Pre-Snap Checklist for the Offensive Line

This particular checklist is courtesy of Bob Wylie, a long-time NFL offensive line coach with the Bears and Raiders, among others. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Wylie) I've fleshed some of the points out based on my experience.

When your offensive line hears the play call in the huddle (or on the LOS), what is the first thing they think of? (Hopefully not “Oh no – they’re running right behind me!”) What is their thought process about how they’re going to get the job done? Have you drilled their initial steps well enough that they don’t have to think about them?

Here’s their checklist:

Who do I have to block? Whether you block man, zone or by rule, the first thing going through your OL’s mind should be who s/he has. No matter if they think “DE”, “LB”, “inside gap” or “end man on the LOS”, they have to know and process that answer quickly.

What can the defense do to me in this picture? You need to teach your players to understand defenses and defensive looks. A defensive end who is normally outside is suddenly tighter with an OLB outside on the LOS…that should alert the tackle immediately to the possibility of an inside slant by the DE. Does this picture cause an adjustment that was talked about in practice or on the sidelines? Who’s likely to have contain, and who likely doesn't?

How will I get it done? Once the OL knows their assignment and understands what the defense is showing by alignment, then it becomes a matter of execution. Execution comes in two parts – assignment and technique. Assignment in this case doesn't really mean “who do I block” – that’s already been covered. It means more along the lines of “who is going to do this block with me, if anyone?” If I’m a tackle, am I going to do it solo, with the TE or with the guard? If it’s a pass play, do I have help from anyone? If so, from where? My inside or my outside? Is it the guard sliding to me, or is it a RB chipping from the outside? 

Knowing those answers will impact what the correct first step (technique) will be. An incorrect first step will mean you’ll be “playing behind” from the snap (please refer to my last post about assumptions you can make, and the dangers of playing against a better athlete). After that first step and first punch, then drilled responses to defensive action takes over - you're out of the checklist phase.

Homer Smith emphasized the importance of the QB having a mental checklist similar to that of a pilot. While the offensive line doesn't have quite as much to think about as the QB, I strongly believe that the use of a pre-snap checklist each and every play will help curtail “accidents” after the snap.

Foundations of Technique & Scheme

In the course of the Surge and Bears seasons, I see an awful lot of film. Add to that the high school film I watch, then college and NFL games. There’s a wide variety of schemes and techniques floating around, and not all of it good.

Over my 23 years of coaching, I mentioned that I’ve had the opportunity to learn from some very, very good coaches. In no particular order, those offensive line and offensive coordinators that I give the most credit to are: Mike Barry, Detroit Lions (retired); Pat Ruel, Seattle Seahawks; Mike Sherman, Miami Dolphins and Brent Myers, UNLV (former). There are many others, but those coaches formed the core of what I teach. 90% of the time, when you hear me say something, chances are it came from one of those coaches.

However, there are three assumptions that I came up with all by myself. Going back to the bad scheme and techniques that I see from time to time, I formed these base assumptions back in 2005, after reflecting on the schemes of a fellow coach in 2003. I believe that if a scheme or technique passes these three tests, that it is truly fundamentally sound:

1.       Assume that the defender across from your OL is a better athlete than s/he is. Let’s face it, offensive linemen are usually the worst athletes on the team. It doesn’t mean that they’re the worst football players, but chances are they’re the worst athletes. So don’t ask them to do something they’re not capable of, especially against someone who is probably faster than they are.

2.       Assume that the defender across from your OL is the best-coached player in the country. It was this assumption that was actually the basis for everything else. My fellow coach left a playside defensive tackle unblocked on purpose – well before the read option days – and said, “She’ll never make that play.” Well, needless to say, in this particular game, she did, over and over again. As my 5-time All Pro left tackle, Katrina Walter, pointed out to me when I floated an unwise idea, “Hope is not a strategy.” So if your scheme depends on the other player doing something stupid, it’s probably not a good scheme.

3.       Assume that on the snap, your defender is going to do the ONE THING that you don’t want her to. So if you’re running in the B gap, assume that your defender is going to slant exactly the way you don’t want her to. Your first steps had better be able to counteract that threat. Those steps then need to be drilled over and over again.

That’s it…that is how I believe you should build your scheme and technique library, or tool box. If you always keep those three things in mind, chances are you won’t ever get too far astray from fundamental soundness.

Weekend Quickie

I saw this after last night's game, and it struck a chord with me. First of all, here's the link:

http://footballscoop.com/news/10857-when-a-top-player-makes-a-mistake

I've always tried to maintain a Tony Dungy-type of demeanor on the sidelines - dealing with issues, trying to look ahead and moving forward. For some reason, I've found it is relatively easy for me to do as long as I'm either "just" the OL coach or "just" the head coach. I can take on a much more managerial demeanor in both those roles.

However, when I'm also the OC, then I have a harder time with it. I'm not sure why. Maybe it's a more emotional involvement with the entire offense. With the Surge, I was able to be up in the booth, and that's actually where I prefer to call plays - it helps with the emotional detachment. The poor coach on the other end of the headset (Hi Carrie!) may not always see it that way, but it really is better. But with the Bears, since I'm also the HC and recently had to take over playcalling, it's tougher because I'm down on the field. I think I still do a good job with the refs, but I'm less tolerant of mistakes from my guys.

So bottom line, I love the way Kingsbury picked his guy up. It's gotta be really tough in that situation to keep your cool, but I think it is a trait worth emulating. 

What I Do

This will be my only “advertising”. I wanted to keep these details in one place where you could refer to them if you wanted and not put it in your face each time you read the blog. So, sorry in advance for the length!

I offer a service. In the corporate world, they may call it benchmarking, in the scientific world they may call it peer review. In the coaching ranks, if you and I were part of the same staff, we’d just call it “talking football”. Sometimes, that “talking football” makes a very public story: http://ftw.usatoday.com/2013/09/brian-kelly-asked-bill-belichick-to-evaluate-notre-dame-football/ Also this off-season, much was made of the Green Bay Packers visiting Kevin Sumlin at Texas A&M to get his thought processes on the read option play.

Every year there are coaching clinics and player camps throughout the country. Most of the coaching clinics are in the spring, after the women’s teams have already geared up for the season, making implementation of a new or refined scheme or technique tougher. The player camps, with one very notable exception, are geared towards male youth and high school players. There’s no room for a 20- or 30-something female in any of them.

Dion Lee of the Las Vegas Showgirlz runs a camp each fall specifically for female players. I’ve coached at each one of them and enjoy it immensely. I think it’s a great thing. You can find more information about his camp here: http://womenstacklefootballgroup.ning.com/

There are only two drawbacks to a camp: generic teaching, and expense. Let’s look at each separately:

Generic teaching: When you have a group of players from all different teams, by necessity you need to coach them generically. If you had a group of players from only one team, then you could coach them specific to their own terminology, scheme and technique.

Expense: Is it more cost effective to send 10 people to one place, or to bring one person in to coach potentially everyone? Even when you factor in expenses and stipend, it is much more cost-effective for me to come to you.

Individual consulting is not cheap by any means. The absolute best in the country is a coach named Bill Williams, who I had the honor of working for for almost 20 years. You can find out more about him here: www.billwilliamsfcpga.com. Of course, Bill costs about $1,000 per day more than I do. His specialty is NFL, collegiate and top high school teams from across the country.

I understand the financial issues most female teams and players face. Basically, a team would pay for my expenses (transportation, a place to sleep and stuff to eat – and I’m not picky about the last two) and we would negotiate a stipend for me, usually between $100-$200. There needs to be a cost because it does take me some time to prepare thoroughly for our time together and there needs to be perceived value and importance by the team and players who attend.

Here are some examples of individual clinics and camps I’ve done:

1        Minnesota Machine – they wanted to install a zone run game and shore up their pass protection. I studied their film and playbook. I came in on a Friday night and met with the coaches, going over the system and getting all of their questions out of the way. Saturday morning, they scheduled a 3-hour chalk talk, which was filmed. Saturday afternoon they had a two-hour practice, in which the offensive line drills were filmed. Sunday morning was another hour chalk talk and a two-hour filmed practice. I left Sunday afternoon.

2         Sacramento Sirens – their offensive line wanted to know more about pass protection and run blocking basics in a non-Wing-T environment. I came in on Friday night, met with the offensive linemen over dinner and watched some film. I had their line blocking call sheet, and reviewed that with them. Saturday we were scheduled for two two-hour segments. It was pouring rain, so the girls just voted on going straight through. We went over almost everything in one five hour practice. I left Sunday morning.

3        Garden Grove High School – I ran a two-day (Friday evening/Saturday morning) offensive line camp for all of their OL, from varsity down to freshmen. Day One was devoted to the zone run game and Day Two was review followed by pass protection fundamentals. Each day went three hours, all on the field. Everything was filmed, and then posted to Hudl, where I went back and made comments for the coaches. In fact, the head coach called me up this weekend asking me to review and comment on their most recent game film. I was happy to oblige.

So that is what I do, when I’m not coaching one of my own teams. You may ask, “Why would you coach up someone either in a camp or in an individual clinic that you may have to face later?” Good question. Here’s why:

1      I love coaching football.

2      Many times in the women’s leagues, there are blowout games. More often than not, we’ve been on the upper end of those. If I can make anyone we play better, then it will force us to be better as well.

3         I like seeing new parts of the country. Honest – it’s a mini-adventure for me.

If you choose to bring me in either from this blog or after maybe working with me at the Las Vegas camp, I can promise you that I will absolutely coach my ass off for you and your players.

To borrow a phrase from Bill Williams, “my only agenda is your agenda.” You decide what part of the game you want covered, you decide what format the clinic takes, you decide based only on what your team needs. Of course, I can make suggestions, but in the end I work for you and will do what you want.

Sorry about the length of this particular post, but it’s a one-time thing. Back to talking football in the next one!

Who Am I, and why am I writing this?

Hi, my name is Mark Ring and I’m a 52-year old football coach from San Diego, CA. I’ve been coaching at the varsity level or above since 1991. My high school stops were: San Clemente, Westminster La Quinta, Fountain Valley & San Diego Point Loma. I’ve coached the following men’s semi-pro teams: San Diego Patriots, San Diego Stallions and the National City Bears. Finally, and most relevant to this blog, I’ve coached the SoCal Scorpions and the San Diego Surge of the women’s game.

Over the years I’ve been an offensive line coach mostly, but also a defensive line coach, an offensive coordinator, a special teams coordinator, a running backs coach and a head coach.

I’ve had the good fortune to win a national championship as an offensive coordinator (WPFL 2007) and as a special teams coordinator (WFA 2012). I also participated in another national championship (WFA 2011) and won a men’s league title as an offensive coordinator (CFA 2012).

So, that is who I am. Why am I writing this? Primarily just to pass along some of the tidbits I’ve picked up over the years. I’ve been blessed to work with a lot of great coaches, and gotten the opportunity to learn from an awful lot of them as well.

The vast majority of my topics are going to be on what I know best – offensive scheme development and offensive line play. But after each weekend’s games, there will be some items that I see that I’ll also comment on, and I hope that any ensuing discussions will be both lively and helpful to all.

Please feel free to drop me an e-mail with comments, suggestions or topics. Let’s have some fun!