Catching Up & A New Season

Hi All – there really hasn’t been that much to write about lately, so I didn’t want to just talk to hear myself talk, you know? But here are some thoughts on what has happened, what will happen, and what is happening now:

What has happened: The women’s seasons are coming to an end. In the WFA, it will be a repeat of Week 2, in which the Dallas Elite faced the DC Divas. The road to the championship had some surprising moments, at least for me. In their latest game, the Central Cal War Angels went to Dallas and came very close to knocking off the Elite, losing only 34-28. That was a heck of an effort by the War Angels. I didn’t expect it to be that close. I thought that Dallas’ speed would overwhelm Central Cal. So hats off to the War Angels players and staff!

The other, bigger surprise for me was Boston knocking off Chicago in a relatively low-scoring affair. After Boston lost their QB to injury in the last meeting with Chicago, it turned ugly for the Renegades in a hurry. They then squeaked past Cleveland and headed for a rematch with the Force. I figured the game would be in the 35-14 range for Chicago. Instead, the Renegades came out on top 17-13. That was truly a gutsy effort by Boston!

So now – what happens this week in the National Championship? I have no idea. DC turned around on put up 47 points on that same Boston defense the next week. They’re eager to prove their Championship last year was no fluke. Dallas defeated the Divas rather forcefully in DC in Week 2, but the close win against Central Cal concerns me (it is entirely possible that Central Cal was much better than I thought they’d be, but all of their other games tracked as I thought they would, so no surprises). I do believe it will be a great game.

Over in the IWFL, in the pre-season I thought it would come down to the Utah Falconz and the New York Sharks. I was right about the Falconz, and the Sharks almost made it – the Minnesota Vixen came out of seemingly nowhere to have an undefeated season, and defeated the Sharks in the semi-finals.

Utah rolled through their schedule, surprising me only once, when they beat the Carson Bobcats only 38-0. I thought it would be 49-0. To be fair, I was only one TD off – I didn’t realize Utah doesn’t have a kicker. I said in preseason that you could crown Utah the champion right now, because no one would come within 28 points of them, and I stand by that. Utah has unfinished business, after losing in last years’ league championship to Pittsburgh, who is now in the WFA. Minnesota surprised me by beating the Sharks, but the Sharks aren’t the Falconz, and this game isn’t in Minnesota.

Finally, what is happening: My team, the San Diego Nighthawks got off to a pretty good start this Saturday, hosting the California Cowboys.  The Cowboys are a first-year team, but they have some veteran players. We may as well be a first year team, as all but one of the coaches are new, and about half the team hasn’t played together before. Going into the game, I knew nothing about the Cowboys, except that they beat a Vegas team the previous week 41-0. So that’s always fun, having no idea what your opponent will do. Our first two plays lost a total of 15 yards (including a false start in between). You gotta like that, coming out of the gate and practicing those plays specifically, only to have it blow up in your face. But no one panicked and our 4^th snap gained us a 1^st down.

Looking back on the film and my call sheet, we stayed really basic, especially by my standards. Used motion only twice, and went unbalanced only once or twice. We killed them with a TE screen that got them out of their stacked box look, and the downfield passing game remained open all night. My starting QB was 11/17, and we got all three in the game. We were able to play everyone in a 38-0 win.

Certainly, there is work to do. I wasn’t happy with our run game, but early on a lot of the credit had to go to their defense, who seemed determined not to give up yards on the ground. Football is all about adjusting, and for the most part I was happy about how we did that.

I did have my customary “week 1” brain fart though…..just before the half I thought we were on 2^nd down when we gave up a sack, with about a minute left (scoreboard wasn’t working, so had to rely on the chain crew). So I called timeout. Turns out, that was third down, with 4^th now coming up and I’d just stopped the clock for them (they had no timeouts). We punted, and held them, but I was still mad at myself.

Our next game is on the 30^th, versus the Riverside County Disciples, a team that has been playing since the spring. They should be pretty good and I coached against their DC last year, so have a little bit better idea of what they’ll likely do. Fortunately for us, they have a pretty tough game this week so won’t have a lot of time to get ready for us.

I’m sure I’ll write something next week, at least about the womens’ championships and some possible off-season activity. See you then!

National Championship & Other Thoughts

Monday night was a great college football game. For whatever reason, I enjoy college ball so much more than the NFL version. Normally I root for teams that I either feel an allegiance to (SDSU, Texas A&M) or to coaches who have helped me out over the years (changes as jobs change). I don’t particularly like either Nick Saban or Lane Kiffin, but I certainly respect Coach Saban’s process, not to mention his results. So last night, I went purely SEC rooting.

Last week I picked Alabama in a close one, mostly due to their Big Game experience and Coach Saban. I was glad to see that special teams played a huge part in the outcome, with one of the best-executed onside kicks I’ve seen, and a nice kickoff return for a score. 

Special teams matter! I thought that overall, Clemson outplayed Alabama…I mean, the things that Deshaun Watson did to that formidable Tide front seven….and the even worse abuse of ‘Bama’s offensive line (their poor RT must be having nightmares still). But in the end, the Tide can smile because fortunately for them, football is a whole team game.

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Looking at the NFL playoffs, again you saw an instance of where special teams matter (Minnesota/Seattle). I have no idea how much the laces affected the kick, I don’t know how much the wind did, and I don’t know if the kicker simply shanked it. In any case, I’m not sure there’s another example in all of sports where you go from almost certain joy to deepest despair in such a short amount of time as you do when a kicker misses a chip shot field goal. I mean, on a Hail Mary type of pass you have hope that it’ll work, but I’m not sure you really “expect” it to, you know? On a 25-yard field goal, you pretty much expect it to go.

And don’t let anyone tell you that character doesn’t matter in football either. We probably all saw the Bengals absolute implosion Saturday night. Right now, I’m thinking that players who show a history of undisciplined behavior aren’t the ones you want to lean on when the pressure builds – they don’t know how to handle it. I see that all the time at my level of coaching. Guys that have a ton of talent but can’t control themselves on or off the field, and wonder why they never got a shot at a higher level of play.

I try and tell young guys that the “talent pyramid” gets narrower and narrower the higher you go, and there’s not room for everyone. Guys fall outside the pyramid for all sorts of different reasons. Your job as a player is to make sure that the only reason you fall outside is lack of talent. You can improve your technique, you can have a perfect attitude, you can be the best student of the game (or have the best grades in school) ever….but at some point, you’re probably not fast enough, not big enough or just not athletic enough – all genetic things out of your control. If you let yourself fall outside the pyramid for things you can control, then it’s on you, and you alone. Deal with it, learn from it and move on.

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Finally, my men’s team, the San Diego Nighthawks, picked up a new coach that might just change everything for us this year. Our new Passing Game Coordinator is former Texas A&M, former Viking and former Panther WR/QB Jason Carter. Coach Carter was most recently the head coach at La Jolla High.

His hiring points to a couple of things: First, it ensures that our WR’s and QB’s will get as much detailed coaching as our OL traditionally has. That just wasn’t something that I was able to provide the skinny guys. Right there, we’ve gotten better! 

Second, and most importantly to me, is that I’ll now have a living, breathing example of how exactly to install and implement a true no huddle, up tempo approach. I’ve never been on a staff where anyone else has actually done that. I’ve read books, I’ve gone to lectures, I’ve asked other coaches how to do it, but I think until you actually experience it for yourself, you’re not quite sure of how it’ll all go down. So even if we have Coach temporarily (I hope it’ll be at least a couple of seasons), I plan on learning as much from him as possible.

And that’s part of the key to success…..divest yourself of your ego, coaches, and don’t be afraid to hire people who may be better than you at some phase of the game. I gave up some control I didn’t have to as the OC in order to get better, and make our team better. Whether you do that for a season, or for a weekend mini-camp, the end result is that you and your team will be better for it.

By Any Means Possible

This past week, my men’s team, the Bears, took on another 8-1 team in the Inland Empire Meerkats (yeah, I get that a meerkat is part of the mongoose family, but it’s gotta be like the red-headed stepchild. Not very intimidating of a name). Anyway, they were 8-1 for a reason – they had a couple of very electric playmakers on offense. One we knew about, and pretty well shut down, and one we didn’t, but found out about in a hurry – he ran back the opening kickoff for a TD and then scored on a quick pass of about 80 yards.

Anyway, we won 30-12 (extra points seem to be an extreme luxury in this league, as none were scored). The way we did it is what is noteworthy. I can’t remember running this much by choice in a long, long time. I’m a big proponent of making the defense “play with doubt” and really prefer to be balanced in my play calls. But although we completed a few key passes, our efficiency wasn’t where it needed to be. So we ran the ball…..and ran…and ran. 

We might have thrown 2 passes in the 2^nd half. But we controlled the clock, and after only a 12-6 halftime lead, we opened up the game. A defensive scoop ‘n score gave us breathing room at 18-6, and then we took it from there.

As usual, there was something I wish I hadn’t done, and that was at the end of the first half. We were pretty much backed up around our 15, but I thought we could go down and score. We had one time out, and so did they. Well, two incomplete passes left us looking at 3^rd and 10 with about 50 seconds left. My HC was looking at me like he didn’t like me very much at that moment. So we ran the ball on 3^rd, got about 5 yards and I was thinking, “What an idiot….they’re going to call time out, and we’re going to have to punt from not only backed up, but to #15.” Except they didn’t call time out….and we watched the clock wind down, and we got out of there. I post stuff like this to help others avoid the same mistakes I make….and they’re subtle (usually), but still – if I want to be a great play caller, those are areas in which I need to improve.

Now….for the “meat” of this week’s post, I want to go back to one of my early posts, which fits in with this week’s theme of “doing what needed to be done” to win. This was titled “My Favorite Offense” from December 2013:

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Every once in awhile I’m asked what my favorite offense is. My license plates read “WC OFNSE”, so that could be a clue but in reality, the answer is simple: the one that works for that team, that season.

I’ve worked for 11 different offensive coordinators, and have been one myself five (note: now 6) different seasons. In that time, as a coordinator I’ve employed the following offenses: Wishbone, Power I, West Coast, Shotgun Spread and Fly.

I’ve got to say that right now, if the personnel is right, I really like the possibilities with the shotgun spread. You can do almost any variant you want out of it – you can have a varied passing game, you can run option, you can run any type of perimeter run game and you can have a power-based run game.

The key is recognizing and adjusting to what your players can do. Let me invoke one of Homer Smith’s quotes, which has stuck with me for years: “It’s not what you know, it’s what your players know.”

My first venture into the world of coordinating was with a men’s semi-pro team. I’d just finished a five-year stint at Fountain Valley High, under the watchful eyes of Hank Cochrane, who continues to be one of my heroes, although he would slap me silly for saying that. I figured that these players were grown-ass men and could handle a “high school” offense. Boy was I wrong…. At FVHS, we used four different pass protection concepts, with two variants in two of them, for a total of six protections. I simplified that down to one for these guys, and they still couldn’t comprehend it (a half slide protection). In Week One, we gave up eight sacks. I’d gone entire seasons at FV without giving up eight sacks! In Week Two, we beat up on a horribly overmatched team. Then we had a bye week, and our QB disappeared – just left. No one knew where he was. Anyway, the combination of an offensive line that apparently had very little experience in pass pro and having to break in a new QB pretty much eliminated a standard drop-back passing game.

So – what to do in a bye week? I had a speedy receiver that had played QB in Jenks, Oklahoma. He’d had experience in running the Wishbone. So I talked with him, found out what he was comfortable with, then set about figuring out ways to get the OL on the same page. Long story short, out of an eight team league, we ended up being the #2 scoring offense.

The following year, same team, completely different personnel.  That was the Power I team. I had a tailback that played at Alabama, and a huge offensive line. My QB had a little mobility and a strong arm for play action passes. At the end of the year, we were again the #2 scoring team, and beat the #1 team 35-14.

Each year of my coaching career, my outlook and preferences have changed. I’d evolved into a shotgun spread guy ever since about 2010. Last year, I went into the (2013) season thinking that was what we were going to run. However, when a combination of inexperienced receivers and quarterbacks raised its head, we were forced to adjust once again. This time, looking at our OL (extremely mobile, but a bit undersized) and our running backs (nice blend of speed and power) and what the receivers could do (they could block their asses off!) we settled on running the Fly offense, out of shotgun. I visited with Mark McElroy from Saddleback College (and who coincidentally followed me at my first coaching gig, at San Clemente High) and got his concepts down for the run game. We kept as much of our current terminology as possible, including the entire passing game, to keep the transition down. So then, all it became was a different play call mix, not a whole new offense.

The results were mixed – we averaged right around 40 points a game on offense, but we went 9-2, which was our worst finish in a couple of years. My feeling is that we were too dependent on the outside run game, and when we weren’t physically able to block defenders at the point of attack, we suffered. So if it was scheme or ability, either way we didn’t get the results we wanted.

This season (2014), we have an experienced QB coming back. My vision would be to keep what we ran last year, but instead of running the Fly motion 80% of the time, run it about 25% of the time, and then re-incorporate the rest of the shotgun spread run and pass game we had before. But again, as a coaching staff we have to look at what we can and can’t do, and be willing to adjust from there.

In closing, as a coordinator you can’t be so tied to your preferred plays or system that you lose sight of the fact that it is still about the team’s success. Remember, it’s not what you know, but what your players know.

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See you next week!

One Born Every Minute

Those readers of a certain age may well remember the old saying, “There’s a sucker born every minute.” In today’s post, those suckers are football coaches who don’t know the rules, and who don’t at least sometimes prepare their teams for those weird moments that come up every so often, usually to their detriment.

Obviously, the latest example is from Monday night. The Lions’ Calvin Johnson was about ready to score a go-ahead TD in the last seconds of the game when Seattle’s Kam Chancellor punched the ball out before the goal line. The ball was headed towards the back line, when a Seattle LB helped it go out of the end zone by batting it. The ruling on the field was that it was a touchback, and Seattle got the ball on their own 20. As it turns out, this was “illegal batting” just like you would see maybe a punter do when he drops a snap in his own end zone. He doesn’t want to give up a touchdown, so he bats it out of the end zone and accepts the safety. In this case, because Detroit had possession of the ball, the penalty for illegal batting should correctly have been giving the Lions the ball at Seattle’s 1 yard line, first and goal. Might have made a big difference in the outcome.

Now, I’m not going to sit here and say I know all the rules. I’ve screwed up plenty of times, as have coaches I’ve worked with and coached against. But I do make an effort to at least go over in my head situational items such as the above and how to prepare the team for them. Almost immediately after Monday night’s call, one of the New England Patroits tweeted that Bill Belichek knows the rule, because they’ve practiced that exact situation before.

Had an interesting occurrence in the Bears’ game Saturday night (we won, 25-0, to get our league record to 8-1, 9-2 overall). The Ravens were punting, and they shanked the punt horribly…..like for negative yards. But one of their players very alertly picked it up since it hadn’t crossed the line of scrimmage and took off. Fortunately for us, we tackled him short of the first down, and took over. That was the second time that has happened in my career – the other was either in 2005 or 2006 against the Houston Energy, and that time the Energy player DID gain a first. Believe me, I’ve known that rule from that point on!

Usually all it takes is one time for something to happen to you, and that rule will be imprinted in your brain forever. One of the things I run in to all the time are the differences between NCAA and NFL rules. The Surge plays by NCAA, the Bears by NFL. So sometimes I have to think really hard about the situation before I go to a ref. (Funny side note…..my very first high school game as a coach, in 1991, I was down on the sidelines near the end of the first half and watched the clock go right past the 2:00 mark. I started hollering about the 2 minute warning…..yeah, the other coaches no doubt thought I was an idiot.)

Part of the preparation you can do as a coach is make sure you speak with the officials before the game. You can bring up things like how they will interpret certain rules (doing that saved us from running an illegal play in Dallas), or maybe what you’ve seen the other team do on film that perhaps breaks some rules. We noticed once that on screen passes, our opponent’s RB was consistently in front of the LOS when she caught the ball, with OL downfield. You better believe we brought that up in pregame talks, and we did get a call that way.

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We’re just over a month out for the RS Football Camp – time to book your flights if you need to, and reserve the hotel rooms if you need one! The Facebook Event page is here, and it has all the info you need! The coach-to-player ratio is really high, so no matter what level of player you are, from raw rookie to Team USA member, there will be instruction available!

The visiting coach list is pretty much set. In addition to members of the Surge staff, we’ll have the Head Coach of the Seattle Majestics, Scott McCarron; the Offensive Line Coach of the Dallas Elite, Billy Hughes Jr.; the Defensive Backs and Speed Coach of the Elite, Angel Rivera III, and the former DC of the Surge, former HC of the West Coast Lighting, and current defensive coach of the Phoenix Phantomz, Nate Benjamin. We may be announcing one other coach soon as well.

We’re looking forward to seeing you!

The Century Mark

This will be my 100^th post…..not sure what I expected when I started, but this has been fun, as well as being a mental challenge. Sometimes there just doesn’t seem to be much to write about and sometimes it seems to be a bit of a grind. I definitely feel for those who write professionally and on deadline! Even though I do this for fun, I still feel a responsibility to do one each week, and get it out on time. So far, I haven’t experienced a group of angry villagers with pitchforks (as Union-Tribune columnist Nick Canepa would say) knocking down the door in protest. I actually don’t know if that’s a good thing or not.

Now that I seem to have picked up a few more readers (based on the little lines on the viewing chart), I may go back and re-post some of the early posts, where I was really heavy into X’s and O’s. That’s still my favorite subject, so if anyone wants more of that, just let me know!

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The Saga of the Bears continued last week, when we faced a very formidable Riverside Redskins team. I knew their reputation of winning on defense, with a basic, grind-it-out offense, so I was thinking it would be one of those 14-7 games. Especially when all I had at practice last Thursday was 2 OL, 1 QB, 2 RB, 1 TE and 1 WR (who wasn’t even going to be at the game). Anyway, the Redskins came in tied with us at 6-1. They left 6-2, as we rolled to a 36-0 win. Although all of the points were put up by the offense, our defense put us in a lot of great spots as they forced 5 turnovers.

We actually used the 2^nd half as a practice, when I installed some pistol-concept plays. I’d resisted doing it a little, as I didn’t want to really change the scheme up front, so instead I decided to keep the blocking the same as on our backside read stuff, and just use the B (fullback) as either a lead block on our inside zone, or as a fill blocker when we ran counter. Also tried to get him out on a playaction. It’s a work in progress, but when you’re installing stuff during a game, you sort of take what you can get…..and yes, that’s something I’ve never done before, installing whole new concepts in the middle of a game. Only in semi-pro!

This week, I know my QB isn’t going to be at practice, so it’ll give us a chance to work on my “Plan B” stuff with my #2 and #3 guys (who are starting WR).

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For a long time, I’ve used the mantra of “football is football” no matter what the level, no matter if it is men’s or women’s. I have found one instance where that isn’t true, and it has to do with the raw speed guys have. With the women, we’ve developed a “blitz beater” package that is automatically tagged on the backside of our pass routes. It is very simple – the QB receives the (shotgun) snap, and looks for a blitz on the first two steps of her drop. If she gets it, she hits one of the blitz beater routes. If she doesn’t, then she’s hitting her third step while her eyes shift to the playside route combination and she hits that. With a little practice and reps, it becomes a very smooth process.

It doesn’t work with the guys…..by the time the QB makes his read on the backside, determines there’s no blitz (or what it is disguised as), and comes back to the playside, the playside route windows have come and gone. And my QB is a smart guy, who played four years collegiately. It seems the reason that our Surge QB can process that read and still have time to come back to the playside while the routes develop is a case of the relative speed – their eyes/brains function at the same rate, but the foot speed of the men gets them into the routes so much faster than the women.

So I’ve adjusted. I slide our protection away from the call, and generally keep in a RB to block/release on the playside. When I do free release the RB, at least now the QB’s backside is covered and he can see pressure coming at him, AND has the RB as a quick checkdown. I’d always wondered why a simple solution like we use on the Surge (and it really is brilliant – I didn’t come up with it, our HC Mike Suggett did back in 2010) wasn’t being used collegiately or in the NFL. Now I know!

Doing it that way, with the RB checking, it also sets up our screens and draws a bit better. 

All in all, I think this is a better solution, and most importantly, it makes my QB more comfortable. In the end, when it comes down to your comfort versus your QB's comfort, I think you really ought to look at "is this a battle I want to fight?" Sometimes, yes, it is. Other times, not so much. This ended up being one of those times. Our points have skyrocketed since I made the adjustment a couple of weeks ago, during our bye. So has our completion percentage.

Keep your eye on the Big Picture and divest your ego.

Progress

My men’s team (the SoCal Bears) was back in action this week, travelling up to Moreno Valley to play a team that was just behind us in the standings. When we pulled up to the complex two hours before the game, there was *no one* there. Like, one kid sitting outside the locked gate, and that was it. He was clearly the last kid getting picked up from a Pop Warner game. We saw a beautiful field turf soccer field, with nice lights and everything. Unfortunately, the adjacent football field looked like a malnourished pasture. Dirt field, lines only every 10 yards, and virtually no room on the sidelines, the edges of the end zones (lined with concrete) and fences right behind the goal posts, so that recovering kicked balls was an adventure. The lights were, um….basic. Fortunately, with a 4:00 kickoff, we weren’t too worried about the lights, although the game behind us was really, really dark.

Anyway, the Good Guys came out with a 41-0 win. All the scoring was done in the first half. We started with a running clock in the 3^rd, we got one possession, in which we started experimenting with things and ended up in a 4^th and 25 or so, and then the game was called early. No idea why, but it was fine with me. Our first drive of the game was 4 or 5 plays, and resulted in a TD. On the ensuing kickoff, their returner took the ball out of the endzone briefly, then went back in and took a knee, resulting in a safety. That’s a great example of making sure your players at all levels understand the rules! We then took that kickoff and scored in another 3 plays, and that was that. I think we had a blocked kick for a TD, and an INT for a TD as well. But the offense was clicking, and had our best production of the season.

The result wasn’t as heartening to me as the process – the guys that were there (we had 30 by game time, from a roster of 48), came together like I hadn’t seen before and simply did what needed to be done. There was no complaining about calls, or touches, or playing time. The run game ground out yards, along with some key plays, and the pass game was both efficient and explosive. Just a very solid win and a great example of what can happen when players put the team first.

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I went out and scouted a player Friday night. He goes to the local high school, and he and his parents have high hopes for his college potential. They’ve expressed interest in having me work with him during the offseason, so I wanted to get a feel for how he played. I haven’t done a lot of individual scouting, so it was fun to put together a detailed report on just one kid, and focus on him during the game. He does have some potential, and is only a sophomore. It’ll be fun to see him develop.

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Interest in the RS Football Camp continues to build. It is getting to be that time when airline tickets are in a good place at a little less than two months out, so it’s probably time to book! Please remember that only those who pre-pay will be guaranteed a camp t-shirt, so feel free to do so via PayPal to kmring@cox.net. The cost is only $40….I confidently defy you to find better value for your money anywhere, considering the level of coaches who will be there – coaches that are very successful in the women’s game, experienced in coaching women to a high level of play.

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I saw where Alabama has recruited 5 QB’s in the last four years – one 5 star, two 4 stars and two 3 stars. They’re starting a transfer player. You can tout recruiting all you want, but there still has to be player development. We see that at all levels. I’ve seen teams full of all-star talent go by the wayside in both the men’s and women’s game.

It’s a TEAM game….I know that great players have made me look a lot smarter than I am over the years, and I’ve also seen teams with great players (as I mentioned above) fall short in the coaching department. And sometimes, at our levels, it is ownership that is lacking. There’s levels to this stuff if you want to be successful!

Until next week!

Another One In The Books

The WFA National Championship was held last week, and I’m happy to report that it was a great game, with the DC Divas coming out on top, 30-26. I wasn’t able to see it, as my men’s team was playing about a half hour away, but from all indications it was a game worthy of a national championship.

In the earlier games, the National (East) All Stars beat the American (West) All Stars 26-0, while the Central Cal War Angels cemented their spot as a legit Top 10 team by beating Atlanta 28-8. I saw that a ranking system had Atlanta in the Top 10, while Central Cal was down around 15, and I never bought into that.

I was also able to watch the IWFL championship. Interesting game, for sure. Pittsburgh showed more power than I thought they had – their lines commanded both sides of the ball, especially in the second half. Early on, Utah’s speed gave the Passion some problems, and also occasionally in the second half as well. Utah got some nice matchups in the Pittsburgh secondary. As I suspected, Pittsburgh QB Lisa Horton was able to hit her targets, and they did a great job of holding onto the ball – their receivers are pretty darn good.

After all that, my personal Top 10 doesn’t change, except I do think that Dallas deserves to move up to #2. They gave DC all they could handle. All in all, it was a great year in women’s football!

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As I mentioned, my Bears team was also in LA, to face a talented SoCal Apaches squad. The Apache’s DC, Ed Rycroft, is somewhat a legend in the semi-pro ranks, and he is one of the few coaches I really look forward to going up against, because I know I’m going to have to be firing on all cylinders to have a chance. We won, 18-0, but it wasn’t the offense’s best moment. Our defense had two INT’s for TDs – one from 60 yards, and one from 102 (the 102 was by one of my receivers, but give credit to the defense)! Once again, we were oh-so-close to breaking things open. We rolled up there with only four OL, so grabbed a DT to fill in, and he played the whole game, and gave it his all.

There was one series I’d definitely like to have back, that I don’t think I handled as well as I could have. We were up 18-0, with about 12 minutes left in the game. We’d made them fairly one dimensional on offense, and we wanted to run the ball to take time off the clock. However, I strongly dislike going into a shell too much before about 4 minutes left as I think that players tend to relax if they sense that is what is happening. We started off somewhere around our 20 or 25. Had a nice mix of runs and passes, and then hit about a 40 yard pass to get down to their 20 or so. Had a decent run (5 or so yards) on first down, and was getting ready to just pound the ball. Then we got hit with a false start, to put us back to 2^nd and 10. 

Here’s where I started to screw up…..I thought a short pass would be OK and safe. It was, but it was dropped. So now 3^rd and 10. I knew I was in 4 down territory (once again, the kicker didn’t show, just like last week). I ran the ball on 3^rd, got about 3 yards….clock is running, now down under 6 minutes. I got the great idea to call a timeout to make sure we got into the best play possible on 4^th. I got so excited that I called the TO right then, instead of letting the play clock wind down. Probably cost us 30 seconds. Then the 4^th down pass was intercepted……sure, it was inside the 10, so they were going to have to drive 90 yards and score three times in 5 minutes, but still – I was mad at myself for those mistakes, even if hardly anyone else noticed. As it was, they ended the game on our 5. If I’d managed that series a little better, the game would have ended on their side of the field.

***

Had the opportunity to do a little community service Monday night. One of my old QB’s is coaching an Under 8 team, and he asked me to come out and go through some basic drills with his OL and for his OL coach, who is just starting out. So of course, I went out. It was fun – remembering how to relate a little bit to 8-year olds was a blast! We did about an hour and 15 minutes, and held their attention for the most part, so it was a win.

***

OK, I’ll be out on vacation next week, so the week after that, it is all about The Camp! Still slated for November 14-15, I’m hoping to have full details ironed out by August 26 – still 11 weeks to go, should be plenty of time.

Fellowship

First, a quick men’s game update…..while I was in Dallas, my men’s team won 36-0. It helped to have 7 OL at practice that week, plus it helped to play a bit weaker team. But that’s what we needed to get the OL all on the same page. This week, we traveled up to LA to play the LA Inferno. On film, they looked a bit undisciplined, sort of a backyard style of play. That’s something I need to get used to, how to respond to that a bit better. In the women’s game, you’re seeing more and more good coaches and fundamentally sound teams. So no longer are we accustomed to reacting to the “backyard brawler” style of play. It’s sort of like a trained martial artist going up against just a wild swinger – if the trained fighter isn’t careful, he’ll make assumptions on how the brawler will act based on the trained fighter’s sense of what is “right”, and that may or may not be the case. I tend to think in the same terms sometimes, and assume that the defense will react in a fundamentally sound manner.

Anyway, the Inferno was more structured than they showed on film. Maybe it was a Week 1 thing for them last game, or maybe they thought we were going to do different stuff, who knows? We came out of it with a 16-14 win. In an unexpected development, our kicker didn’t make the trip (along with about 10 other guys), so we had to go for two each time. As I mentioned, we were missing about 10 guys, so it was sort of a scramble. Some guys I knew would be gone, others I had no idea until about an hour before kickoff. Welcome to the men’s game! 

We ended up driving up and down the field on them….our only three and out was the very first series. But each time we got down in the red zone, we’d do something to shoot ourselves in the foot. I can honestly say that there wasn’t a single play call that I’d take back, it was just another case of guys learning to work together. We’ll get better. We finished the game on their five, kneeling twice to run out the clock. I almost thought about running one last play down there, but all I could think about was, “OK, dummy, with your luck it’ll be ‘fumble and scoop ‘n score’, or even worse, they return it just far enough to be able to kick a field goal”. So we took the knee……

***

Now the fellowship part. The day after the Dallas Elite beat us in the conference championship, their OL coach, Billy Hughes Jr., took me out to lunch. Coach and I have become friends since we first met in 2012. He’s a great guy, and a fine coach. We of course reviewed the game from the previous night and we asked each other what we were thinking at various times, and then got a bit deeper into certain techniques that we both used. To me, this is what the coaching fraternity is all about: helping each other and having fun while doing it! Amongst the mutual respect, there was plenty of laughter and genuine friendliness. I wish I had those types of relationships with more coaches.

With that, I wanted to talk more about our camp coming up in November. The whole reason for the camp is to bring some of the best coaches in the women’s game together to benefit each other. It’s not a Surge recruiting tool. I’m sad that people would think that, especially when we invite opposing coaches, even from our own division, to attend and be as involved as they want to be. We had a coach from another SD county team come out last year, who watched everything very closely – not from a “concerned” standpoint, but so he could quickly and quietly translate what we (Coach Hughes and I) were teaching into his terminology for his OL. I hope it benefitted his OL – I see that one of them made IWFL All American this year as a rookie!

I’ve always been guided by the great John Robinson on this. My second year as a coach I went up to USC, when Coach was in his second stint there. They had a coach’s clinic, and Coach gave the introductory talk, and he said, “If you want to get in the huddle, get in the huddle. If you want to be ‘right there’ for a drill, get as close as you want. Just don’t get run over.” That’s the level of access we want to offer here also.

Last year, besides the Surge players (who often provide a good measuring stick for other players), our largest contingent was from the Utah Falconz. Our next largest group (7 players) was from the Minnesota Machine! We didn’t get anyone from any of the LA teams (although a couple from Ventura) or Las Vegas, which I thought would be the largest groups given the proximity.

So coaches – let your players come on out. Let them mix in with other players from across the country. Mix in yourselves with the other coaches who are there. Sit down and have a meal with us, maybe an adult beverage or two. Fellowship is good.

2015 Camp Announcement

OK, I know this is a little later than last year, but we’ve got most of the groundwork done this time around. The 2^nd Annual RS Football Camp is slated for the weekend of November 13 through 15 (Friday night through Sunday afternoon). There’s nothing “official” going on Friday night, but if anyone gets in early and wants to talk some ball, we’ll be around. I’ll be setting up a Facebook event soon.

Here are the basic details:

Dates: November 14-15, 2015
Times: Saturday: 9:00 am to about 4:30 or 5:00 pm; Sunday: 8:00 am to about 3:00 pm
Place: Santana High School, Santee, CA

Cost: $40 per player or visiting (non-instructing) coach. Yes, this is more than we charged last year, but all profits still go to the coaches who will be travelling in to volunteer their time. There wasn’t enough to go around last time for all the work and expense they put in getting out here. $40 for about 15 hours of instruction? Find me a better deal anywhere!  :-)

Staff: Members of the San Diego Surge staff will be available. As with last year, we don’t want to make this about us – we want to draw from the best practices from as many sources as we can. If you consider yourself to be a great teacher, especially a great technician, then we’d like to talk to you. Please send me either a Facebook message or drop me an e-mail at kmring@gmail.com. Last year we had coaches from Utah and Dallas out. Those coaches are absolutely invited again but variety is good also!

This is a padded camp. You can attend without pads, but you’ll miss out on a lot of the fun. The OL/DL pass rush segments were intense last year, as was some of the 7-on-7 work. From the comments we had last year, we’re not doing too much in the classroom this time. Almost all of the camp will be done on the field. The closest we’ll get to a classroom is if part of a session is being done in the bleachers.

So – you’ve got four months to plan your San Diego in November vacation!

***

I was reminded Saturday night (not that I needed one, but this one was especially painful) that everything on offense starts with the offensive line. If you don’t have a decent one, it is really, really tough to get anything going on defense, especially when the opposing DL is pretty good.

My men’s team, of which I am the OC, got shut out, 21-0. I’ve gone through multiple seasons (like, the last three with the Surge) giving up fewer sacks than we did on Saturday. I dunno….10…12? Something ridiculous like that. We came out in a full slide protection because we were concerned about up-the-middle pressure. Didn’t work. We then decided that we would get more favorable matchups if we slid only one direction. Didn’t work. Then we went Big On Big – didn’t work. Finally, we did something I swore I’d never do, and that was max protect with both backs coming to the edge, and the entire OL blocking inside, like on a field goal. Still didn’t work. We got absolutely manhandled. Only when they put in their backups did we get any semblance of time.

It was embarrassing, and one of the longest games of my life. We had nothing in the run game either. Now, to be absolutely fair, there are things that happen in the men’s game that don’t normally happen in the women’s…..like, one of my guards I didn’t even know as a human being 48 hours before the game. The kid is full of heart and tenacity, but was just giving up way too much weight against a pretty good DT. My other guard is one of the nicest and most enthusiastic kids I’ve ever coached (and “kid” is a definite relative term here – they’re grown men), but in all honesty, I’m not sure he’s ever played the game before. I had him for three practices. Rookies I'm used to - I get them every year with the Surge, and one has started for me every game at LG this year. But I had her for 16 practices before our first game.

So….back to the recruiting trail I go. I’ve identified some things we can probably do next week (so if you’re reading this Ray, I got you!), but it’ll have to be done “in absentia” by my QB coach and OL coach, since I’ll be in Dallas.

***

All right then…..two great games this weekend, who you got? Chicago at DC, and the Surge at Dallas. I talked about those games last week.

There’s also the IWFL league championship (sorry, but I refuse to use the league’s pretentious “world championship” moniker) this weekend, the Utah Falconz vs the Pittsburgh Passion. I have no idea who will win, since I haven’t seen the Passion play. If Lisa Horton is out, I think it’ll be very tough for them, as she is pretty darn good. I think overall the Passion is a solid team, but let’s also remember that they were never able to get over the Boston/DC/Chicago hump, usually finishing third in their division when both Boston and DC were in there with them.

The Falconz are a pretty good team too – I think. They haven’t played anyone, even though according to them, they’ve been the underdog in at least three or four games. I have to laugh every time I see that type of talk. I expected them to contend in the WFA – and who knows – they might have been playing this weekend if they were in the WFA. Or maybe they would’ve been bounced out by now. No one really has any idea of how good they truly are. 

But I have plenty of friends over there, so I hope they do win, and then come over to the WFA next year.

In any case, good football is here and we should enjoy it!

Redemption

OK, so the big thing everyone wanted to talk about a couple weeks ago was our loss to the War Angels up in Delano (25 miles or so north of Bakersfield, otherwise known as “Hell on Earth” – sorry Delanoians, but y’all must have done something wrong in a previous life to be forced to live there).

There are a few basic causes of the loss, and let me put them in order of importance:

1.   The War Angels played very, very well. They are a national Top 10 (#8) team for a reason. They had to play in the same heat we did, and they pulled it off.

2.    The War Angel staff put together a great game plan, especially on defense.

3.    My mind was baked. I’m the first to admit that I’m a wimp in the heat. I mentioned in the last blog about how miserable I was the entire time. I looked out at their defense and saw how they aligned. My mind told me they were a standard 3-4, but they were doing things post-snap that didn’t match with that at all. Once I got home and looked at the film, I saw exactly what they were doing. We had an adjustment already in for what they did in action (had started running it as far back as our West Coast Lightning game), but it was more for a 4-3 look. Again, my mind just didn’t process what was going on. You can blame probably 70% of our run game woes on me. I’m still kicking myself for that – I needed to be better right then.

4.  We wilted in the heat. There’s no sugar coating that. You look at our film and many of our players looked like they were running in quicksand. Yeah, we were missing a couple of players and had a couple more go down with injuries or heat-related issues, but the ones that were in were slower than normal, no doubt about it. We need to be better prepared individually if we make it out to Dallas. Me? I’ll be up in the booth where I can remain clear-headed.  :-)

So, as many of you know, we had a rematch in the first round of the playoffs this past week. The outcome was different. Not as stark as our initial meeting this year when we won at home 55-26, but in the playoffs I’ll take a 27-7 win any day. What was different?

1.    #3 above was fixed. They came out doing the same things they did defensively before. Why wouldn’t they? However our adjustment was in from the beginning. We didn’t exactly run all over them, don’t get me wrong – they’re still a very, very good defensive team. But we didn’t have the constant negative yardage plays on our base runs that we had before.

2.       Our OC also made some formation adjustments that worked out well for us, given how they aligned to them. Whether or not those stay in the game plan is yet to be determined (Hi Coach McCarron!).  :-)

3.    We had a couple of players back that we didn’t have two weeks ago. While they didn’t have a huge impact, but their presence forced attention and they provided valuable depth. As they let their injuries heal and/or practice with regularity they’ll be a LOT better.

4.  There’s an old saying in football (maybe all team sports, but especially an emotional sport like football) that says, “A team will take on the personality of their head coach.” If the HC remains calm in moments of adversity, the team will tend to do so as well. If the HC doesn’t do that, then the team will follow – especially when some of them are predisposed to be temperamental anyway. And that’s what happened…..honestly, it took some of the satisfaction out of the win for me personally. I wanted to beat them with their best defensive player on the field. However, her actions led to her ejection. The actions of their coach led to about 60 yards in penalties. We’ve seen them both do this before. They are emotional and fiery. Sometimes they can’t channel what could be a good thing properly, and it costs them. This was one of those times, and it is unfortunate. I don’t know their player hardly at all, just from coaching against her since 2011 when she was with the Bay Area Bandits. I’ve talked to their coach a number of times and I like him personally. He’s obviously a good coach. But this week, in my opinion, his actions hurt them.

For us now, it is hosting the 9-0 Seattle Majestics, who are now ranked #7. Last year, their defense gave us fits early on and I expect the same type of tough battle again. Of course, last year it was us travelling north and now they get to visit us. I just noticed something in the Massey ratings…..in a cruel twist of fate, we jumped over the Dallas Elite, we are at 4 and they’re at 5. Last year, assuming that we get past Seattle, it would have meant that Dallas would have to come to us. This year, the ratings were locked after the regular season, so we have to go to Dallas no matter what (if we beat Seattle). Oh well…..

I hope you all have a great 4^th of July weekend!

I Want a New Drug

For those old enough to remember that Huey Lewis and the News tune…..

I’ve come to realize one thing this year, between the women’s season in which games started in April, and the start of the men’s season, in which practices started two weeks ago: I really love being an offensive coordinator. I’ve never really had the burning desire to be a head coach, although I did it once. I mean, it is fun to have influence on not only all three phases of the game (although I pretty much stayed out of my DC’s way), but also on a team’s culture. But overall, I’ve known for a long time that I don’t have the patience to deal with all the admin stuff and disciplinary items that come across a HC’s desk. That just isn’t my gig. Perhaps if I were a high school head coach, where it was my only job, then it would be OK.

I want to be like Ernie Zampese (another old time reference for you youngsters), the long-time OC for the Chargers during Air Coryell and the Rams after that (also the Cowboys and Patriots). He was happiest while simply creating – never wanted to be a HC, although he did interview for a couple of gigs just because he felt he should because of courtesy to those that asked. Kind of like Norm Chow, another career-long OC, who yes, he is now a HC, but I bet he wishes he was still “just” a coordinator. I don’t know, maybe Coach Chow actually wanted to be a HC when he took the job or interviewed, but I’m not sure how much fun he’s having now…..and I think that is important.

What I’ve noticed this year with the Surge is that only coaching the OL has left me feeling sort of empty on game days. There’s no knot in my stomach wondering if I’ve done everything I could do to get the offense ready; no tossing and turning the night before wondering if I’ve made the right adjustments against this defense, and wondering whether my Plan B (or C and D) were going to be enough. No adrenaline rush when your first series results in a four play TD drive, and then you come back on the second series and do it again. No watching your First 15 play script work to perfection, or get trashed after Play 8, searching for alternatives.

Certainly, the Central Cal game a few weeks ago came close to the “old high”, their DL giving us some physical issues up front and making me stay really on top of things for most of the game. Even when the final outcome was in hand we had the continuous responsibility to protect our QB and backs, so there was little time to relax. But overall, I know how talented my OL is and I’ve seen most of them in enough plays that I know what the end result of any play is likely to be – 25 years of coaching the OL will do that for you.

Contrast that to our first Bears practice two weeks ago….it was just a practice, and we were only going to run one run play (with variations), a few pass route combinations, one protection, but all of our base formations, motions and two cadences. However, this was the “unveiling” of the offense that I tore down and rebuilt from a terminology standpoint last winter. I wasn’t sure how it would take from a comprehension and rep tempo standpoint. It went better than I hoped, and we caught the defense more than a couple of times. We probably hit on 70% of our passes. Granted, it was Day One for them as well, and they have a new coordinator also. So we were both trotting out new systems. But doing what we did is a heckuva lot better than being on the short end, you know? But at the end, and during it, that same high was in effect – the feeling that something I created was alive, and I felt more “alive” as well.

Please don’t take ANY of this to mean that coaching the OL isn’t still a challenge. It is, especially this year when dealing with multiple rookies and injuries. It’s just that on game day, my work is largely done. On game day, I turn to being an encourager, an adjuster and an occasional ass-kicker.  :-)

***

A couple of big games last week. Boston went into Chicago and beat the Force. I didn’t see that happening. I thought Boston might be done after losing to DC (in Boston) and then beating Cleveland (who, although very solid, hadn’t come that close to Boston recently) by only four points. Thanks a lot Renegades, for keeping our East Coast scouting complicated!

Pacific beating Central Cal….honestly didn’t see that one happening either, although I did expect a close game. Pacific is certainly flying high right now, and this week’s game against them in their place should be a great one. If you’re anywhere close to Carson, you should come out to see it!

***

One of my favorite sites for info (not necessarily scheme or technique, just program/coach/job info) is Football Scoop. The other day, one of their staff members asked an anonymous (too bad, because I’d like to give him credit) FBS defensive coordinator what the toughest offense for him to defend was. The answer? “The one who isn’t bored with gaining 4 yards a play.” That’s a definite weakness for me as an OC, but I don’t think I’m alone (otherwise that Coach wouldn’t have made the comment he did). We get bored with plays that simply “work” – we forget that 4 yards a play will win you an awful lot of games.

Certainly, I think everyone looks for or expects a home run from time to time – maybe you’ve been setting up a reverse or double pass, or just a double-move pass or a simple counter. I remember one of my favorite calls from last year was after running a certain toss sweep with motion three or four times against a pretty active defense. We got down to their 30, and I called for the same motion and toss action, except we ran the counter. Result = TD. A couple of years ago it was a reverse on the opponent’s 5 yard line…..I know, pretty much not done, but when paired with known formations and motions, the back walked in.

One of my goals this year is to enjoy the heck out of those four yard gains, and feel the high of that new drug (again)……

Half Way Point

First of all, thanks to everyone who asked about last week’s missing post. Truth is, I wrote three of them and didn’t like any of ‘em. Since I’m not forced by anyone other than myself to post by a deadline, I just let it roll rather than post something lousy.

***

The Surge had a big game this weekend, against probably our toughest regular season opponent, the Central Cal War Angels. We’d never faced them until 2013, when they rather rudely bounced us out of the playoffs (they weren’t really rude about it, they just beat our butts). We got a measure of revenge last year, but they were tough, physical games. This year, they’d outscored their opponents 190-6 in going 3-0. OK, so they hadn’t played anyone, but still…..On film they looked like they added some athletes on defense in particular, and they were more diverse on offense than in the past.

It was no real surprise to me that we only led 21-19 at half. Kudos to their DC, Jeff King for showing us something we absolutely hadn’t prepared for on defense and making our OL meetings between series actually mean something. They’ve got a couple of very skilled DL as well….#50 Aspen Marshall and #55 Jeanette Jimenez are both excellent players, and give us fits each time we play. Moving #45 LaStar Brown over to LB full time also didn’t so us any favors.

Having said all that, we were able to go on a 35-7 run in the second half to put things away. Unfortunately, the War Angels suffered a couple of injuries on offense that definitely altered their plans – I hope both players are doing well. But this win was the first of the season that was truly satisfying. Games like this, especially in the first half, are the types of games we signed up to play.

I wish I could say the same about our next couple of games, but I’m afraid they won’t be that way. I’m actually wondering if one or either of them will even happen. And this isn’t a case of wanting to simply dismiss an opponent, but rather a case of just stating how different the levels of competition are in the women’s game. It’s just a fact.

***

It appears that the Midwest area of the American Conference is pretty much settled. The Dallas Elite, after beating up on Kansas City a couple of weeks ago, followed by KC beating St. Louis last week, looks to be the clear favorite there. It certainly simplifies our scouting a bit.

Seattle is still definitely the one to keep an eye on in the Northwest. They’re being bullies up there!

In the East, as most of you know, DC beat Boston two weeks ago, in Boston. I’ll be looking forward to the rematch in DC to see if there is a New World Order now or if it was just a hiccup for Boston.

However, in the East, I firmly believe it will be Chicago’s year. Although I do think they lost a bit at QB with retirement, I also believe that Coach Konecki is building his offense around his strengths. I actually haven’t watched any of their film yet, but I’d be shocked if he wasn’t using Cassey Brick the same way he used JJ Javelet in 2013. Maybe I can watch some of their stuff over the next couple of weeks.

***

I’ve been watching a lot of stuff from Ohio State. I’m a big fan of Urban Meyer’s…been stealing his stuff ever since he was at Bowling Green! I just found out that on my men’s team I’ll have a different backup QB than who I thought I was going to have. I’m excited about that, as there is a lot of stuff I wanted to do in the run game that my starter doesn’t really care for. The new backup will also be a starting WR, so there are some definite wildcat possibilities now, along with a package from our normal offense that I can install. It’s nice to have flexibility in your system so that you can simply switch your playcall mix instead of changing your entire offense. Plus, now I won’t have someone sitting the bench complaining about playing time. One less distraction…..

One other new thing for me with the Bears is going into a season knowing only one of my OL. All the other guys, I’d never even heard their names before! They’ve all played collegiately, so at least I know they’ve been somewhat coached up, and most likely have at least a passing familiarity with the things I want to run, but it is just odd to go into practice not really knowing what they do best.

OK, that’s it for now…..

NFL 2014 officially over...now the Fun Begins!

Remember how I said last week that I felt bad for Shawn Slocum, the ST coach for the Packers? Yeah, he got fired Friday. Such is the business of football. You produce, or you’re out, simple as that. I’ve been fired once. Well, demoted really. I was the OC for a team in 2004. We lost in Week One, 45-7. We gave up 350 yards on the ground, and I got demoted from OC to TE coach. We ended up averaging 6.7 points per game that year, going 1-9. So even if you know in your heart that it wasn’t you, sometimes someone has to take the fall. Since the HC for that team was also the DC, he wasn’t about to fire himself, you know? I’m sure that Coach Slocum will land on his feet somewhere – it just may not be in the NFL. Only 32 jobs like that in the world, you know?

The Super Bowl was Sunday, in case you didn’t notice…..it was a great game. Of course, everyone has been talking about “the call”. My take is that I sure hope I would’ve called a run in that situation. Maybe line up in a slightly different formation than the previous play, but motion a lead blocker back to the same spot and run to the same gap. The OL there had confidence, the DL perhaps not so much. Maybe show a read option look to the same side so that not everyone could gang up on Lynch. If we don’t get in, you call time out. You now have about 15 seconds left. 3^rd down becomes a down where people assume you will pass, so that you can stop the clock. Maybe, maybe not, but two plays are called in the huddle and the 4^th down play can be anything….but most likely one more chance to batter the ball into the end zone. With smart formationing, that last play probably gets snapped at 1 or 2 seconds left (if 3^rd down was a run and no receivers had to change sides or anything else time-consuming). That’s my take….as in many situations I can only hope that I make a call that not everyone in the country will criticize. And yeah, I did criticize it. The rationale of “9 in the box” doesn’t entirely work for me, since you don’t need to block the back 2, 3 or even 4 guys. Not for 1 yard. On the frontside, if you give an option look, then you eliminate 1 other. So yes – I’d still run it.

One thing I admired is Pete Carroll’s willingness to cover for his OC. One thing I didn’t admire is the OC not covering for his guy. You think he didn’t go strong enough to the ball then? Do you think your comments will make him want to fight for you now or in the future? I think the OC just lost that kid. Take a note from your HC – he didn’t throw you under the bus, and you shouldn’t have done that to your player.

I also mentioned last week how I got a little pushback from my men’s QB about the pending terminology changes I’m implementing. Funny how you can work things out over a plate of BBQ! He and one of my WR met for dinner last week and I’m happy that I was able to outline things a little better and in more detail. I think everyone is excited about the possibilities these changes can bring.

First Surge practice of the year coming up this Sunday! Can’t wait…..I’ve got some rookies to get coached up. I always have at least one on the OL, but this year there are four I think. Not all will start, but I’ve got to get them all ready. Also, based on what I’ve been looking at this off season, I may be making my first major technique revisions in quite some time in the run game. I used to teach a 3-step progression off the ball, but switched to a 2-step a couple of years ago (once I realized I was out of touch and behind the times). Now it looks like I’m going to go with the “double under” approach. After looking at film, it appears that we end up that way anyway, so might as well get the most out of it! I’ll explain more after I get into it, but for those OL coaches out there that already teach it, I would look forward to your comments.

OK, as I mentioned, you may not hear from me again until February 25. Next Wednesday I’m out to Cleveland, and I don’t get back until the 18^th, and then I’m out again to Vegas for the Glazer clinic. One of the highlights this year at the clinic is Jim McNally, the godfather of the zone run game. He started teaching it back in 1978, and I’m looking forward to learning from the source himself. So I hope everyone has a great couple of weeks of practice!

Wrapping up - almost!

Sorry I missed last week – I was on vacation. I fully planned on writing something anyway, but when Tuesday night rolled around and I had nothing….well, that’s what you got! Heads up, it’ll happen again in the middle of February when I head back to Cleveland for a little while, and then to Vegas for the Glazier clinic.

We saw an epic football game between the Packers and Seahawks a couple of weekends ago. Shawn Slocum, the Green Bay ST coach, is an old acquaintance, from back in ’96 when I visited Texas A&M for the first time. Then, he was maybe into his second year as a full time coach. He was a good guy, and I certainly feel for him now. Pat Ruel, with the Seahawks, has helped me out even longer – since 1993, when he was at Kansas. He is one of the nicest, classiest guys in the business and I count myself lucky to have been taught by him early in my career, and then on occasion whenever I had an issue. Pat has always been gracious with his time. So…..go Seahawks!

The other thing that came to mind is “situational football”. Similar to the ‘Bama-Auburn game of a year ago, with the failed FG being returned for a TD, there were situations in that game that could have been handled better by the players involved. I bet the Packer player that intercepted the ball late wishes now he would have run for the 20-30 more yards he easily could have. At the time, no one probably thought too much about him downing himself, thinking, “OK, he didn’t want to take a chance on fumbling the ball.” However, unlike the Chargers/Patriots playoff game in 2007 (or whenever, it is a painful memory) when a Chargers player was returning an INT late, got into traffic and then fumbled, this Green Bay player had LOTS of open field in front of him. The lesson? Take the free yardage! There was what – about 5:00 left? That’s too much time to be thinking that you’re in the clear and can afford to give up yards. The real reminder here, to you coaches out there, is that you need to at least cover these things with your players! They may not remember, they may brain fart, but trust me – it’s going to come back to you – did you cover that situation or not?

The other situation was the onside kick return that failed for the Packers. I haven’t gone back and looked at the film to confirm yet, but from what I understand, Jordy Nelson was in position to field the ball that was dropped by a player who was supposed to be blocking. Now, the player in question had an 80 number….but if there’s a play on, then do your job! I’m not sure how he was coached in that case, but if he didn’t do what he was coached to do, there’s a problem. Who knows “what if” but generally speaking, plays work out better when everyone does their own jobs instead of trying to do someone else’s.

Last Friday night, I presented the offensive changes I’ve been working on since September to the Bears (my men’s team) offensive staff. The defensive staff was there as well, and had some questions and “what ifs” and it was a good give ‘n take. You know, when you make these types of changes, you (at least I do) go through that first presentation in your head countless times, trying to smooth out the kinks. After all, as the OC, it is your job to sell the rest of the staff. At this point, I wasn’t looking for input as far as possible changes are concerned. I’d already gone over any possible question in my head. Once we get things installed, then I’m open to tweaks of course, but first things first: Get the basics down and installed, get everyone comfortable with the new terminology, and then we can look at things that can be streamlined or tweaked.

I got a little pushback from my QB. He’s a good guy and we work well together. He’s concerned about how the guys will react to new terminology. I can understand that – I’m a little concerned also. But for big picture thinking, what we had was too confining. He (and the rest of the team) are going to have to trust me when I say that everything will be installed in a flow. The first couple of practices, the defense may get after us a little, because we’ll be limited in what we run. But that’s OK….I don’t think I’m going to get fired if our defense kicks our butt a couple of practices. But I may if the Hollywood Stars or Inglewood Blackhawks do! Again, it is my job as the OC to sell the team just like I did the staff.

Sunday was spent meeting with the Surge offensive staff. We’re going to a new communication system there. I’m excited to see how it works out. I’m also excited to be back down on the sidelines. When I call plays, I prefer being up top, detached from the chaos that sometimes a sideline can be. But when we do something well, I sure miss the emotion down there! I’ll have some new people on my OL for the Surge, so it’ll be nice to be able to talk to them as a unit more than I have the past couple of years.

See you next week! Remember, I’m always open to answer questions or talk about topics that you want to see.