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Let me set the following scene which every home who has a 'mans man' football fan and a television should recognize immediately. The man of the house leans forward in his chair while the little lady (let me apologize to the women folk out there, I'm just trying to nail the flavor of this scene) is sitting back in the sofa, trying to feign interest in the game.

Suddenly the man in this scene flies into a inexplicable frenzy: "Why can't they stop them on third down... I mean JEEZ!" The woman of the house focuses on the television, trying to discern the meaning of the emotional outburst from her beloved, and watches as the replay of the previous play is dissected by the television commentators.

The type of offensive football play I want to focus on with this article can be found when the following two words are heard from the television broadcasters discussing the replay. "Timing Pattern".

Let's go to the figurative chalkboard on this one. The definition of a timing pattern is when the quarterback throws the ball to an area of the field which the receiver is not yet running to, but which the receiver will break for after the ball is in the air. When an accurate quarterback and sure footed receiver click together on timing patterns, it is next to impossible to defend the combination... leading to outbursts by the man of the house as he helplessly watches the team he is rooting for being pushed down the field.

The all time favorite timing pattern by far is called the out. The receiver will run a given distance up field, then cut his pattern to the sideline. Let us say the team needs ten yards to get a first down. The receiver runs eleven yards and breaks to the sideline. The timing part is that the quarterback throws the ball when the receiver is only five yards up the field, knowing the receiver will break another five yards down field. When the receiver breaks and looks for the ball it is already in the air, halfway to being caught.

The only way to defend this timing is to anticipate the play and "jump" the route. But this is tricky because teams can fake a timing out pattern (the quarterback will pump fake, while the receiver gives a slight hitch in the pattern) and run a "fly" (the receiver continues running straight down the field, and if the defender bit on the fake, it's a long bomb touchdown).

There are other timing patterns besides the out. When I was playing neighborhood football with my buddy we ran a great timing pattern we called the eight steps ten. The receiver ran straight up the field, the quarterback threw the ball on the eighth step and the receiver looked for the ball on step ten. If a defender is reading the receivers eyes to look for the ball, when they look back, the ball is already most of the way to the receiver. Unless the defender knows the play they are not prepared to defend it.

So the next time the football fanatic in the house is having a fit because his team never seems to be able to stop the other team on third down... just look at him in a knowing way and sympathetically exclaim "those darn timing patterns!"

Let me wrap this up by disclosing that in my household, my wife is much more of a football fanatic than I am. I make a point of rooting for my teams, or watching the teams I hate play while rooting for their ultimate destruction. But it is my wife who will watch any random two teams play, just for the fun of it. We live in Oregon so I root for the Oregon Ducks and Seattle Seahawks. But my wife will get all excited by watching Tulsa play South Wisconsin Tech. The methods by which she chooses which team to root for are very curious, typically based upon which teams colors she likes the most, or if the teams mascot is a feline.

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