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.