"Complementary Football"

#1

McDad

I can't brain today; I has the dumb.
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#1
In the article posted at SDS (Relax, everything's going to be just fine for Tennessee) post BoB, CBJ uses one of his most uttered phrases; Complementary Football. A brief google search reveals this phrase isnt new to CBJ. I have never heard anyone use the phrase as much. Here are a couple links and blurbs regarding complementary football found using a Google search.

Texans' 'complementary football' means not asking much from QBs
..."Jerome Solomon of the Houston Chronicle points out that "complementary football" is O'BRien's term for relying on the other aspects of overcome limited play at the quarterback position, which the Texans did in week one in a 17-6 victory against the Redskins."

Denver Broncos: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly -- A Look at Complementary Football - Mile High Report
..."Complementary football, as was noted above, is often used to refer to the idea of a well-balanced team. That is well and good, in so far as it goes. The idea being, of course, that the offense raises the level of play of the defense by scoring points, and the defense raises the level of play of the offense by denying opponents points while the special team contributes by giving the offense a short field to traverse while pinning the opposing team deep in their own territory".

What (if anything) do you think CBJ is trying to convey when he uses the phrase, complementary football?
 
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#4
#4
I think its more of a team football type of phrase, meaning if one position group is slacking pick up that slack. I may be completely off on that though.
 
#6
#6
To me it's picking up slack. Complementary angles add up to 90 degrees. 45 45, 60 30, 80 10, doesn't matter. I guess for football no matter what complementary football means O/D/ST pick up the slack to get the win. So if the offense is putting in 10 it's up to the D and kicking game to chip in the other 80.
 
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#7
#7
I think its more of a team football type of phrase, meaning if one position group is slacking pick up that slack. I may be completely off on that though.

Any chance in your mind that he is using like coach O'BRien's "making up for limited QB play"?
 
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#8
#8
McDad, it's a good question. Not sure anyone short of Butch himself can give it a really good answer, but I've always interpreted it as him saying he's looking for synergy. He's looking for the whole of Offense + Defense + Special Teams == more than just the sum of its parts.

How does Butch hope to achieve that? I think part of it is with game pacing ... not just up-tempo, but variable-tempo, where he can use the offense to protect the defense by slowing the game down, playing possession football. And the defense and ST can add synergy by setting the offense up for success through turnovers and shortening the field for us. Those kinds of synergistic effects.

Anyway, that's how I've interpreted him. Could be he means something totally different, heh.

Thanks for the interesting question.

Go Vols!
 
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#9
#9
Any chance in your mind that he is using like coach O'BRien's "making up for limited QB play"?

Could be. I think Dobbs is capable of making throws and what not he just needs time. Right now he don't get much of it. So right now? I would say yes. Later in the season if and when the OL improves, not so much.
 
#11
#11
Good responses, guys. If CBJ wants to play complementary football, AND the defense begins to dominate games, will we see some higher risk offensive plays / some trickery on special teams? Seems to me if all 3 play solid then we dont want to put additional pressure on ant particular phase of the game. But if one phase absolutely dominates, we can loosen the reigns on another phase.

...Or am I not thinking like a coach, here?
 
#12
#12
What (if anything) do you think CBJ is trying to convey when he uses the phrase, complementary football?

Coach speak for we got lucky (App State), and opponent self destructed (V Tech). On the other hand we have been on the other side of that so many times over last 10 years that we should not be apologizing to anyone.
 
#15
#15
In the article posted at SDS (Relax, everything's going to be just fine for Tennessee) post BoB, CBJ uses one of his most uttered phrases; Complementary Football. A brief google search reveals this phrase isnt new to CBJ. I have never heard anyone use the phrase as much. Here are a couple links and blurbs regarding complementary football found using a Google search.

Texans' 'complementary football' means not asking much from QBs
..."Jerome Solomon of the Houston Chronicle points out that "complementary football" is O'BRien's term for relying on the other aspects of overcome limited play at the quarterback position, which the Texans did in week one in a 17-6 victory against the Redskins."

Denver Broncos: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly -- A Look at Complementary Football - Mile High Report
..."Complementary football, as was noted above, is often used to refer to the idea of a well-balanced team. That is well and good, in so far as it goes. The idea being, of course, that the offense raises the level of play of the defense by scoring points, and the defense raises the level of play of the offense by denying opponents points while the special team contributes by giving the offense a short field to traverse while pinning the opposing team deep in their own territory".

What (if anything) do you think CBJ is trying to convey when he uses the phrase, complementary football?

In this instance, I believe he is indirectly acknowledging the poor offensive line play while pointing out that a good team can overcome temporary and/or limited deficiencies.
 
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