Constraint Theory of Offense

A common question is: what kind of offense do you run? Often someone – both fans and coaches – respond and say: I run a system with bubble screens, play action passes, screens, and draws. This person – coach or not – would be completely wrong. These kinds of plays are not your offense; your offense consists of the zone-read, the dropback passes, or your base runs and passes. Those other plays are sort-of conditions precedent to your offense; they work as constraints on the defense. What do I mean by this?

At least in the most abstract sense, your “offense” is that bread and butter stuff you can draw on the whiteboard that should always work in a perfect world. It is the pass play that always works against Cover 3, it is the run that will always burst free against a “Bear” front. Yes, it is what works on paper. But we don’t live in a perfect world, right? Well the “constraint” plays are designed to make sure you live in one that is as close as possible.

For example, the safety might get tired of watching you break big gains up the middle, so he begins to cheat up. Now you go play action and make him pay for his impatience. The outside linebackers may cheat in for the same reason. You throw the bubble screen and the bootlegs to make them pay for their impatience. The defensive ends begin rushing hard upfield; you trap, draw, and screen them to make them pay for getting out of position. If that defensive end played honest your tackle could block him; if he flies upfield he cannot. So you have to do these “constraint plays” to keep them in check. Once they get back to playing honest football, you, in essence, go back to the whiteboard and beat them with your bread and butter.

Now, in a given game your offense might look like it is all “constraint” plays: all gimmicks, screens, traps, draws, fakes and the like. Maybe so. If the defense plays too aggressively, so what. But a coach must not lose sight of how his offense is truly structured. A great offense is structured around a core idea or a few core ideas that puts the players in position to succeed every time. The triple option can be this for some teams, a well designed dropback pass game for another. The constraints are alternatively given too much and not enough weight. But they nevertheless are what make an offense go.

So the better you are at dropback passing, the more you need these constraint plays because teams will go out of their way to prevent you from chucking it all over them. Similarly if you’re a great run team. Safeties and linebackers will all cheat by formation and post-snap effort to stop your run game. You must have the counters, the screens, the bootlegs, and the quick passes (because quick 3-step passes, at core, are most effective when used to simply take advantage of a loose defensive structure). All this comports well with a game theory approach to football. Similarly, these constraint plays will be even more important against the best teams because they will put the biggest premium on stopping your primary threat.

The upshot of all this is that when you are designing an offense you must (a) find those one or two things which you can hang your hat on and beat just about anything doing when the defense is playing honest, and (b) get good at all those little “constraint” plays which keep the defense playing honest. You won’t win championships simply throwing the bubble screen, but the bubble will help keep you from losing games when the defense wants to crash your run game. Same with draws and screens if you’re a passing team. You find ways to do what you want and put your players in position to win and score.

ADDENDUM: Fair question from the comments: Does the theory work in the other direction? What if your offense is based only on bubble screens and then you just run the ball or throw the ball as a counter to your bubble screen offense?

Response: The difference is that the bubble screen is a play that really only works when the defense has made a structural choice or is out of position. Most commonly, you'll run when the bubble only when the defense has but two defenders to cover three receivers. You thus block the two defenders and the receiver has free yards. If the defense puts a third defender there they can take the play away, intercept it, or make the tackle.

Conversely, a well designed dropback pass play, a triple option play, or certain base runs will work every time you face a normal defense. The only time the play stops working is when certain defenders cheat on their assignments, either by alignment or aggressiveness.

Here's how they fit together: You're an option team. You come out running the option, you read the defensive end and the linebacker, and you tear them up. Now the safety or outside linebacker cheats in. He blows up your play. But, voila, now they are not covering your outside receivers, so you bubble screen them.

Similarly with a play action pass. You send a receiver deep down the middle or the seam. If the safety plays honest he should drop back and take it away. But if he comes up for your run play you use his aggressiveness against him.

The distinction is subtle, but important. It relates to the idea of base plays and counter plays. The bubble is simply not a base play. It will not work against a simple and sound defense, but works great against defenses that aren't structurally sound or balanced. On the other hand, "base plays" defeat balanced "whiteboard" like defenses, but can get blown up by defenses that cheat or play games. Thus the relationship between "base plays" and "constraint" plays (or "keep-em-honest plays). The bubble, while limited in use, will have a profound influence when the defense gets out of position.

27 Dresses

Ever since I heard about this movie a few months ago, I've been waiting in great anticipation to see it. After all, this is probably one of the few chick flicks coming out... since Knocked Up!
Just the name 27 Dresses is a selling point for me. And this cute poster with mention of "Devil Wears Prada" helps too! The actual plot is about how Jane (Katherine Heigl) is a professional bridesmaid, who has willingly donned on some pretty horrible dresses in order to "be there" for her friends on their special day.
In fact, she has 27 of them. Usually I'm quite envious of people's overflowing wardrobes in movies (think Clueless), but I think I'll make an exception in this case.... The story revolves around how Jane's sister, Tess (Malin Akerman) comes into town and falls in love with Jane's boss George- who Jane happens to be in love with for a loooong time! I thought it was quite amazing how they managed to make Katherine Heigl (whom I always thought looked quite pretty in Grey's Anatomy) look like the "plain Jane" in this movie compared to Tess.
During that time, Jane also meets Kevin (James Marsden!) the wedding journalist for the New York Journal- and the chick flick romance begins.
I've loved James Marsden since his appearance in Ally McBeal many years ago (where he sang Frank Sinatra...sigh!) and his recent Prince charming role in Enchanted was not bad either (if a bit dumbed down). But I LOVE LOVE LOVE his look here. While in his other roles, he'd always had that clean, preppy pretty boy look, his role in this movie as a journalist is ruggedly handsome and charming...sigh............ :)

Over all I liked the movie. I love weddings. I love chick flick happy endings. And I LOVE LOVE LOVE James Marsden. It was just the light hearted fun movie I was looking for. I know that many reviews have found this movie to be sexist because it portrays getting married as the life goal of women, but personally I think that is just the opinion of the female lead here and everyone is entitled to their own opinions and so its not reflective of a whole gender. What did everyone else think?

Image Source: Yahoo Movies

Haute Couture S/S08 III

Starting with Armani's tribute to Valentino:

This post, like all of the other recent haute couture posts, is all about Valentino's final show. The old-school king of romance is retiring after more than 40 years of designing flowery and lacey dresses. Personally, I've always been neutral about Valentino. To me, Valentino is a well-respected designer who has been around for a very long time. I don't exactly love or hate his designs because I wasn't even born yet during some of his more memorable designer years and because such fancy clothes isn't exactly studentwear. But this is the very final Valentino show, so let's take some time to admire the final work of a master:

Take note of the Phillip Tracey hats -they're so pretty! Isn't the bow on Natalia V.'s head SO adorable? I could totally imagine a red one on Blair (Gossip Girl)!

OK, so I admit I can't tell the difference between this collection and Valentino's RTW line. They just all look very lady-like to me.

The gold, 20's dress on the left is one of my favourite from this collection. It's modern but still very classic-looking.

Flowers in many different forms -a signature of Valentino's.

Chic and elegant.

Gorgeous! Don't the purple/ pink flowers just look like they're growing on a vine on these dresses?

These dresses look so big and puffy, yet still so light and floaty. Just what certain romantic dresses are supposed to look like.

The silver (or is it white?) dress on Vlada (right) is another one of my favourite dresses in this collection. It's SO gorgeous!
Farewell Valentino!

Image credit: www.vogue.co.uk

Haute Couture S/S08 II

Chanel
To be honest, the last few seasons of Chanel have not been too impressive for me. It was either uninspiring or so artistic that it was beyond my comprehension. But in this season's haute couture show, the Chanel I know is finally back. The collection was simply AMAZING and I loved everything on the runway. Inspired by spiraling forms and delicate colors of shells, the models resembled youthful nymphs flowing down the runway. According to the reviews, there was also a giant Chanel jacket made of concrete in the room, that reminds one of the Tristan throne in the Little Mermaid, further alluding to the sea theme.
By pairing the classic Chanel suit jackets with these short draping and pleated skirts, Karl cleverly adds a flirty fun touch to the whole outfit.
The collar of the long coat (left) adds a modern touch to a classic piece. And the exaggerated style of the white blouse (right) is elegantly distinctive and not clownish at all (as over exaggerated pieces tend to be).
The evening/cocktail dresses were the best. Karl had beautiful romantic pieces (like above), exquisitely made with frills and details, that were pretty, girly and very very feminine.
He also had more modern youthful fun pieces that were totally adorable and cute.
He then had modern yet more sophisticatedly designed pieces that were elegant and simply stunning. The workmanship of that silver long dress is simply genius. The frills, the different materials and those two pockets- genius!
And of course there were black dresses (wouldn't be a Chanel runway without black dresses!). These are definitely more creative and different from the black Chanel dresses we're all used to. In fact, the black dress on the left reminds me a teensy bit of Armani......
And I love love love the last silver dress (right). She looks exactly what I imagine a fairy/nymph would look like. I especially like the fact that it is more loosely cut and not like all those super fitted evening wears out there we're so used to seeing.
Another thing I love about this show are the mary jane the flats throughout. All the models wore flats with outfit, which gave an extra youthful touch to all the outfits- even the evening wear. It totally made me rethink the role of flats. That sit, after I write this I am going to go dig out my mary jane flats!
Oooh and the hair. I LOVE the hairstyle, they made them look like fairies even more. I wonder how I can make this look more wearable..... perhaps a neat bun with gorgeous sparkly hair accessories?

Christian Lacroix
The theme of the Christian Lacriox show was, An Angel Passing By. I don't really see how that is from the outfits, but maybe it is something one feels when one is there? Anyway, despite that, I thought the collection was quite marvelous. It was everything I expected from a Christian Lacroix haute couture show. As the reviewer on style.com said, "...Lacroix is doing nothing new. The ideas that went into this incredible collection are the ones he's always worked at: influences from the eighteeth century, fin de siècle Paris, and gypsy costume." And I totally agree. What is really marvelous about his collection is the genius way he throws the most unlikely fabrics and colors together and makes it work in the most stunning way visually. His intricate and exquisite workmanship is also unparalleled.
An excellent example of his mastery with mixing. Who would've thought that red plaid, blue brocade and leopard print and blue/black strips, red plaid and leopard print would go so well together?
Admittedly a lot of times, his outfits are more costume like than ever, but that IS the point of haute couture. Just LOOK at the workmanship! How does the sleeves (and the dress for that matter) hold up (left)??? How does the drapes and shape of the skirts stay that way?
My personal favourite outfits were his blue ones. I'm not sure if it is simply a personal obsessions with blue for me or not, but the blue outfits just looks STUNNING. He had these two that were distinctively Victorian with a bit of an equestrian feel.
And these two blue creations are also brilliant in a more "modern" style that is both vibrant and youthful.
I am still trying to decide whether these two would make vividly gorgeous wedding dresses in reality (minus all that heavy headgear etc) or would just make a bad memory.

Regardless of its practicality in real life, the Lacroix collection was a visual feast for those of us who love beautiful things.

Givenchy
On the other end of the spectrum, we have the Givenchy collection that is the antithesis to Lacroix's style. While Lacroix had vibrant hues and an array of different patterns and flowing textures, Riccardo Tisci had subdued colors and a structured style that is distinctively minimalist. Yet they both equally make us salivate with lust just looking at them. Inspired by the gothic ballerina, the shape of the skirts were both flowing and structured all at once. How does he DO it??? With a lot of starch? And the tailoring of the jacket (left) and the ruffles (right) on the top is just genius.
The outfit on the left is the definition of minimalism. And the white dress is a beeeeeautiful work of art.
Besides black and white, Tisci also experimented with metallic fabrics and other bold colors (he also had a really really all red dress!). I love the shape and tailoring of the metallic dress (left) and how he mixed the fabrics in the green/white dress (right).
I absolutely LOVE these two dresses. You know how in Project Runway they talk about how a collection needs to be coherent yet not repetitive? Well I think these two are the definition of that. They are obviously from the same collection, yet one is feminine and girly (left) and one is styled and sophisticated.

Image Source: Elle.com

Haute Couture S/S08 I

'Tis the week for mega-gorgeous, artistic and unwearable couture!

Christian Dior
Haute Couture S/S08 started off with a bang with the ever-dramatic collection from Christian Dior by John Galliano. As per the collections from the last few haute couture seasons, this collection was composed of strong, bright, vivid colours. The theme of this collection was Madame X, which I know nothing about and am not bothered to Wiki it, but do do so if you're interested. To be honest, while these couture pieces are all truly amazing, I'm not completely awed after Dior's Japanese collection in HC S/S07, my favourite yet. Perhaps it looks more stunning in real life.
The jewel colours are SO gorgeous. Gosh, imagine all the work put into constructing the dress and all those little details!
These are great to look at (in an artistic way) and very unwearable.
Don't the models look like they're wearing super-volumous dresses with capes on? And please don't tell me that the grey dress (left) is made of animal skin because that's just scary. (Hmm, maybe I should look up a closer-up photo.)
Aww, these are so cute and girly! (-in an expensive and unrealistic way of course.)

Anne Valerie Hash
I like how this collection feels very delicate, yet still edgy in some ways, (maybe it's the neatral colours or the menswear characteristics.) A very soft and feminine collection, with some current trends incorporated in:
Huge shoulders.
Soft and see-through.
Pencil-dress and menswear.

Giorgio Armani Prive
I think this is the first Armani Prive collection that I have truly liked, (or maybe it's just that I've already forgotten the older collections.) I've always thought Amrani collections as sleek, sophisticated in a slightly outdated fashion. Yet this collection feels more modern and softer.
The suits look somewhat impractical. Good thing people don't actually wear these, but if only we could wear cute, bubbly suitskirts to work!
I especially love the cocktail dresses -so divine! Sigh.
Cocktail dresses as art pieces.
As for the long gowns, they're feminie and glamorous as always.

Image Credit: http://www.style.com/

Kirsten Dunst For Miu Miu SS08 Ads

For people who love to shop, January is a bit of a dry month. But for fashion-lovers, January is pretty exciting as it is when a lot of the SS campaigns are released. One of the campaigns I've been most anticipating is the Miu Miu campagin because a) Kirsten Dunst is Miu Miu's model of the season, and b) I usually love Miu Miu's campaign images. I have to admit I didn't really like Lindsay Lohan's FW07 campaign. Maybe I just didn't think Lindsay suited Miu Miu, or maybe the images just seemed too grown-up for Miu Miu.

The colour scheme of the SS08 campaign seems pretty similar to the FW07 one. But what I like about this campaign is that it really conveys the feeling of the clothing collection - the clothes and bags are very obviously featured, but it still manages to be artistic and dramatic. Also, I think Kirsten did really well. She manages to look coy, theatrical and ladylike while still looking playful. (You have to stare at it for awhile before really feeling the images. Go to the Miu Miu website for larger pictures.)

Now I don't actually love all the images, but I like the campaign as a whole. Plus I may be biased as Kirsten is my favourite actress. And while it would be nice to see Miu Miu use a model to model the campaign, it doesn't look like it's going to happen anytime soon.

I want to say this looks like a good 'look' for work (minus the red bow on the head,) but the skirt is way too short. If only I could go to work looking this chic though! Even the bag looks big and practical for work!

Hmm, I couldn't decide whether I like this image (top)...

or this image (top) more. But these two are definitely my favourite out of the lot. The clothes are SO cute, girly and quirky. I just don't know where one would wear them. Oh well, it's not like I could afford these clothes.

Do you like Kirsten's Miu Miu ads?

Image credit: http://www.miumiu.com/