Chapter 5

11/7/2012

The Blind Side by Michael Lewis

Chapter 5 (pages 91-114) – Death of a Lineman

            Thankfully, the title of the chapter didn’t refer to Michael Oher. Chapter 5 was mostly about Bill Walsh and his NFL invention of the West Coast Offense. The chapter also included Bill Parcells, head coach of the New York Giants making his defense with Lawrence Taylor even more explosive than before. Bill Walsh and the San Francisco 49ers were trying to stop the Giants in the 1981 NFC Divisional playoff game. Bill Walsh’s offence was a pass heavy offense. He set up the deep pass with other short passes and occasional runs. His quarterback was the legendary Joe Montana. He became the best in the NFL at passing the ball because he had time in the pocket to pass. Montana had so much time because Walsh decided that he would have the left guard help the left tackle and they would both block LT. However this would open a whole in the center of the offensive line and if the defense sent a middle linebacker or safety on the blitz the quarterback would pay the price for Walsh’s ability to stop Taylor. Walsh also taught this offense to his assistant coaches and they spread it throughout the NFL.

            I found this quote about Lawrence Taylor on page 107. “At the end of the 1981 season Taylor was for Parcells still a shiny new toy with a complicated control panel that he was figuring out how to use. No matter what Parcells told his rookie linebacker to do, Taylor’s instinct was to find the quarterback and kill him.” This quote shows that Taylor was one of the best pass rushers and he had the ability to hit a quarterback in the back so that he would never play again. When teams played against the Giants, the coaches wanted to stop Lawrence Taylor. He was the only player that they feared at the time and the opposing coaches tried so hard to avoid this from happening that Bill Walsh went so far to creating a new offense. Even though Lawrence Taylor isn’t still playing, there still is an offensive strategy to stop him.

            I connected to this chapter because I play Madden NFL games. I mentioned in a previous blog that Madden is a video game simulation of American football. On Madden, I play defense and I enjoy blitzing. Blitzing is when you send more defenders than the offense is planning on or able to block. I feel as though blitzing is the best way to play defense because the rushers will either sack the quarterback or give up a huge play for a touchdown. I believe that I will take that risk and almost always sack the quarterback or stop the running back for a loss of yards. Therefore, I agree with what Bill Parcells is trying to do by rushing with an outside linebacker.