Feb 232008
(Warning: This post is about some intricacies of American football. Bail out now.) I read “The Hidden Game of Football”, and needless to say, I had an epiphany. Software testing is … playing on the offensive line.
O-linemen are notoriously difficult to grade in terms of how good they are. The NFL keeps only one stat: sacks against. Their performance is entirely dependent on the play of their linemates and the skill with which the rest of the offense operates.
The lineman’s objective is to enable the “skill players” to maneuver the football downfield in the face of an oncoming rush. They do so by impeding the progress of the defensive players, intercepting and diverting them before they can disrupt the flow of play.
O-lines learn a “scheme”, a set of principles for how to coordinate their efforts, that tells them generally how to block on each play. As each play unfolds, the actual maneuvers they make and techniques they employ depend on the actions of the defenders they face in real time.
Some schemes require fast o-linemen, others call for big guys. Sometimes a player is so amazingly great at one particular thing that the scheme itself is altered to accommodate his talent. Sometimes the scheme confers such a competitive advantage that other teams consider it “cheating” and declare themselves above using it.
It’s easy to ignore line play when watching and talking about football.
Unless you play it too.
Keep an eye out for the passrush of Bias, Complacency, Habit, and Hubris! The Four Horsemen of the Dev-ocalypse!
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