Coaching Them Up!

This past weekend was a great one – I had the chance to put into practice everything I learned two weeks ago from LeCharles Bentley and his staff. A friend of mine asked me to come out to his high school and coach his players up a bit. It’s a new staff, and the program had run onto hard times, only winning a couple of games each year for the past few seasons.

I wasn’t sure exactly what to expect – I was told to “oversee” the OL during Indy, 1-on-1’s and team during the Friday afternoon practice, and then I would have them for four hours Saturday morning all to myself. When I got there, there were two other OL coaches there, and one was pretty much running everything. So I decided that since they were going into a competitive period (1-on-1’s) and then team, that I would hang back a little on Friday and just take notes about where they were at in terms of skill development. I didn’t want them to have to think not only “who” to block, but also “how” to do it in competitive drills.

Remember, this is a new staff, so none of the coaches were holdovers and they’d only had 4 practices with them. Given that, they didn’t look like they’d been coached much in previous seasons. One of the OL coaches is a young guy, and very enthusiastic. I’m convinced he’s going to be very, very good. He just has to develop his teaching patterns. Just as offensive linemen need to develop movement patterns to be efficient, coaches need to get their teaching patterns down so they can be efficient as well. This young guy isn’t quite there yet (but he’s way better than I was at the same stage of development). The older OL coach is more of an “attitude guy” – he’s very good at getting the kids to play with a proper attitude and to go out there and kick butt.

The kids themselves were great. They may not be great football players yet, but they are A+ human beings. As I mentioned, their technique was very raw, to the point of it was always a bit more of “how can I survive this play” rather than “how can I dominate this play”. So on Friday, I just took notes and offered some general suggestions to guys when I had the chance.

Saturday morning was different. They were all there either early or right on time. I’d developed a practice plan to take them through everything, that extended (in outline form) to five pages (!). Being that this is the first time I’d gone through this progression as a coach, and not knowing what pitfalls there may be, I wasn’t sure at all of how it might time out.

As it happened, we got through everything in almost exactly four hours. And let me reiterate – these kids are top-notch. I’d give them a water break, and they’d sprint off the field to an area a little ways away where the water was. By the time I got over there, they were saying, “OK guys, let’s go!” They really wanted to work and get better.

Some of the transformations were remarkable. The right tackle was a kid who sort of hopped into his pass set and opened up almost completely by his second step. We took a “before and after” video of him, and the results were staggering. A (soon to be) senior guard was coaching the other kids up before too long – he’s a smart guy, and was taking in everything and was able to repeat it back to me and the other players. They had two freshmen kids, one of which had never played football before, and they ended up being two of the stars of the camp. I could go on and on about how much fun I had coaching these guys, and how much I’m looking forward to watching their continued development over this season.

LeCharles just announced on Monday that the next Coaches Seminar is going to be July 16-17. I would strongly suggest that any OL coach who wants to make his guys better attend. I’ll be back in 2017 for sure. You can register here. You can thank me later.

***

In the WFA game of note this week, Chicago beat up on Boston 50-something to 18. I was expecting a much closer game, maybe even with Boston winning, I understand that Boston’s outstanding QB, Allison Cahill, went out with a season-ending injury. At the time, I think the game was close, and my guess is that then not only were the Renegades missing a whole bunch of offense, but also probably were a bit emotionally deflated, which is understandable.

With that result, if there is any difference in the Final Four other than DC, Chicago, Central Cal and Dallas, I’ll be shocked. I’m still fairly certain that Dallas will be the finalist from the West, and less certain that DC will be from the East.

***

On the men’s side, my Nighthawks have landed in a new league, the Southern California Football League (SCFL). This league is a quantum leap up in competition: The California Raiders were undefeated last year, the So Cal Coyotes have won a couple of national championships*, the Inglewood Blackhawks have won some, and the San Diego Thunder had a run on the national scene at late as the late 2000’s. Throw in a virtual All Star team in the Las Vegas Trojans, and there are very few gimmes on our schedule.

All in all, I couldn’t be happier – these are the types of games you sign up for as a coach, the types that for whatever reason we didn’t get often in the women’s game, at least until the playoffs.

*For my female game readers, national championships are a bit different in the men’s game. First of all, there are over 600 men’s teams across the country, so having one national champion is pretty much not going to happen. Second, there are several “national championship” tournaments put on in December/January. Fortunately for us, our league is recognized as one of the most competitive in the country, so our league winner will get an automatic bid to a national tournament.

Blown Away

OK, I am blown away, and I want to tell you about it, but first there was one game last week in the WFA that merits a short discussion, and that was the Pittsburgh/Boston game. I’d picked Pittsburgh to finally break through into the upper sphere of the National Conference by beating Boston. To me, he Renegades seemed a little lackluster lately, and given their daunting upcoming schedule, perhaps ripe to be taken down. Well, I underestimated Boston before and was proven wrong, so why not this time? Boston came out on top, 51-32.

With that win, we’re better able to slot where Pittsburgh stands, and that was of interest because they were IWFL champs last year, and were looking really good so far. For now, there is no grand re-ordering in the WFA universe. It’ll be Dallas and Central Cal in the West (although I’ll give Portland a 20% chance at an upset of Central Cal), and then DC and either Chicago or Boston in the East, dependent on how this week’s Chicago/Boston game turns out. I really have no idea how that will turn out, and it should be a great game.

***

OK, back to the main topic…..this past weekend I was in Phoenix at LeCharles Bentley’s OLine Performance World (www.lbolineperformance.com). I’ve talked about him and his training plenty of times before, and had become a fan. Back in January he announced that he was going to hold a free coaches’ clinic in May, and that it was limited to the first 50 to register. So I made sure that I was one of those. Later, I heard that they accepted 80+. Now, I don’t know what goes through people’s minds, but I’m wondering if since it was free, there wasn’t as much value attached to it by some folks. That was their mistake. There were only about 35 coaches there, and it was the perfect size group. I think I was able to at least speak briefly with everyone there at some point, and the instructing coach to student (us other coaches) ratio was great.

LeCharles is a dynamic speaker and coach. He can get people fired up at the drop of the hat. His progression in leading students from skepticism to discipleship is masterful. Those who disagree or question aren’t ridiculed, but shown the “why”, the “how to” and the “how to do”. I can now say that I’ve watched his teachings on film, seen it in person, and felt it/done it myself. There is no quicker way to become convinced that something is right than when you do it yourself and have success.

CJ Davis is one of LB’s fulltime coaches. After playing at Pitt, he had a short NFL career with Carolina and Denver. He is a phenomenal teacher and communicator, and was dispensing knowledge, demonstrating and coaching us throughout almost every break. I had him as a demo partner in one drill, and the way he took me through it made me wonder about my own ability as a coach!

Matt Lee is LB’s strength and conditioning coach. His knowledge of training, kinesiology, power development and functional movement is absolute first class.  His presentations (with CJ demonstrating – we felt a lot of what was taught, but I’m glad we weren’t called on to front squat and snatch!) made me into more of a believer in Olympic movements for offensive line development than ever before. All I’d heard before regarding oly lifts is they “develop power”…..OK, great. Not inspiring. But Matt broke it down for us and explained why what he was talking about was so important, and exactly how it would make our players better. I can guarantee you that if I’m ever at a place that has a S&C program again, I’ll be incorporating his teachings.

Also, there were three current NFL players who came down on their own time to help out. Chance Womack (Tennessee), Larry Warford (Detroit) and Patrick Omameh (free agent, played for Chicago last year) are all very capable teachers and super nice guys (I just wouldn’t want to line up against any of them). I have a suspicion of “former/current players” being coaches because so often it seems they rely on their superior athletic talents to get by and don’t develop their communicative skills and don’t have an appreciation for what the average guy has (or, more likely doesn’t have) to work with. But these guys were great at offering suggestions, looking at what we were doing wrong and having the ability to fix it. I was working through some stance issues and Patrick came over and talked me right through it, told me exactly what changes would make me better. I can’t say enough about how helpful they all were.

Finally, there were two CFL guys there. I didn’t catch their full names (Matt and “Big Dog” was all I got), and they served as demonstrators as well. After Patrick helped me on my stance and ensuing pass set, I just remember Matt saying “Wow” – that pretty much made my day.

So, by now you’re thinking, “OK, great – they’re nice guys and great teachers. What did you learn?” Fair enough. I learned movement patterns. I learned how to move with purpose and intent. I learned how to move from the ground up, and I learned how to fight pressure with pressure at any point during a play. I learned that if you start bad, you’ll finish bad. I was taught OL play from an entirely different perspective.

There will be more clinics given by LB. The talk right now is to have one in July. I probably won’t be able to make that one, as our season games will be starting then, but if he sets a certain weekend (second one of May, for example) as a constant, then I’ll make my reservations years in advance. If you can’t tell, I have zero reservation in recommending that anyone remotely involved in OL play should pay attention to what LB has to offer. Make the trip when it is offered. I promise you you’ll thank me after.

***

What’s got me just as excited is that I’ll get a chance to teach what I’ve learned to a brand new group of young OL next week when I’m in Las Vegas to conduct a high school OL mini-camp. Before this weekend, I had an idea of what the practice plan would look like. No more. In a sense, it is perfect, because the staff has just taken over at the school and wanted to concentrate on just the basics. And I’ve gotta admit that at one point I found myself wanting to push that envelope further. But now I have a much better understanding of the pace and importance of movement, and the learning of those patterns. So I’ve got two practices with the Nighthawks this week….we’re going to be spending our first 10 minute Indy periods from here on out focusing on stance and movement….and then I get to teach the high school kids.

Who’s got it better than me?  :-)

A Lightbulb Moment

I love “Lightbulb Moments” – whether it is because one of my players suddenly “sees the light” or I do, they’re (pardon the pun) quite illuminating. I had one the other night. I found myself with some spare time – my significant other was in the midst of watching/catching up on her TV shows, so I started looking through my COOL Clinic DVD’s. I’ve talked about the COOL Clinic before, but I’ll say it again – if you are at all involved with the offensive line, you are cheating yourself and your players if you aren’t taking advantage of this knowledge.

Anyway, ever since I saw Dave Christensen a couple of weeks ago talk about how A&M ran the inside zone, I saw that how defenses played the Aggies really opened up the run game, and that their inside zone really tended to stretch a defense. Coach also talked about complementing it with the outside zone, but the technical aspects of the outside zone were out of the parameters of his talk so he didn’t really get into it. My experience with the outside zone since the early 2000’s is limited. I guess the last time I actually installed it was 2013, but then we got away from it in favor of the Fly Sweep, and that has remained the trend since then. I think a lot of that has to do with the feeling that I had that my implementation of the outside zone was stale – I felt like all the other run plays I install (inside zone, counter, fly, toss, trap) have evolved over time into pretty effective plays, but by and large, my thinking on the outside zone was stuck in the 1990’s.

So when I looked at my DVD’s the other night, I saw one that had two presentations – Mark Staten from Michigan State and Rick Trickett from Florida State, both talking on the outside zone. All righty – let’s see what they have to say! 

Coach Staten’s presentation was phenomenal – mostly because his scheme and technique is so closely related to what we’re doing on the inside zone that I think adapting it would be a no-brainer. Basically, the angle of your first two steps is a little different, and then you’d like different hand placement depending on if you had help or not, but other than that, from a schematic standpoint, it fits in extremely well. He’s very heavy on “pin n’ pull” concepts as are we.

Next up was Coach Trickett’s talk. Coach may have the deepest Southern accent I’ve ever heard…..only Bob Cope is (was, RIP) in the same league. His style of the outside zone at first glance was very different – almost all straight zone, very little of the pin ‘n pull of Michigan State.  But the simplicity of the play was what drew me to liking his stuff a lot. However, in deciding what to go with, ultimately I wanted to change the OL thinking less and merely alter the path of the RB slightly.

Speaking of the path of the RB, that brings me back to Coach Christensen’s talk a couple weeks ago. He’s got the RB lined up on the inside leg of that tackle, even with the QB. Even on the inside zone, he’s got the RB coming across flat, with the QB taking a slight step backwards to clear, and then the RB plants and cuts it upfield into the B gap (initially – can always change based on the read). The reason for that is if the back is slightly behind the QB, on the inside zone he tends to run more downhill. Well, most people would say that’s a good thing – after all, that was one of the big selling points on the Pistol formation, getting the RB downhill. Well, that is great, but remember that that downhill path affects the LB’s too. They see that RB trajectory and they’ll start flowing downhill in a hurry, causing congestion where you want to run.

On the other hand, having the RB come across flat, now the defense doesn’t know whether it is inside zone, or outside zone. If it is outside, and they don’t react appropriately, they’re going to be outflanked quickly. If they react to the path thinking it is outside, and it turns out to be inside, then the OL has them going sideways, and for a defender that is a great way to get your ass kicked! So now the defense is left guessing – which is exactly what we want. Regular readers of this blog have heard me say again and again, “Make the defense play with doubt.” It was true when Homer Smith first said it sometime in the early 80’s, and it is just as true now.

Suffice to say, my thinking on the outside zone has been rejuvenated and I’m looking forward to see the results of this particular Lightbulb Moment.

Fewer Barriers

Last week came the announcement from the Buffalo Bills that they were going to hire Kathryn Smith as the first full-time Assistant Coach in the NFL. As a Special Teams Quality Control Coach, she won’t be spending that much time in an “on the field” capacity, rather she’ll contribute her personnel evaluation skills, her film breakdown skills and other analytical skills. I applaud this hire, as she’s put in her time and worked her way up the ladder. Although her apparent lack of playing experience (none that I heard of anyway) will likely limit her to behind-the-scenes opportunities, I don’t have a problem with that either – I talked recently about the “talent pyramid” and how players can fall outside of it for any number of reasons. Well, the same thing applies to coaches. In any case, I wish her well and that her position is a lasting one that truly opens the doors for others.

Speaking of others, I’m once again going to say that someone in the NFL or college ranks needs to give Lori Locust a look. As a former player and one who has successfully coached men for more than a few seasons, she can flat out coach and her upside isn’t limited by a lack of playing experience. She’s “been and done”. You need a Defensive Quality Control person, with a specialty in the DL and can also help out on ST? She’s your answer. Contact me for her info (legit inquiries only).

***

On a slightly different note in the women’s game, I recently saw a Twitter video from a team with the caption, “You play like you practice”. This is a true statement, I think…..the problem was, what they took pride in (“We play low!”) was also potentially very dangerous. The video showed players in three-point stances coming out of it under a makeshift chute, made of bags. My issue with the video is that each and every player they showed was ducking their head downwards to get “low” under the chute. If they truly play like they practice, then on their second step their heads are going to be at a very dangerous angle when making contact. I mentioned to the team via Tweet that they might want to be careful about that, but as of yet hadn’t received a response.

Playing low is very desirable, but that doesn’t come from your head ducking, it comes from bending at the knees and sinking your hips. It’s tough to do, too, which is why it needs to be repped into the hundreds and thousands of times. Your eyes should always stay up, looking at your target. That is true in both tackling and blocking.

I also saw recently a high school team working with a new product, called the ShadowMan tackling dummy. I think this is a legit product – I loved it. You may have seen the Dartmouth demonstration last year with their robotic tackling dummy (or now a retail product from Rogers Athletics). This is similar to that, but a lot less expensive (I hope). This is a tackling dummy tied with some sort of leash to an actual player. The player runs forward, getting conditioning work in for sure, and then the tackler comes in and tackles the dummy. They’re now able to practice full speed tackling against a moving opponent, without being in pads. I think that is fantastic. The only issue I had with the video is that again, the players came in with their heads down.

I know that USAFootball is all in on getting the head out of tackling and I agree. What amazes me is that this is a “thing” all of a sudden. One of my mentors, Bill Williams, has been teaching this style of tackling since at least 1992 (I say that because that is the first year he exposed me to it – I really have no idea how long he’s been teaching it). He’s done camps and clinics all across the country. I think his problem is that he only marketed his tackling methods as “effective tackling” rather than “safe tackling” as everyone is doing now.

I’ve seen other people mirror what Bill teaches, but none of them are as good. You can find out more about Bill at www.billwilliamsfcpga.net.

***

There were a couple of interesting games this past weekend in the NFL, if you didn’t hear.  :-) The AFC title game was darn good, with twists and turns coming down to the last second. 

I must say that I’m definitely a fan of the NFL XP distance – it’s really put an element of doubt into the outcome and force coaches to be much more strategic in their thinking. I certainly wasn’t a fan of New England’s OL play….I wonder how much they miss retired OL coach Dante Scarnecchia about now**? I vividly remember two examples: One was of their LT, Vollmer and his first steps not gaining near enough depth against a speed rusher, and him having to turn out of square way too soon. On the other side, the NE RT was having a ton of trouble with Von Miller (who wouldn’t?), but their solution was to bring in a backup as an extra OL. OK, great – I figured they were going to double Miller. Oh no, instead they had the backup, who was fresh off the bench and cold (figuratively and literally) block Miller one-on-one. Hey, New England….if your “starting” RT couldn’t do it, what made you think a backup could? Not a fan at all…..and it showed up in the final score. If the Patriots could have kept Brady upright and mobile just a little more there may have been a real different outcome. Just sayin’……

On the NFC side, well, if you turn the ball over 7 times, you’re not going to win, period. I think Carolina was going to win anyways (although I was rooting for Arizona), but when you make mistakes against a team as good as Carolina is that 30 point margin is going to show in a hurry. On the bright side, maybe now I can find a good deal on a Kangol hat…..

**On Monday it was reported that New England OL coach Dave DeGuglielmo has been fired. I never like to see anyone lose their job, but football is very much a results-orientated business. At all levels, of course, but obviously with all the money at stake in the NFL, that talent pyramid is very narrow indeed.

Continuing a Theme

After watching more football this weekend (I had plenty of time, as my men’s team picked up a forfeit), I wanted to revisit one of the things I talked about last week, the set of the offensive line in pass pro (and some in the run game also). This is a re-post of my “It’s All in the Feet” blog from November 27, 2013:

“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, s/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.

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.”

***

Most of those things haven’t changed….and one thing I want to add, is the awareness by an OL of what position a DL is in. Here’s an example: I was watching my Chargers play, and their OL did a great job on slide protection to the left. Everyone, including the DL, was going to the left, and the entire right side was collapsed down, giving QB Philip Rivers a nice clean window. However, the RT got a little aggressive (or greedy as I call it) and gave his DE a way out to the right, spinning off the RT and getting to Rivers for a sack.

You see this happening a couple of different times – the above was one, and then you see it on upfield speed rushes….the tackle will get great position on the DE, force him upfield and then “get greedy” and try to drive the DE instead of simply shielding him off. When invariably happens in that case is that the DE uses the tackle’s momentum against him and spins back inside for a sack or pressure. The OT *has* to know where he’s at on the field in relation to the QB and understand that the DE isn’t a bad player and won’t settle for just being driven upfield without countering.

In addition to awareness, I think an OL also needs to pay attention to his center of gravity. In the martial arts, there is talk of how a non-Asian person walks with a center of gravity somewhere up around their chest – if not in actuality, then in their own mindset. Asians, however, tend to walk with their center lower, where it physically is – just a couple of inches beneath their belly button. Translating that to OL play, my players have heard me say many times, “lead with your hip!” when moving laterally. If your hip is the leading part of your body (maybe not literally, but again, in your mind) you’ll find you have much better balance and change of direction. If not, if your center is up high in your mind, then you’ll tend to be top-heavy when attempting to redirect, and you’ll find that DL will be more able to get you out of balance when clubbing your shoulder. Leading with your hip also helps guard against getting “greedy” as mentioned above. Try it!

***

Interest in the November camp continues to build! We’ve got a much better variety of teams being represented this year.

I see that the Portland teams have merged….I think that is great. I hope there will be room for all coaches from both teams, although sometimes that can be a challenge, merging staffs. Hopefully they’ll make it down to San Diego in November as well, to work with and against some of their Seattle sisters.

This and That

Or, to borrow from my friend Mikal Black, “scattershooting” after this first week of collegiate football……

First of all, I’d like to announce three coaching confirmations for the RS Football Camp….one is a popular returnee, OL coach Billy Hughes Jr. of the Dallas Elite. Coach Hughes does a great job with his OL and has a real knack for communications and getting his players to remember what he’s trying to get across. I’ve very excited that he’ll be joining us again this year!

Our next confirmation is a “rookie” to us, but he should be well-known among those in the know of the women’s game, and that is the Head Coach of the Seattle Majestics, Scott McCarron. In our quest to bring the best available coaches in, Coach McCarron enthusiastically accepted our invitation. Anyone who has played the Majestics know that they are a classy organization from top to bottom, and that their defense in particular is a tough, physical bunch. We are very much looking forward to sharing the field with Coach McCarron.

Finally (for this week anyway), Coach Nate Benjamin will join us from the Phoenix Phantomz. Coach Benjamin is very well known to us on the Surge staff, as he’s been coaching with us off and on since 2003. He was our defensive coordinator both years that San Diego won national championships, in 2007 and 2012. In addition to his long tenure in the women’s game, he’s also coached for almost 20 years at the high school level, including San Diego powers Lincoln, Vista and Point Loma. Most recently, he was the head coach of the West Coast Lightning before moving to Arizona with the Phantomz. It’s always a good time when Coach Benjamin joins us on the field, and I think that the OL/DL competitions will definitely be ramped up now!

Those three coaches join the already announced Angel Rivera III, the defensive back coach of the Dallas Elite. Coach Rivera is hands down one of the best I’ve seen at his position. He was with us at last year’s camp, and I know the players I spoke to can’t wait for him to be back. In addition to his DB coaching, he is also an expert on speed and agility training.

We plan to have more coaches announced soon, so stay tuned!

***

Was watching my favorite college team Saturday night, Texas A&M. They have a phenomenal young defensive end, Myles Garrett. He’s fast and strong….but mostly really, really fast off the ball. However, as so often happens, when the announcers were describing his play and the problems he caused for the left tackle across from him, they ignored the problem the LT created for himself. Some OL coaches disagree with me on this, and that’s OK, but the easiest adjustment to me would have been to put the LT in a two-point stance. Now, I get that that may not be your preference from a philosophical standpoint – you may want to continue to emphasize the advantage and power you get in your run game from a three point stance. I get that, I really do. But when you’re in the middle of the game, and your kid is just getting abused (not to mention the abuse your QB is taking), why not try something different? Put him in a two-point every play….it isn’t like he was exactly driving Garrett off the ball in the run game either. But especially once you compare the amount of times that you ran at Garrett to the number of times you dropped back to pass, I think you can see where the main point of emphasis should have been.

The other thing the LT did, was flat set (as Coach Jim McNally would call it, an “Angle A” set). He set out on Garrett at about 15-20 degrees, more than once. There’s a time and place for that, and I teach it as well, but when you’re getting beat by speed isn’t the right time. You normally use a flat (or short or jump) set when you need to get on a stronger player quickly, before he can get enough momentum to bull rush you. Or, maybe he has a signature move he wants to make on his third step and you want to short circuit that. OK, great – those are all appropriate uses for a short set. But when the DE is just running past you….man, you gotta gain some separation and buy yourself some space to give yourself a chance.

***

Finally, in the “been there, done that” category…..I saw where Penn State gave up 10 sacks to Temple. One of them against a TWO man rush. Penn State’s OL coach is very highly respected – Herb Hand is a good coach. I have no idea what the main breakdown was, but it is a good thing for all of us to remember that sometimes, “those days” happen to even the very best coaches.

***

All right…NFL opens up next week, and my men’s team has a game as well……let’s see what this week brings! As always, thanks for reading – I appreciate 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!

What Happens in Vegas.....

I mentioned the possibility last week of the distractions in going to Las Vegas to play a game. Well, turns out that that can be a very real thing! Look, by now many of you may have seen the final score of 54-12 and are thinking that I’m full of it. But we looked sloppy from the start through halftime. With 7:00 left in the first quarter, we’d run exactly one offensive play (which was an interception) and led 7-0 thanks to a punt return. We turned over the opening kickoff and then gave them a punt back as well. Just silly mistakes that aren’t normally part of our game, and certainly can’t be if we make it very deep into the playoffs.

The Sun Devils, as the Showgirlz did before them, played with a ton of heart. They certainly have some athletes and players who could be good. Their QB in particular took hit after hit and kept coming back until she couldn’t any longer. 

The thing that kills them, like so many other teams, is that their pass protection just doesn’t hold up. I don’t know whether it is scheme or technique (most likely a combination of the two) that is lacking. But I know this: pass protection is a learned skill, and people who aren’t necessarily good athletes can learn it and be great at it. Remember that generally speaking, on any team that is two-platoon, the offensive linemen are the worst athletes on the team. That has nothing to do with how good of football players they are, but in terms of pure athletic ability, the defensive linemen should be better athletes.

Here is what I wrote back in September of 2013 regarding how I work in developing technique and scheme (full blog here):

“…..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.”

The Sun Devils have some potential up front. Their LT has a nice frame and long arms and they otherwise have some size – certainly more than my OL has. But they need tools. There is help available in the offseason – we have our camp in November or I’m always up for a road trip. What many coaches forget in the development of their passing game is that if their QB can’t get comfortable in the pocket, then nothing else matters. Until she gains some confidence back there, they’re going to struggle with better teams.

***

I rarely highlight individual players in such a team sport as football, but this week I’m going to make an exception. As some people have noticed, Jessica Springer is on our roster. There are a lot of you who weren’t around back in the mid-2000’s when she was playing for the Dallas Diamonds. I first saw her in 2004. I remember seeing her on film, as the Diamonds were our last game that year, and thinking, “OK, she’s pretty good. Fast and strong.” I had no idea……I found out as soon as she busted through our line and our safety had an angle on her (Deuce Reyes, who was a Team USA member recently), and Jessica simply ran past her. She was by far the fastest player on the field, and the strongest I’m sure. At the time, she was 5’9” and about 220 and a nationally-ranked powerlifter.

Fast forward to 2015. She’s down to about 200 pounds. She’s still the strongest player on our team (one of our DL is close in the bench but I think Jessica has her by about 20 pounds) and she’s still really fast. I’m not sure that she’s the fastest on our team, because we have some pretty fast players, but it wouldn’t shock me at all if she were. 

Anyway, here was her line against Las Vegas: 4 carries, 151 yards, 4 TDs.

But even with all her accomplishments on the field, over the years and now, I wouldn’t have highlighted her here except for one thing: She would never do it herself. Her typical response when asked how she did in a game? “I was OK.” She leads purely by example, being usually the first one finished in each and every sprint or drill.   She’s not a “freak of nature” but rather a “freak of hard work”. She is confident, for sure – please don’t mistake that – but it is a quiet confidence, borne of having “been there and done that” for a lot of years. To top it off, she is a genuinely nice person – one that you enjoy being around. She’s a great teammate.

We are blessed to have her this year. Unlike some other people who said, “Oh, with her, the Surge is guaranteed to win it all”, I still don’t believe that. Football is way too much of a team sport to make such a generalized statement. But I can say that we are better than we were, both because of Jessica’s ability and more importantly, her attitude.

Evolution of Thought

No, don’t worry….this post isn’t nearly as deep as the title suggests, I just couldn’t think of a better one!

Following the topics of my last couple of posts, regarding Old Dogs, Best Practices and April Fools, I’ve come across a really new concept (for me anyway) and then also came to a realization. First, the new concept…..

If you don’t subscribe as an Insider to X’s and O’s Lab (www.xandolabs.com) then you are definitely missing out! $38 a year for what they give you – new stuff every week – is a steal. I’ve got a binder filled with stuff I’ve printed out from them. There’s a recent post regarding an “adjustable 5 man protection”. Given that we (both the Surge and the Bears) are spread teams and really prefer to get 5 receivers out in the pattern, this was of particular interest to me. To be honest, I think this protection would take a bit too much retraining to make it in time for the Surge season, but I really want to look at it for the Bears this fall, and see if I can poke any holes in it. However, it looks solid and relatively easy. Not as easy as the current half-slide we use, for sure, but doable.

The evolution of thought for me in this case, is the possibility that the center may be one-on-one with a NG. I haven’t run that since 1993, when I didn’t know any better. We gave up a lot of sacks in ’93 too, so the fact that I’m even considering this is a quantum leap for me. Of course, there IS help for the center but it just isn’t automatic. This protection, unlike others (such as the half-slide) does require your center to be better than average. Anyway, take a look at it on the website. Subscribe if you haven’t already – you can thank me later.

Now the realization…..with some of the rather big changes in technique I’ve introduced to the Surge OL this season, I realize that I may be guilty of what I cautioned against last week – muddling things up. I think I’m still searching for the best “packaging” of these ideas and improvements, and it has seen me call essentially the same things a bunch of different names which has caused some confusion. My OL, bless their hearts, haven’t said anything, but I can see it in some of my veterans’ faces and I notice a little bit of a lack of confidence where before there was supreme confidence. So that’s gotta get fixed right away! By the time I’ve posted this, it will already have been addressed.

So what are my core tenants? Here they are, to be used in both the run and pass game:

Play with a base & knee bend.
Move your feet before your hands.
Always strike low to high & bring your hips.
Strike with heavy hands & tight elbows.
Try to use your hands independently.
Always keep your feet moving.

That’s it….when you boil everything else down, dress it up with any phrases you want to use, or any little tidbits you pass along, the above is what we need to do every play, and chances are excellent that if we do, then things will work out alright.

Also, as I mentioned last week, this week is game week! Best time of the year, sorta like unwrapping a Christmas present that you really have no idea what it is. We’re playing a team that we’ve been fortunate enough to dominate over the years, but who is a very physical team. A lot of the players know each other; some of their players have played for us, and some of our players have played for them. They are sure that this is “their year” and we are equally sure that it will be a case of status quo. We’ll all just have to wait and see.

April Fools

I guess I need to start this one out by saying that the following opinions are mine and mine alone, and do not reflect those of any other coaches and players of the San Diego Surge, Surge ownership, the WFA, or anyone else at all…..

We’re about 10 days out of our season, and as funny as it is predictable, smack talking from other teams has started. Of course, that sort of thing coming from players is one thing. When it comes from opposing coaches, while I find it personally amusing (especially when based in complete ignorance), sometimes it takes on a more ominous tone. Such is the case here….having an opposing coach tell a player explicitly that her knees are going to be taken out and that she and her teammates “won’t finish the game” is just pathetic. 

I was going to continue this rant for a little while, but I’ve decided against it - I still have a copy saved, but it just wouldn’t accomplish anything. Our play, as always, will speak for itself for better or worse. But for now, please don’t be an April Fool.

***

Instead, let me talk about Bruce Lee, and this goes back a little to what I was talking about last week, in terms of best practices…..one of his famous sayings is “Take what is useful and discard the rest.” I can’t tell you how many times I’ve applied that, not only to my martial arts training, but also to football and what other coaches teach. Even coaches that aren’t generally very good can teach me things. I remember seeing a drill in pregame from a team that I knew wasn’t very good, and that I knew wasn’t well coached. But this particular drill was a better variant than the one I was using. So OK…lemme steal that! I put it in the very next practice.

The other night, I was watching a pass protection DVD from Dante Scarnecchia, the recently-retired OL coach for the New England Patriots. I’d seen other DVD’s on different subjects from him, and absolutely took what he was teaching and incorporated it into my playbook. To say I was ready to implement whatever I could on this DVD would be an understatement. I mean, the Patriots do a pretty darn good job, right? Well, he started talking about punches in pass pro, and where and how to punch and I just found myself thinking, “No – I don’t want to do that because I no longer agree with it.” I did pick up a couple of drills from him though! A part of me thought, “Wait a minute….here you are a relatively small-time guy, plodding along in the high school/semi-pro/women’s game – who are you to disagree with a NFL guy?” Well, that is what coaching research has come to now.

It used to be, “back in the day”, that you had to physically go and visit coaches at either clinics or their schools. I spent a week with Mike Sherman during the spring of ’96 at Texas A&M that proved invaluable to how I approach coaching even now. I used to go to USC’s practices every spring, and also went up to UCLA and San Diego State. Heck, you never had real access to NFL guys, for the most part. But now, especially for OL guys, you have the C.O.O.L Clinic each year, and access to their complete series of DVDs, back to 1996. The speakers they get are outstanding (that’s where I saw Coach Scarnecchia). I’m sure that for other positions (especially QB) there is a ton of info out there as well. My point is, that there is almost too much!

If you don’t have a fairly firm idea of what you want to get out of your research then you risk being overloaded with ideas and theories. One of the great things about football is that there are hundreds of ways to get things done, but if you are relatively new in the game that can be a curse as well. For me, I can sift through ideas pretty quickly, knowing whether or not they fit into my general philosophy, discarding those that don’t and then seeing if there is anything else that is useful. That is what I did with Coach Scarnecchia’s pass pro presentation. I’d pretty quickly discarded what he was saying (maybe “discarded” is the wrong word, because it did echo what I’d been teaching for quite some time) and listened to the rest only to see if there was something that was useful (there was, a couple of drills). But if you were an inexperienced coach, and listened to Jim McNally talk about pass pro and then listened to Coach Scarnecchia, you’d have two very experienced (30+ years) NFL guys saying two very different things. If you then tried to take what you thought was the best of each, you’d have a horribly muddled mess and I don’t think your pass pro would improve very much.

So yes, you need to do research. Whether you are brand new or a 25-year veteran coach, you owe it to yourself and your players to stay (or get) current. Your main obstacle? You. Your ego. You can’t rely on what you’ve always done because sooner or later either your players will find out that you’ve been lazy or other coaches/teams will pass you by. Find a coach or a system that makes sense to you and start to implement it or what is being taught. Then as you grow, you will naturally start to add and subtract things. Sometimes you’ll review what you’re teaching and realize that you got away from a key tenet that would make you a lot better. That’s happened to me a few times!

I mentioned last week how I do clinics for other teams. In 2010, I went out to the Midwest and installed the zone run game and pass protection scheme and drills for a team, who are still dear friends of mine. I’ve followed them ever since. Anyway, everything got installed, I answered a few followup questions and then didn’t hear anything for a few weeks. Then a player sent me an e-mail saying, “Coach – how can we have had it down cold in just two days, and now everyone is so confused?” The OL coach never quite bought in to what I taught, I don’t think (he’s no longer with the team). He didn’t believe it could be taught as simply as it really is, so started adding layers of rules. Once that started, the players slowed down, because they had to think too much. He got away from the base tenets and performance started to suffer.

Moral of the story? Do your research, get current, find a system or coach you can relate to. Add from there, but review your work from time to time to ensure that your base tenets are still in place.

Guess what? Next week is GAME WEEK!

Old Dogs, etc.

It is so refreshing when you learn new things….if you’re not intimidated by the new info. The amount of new ideas I processed a couple of weeks ago is probably more at any one time since I started coaching at Fountain Valley High back in 1994. As I may have mentioned before, back then whenever I went to clinics I took a ridiculous amount of notes, because I didn’t know anything. As my knowledge base grew, I tended to only jot down new ways of teaching the same techniques – maybe a new buzzword or some other slight tweak. EVERYONE was teaching basically the same thing as far as OL technique was concerned. (That is, unless you were a Wing-T or Double Wing guy – then you were in your own little world.) About the only variant was whether you were a “lead step” guy or a “bucket step” guy.

Now I’ve completely embraced a relatively new technique. According to X and O Labs, the “double under” technique started showing up around 4 years ago, mostly in the NFL. It has now started trickling downhill. I’ll admit I do tend to be an “early adopter” of things. I started teaching a skip pull, I dunno, maybe five years ago, before it was popular. Now I see a lot of guys teaching it at clinics. Back then, I learned it from a coach named Brent Myers, who is the OC at Weber State. He also espoused a double under technique for pass protection. At the time, I thought it made some sense, but it wasn’t enough to make me switch all my teaching. Besides, everyone else was still teaching what I was, and it was working. So why change? The advantages of the skip pull were obvious to me, so I changed that right away.

Anyway, enter Jim McNally. Coach started his coaching career in 1965…..I was 4 years old. He is widely known as the Godfather of the zone run game, implementing it back in 1978. What I didn’t know is that he also brought the kick slide and post step techniques for pass pro into the NFL in 1980. So when he comes out and says that things he basically invented are now obsolete, you sorta have to sit up and listen. And the great thing is that every film clip he used was from the 2014 NFL season. Even though he’s now retired (at age 71), he’s still out there as a consultant for the Bengals and staying not only relevant, but ahead of the curve!

I still had some reservations – would my players be able to execute the technique? It looks like it requires some strength to do it? Here’s the thing….those questions are important. But when I look at our game film, I see that we end up in the finishing position of the double under anyway, no matter how much I coached to keep a flat back, feet behind you and drive. So I figure that if we’re going to end up that way anyway, we might as well mean to, and get the most out of it on the way. Also, now Coach Myers’ double under technique in pass pro all of a sudden makes a lot more sense! No need to teach different hand movements for the run game and pass pro – it’s all consolidated. Right now, we’re getting our butts handed to us by the defense a little in practice, but we’ve only had 4 practices so far. My rookies still play like rookies (no surprise there), but it’s my veterans that are having the hard time, and I understand that as well. They’ll get it, it’ll just take reps!

Back to my first sentence, learning something so totally different from what I was doing is refreshing, especially when I can see that sooner or later, it will probably be the norm. I also know that there are plenty of experienced coaches out there who won’t change. Heck, I’ve run into a few that still insist on man blocking everything – talk about your 1980’s thinking! So I’ve been approaching practice with new excitement. I think that my veteran players, although them having to relearn things is a pain, are also refreshed by not doing the same drills some of them have done for 5-10 years. I would try and liven things up every once in awhile, but when the same basic movements are at the core of what you do, there’s only so much you can change up without straying from those fundamentals, you know?

What I’ll be interested in is how my men’s players react – and how my men’s OL coach will react. I’m excited to be able to teach younger guys who may still have aspirations of playing at a higher level, the techniques that are current and relevant at that level. Maybe if they go in with a working knowledge they’ll stand out a bit more. That’s my hope anyway.

Go out and see how you can refresh yourself!

Clinic and Practice Season

OK, so I’m back from Cleveland (where I did very little football-related) and Las Vegas (where 90% WAS football-related). I got to spend 6 hours in Las Vegas listening to Jim McNally, who is the Godfather of modern NFL technique. What is very interesting now is that he’s come to realize some things that he brought into The League are now obsolete…..and these are things that were considered current until maybe two years ago, that 90% of us offensive line coaches (including me) are still teaching! Well, now I definitely have to re-do practice planning and drill prep. If any of you (and I know there are a ton of copies floating around) have my offensive line manual, it is now obsolete. I don’t know when I’m going to have a chance to update it, but it needs it. 

One of the great things about coaching adults is that I’ve had some of them for upwards of ten years….the downside is that some of them could effectively do my drills in their sleep. Now none of them can. I saw it happen a bit last week at practice, when I started introducing some of the new stuff, and now that I’ve had it all reinforced and cemented in my mind, it’ll only get better. We did have one play in a limited Oklahoma drill where one of my OL got a nice flatback using the new techniques, and you could see a little bit of a light go off in her head, so that was nice. One of my players was in Vegas at the clinic, and when she saw what I’d been talking about on film and explained by Coach McNally, her light went off a little too. So I’m really excited to get back to work!

***

I see where the “pre season WFA rankings” are out. I put them in quotes because they are most definitely not an official thing. The only official rankings that matter are the Massey ones, after some games have been played, and only for seeding in the playoffs. Those are the ones I’ll pay any attention to, as they did affect our travel last year in July. These rankings are put together by a guy named John Spatz. John isn’t a bad pure data guy. Once he gets some game data to work with, they might be fairly accurate. Right now, his guess is worse than anyone else’s, because he knows little about team dynamics and who may or may not have joined or left teams.

He has us ranked #1 overall, which is pretty funny considering that we lost the championship game to Boston, who he has ranked 5 or 6, by what felt like a bazillion points. Then he ranks Utah, who, although I love them as players and coaches very much, #2. Why they are ranked above established, veteran teams like Chicago, DC or Boston, I have no idea. Of course, those teams know as well as everyone else that these things don’t matter a bit. 

In my opinion, Chicago is LOADED with talent this year, and Boston is still Boston until proven otherwise. I did see that some of the Boston players have set up donation pages to help fund their season, which is something that we’ve never seen before. The fallout of having to pay for things like the rest of us might be interesting. Also, in the West are the Dallas Elite, who are a reincarnation of the legendary Dallas Diamonds who were in the national championship game as late as 2013. Because those players have proven themselves already in the WFA, I might rank them higher than Utah as well.

Anyway, it’s all well and good, and I suppose it provided a spark of discussion. I saw where many posted it on their timelines as a type of trophy, and others posted it as a form of inspiration to make it on there later. Most of us did neither.

***

On another note, have any of you seen the new series, “Coaching Bad”, hosted by Ray Lewis on Spike TV? Holy crap, there sure are some jerks out there! Of the eight coaches on the show, I think three or four of them are in football, which in itself is a rather sad commentary on our sport. To be sure, I do believe there is a huge difference in being demanding and just being a jerk (in lieu of using a more descriptive term). I would like to think that I am a demanding coach – lapses in effort especially irritate me, as do repeated mistakes. But when I’m raising my voice, I can honestly say that you won’t find a player who believes it is personal to them. They understand that I’m not yelling at Karen or Michelle or whoever – I’m getting after the right guard or running back.

I think a coach has to realize that mistakes will be made, no matter how well we think we’ve explained something. If a player is making the same mistake over and over, at some point you have to look at the way you’re teaching it. After all, as I’ve quoted Homer Smith before, “It isn’t what you know, it’s what your players know.” Effort of course, is a different matter – it is the one thing that a player can control. If it is a running drill, for example, I don’t care how inherently slow someone is. But what I definitely do NOT want to see is that player not giving 100% or stopping before the finish line. Doing that will get my attention in a hurry.

But getting back to the show, it is abundantly clear that some people should never be in charge of young, impressionable players. I can promise you that if some of the coaches on the show coached my men’s team, they would be beaten up, without a doubt. Don’t be “that guy” as a coach!

Have a great week of practice!

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!