Jello-Rock: A pig greased with football

Running backs who run less than 4.5 in the 40-yard dash don’t get a lot of respect and are generally ignored by most coaches and college scouts. A running back in the NFL has to meet that speed benchmark just like a quarterback in the NFL has to meet the height benchmark. It doesn’t seem to matter how you performed in college as a low quarterback or slow runner, metrics are against you and these metric requirements are the holy grail soccer scouts, coaches and analysts live by.

So of course a runner must work on his speed. It’s like having a diploma as a job requirement; you don’t put your foot in the door without it. However, once you open the door quickly, how do you distance yourself from all the other runners competing for the same job? One way to do this is with jukes and cuts. Most good runners have a variety of moves in their repertoire. Is it possible to add another layer beyond jukes and speed to make a back unique? If possible. You can add an unusual layer of force that can be used to move defensive stacks and to break numerous tackles, as exemplified by Seattle’s Marshawn Lynch.

Could there be another layer more? My opinion is that there is. Have you ever tried to move a mattress on your own? A mattress is not that heavy, but unlike box springs, it is flimsy and difficult to grip. The mattress gives you almost nothing to push against. This attribute makes moving a mattress harder and harder to control.

Ballet, modern, hip hop, and ballroom dancers are taught isolation skills. They are taught to make certain parts of their bodies work differently at the same time. For example, in ballroom dancing called brisk step, the dancer is taught to keep the upper body, above the waist, rigid and upright, while at the same time the lower body remains loose and agile. so you can glide nimbly running around. the dance floor like a dance floor star.

What if runners could be taught to isolate their upper and lower bodies? So in an instant, while pushing a bunch of defenders, he could transform the upper half of his body from a rock to a jelly. His lower body would continue with the rock efficiency it always possessed, but his upper body would become slippery like a mattress of jelly. As a result, he could break more tackles and move to the next level of defense. A runner trained with this kind of skill could set himself apart from all other runners. It would be slippery. It would be the proverbial pig greased with football.