Bose+Formal+Essay+1

The Quarterback and the Linebacker The football field is a battlefield. The sport involves a series of men combating for territory. The weapons needed to gain this territory include heavy artillery, quick jets, precise shooters, and stealth. But, if you look into the center of the mayhem before a play starts, you will see two specific men staring each other in the face. One of these players is on offense. The other is, standing less than six yards away from him, on defense. These two players are, of course, the quarterback and the linebacker, two of the most important positions on the field. Though the linebacker and quarterback are very different, it is surprising at how many similarities that they have. One significant difference between the field occupations is their jobs on the field. Of course a linebacker plays defense and a quarterback plays offense. The defenses objective is to prevent the offense from scoring, and the offenses is to try and bypass the defense and make it into the end zone. The quarterback and linebackers job in these “special ops teams” are much more specific though. The linebacker has the job of reading the offense, and tackling anything that comes to him. He is more of a run player than a pass player, such as a safety or a corner. Usually, the linebacker is given a certain gap or hole to cover and if a run comes to that hole he annihilates the ball carrier. He is also often given the opportunity to blitz. A blitz is, simply put, the opportunity to forget about a gap responsibility, and just go. When a blitz is called to a linebacker he speeds into the backfield, and like a homing rocket flies to the ball with no thought of slowing down. A linebacker’s blows are often devastating, and crippling, causing morale loss and intimidation of the offense. Many times, offenses will be limited to only run one direction, because of the dominant play of the linebackers. The greatest way to defeat an offense is limiting their ability to run plays because of dominant performance of linebackers. A linebacker’s kryptonite is most certainly a great quarterback. The quarterback’s job is to drive his team down the field with the use of his running back, his own legs, and his throwing arm. Unlike the linebacker, the quarter back is not given a certain area of the field. He is given the overwhelming job of exploiting the entire field. He must read the pass coverage, all while, being rushed by three or more behemoths more than half his size. The pressure is immense. There are so many choices for the quarterback to make in a matter of five seconds. He can run, throw a short route, throw a deep route, throw his check down route, roll out, pitch, and the list goes on. Another exclusive option a quarterback has is to audible. During a game the quarterback will be given a play to run, and will walk up to the line and read the defense. If he sees something he does not like, or sees a possible weakness he will check to an audible. He will yell to the rest of his troop a cipher or give a signal to let them know what he sees and the new play. He must do this with haste though because he only has 30 seconds to snap the ball before he is penalized. With a smart and strong quarterback a team can be very successful.