It's All in the Feet

Among the offensive line at the men’s and women’s semi-pro level, there is a perception of an almost universal weakness – they can’t move. A lot of times, that is true – they can’t. Perhaps you may remember one of my earlier posts where I talked about assumptions, and that one of them was that the OL were the worst athletes on the field. That will largely remain true, but too often I see OL that “could” move if they were taught “how” to move.

Now, we’re not talking about “dancing bears” here. We’re talking about efficiency in footwork. Making sure that each step gets a result. When an OL coach watches his players do a rep or run a play, he should be watching from the feet up. After all, the feet will move before the hands ever make contact, so why wouldn’t you watch the feet first, then move your vision up the hands?

Probably the single phrase that my guys and gals get tired of hearing from me is, “Gain ground with your first step!” Even if that step is supposed to be lateral, they’d better be doing more with it than stepping in place or stepping under themselves.

How often have you heard a coach say, “Oh, we can’t run that counter play – the OL will never get there.” Before you throw all those pulling schemes into the trash, make sure you find out *why* the OL isn’t getting there. I can promise you that more likely than not, when they’re pulling, they’re stepping under themselves which makes them get to the point f attack a step late.

Same thing on pass pro – I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen tackles get beat quickly because they’re not gaining any depth on their kick slide (and really, *if* they kick slide is an issue too). But since they don’t get any depth, they have to turn out quickly against the defender, and that in turn gives them a soft shoulder to attack. It all snowballs into a sack, and it all starts from not getting depth on the first step.

When we practice pass pro, we do an awful lot of it without our hands – just getting our feet into position. Bobby Knight stresses the same thing in basketball, by playing with “your hands in your belt” – he says that “defense is in the feet” and really, pass pro isn’t too much different than defense in basketball. I find that the focus of simply “hitting someone” is overemphasized, and the skill set it takes to be a truly great pass protector is rarely practiced.

I believe that by spending more time looking at your OL’s feet and continually correcting inefficient steps, not only will you be able to run more varied blocking schemes that keep the defense playing with doubt, but that your pass pro will improve as well. And when that improves, your QB’s confidence will soar and your passing game will become much more dangerous.

Special Teams Shout Out

One thing I don’t mention very much is that I was the Special Teams Coordinator for the San Diego Surge in 2012. For the most part, I feel that it still isn’t my area of expertise so I tend to stay away from it. However, I remain extremely proud of that Surge Teams unit, and did learn a few things from coaching them.

If you saw the 2012 WFA championship game between us and the Chicago Force in Heinz Field, you saw what ESPN would call an “Instant Classic” and deservedly so. The Surge jumped out to a 20-6 lead (fueled by an opening kick-off return for a TD), then watched as the Force climbed back into the game and eventually took a 9-point lead, 36-27 with 3:19 left in the game.

We converted a 4^th and 12 (by about 6”) and on the next play hit a 60-yard TD pass to bring us within 2, 36-34. Our defense then coaxed a 3-and-out, forcing a punt. We returned the punt for a TD, putting us up 40-36. (Punt Return for TD)The 2-point conversion failed.

On the ensuing kickoff, with about 1:15 left, we pinned them on the 5 – which is unheard of in the women’s game. And it’s a good thing, because we ended up needing every one of those yards. 3 plays later, the Force was on our 15. Needing a touchdown with 0:17 left on the clock, they tried one more pass and we picked it off.

So yes – game for the ages. But notice the special teams contributions: kick return for a TD, punt return for a TD, then excellent kick-off coverage to make them go 95 for the win.

When you think about how most teams practice special teams (if this doesn’t apply to you, congratulations), you get 10, 15 or 20 minutes each practice, or maybe just once a week to get things done. Usually, from what I’ve seen, it is spent running each team out on the field and getting two or three full-team reps against air.

I don’t think that is the best use of your time! There are certain skills in the Teams just like any other position. If you’re a gunner on punt, you’ve got to find a way to beat what is basically double press coverage down the field. If you’re an edge rusher on either of the kick blocking teams, you have to be able to pick out your block point and get to it quickly. If you’re on the kick off team, you have to be able to identify what the return is doing, beat your first level blocker, then make a quick decision on how to handle the second-level blocker. A player on kick return may not be used to blocking in space, and needs to be drilled on that. The list goes on and on.

What many teams are doing now is a form of a circuit. Each coach has a rotating group of players who move from station to station. The coach assigned to a particular drill or skill gets really good at teaching and drilling that in a hurry, so your time is spent much more efficiently. Plus, when it is a skill that translates over to offense or defense, those position coaches are much more eager to “invest” in those drills because it is a direct payoff to their position or unit.

I tended to not do a circuit, but focused on a particular team and broke up that team into units, i.e., the gunners versus jammers, edge blockers versus personal protector and edge blockers, the front five versus front five, etc. We tried to make everything competitive and fun. A lot of players still think of special teams as a secondary skill, so you want to try to keep these practice sessions upbeat and fun if at all possible.

Generally speaking, unless you’re doing extra point/field goal, then the OL can get extra individual work in during the special teams period. Sometimes though, when I wanted to give tacklers a tougher time, I’d use the OL as the blockers so the tacklers went against the best I have.

So, in a nutshell: Special Teams can win you games and possibly championships. Your staff needs to buy into that, and if they do with creative scheduling and drills, your players will as well. Think about how to drill the skills you need, not just the teams. Then think about the most efficient way to get that done, THEN add a competitive or fun element to it. You’ll have winning units at the end of the year! 

The Process

Recently on 60 Minutes there was an episode about Nick Saban. Now, I don’t particularly like Nick Saban. I know one coach (who is in the NFL now) who worked for him and absolutely hated it. I know he had an offensive coordinator who couldn’t wait to leave – so much so he voluntarily took a position coach job at another school. There are stories about Saban discouraging the administrative people in his office from making eye contact with him, lest it make him feel like he has to make small talk with them. Heaven forbid…..anyway, suffice to say I’m not a fan. I respect his results, of course – he’s doing something right on the field, but at what cost? There’s gotta be a human cost there somewhere.

But it was with interest that I watched the segment. The narrator talked about what Saban calls “The Process” and how he wrote it down 12 years ago. Imagine my surprise when what the narrator started to describe sounded like it came straight from one of Coach John Wooden’s books!

One of the main tenants of Coach Wooden was that it wasn’t so much about what the opposing team was doing, but what your team is or isn’t doing. He felt that as long as you did your job to the best of your ability, as close to perfect as possible, that winning would take care of itself. Coach was famous for his lack of interest in scouting opponents – even when it wasn’t nearly as prevalent as it is now, he steadfastly didn’t do it, preferring instead to concentrate on doing that which would make his own team better at what they did.

This was the heart of the segment on Coach Saban. His fanatical attention to detail, his upbringing in West Virginia and the lessons taught to him by his father, Nick Sr. But I’m not sure you could find two diametrically opposed personalities in coaching – Wooden and Saban. Now, from what I’ve read, Coach Wooden may have been a bit more prickly then is generally assumed, and the 60 Minutes segment made Coach Saban look almost human, so nothing is always exactly as it seems.

I’ve always attempted to style myself after Coach Wooden. I like to praise in public and chastise in private (unless it is just with the OL – then I don’t mind pointing out errors, because maybe then someone else won’t repeat them, but I hardly ever want the rest of the offense to ever have a reason to disparage the OL – it happens enough from the fans and others not in the know). I like to think that I’m demanding, without being a dick about it. If the same mistake is made multiple times, then sure – voices are going to be raised. But my normal style of coaching is to explain, demonstrate and then break down the technique or idea into parts. If mistakes are made then, I try to lace the correction with some humor.

Where I need to improve, I think, is in my standards. Some of my players may be thinking, “You mean he’s going to be pickier???” But yes – in a sense. I need to be more aware of basic fundamentals at all times. Pointing out when knee bend isn’t achieved, or when pad level could be better. There must still be room for praise – players need it, when it is deserved. Empty praise is quickly seen through, and that praise will mean more when they know they’ve earned it. But gentle, firm correction is essential. Degrading, yelling for no reason, and personal criticism is the last resort of a poor coach, in my opinion.

It is a process, that is for sure. No matter what I think of him, Coach Saban is getting results with his, even if he may have stolen it from one of the greatest coaches of all time. But what am I complaining about – so did I!

Making Plays Look Alike

I recently had a discussion with a friend of mine about how to run inside and outside zone plays. We were talking about the initial steps of the running back and the aiming points for each. He was concerned about the offensive line steps as well, because he felt that having different steps for inside zone and outside zone might give the defense a quick read on the play.

Personally, I feel that it is more important for the RB’s steps to be the same than it is for the OL. The OL in both cases is still moving towards the play – on the inside  zone they are looking for a little more vertical push, while on the outside zone they are looking for a horizontal stretch, but they still have a lot of bodies going in the same direction. But, you can mask the true intent of the inside zone somewhat by having the RB take his/her initial steps to the same aiming point you have for the outside zone, and then bending back to your inside zone aiming point. However, I digress a little from my main point:

“Make the defense play with doubt.” – Homer Smith

You’ve seen me reference Coach Smith previously in my play call post. His full quote was, “Make the defense play with doubt. A defender plays best when he says, ‘I think I know what is coming and if it does, I’ll nail it and if not, I’ll just play football.’”

I think there are four main areas that you can use to instill doubt into a defense:

11) The same plays out of multiple formations. I referenced this extensively in last week’s post.

22) Running back steps – the initial steps for as many plays as possible should be the same for as long as possible. For my inside zone, outside zone, counter and power, the first two-three running back steps are the same. Every time. Keep the defense guessing and not doing anything except maintaining their gap responsibilities for as long as possible.

33) Receiver routes – I’m a big fan of vertical releases. In general I dislike “Arrow” routes and slants that happen immediately, unless there is a definite coverage reason to do so or the distance to go allows it. An awful lot of defenses and defenders employ a pattern read method – why allow them to get a read on what you’re doing right away? It is akin to a defensive line stunt/twist/loop that happens right away – any halfway decent offensive line sees what is happening and adjusts immediately to what they see. Those work much better if the defensive line gets two or three steps upfield and then runs their twists. It gets the individual OL more committed to their blocks and less able to switch off. Well, the same thing applies to receivers running against DB’s – don’t let them know what your intentions are until you absolutely have to do it!

44)Blocking schemes – If you run a play action pass of off any play that you have an OL pull, you’d better have him/them pull for the play action as well. Keep the RB mesh points the same and ideally the QB would end up in the same place as s/he would on the partnered run play.

If this is something that you want to happen, as an OC it really needs to be hammered home during practice and film work.

Self scouting also comes into play here in a big way. You may have tendencies as a playcaller that you are completely unaware of. The only way to unmask that is to self-scout. Hudl is the easiest way to self-scout I’ve seen yet. I have a standalone program that I bought several years ago – I don’t even know if the company is still in business – but it is rather cumbersome to use, although it does give good data. With Hudl (if you use it) you’re already tagging your plays to get your stats if nothing else, and it also gives you an extensive list of reports including a “What’s Next?” report – where it gives you different situations and then tells you what came right after any of those occurrences.

The big thing to remember about tendencies is that it doesn’t take very much to break them. Doing it early in a game will cause the opposing DC to have some doubt in his game plan. He’s expecting one thing and is fairly sure of it, because after all, he’s done his homework too and then you do something different such as a playaction pass off your favorite run in that situation. It casts doubt in his mind big-time.

Making the defense play with doubt has been a focal point for me for over 10 years now.