Lighting Up The Scoreboard -- Broncos vs. Bears -- Preseason Week 3

I really enjoyed this Ted. Excellent execution of a very good idea. The only recommendation I have is for someone thinking about watching it or not. Well worth the view. Again great job and the possibilities for this series are virtually endless. I can’t wait for the next installment.

Great job TB. Your diagrams backed up by simulations really make the concepts clear and meaningful. This is great stuff and I hope it keeps coming!

The music didn’t do it for me though. Something with a little more space and variety would be better.

Much appreciation for your hard work.

hopefully Denver is able to pull off those plays you mentioned. I enjoyed your insight and I can’t wait for next week’s Lighting up the Scoreboard.

Kudos
First off, any time you spend time on a project, you deserve to be recognized for that time and effort. Good job, and I’m glad to see that you were able to get something made up!
-Using Madden to demonstrate the play you previously diagrammed is genius. I really love that touch, and it really helps.
-I love how in depth you break down the possible plays and routes. Great stuff.
-“Positive thought leadership” <- Awesome :)
-Looking forward to the next one!

Constructive Criticism
-Audio quality of your voice needs to be improved. Maybe find a different cheap microphone, but there’s a bit too much static in there.
-Music in the background for the first 4 minutes was distracting and repetitive. Found it hard to concentrate and I think the music was a bit too loud. The 2nd music was much better and easier to listen to what you said.
-I can’t read any of the text. Perhaps you can upload it in HD to make it a bit prettier and clearer?
-You aren’t a graphics guy (neither am I), but if you can find someone to maybe make a simple gradient in GIMP or something like that, you can easily make your depth chart, intro, and other slides look much ‘slicker’. I spent a few hours teaching myself GIMP, and I can actually make serviceable website headers and stuff now.

With the switch to a 3-4 D I would love to see something on it.

If you could merge some of this with the University and show us all of this in action, this could become an incredibly valuable site not only to Broncos fans, but anyone out there that loves football. I’ve always thought Madden could be used as a great resource, but unfortunately I don’t have the knowledge or ability to explain what’s happening.

Maybe focusing on key matchups will allow us to see a few different ways that we can exploit their weaknesses each game—seeing two plays run was beneficial, but it just left me wanting more! I want to know why we can attack the safeties and the best way to do that (i.e. who do we decoy, what routes are effective against conservative/aggressive players). I could extrapolate that from the video, but I almost felt like these are two plays that will work in a vacuum and aren’t representative of a philosophy to use against the Bears. Great stuff, best feature on here BY FAR.

I can’t wait until MHR starts it’s own network. Absoultely fantastic!

This is Uber Cool Ted! I can see that it is a little raw, but it was extremely well done. Talk about raising the bar.
I can’t say enough. Thanks very much.

It really helps me understand the play when I can see it develop. Looking forward to seeing this every week.

I have so wanted something like this for so long. I have half a dozen books on various plays, offensive and defensive strategies, but none of them present the concepts as clearly as this does, for me. You’ve combined teaching general football strategies with specific Bronco abilities. I’m beyond thankful. I’m grateful.

I used to be a research chemist (not that kind, the real kind) and when asked about the possibilities for something, my mind runs wild. There are so many things I want to know and I can see how this feature can provide them. I know enough about football to know that I know nothing about football, but you can teach me. I won’t pummel you with questions and suggestions right now, though. Today, let me just say thank you.

Ted, THANK YOU. I have dropped a lot of money and time over the years for various organizations just because I wanted to produce a good product/service. I did, however, in the back of my mind want some thanks for the effort. That did not always happen … and it made me mad. When it did, I did not and did not ask anyone else to dwell on it.

I really liked your video. I"m very excited to see your productions in the weeks to come. You analysis and breakdown was superb.

I do a lot of sound & lighting events (including studio recording), so with some experience I have a couple of production ideas:

• Move the microphone away so we don’t get the raspy “puffs” on the audio.
• Use a processor to enhance your voice. As you noted, your voice is coming across a little tinny. A processor would help.
• Try to record the entire audio at one time. In the alternative, have a “spacer” of some kind so that the different audio levels don’t become distracting.
• Run a normalizer on your audio on each segment before you finalize. Then normalize the whole audio.

Final comment. It’s great that it can be viewed full-screen!

But I wish you would have benched Marshall because he won’t be suiting up any time soon. I’ve already benched him in my franchise.

You’re taking MHR to the next level, all by yourself. Peerless work, Ted. I actually don’t really know what else to write…

does anyone know how to code Cocoa?

For someone (me) who hasn’t ever seen much in the way of X’s and O’s or broken down film, this is really neat to see. Enough of it, and things might “slow down” for me too. Got to be a labor of love for you – thanks again!

You never cease to impress, Mr. Bartlett.

but can you change the music to maybe something a little less “horror movie” and a little more upbeat?

The effort should obviously be commended, but dont cut yourself short on the results; it was great and educational. This will be very popular, as it teaches us what to expect and what to watch for. I agree about the music n graphics needing work. But maybe someone in those fields will offer a little guidance. Thank you for your hard work!

Please collaborate with HT for a Nearsighted University piece. The use of madden to display how routes and assignments play out is probably the best use of the game I’ve seen.

I skipped this post at first because I thought it was going to be a ‘watch me beat the Bears on Madden’ video, but no, madden was simply an interactive chalkboard to present your analysis of the Broncos Bears matchup. I am glad I came back to this.

First of all, fantastic job. I really dug you doing this type of post. You asked for feedback at the end so here are my two cents:

1. Keep doing it yourself. Your voice is decent for sure.
2. Try to move the pace along more at the beginning. If you need to discuss something, have video of something going while you talk…it helps keep people’s minds occupied while they listen. If you don’t, it feels “off”
3. For the sake of all that is holy, get some better music. If you want some help with this, email me. I’d be happy to pitch in in finding some good background stuff for you.
4. Love the Madden play break-downs. It really helps to see what each route is about and why they are or are not effective.

You rock man!

Good job! Like sadaraine said: "It really helps to see what each route is about and why they are or are not effective.", thats exactly how I feel. It’s almost an extension to MHR-University for me, learning more about those systems than I already know. Great work!

amazing work…..I am impressed with the knowledge, but really the logistics to accomplish this is truly amazing…..I read a couple comments on the software/hardware side above that look good. Here is my input on the content side recognizing- a) I could never pull this off on my own b) if I did, I don’t think nitpicking it would be an option, you would just have to shotgun blast the whole thing…….I just wanna focus on your goal and what I would enjoy learning from you each week.

I read your goal as stated in WK 15 of last year HERE. It may help if you post that above or restate it for those that have joined MHR after last year’s season.

You mention “practice application” in the WK 15 blog, I’m not sure how that is related to your goal here. I see the goal being: Give MHR members and Bronco fans something to look for in the game based on tactical strengths and weaknesses of Denver O vs. opponent D.
Then, you start with personnel listings and an explanation of schemes. I have learned to appreciate your analysis, so I would avoid the explanation of schemes. Your ability to successfully identify Denver O strengths and capabilities vs. opponent weaknesses and liabilities along with the plays that will exploit these to Denver’s advantage will speak louder than the facts you spit out about every player and scheme. As you mention above in your omission, you forgot a big fact…..you always will, at least for some sports nuts.

If you guess correctly the weaknesses that McD attacks….thats +5 and if you ID the type of play thats +10. My point is that I will value this product for your judgment and the facts surrounding your analysis. All the other information can be found elsewhere.

So, what did I get from this first episode…..that Denver O can run two simple pass routes and do whatever it wants. Honestly, thats what I got and a bunch of insight into players and what a Tampa 2 D is doing. I just don’t think that conclusion gives me much insight into the game.

What would I like to see: Mention key strengths and weaknesses of different Def personnel (I think your insight here is great and you did a little of this). Then, mention liabilities based on a combination of the personnel weaknesses and scheme (your judgment about 1-2 big ones, not every one). These weaknesses and liabilities coincide with the strengths and capabilities of the Denver O, so after going over the D (that means don’t go over everything, just the applicable things to your Denver O attack point), you highlight the Denver offensive personnel that can best exploit the Chi weakness (I don’t like “Variable Factors”- it doesn’t sound like football- maybe, weapons available or assets available) and the capability (synergy of playcall and several player’s talent; ie, Moreno’s speed and Clady to exploit Outside zone against Chi Brown & etc….you get my point). Then run the play…..Honestly, any success here is acceptable. I’m more hopeful that your analysis will give me insight into a repeated play call or attack point during game time then whether EASports BMarsh scores every time. I will also add that you incorporating the Denver O’s limitations will help clarify why some plays will be used over some others.

Please though, focus on “How will Denver exploit the Chicago D?” Your video did that, but it seemed like two routes where everyone could eventually get open. I’d like to learn 1 or 2 specific areas we will attack and, based on your analysis, who will be used to exploit those weaknesses.

hope you don’t take it the wrong way……just trying to give feedback….appreciate it and look forward to more

LIke some others said the scary music at the beginning creeped me out! :) I think if you get some of the graphics cleaned up so the names, images etc are more viewable you got yourself a winner. I want to commend you on all the work you put into it, even if you did try to make my D look bad!!!!

Good breakdown of the plays, I just don’t know if KO can make all the throws in the right spot I guess we’ll know tomorrow. Again top shelf work.

I can only think of one negative thing to say. The music at the start of the program creeped me out! lol

This is a great tool for helping folks learn the game, and I hope to keep seeing it. Some folks are “visual” learners, and you can reach them better that I can with the video approach. And everyone (visual or not) gets the benefit of being able to put a moving picture with a concept.

Great work! This should go over very well!

I agree with most of the comments above. The music at the start was irritating, and the words and pictures for the starting line ups were unreadable and unrecognisable.

But the rest of it rocked. Loved the insight and the overlay of the cover 2 defense to explain the holes that our offense could exploit.

My one query was how did the players make the catches? I must be really bad at Madden, cos the opposing corners, or safeties, or linebackers nearly always break up my passing plays. They are all supermen. Or it could just be that I’m not very good!!

Thanks again for the insight and rec’d

Can’t wait for the next one. Thanks Ted!

GO BRONCOS