Bradley Moss

Kinesiology 5301

Blog #4

An In depth Look at the Wide receiver position in Football.

In previous blogs, we have looked at the quarterback and the running back position in football. In this blog we will take a better in depth look at the wide receiver position as well as the possible statistics they can achieve.

A closer look at the Wide Receiver Position

To start let’s look at where the wide receiver lines up at the line of scrimmage. This is actually pretty flexible depending on the type offensive formation. Normally they will line up on either side of the offensive line on or off the line of scrimmage. There can be anywhere from 1 to 5 receivers on the field at a time. When the ball is snapped and it is a passing play, it is the receiver's responsibility to run the correct route down the field. Once the route is ran they may or may not get an opportunity to catch the ball. It depends on if the quarterback sees him open and decides to pass the ball to him. As the routes that a receiver can run, these can be endless. A lot of it depends on the abilities of the receiver. For example if you have a receiver with blazing speed the coach of the team might have a lot of deep routes for him to run.This will give that type of receiver an opportunity to play to his strengths. On the opposite end a team might have a receiver might not have the greatest of speed but he could be extremely quick with good hands. Therefore to take advantage of his skill a team might throw a lot of quick and shallow pass to him and see if he can out maneuver and linebacker and safeties out of the slot.

Key Wide Receiver Statistics

Now that we have taking an in depth look at the receiver position. We will now take a look at key statistics that the wide receiver can accumulate in football.

• Catch - This is when a receiver catches a ball past the line of scrimmage.
• Receiving yards - This stat is accumulated depending on how many yards the receiver gets during and after catching the ball.
• Receiving Touchdown -  A receiver can earn this statistic by either catching the ball in the end zone or catching the ball and running into the end zone.
• Drop - A negative statistics, This is when a receiver drops the pass that is thrown his way.

References

http://football.about.com/od/positionprofiles/a/How_to_Play_Wide_Receiver.htm

http://football.calsci.com/Positions6.html

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