work 40 years later?

The Smashmouth principle is remarkably crude, you simply run the ball up the guts and force them to deal with it. The moment they double up the defense count to handle the pressure, you attack the gap that they have left by using the extra resource. The effect in Rugby is rather like getting one of their players yellow carded without having to get the Ref involved. This simple strategy won the 2006 Superbowl for the Pittsburgh Steelers. It has also played out well for the Pretoria Bulls. Its as close as you will get in rugby at the moment, but the Bulls Offense lacks structure and speed.

How do we play Smashmouth?

Firstly we have to recognise that not all men are born equal ball carriers. Very few of them carry the ball forward without knocking it on, passing forward or generally doing something stupid. In a top team no more than 3 or 4 players are runners. Everyone else in the Offense is there as a subsidiary input. We have to select our ball carriers and make sure that the ball gets to them. Our Strongest Runners carry the ball.

The Golliwog

Next thing we do is nominate their weakest defender - "The Golliwog" - its not a racist thing, it's just that where this stuff comes from (Gridiron Football), most of the Defense is usually black. The Golliwog is easy to spot - he is the guy who simply never makes a front-on tackle. In the Crusaders, it's Aaron Mauger, in The Stormers it's Jean de Villiers, in The Sharks it's Ruan Pienaar, in the Bulls it's Wynand Olivier.

Now we run our strongest runner at him. Not around him or off his shoulder- straight at him, knock him onto his back - pancake him. If you try to run off him, you give him the opportunity to let you through and then to jump on your back, causing you to fall to the ground. Chances are with the Golliwog that if you hit him front on, you can stay on your feet and either start a rapid rolling maul, offload to a snake following you or even spin out of the hit AFTER you have hit him to the ground.

Now if this bullying tactic is successful, it puts them into a very difficult position. Either they let you keep on doing it (with the result that we march up the field and score) or they have to draw another defensive player to help the Golliwog. Wherever they take that player from, there is a new hole and we now have 15 against 14 without the yellow card - even better because it lasts the whole game.

Structured Offense

Well if it were that simple, why don't more rugby teams play Smashmouth? The main reason that they don't do it is that modern rugby teams still don't have a structured offense. That is, one in which the ball is channeled towards our strongest runner. They usually have some variation on "the-player-who-has-the-ball-draws-the-defense-and-makes-his-offload-at-the-appropriate-time". They keep doing this until there is a breakdown. The recognition that not all players are born equal and that no amount of training will create a runner is very hard to accept. Rugby coaches spend hours, even years preapring players whp shodul not be carrying the ball, to carry the ball. thsi time woudl eb far better spent making these players better enforcers or link men.

In a structured offense, we nominate where the breakdown is going to be. This allows us to marshall our troops to the designated point and to organise the ball to our strongest carriers. While this is successful (i.e. we get over the gain line), we keep on doing it all day long. There is nothing more tiring than playing defense, and losing, against Smashmouth. So even if it's hurting us, we carry on because we know it's hurting them even more.

Smashmouth allows fakes to be run. The uncertainty created in the mind of the defence (especially the golliwog) allows efective dummy runners to draw the cover and hold defenders in their spot (plant them) as they brace for impact. This opens space in the following channels, where all our players head to support knowing the call.

Plan B - Run And Shoot

The problem comes when you use Smashmouth and nothing happens - their weakest Defender beats our strongest runner. Things turn ugly. That's when you turn to Plan B - The Run and Shoot, which uses agility and speed to force the breakdown at further points causing their forwards to run off their feet. The mistake that weaker teams make when moving the ball out wide is that they lose the aim, which is to force the defensive forwards to make the journey all the way to the other side of the field. Allowing a line-out, a scrum, bringing the ball back down the field towards the second phase forwards or even a kick gives them relief and rest. You have to keep them on the move, initiating the contact and getting your resources there first and faster. It takes a top quality scrum half, like George Greagan or Justin Marshall to determine the structure. But no matter how good your scrum half is, or how many phases you dazzle them with, it's never as effective or as elegant as simply ripping their heads off and and bludgening them - Smashmouth Football - Pittsburgh Style!