Posts From Around SB Nation: 7/25-8/1

With greater success last week with trying to get a balance of informational and opinionated articles from around SB Nation for you, I decided to continue that idea with the articles I found this week. I was kind of surprised by how many articles and posts I enjoyed from the Phinsider this week, but hey, I can't control what the blogs post, I'm just linking them. Well here's this weeks links from around SB Nation:

Via www.SBNation.com

The Jeremy Bates Offense: Bread and Butter Plays from Four Wide Receiver Sets at Field Gulls

- John Morgan at Field Gulls is one of my favorite writers on SBN, he's clear, smart, and manages to get a lot of info into a nice compact article. This article takes a look at Jeremy Bates' play calling style as an offensive coordinator. Now you may be familiar with Bates because he worked with our offense here in Denver from 2006 to 2008, helping coordinate the stellar passing attack we had those seasons. Now he is the OC in Seattle and is planning on runing a lot of spread, and as a team that is looking to add more "spread" into our current offensive system, this article, part of a series, was pretty interesting. Here's Part 2.

Becoming "Multiple": Personnel and Formation at Dawgs by Nature

- Rufio at Dawgs by Nature is a pretty smart guy, and because I had a hankering to study the spread this week, as well as the fact that we have a number of players who could fill different roles in different schemes, I managed to find this piece. This article takes a look at players who could be used in different positions depending on the situation, allowing for mismatches and more combinations. Now the names in the visuals don't apply obviously, but the principles do. Well worth reading if you want to understand a bit more how Tebow could be used to upset defenses if he were to line up at TE or even at WR, especially if Orton is still under center.

Acceleration and 40 Times: A Simplified Mathematical Investigation into Speed, Time, and Distance at Phinsider

- These two posts over at the Phinsider are meant as compliments to each other. Both are a great study into how effective 40 times are, what other factors go into a players speed and acceleration, and how it all translates onto the field. While neither of these articles claims to be completely conclusive, they do present some solid data using the dreaded math to drive their points home. There are some especially great points in the Acceleration article about top speed compared to acceleration. Great articles if you want to understand how a player can create separation and space during a play.

Should Steven Jackson be the NFL's Highest Paid Running Back? and Kev On Dez: Should Bryant Have Carried Roy Williams' Pads? at Turf Show Times

- Now I am a huge Steven Jackson fan, he pretty much is a beast who shows more character by quietly playing for the Rams then any other player I know. As such, I think he could be the league leading rusher on a halfway decent team, so when I read this article, the balanced approached, even for being on the Rams blog, really struck me.A solid post about how a teams struggles can affect a player, and how a players success can lift a team, but only so far.

-The second article from TST is about rookie hazing in the NFL. Now this article is written by one of the few actual NFL athletes to be part of SBN, Kevin Payne. Now Payne was an active member over at the Bears blog before he was traded to the Rams this off-season. Now I love to read his stuff, as well as posts from other players like Chris Harris because we get an actual inside look and feel to how a player or locker room feels about what is happening. This is obviously a delicate issue for some, but Kevin makes the great point that it might not be such a big deal, some players really don't care while others care more.

A Bit Media Savvy, Please! at Phinsider

- I am largely a hater of the media and fans for ours, and their, ability to blow things out of proportion. This wonderful article does a great bit on how players make a mistake when talking to the media, or the media or fans take a disliking to the player, and the player suffers the consequences. Taking points from Dez Bryant, Jimmy Clausen and Terrell Owens, that author makes some fine points. The media can make or break the reputation of player without any real proof, and I don't think that's right.

So there you have it folks, my little gift to you from around SBN last week, enjoy! Feel free to include any you enjoyed in the comments section below.