Expectations & Review

While watching one of the women’s games this past weekend, I realized there is an interesting difference at the semi-pro level between the women’s and men’s game, and it lies in the expectations of coaches. When talking about plays/system/scheme I’m starting to believe that coaches in general overestimate what male players can do and underestimate what female players can do.

To be sure, at the elite level of the women’s game, this isn’t the case at all. I know staffs from across the country who are extremely demanding of their players, and if you looked solely at their schemes they are every bit as complex and advanced as their male counterparts. But at the “regular” level of the game, there just seems to be so much of the same ol’, same ol’ and I *know* the players are capable of more! You see teams lined up in an “I” formation probably 90% of the time and running three plays out of it. Or Double Wing teams….which is OK, if you look crisp. I do wish teams would remember that we’re in the entertainment business. Boring can be OK if you’re winning, but if you’re boring AND losing, you won’t have a fan base for very long.

Me personally, I probably tend to overestimate on both sides what my players are capable of. I always think I’m going to install a bunch of stuff, and then have to dial it back a little. The difference is that my female players will never say, “Oh, we can’t do that” whereas my guys will. With the women, I have to look at what our results are and what the reality is out on the field, and then dial it back. With the guys, they’ll flat out tell me something isn’t going to work before they even try it. In that respect, I definitely prefer the women’s approach – “OK, cool – let’s do this” and then trusting me to adjust. I think that with the guys, they’ve grown up thinking about the game certain ways, and those high school or JC thought patterns tend to stay with them. When they’re presented with something new, only those with adaptable personalities are able to go with it.

Anyway, I’m not sure why there is a difference, it just seems to me that there is. One other thing I’ve noticed is that men don’t seem to have the ability to do things at a learning tempo – it’s like they’re afraid to look like they’ve lost at anything. They don’t see the big picture – that we’re trying to learn a new concept or new play, and might have to run it a bunch of times in a row to get it right. 

Sometimes it’s OK if you have someone from the same side of the ball as the opposing player. But if it is an offensive drill and you’ve got defenders over there (or vice versa), you can forget about a learning tempo. It is flat out competition. And I can see the guys’ point (sometimes) – they’re out there to compete and make each other better. I get that. But in order to get better at something, you usually have to start out doing it slowly and make a few mistakes along the way. That’s why these last few weeks with the Nighthawks in no pads were so valuable. At appropriate times, guys were flying around making plays. But at others we were able to get some stuff down before stuff starts happening really fast – like next week in pads!

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Over the last couple of weeks in the women’s game, one score stood out to me above all others: Portland beating Seattle handily (40 to 0). That signals a sea change in the Pacific Northwest, where for the last few years Seattle has reigned supreme. I’m not sure if this is a result of Portland improving *that much* after the merger, or of Seattle dropping off. Quite honestly, right now I’m thinking there is a bit of a drop off in Seattle, because I saw their 13-0 score over the Tacoma Trauma and was surprised by that. However, the Fighting Fillies and the Shockwave combining forces had to have made them better. Either way, Portland is the team to beat up there, and if they truly did improve that much, then the War Angels had better look out.

Speaking of the War Angels, looks like they’ll finally play a team worth playing this week, when they face the Sin City Trojans. Both teams are at 3-0, and the Trojans haven’t been scored on yet. I’m going to pick the War Angels by a comfortable (28+) margin.

There’s been some debate about which team is better, the Chicago Force or the Dallas Elite. I don’t know for sure, although right now I’m leaning towards the Elite. However, in looking at remaining schedules, the Force also play the Divas, they play Boston AND they play Pittsburgh. If Chicago gets through their schedule unscathed, then I think the tide turns towards them. The Elite aren’t likely to be tested again until maybe when they play the War Angels, and even then I think they have way too much speed for Central Cal to handle. There’s some talk about the Elite’s game this week against KC as being a big one. I’m sure they’d love to hype it as that, but I’m not seeing it as close.

Over in the IWFL, there have been a couple of rating systems that have teams other than Utah as #1. Obviously these people have never watched football in their life. Sure, Utah’s strength of schedule may stink, but in the IWFL, saying someone has a strong schedule is like saying Doc was the tallest of the Seven Dwarfs. Utah remains a Top 10 team in the nation – not just in the IWFL, but in the WFA as well. Too bad we won’t find out how good they are.

High Expectations

First, a Super Bowl review…..Obviously I was wrong about the outcome of the game. Denver’s defense was way too much for the Panthers to handle. I’d heard that Carolina was going to run (or should run) Newton 15-20 times this game in order to keep Denver’s defense guessing. Well, whether their original plan was to do that or not, I have no idea, but it sure seemed like they needed to do more of it. I think Newton only had maybe 5 designed runs in the game. In the pregame show, they even acted out one of the Panthers’ trademark runs – counter read left with an option to the right. I saw them run it once during the game. They had success early with an option, but never really came back to it. A couple of times it looked like they had the option pretty open, but either Newton didn’t read it or it wasn’t a play that allowed him to read. I don’t know…..not sure what the plan was. I would’ve liked to have seen more of what got them there.

Same thing with screens and rollouts…..something, anything to take some pressure off of not only Newton, but the OL. The tackles were highlighted the most, but I saw breakdowns at LG and C as well. They hit a nice screen early to the TE, but never came back to it. It was almost like OC Mike Shula had them in his First 15 script, but then forgot to look at what worked.

Anyway, congratulations to the Broncos and Peyton Manning on a fine career. I hope he walks away now with his head held high. Also a shout out to former Aggies Gary Kubiak and Von Miller!

*****

I’ve been contemplating the Nighthawks’ upcoming season and also talked very briefly with a women’s coach about their team. The Nighthawks are in our second year, and the women’s team is in their third year. The Nighthawks’ expectations are through the roof and them women’s team is still on the upswing.

What is the main predictor of success in either the men’s or the women’s game? The answer is simple: practice attendance. The success that the SoCal Scorpions had from 2005-07 and the Surge had from 2011-2014 had a lot to do with commitment from the players to be at practice. In 2015, the Surge had a striking drop in practice attendance percentage. “Other things” just kept coming up for a lot of people. As a result, a team that had a lot more talent than the 2013 team ended up with the same 9-2 record. We always say that family and work come first as priorities, but football has to be *a* priority. It doesn’t have to be the top one, but it has to be on the short list. Players and coaches have to stop finding excuses for not being at practice, and instead find ways to get there. For years, we prided ourselves on a 90+% attendance rate. This year it was probably down to 75%. That’s good enough for a winning record, but when your expectations are to compete for a national championship, it’s not going to work. On the men’s side, the 2012 National City Bears were pretty good in that area, and we won a league championship in large part because of the commitment from players.

Practice Attendance goes hand-in-hand with “buy in” from the team to what the coaches are teaching. Not too long ago on the women’s side, it didn’t take much to get buy in from the players. They were so new that they didn’t know any better, and had no exposure to other staffs and ways of doing things. We were fortunate that with the Surge we had a very solid, experienced staff of teachers. Players that came from other teams generally were pleased with how they were now getting coached when they came over to us. The biggest thing with female players is that they want to know “why” they have to do things. As long as you can articulate that to them, they’re good with it. But if you take the “because I said so” approach, they will tune you out in a heartbeat.

On the guys’ side, buy in is a little trickier. Guys have usually been coached by a lot of different people. They may be very set in their ways and resistant to change. They may think they’re too good to be coached (in fairness, some of the female players are getting that way now as well). I firmly believe that it is the coaches’ job to create that buy in….even if the players are the ones that ultimately have to decide whether the team is more important than their ego.

As an Offensive Coordinator, I have to show each position how the offense will benefit them. In my personal philosophy, that means showing how a balanced offense opens up opportunities for everyone to be successful. There are trade-offs, to be sure: Wide receivers need to block in the run game for the RB’s. But when defenders become focused on stopping the run, it opens up opportunities for the WR in the passing game. RB’s may have to pick up blitzes in the pass game, but that also increases their receiving yardage opportunities via screens. Offensive linemen get the benefit of defenders not knowing what is coming next, so play slower. I sell the mantra of “making the defense play with doubt” a lot.

So when you talk about team expectations, take into consideration more than just what your raw talent will get you. Is it better to have “Athlete A” who is about a 90 on the talent scale, but only shows up when he feels like it for practice and consistently misses assignments during the games, or “Athlete B” who is a still solid 75 on the talent scale, but attends every practice, gets in sync with his teammates and rarely makes a mental mistake? I know who I’m taking.

Our “buy in” starts this Saturday at tryouts….I’ll talk about it next week.

Identity Crisis

One of my very first posts was sort of a background piece on what my favorite offense is. You can read that here. What I’ve noticed over the past couple of weeks is that some teams have lost their way, strayed away from what got them good. In particular, my favorite college team, Texas A&M, has really strayed….they’re almost unrecognizable from when Johnny Manziel was lighting up the scoreboards.

Certainly, differences in personnel have something to do with that. The Aggie’s QB’s are inexperienced (although so was Manziel) and both sometimes seem a bit lost. Also, it doesn’t appear that A&M’s list of NFL-ready OL is going to continue this year. Both the run blocking and absolutely the pass pro have taken steps backwards this year. But to go from a team who rivaled Baylor and Oregon in how fast they got plays off to one who almost seems like they want to milk the clock, and who went from a pure version of the Air Raid offense to some sort of “almost Auburn, but sort of something else” offense created nothing more than some mush. Offensive Coordinator Jake Spavital is taking a lot of the heat (and rightly so – it’s his name on the offense), but I’m wondering if the off-season hire of Dave Christensen doesn’t have more to do with it. Coach Christensen was hired as the OL coach and run game coordinator, and it appears that the move away from Air Raid style play calling may be related to his influence. That’s not necessarily a knock on Coach Christensen either – he was hired to bring his experience in.

That extra influence gets to my point about an Identity Crisis…..you can’t have too many cooks in your offense. When I was at Fountain Valley High, there were some things we just weren’t going to do – it wasn’t in our DNA (or that of our OC). Right now, there are some things I would only do in an extreme situation – like line up under center in an I formation. That’s just not what I want to do.

My base offense these days is shotgun spread. We feature a zone and gap-based run game, some fly sweep, various screens and a complete drop back package, mostly out of one back sets. Now, within that base offense, I can tweak the playcalls to fit my personnel.  In 2012 with my men’s team, we had two absolute studs at RB, so I ran more two back sets than normal. But it was still out of the ‘gun, and we still had 3 WR (didn’t have much in the way of a TE). If my QB is a runner, then I add in more options for him to do so. But it doesn’t change the base offense!

If my OL is huge, then the zone game becomes more prevalent, while if they’re more mobile (read: smaller), then I use more of the gap schemes and perimeter game. Again, it doesn’t change who we are. If a player comes to me and says, “Hey Coach – why don’t we run this XYZ play?”, I’ll consider it, if there is a good way to work it into what we do already. I don’t want to stray too much from our identity, at least during the season.

The time to look outside for ideas is now. There’s stuff that I see from time to time that I really like. The first thing I do when I see something is write it down, in play diagram form. Then, I look at it to see if what is being done fits into existing terminology. If it does, then great – it goes into the playbook. If not, then I see if I can either a) tweak a piece of the play to fit into existing terms without losing what I liked about the play in the first place, or b) see if I can add a piece of terminology that can be used in future situations as well. If I can’t do either, then chances are I won’t keep the play. I really don’t want to add terminology if it is just going to be used in one play. (The exception is for trick plays – those can be one-offs.)

The coaching point to all this, is stay true to yourself. If you’re the coordinator, it’s your name out there. In Coach Spavital’s case, he’s probably going to get himself fired after this season. It’s OK to consider outside ideas, but you’ve ultimately got to do what you think is best for the team. Getting too far away from that slows down your thinking during a game, and probably (my guess only, as an entirely unqualified psychiatrist) means you don’t exude as much confidence in your game plan to your players as you normally would. That can start a death spiral that overcomes your offense.

Know yourself and be true to yourself.  

Anticipation

With our victory last week, we once again remain one of the Elite Eight teams in the nation. My own personal expectation in a league as tough as the WFA, is to be in the Final Four each year, so we’re not quite there yet. Coming down to visit this week are the undefeated Seattle Majestics, currently ranked #7 in the country. Playing teams like Seattle are what makes our year. We’re fortunate this year to have been tested earlier by the rise of Pacific and Central Cal, and I believe that will make us stronger from here on out.

Obviously I expect a great game from Seattle this weekend – but who else is playing?

Kansas City (#15) goes down to Dallas (#5). In the past, this has been a tight series, but I don’t see it that way this year. I think the reappearance of the St. Louis Slam hurt the Titans a lot. Being that Dallas beat Kansas City 78-6 in Kansas City in Week 3 doesn’t bode well for the Titans. I really like some of the Titan players, but I just don’t see how they can make up 10 touchdowns, you know?

Chicago (#3) goes to Boston (#2). Should be the game of the week. I thought that this would be Chicago’s year, but Boston besting them in Chicago, along with DC beating Boston twice, gives me reason to reevaluate. Coach Konecki will have his players hyped, but will it be enough? It’s hard to believe that Chicago will have the same torrent of turnovers they had in the first meeting. Usually a team that puts the ball on the ground 11 times get blown out, but this was an overtime loss. However, as Boston likes to say, until someone takes the title from them, they’re still the champs. If this game was in Chicago, I’d give it to the Force, but in Boston…..who knows?

Atlanta (#10) goes to DC (#1). I’ve said before that DC is the only team that looks dominant this year. Yes, they’ll have to prove it one more time against either Boston or Chicago, but I don’t see Atlanta pulling it off. I guess I’m still biased against the southern teams due to one of their teams finishing 10-0 every year and then getting blown out in the first round. Until one of them can beat someone outside of their immediate region, my bias will remain.

Best of luck to everyone playing, and let’s get through this week injury-free!

For more information on the Women's Football Association (WFA), please go to: www.wfafootball.net. 

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A rave and then a couple of rants…..

I want to give a shout out to my Surge offensive line, and it has nothing to do with their technical prowess (although I do think they’re pretty darn good, having allowed only 1 sack all year, and averaging well north of the 7 yards per carry that is my standard). I want to talk about the way they approach practice. First of all, as a group, they’re there…..every time. There have been times when attendance for the rest of the team has been a little shaky, but the OL is always there. A few of them have missed a practice here and there, but I’d say they are right around a 95% attendance rate among them.

Second, they get bored easily, and that’s a good thing. They want to be working, all practice. My rookies, Sarah Zito, Mercedes Tyler and Karen Plogger (recovering from an injury) just jump in and do whatever is asked of them. They’ve embraced the “guardian” mantle we talk about. Our veteran leaders, Eboni Chambers, Jessica Cable, Jen White, Chris Carrillo (injured) along with Katrina Walter (when I get her from the defense) aren’t rah-rah types at all, just like most good OL. They lead by example and have each helped out the rookies. It is very refreshing to see the “let’s go to work” mentality being passed on to the new players *by* players, instead of necessarily having to come from me. They are a great group to coach!

Now the rants…..

I love my men’s team OL, individually, I really do. They’re great guys. The problem is, they have an aversion to coming to practice as a group. We’ve had 7 practices so far and I haven’t had 5 OL at a single one of them. I don’t understand (and probably never will) what it is about the men’s game where players (and sometimes coaches) think they can just blow off practices. I mean, the Surge OL all have jobs, school, families, etc., and they find a way to make it to practice. I always hear “well, that’s semi-pro for you” or, “that’s just the way it is” and I absolutely refuse to accept that. Football is football! None of those guys who grew up playing the game were ever told that practice is optional. So when did that ethos change? When they are there, the guys pick up on what we’re trying to do pretty quickly, but in order to get to our full potential the OL has to work as a unit, often. Hopefully now that games are closer, there will be a little more in the way of a “sense of urgency” that takes hold with them.

Finally…..

You can file this one under “only in semi-pro” as well: We had a very good defensive coach with us for about 5 weeks. On July 18, we open with a traditional rival for us, from North County. Last week, that coach told us he was leaving, for (you guessed it) our July 18 opponent. So here’s a coach that has been intimately involved with our team throughout our game planning phase and two weeks before the game he decides to not only leave, but go coach for the team he helped prepare us for! Who does that? Don’t misunderstand – I get him leaving us, that’s cool. I get him going to coach for the North County team – that’s cool too. But the honorable thing would have been to say, “Hey, I’ll come coach you guys – starting July 19.” I’m just relieved I didn’t give him as much info as he wanted on our offense.

All right……I’m sure there will be plenty to talk about next week, given the four huge games this week. See you then!

Pure Class

I’ve had the fortune of meeting quite a few classy coaches over the years. Guys like Mike Barry (retired, Detroit), Pat Ruel (Seattle), Mike Riley (Nebraska), Brent Myers (Weber State), Mike Sanford (Indiana State) and Homer Smith (UCLA, Alabama) all, at one time or another went out of their way to help me out. They did things they didn’t need to – some allowed me to monopolize their time; some gave me access to practices; some replied in detail, with handwritten diagrams, to questions I had. Guys like that are a big reason why I write this blog, so that if the opportunity arises, maybe I can help out a coach who is just starting out.

One coach though, went above and beyond, and that’s who I want to recognize now. Mike Sherman, former Green Bay head coach, Texas A&M head coach and Miami offensive coordinator, is the epitome of class. Here’s the story:

In the spring of 1996, I was coaching at Fountain Valley High, and finally learning what being a good coach was all about. I saw Coach Sherman at a coaches’ clinic in Orange County and was blown away by his meticulous attention to detail and the way he laid out his practice plans and taught in general. At the time, he was the OL coach at Texas A&M.

I went up to him after about the fourth presentation, and said, “Hey coach – I really like the way you present.” His immediate reply was, “Why don’t you come out and visit us during spring ball?” Fortunately for me, Fountain Valley had an active booster club, and they were willing to spend funds on coaches’ education, including travel to schools. Two days later I had a plane ticket, rental car and hotel in College Station.

I had the Aggies’ spring schedule, and purposely came out a week before their big coaches’ clinic, because I knew there would be a few hundred other coaches around. I walked into Coach’s office and after some small talk he set me up with a GA, Jason. He told Jason to give me any film I wanted, and then he and I would meet for lunch to go over it. So I was led down to the team meeting room in Kyle Field, given a tray full of film and a remote. Just me, in a room that seated 100. I started taking notes, figuring out their schemes and adjustments.

When lunchtime rolled around, Jason came and got me and I joined Coach at Cain Hall (then the athletic dining center) where he promptly apologized for not being able to comp my meal due to NCAA regulations. It was $2 for breakfast, $3 for lunch and $5 for dinner – all you could eat. We sat for the next hour and went over my notes…..in detail. He shared with me exactly why they did certain things against one defense and not the other – even if it was the same base look. He went into game planning and play calling. He went into technique. Any and all questions I had, he answered.

After lunch, we went over to the OL meeting room for their pre-practice meeting, and I sat through that. Then we went to practice, and again, I was basically Coach’s shadow the entire time. A few times I felt bad for Jason who was scrambling to set up drills, so I helped him out.

After practice was over, it was dinner with the entire staff (I would also be remiss if I didn’t recognize Coach RC Slocum, who is the very picture of Texas hospitality and grace, along with his son, Shawn [now with Arizona State], who was just starting out himself back then) and then I was on my own for the rest of the night.

That routine carried on for the five days I was there. I can’t begin to tell you how much that solo time with Coach Sherman helped me out. One of the days, the OL coach from the Tennessee Vols came down to visit with Coach, and the three of us spent some time hashing out some ideas…..it was incredible to me to be treated as an equal in that situation (whether or not I really was, I doubt, but they treated me as one). On another day, the entire staff of Sam Houston State was there – they too were very gracious. Also when I was watching film, scouts from the Broncos and Giants were in, and I got a chance to talk to them about what they looked for.

All in all, that experience was a defining moment for my growth as a coach. The time that Coach Sherman took out of that week to help me out was incredible.

My point in writing this now is that Coach Sherman, after coaching in the NFL and collegiate ranks for 33 years, has taken a high school job in a small town near his home in Massachusetts. Here’s a link to the article: Football Scoop article. Also, you’ll notice at the end of the article is a link to the letter Coach wrote to every high school coach in Texas upon his leaving Texas A&M. You should read it. That letter is the reason for the title of this blog post…..pure class. I wish Coach the best for as long as he wants to continue coaching. I hope the high school kids realize how lucky they are.

***

We played the Pacific Warriors last week, up at their place. I knew it would be a tough, physical game as they would be looking to perhaps get a tie for first place in our division. Our HC, Mike Suggett, put together an outstanding defensive game plan, and outside of their first play of the game, our defense executed it well. Holding a team like that (#8 in the country) to 8 points is a job well done.

Offensively, I was very proud of my OL. We started a rookie center, and displaced a couple of vets to new positions. The result? Our second highest graded game this year. Our effort was outstanding. All 48 points we scored were offensive, and we had over 600 yards of total offense.

This week, we travel to #10 Central Cal. There is no doubt they’d love to take a bit of our shine. However, we understand how tenuous our hold on home field advantage through the playoffs is. We definitely need to handle business and leave no doubt.

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)……

Post Memorial Recap

Well, the “game that should not be played” won’t be now, and that’s a good thing. We’ll have practice tonight and again Sunday before hitting the road for our final two games against the Pacific Warriors and Central Cal War Angels, both of which should be bruising affairs. We’re on the backstretch before getting to another playoff run, and we need to be better than we’ve been to make it through.

If you’d like to see an excellent playoff preview, please go here: Neal Rozendaal’s preview. I think Neal is pretty spot-on.

***

We had our first men’s practice of the year Thursday. It went *very* well from an offensive standpoint. We ran very limited routes, and only one run play out of a bunch of different looks. I was very pleased with how quickly the guys caught on to the tempo and adapted to the formations and some of the formation tags. We were able to run all of our base formations, plus a couple of tags, all without a huddle. We ran two cadences and a few motions. All in all it was a great introduction and more than enough got accomplished for a “Day One” practice.

***

I just received word that the DVD’s of the annual COOL Clinic are now available….there goes another $100…..sorry, Travis, no new clothes for you this month, and more Top Ramen for both of us. LOL……I’m looking forward to this edition because it features a talk by Jim Schwartz, the former HC of the Lions. He talks about how defenses scout and game plan for different offenses. There was a similar talk by Rex Ryan from 2009 that was pretty good. I always like to gain insight about how the “other side” may prepare for my offense.

My best sounding board is the HC of the Bears, Winston Martin, who has been around the block a few times. In most cases I can draw something up for him and he’ll describe exactly how he’d defend it. He’s also acting as my RB coach this year, so if I come up with something weird, he’ll immediately alert me to a problem I may not have foreseen. Guys like that are a valuable resource!

***

Speaking of resources, I can’t talk up X and O Labs enough. I just renewed my annual membership there for $39.95. They have staff memberships (up to 8 coaches) for I think $99.95. I just printed out 87 pages of Run Pass Option (RPO) information. Online, they also include game film in their articles. I’ve got a binder filled with their articles. Unlike the COOL Clinic, which features speakers from mostly the top-tier colleges and NFL (and only offensive line coaches, by design), X and O Labs features articles from guys that you’ve probably never heard of. That doesn’t diminish the information at all, and only serves to highlight how many outstanding coaches there are at all levels across the country. At this point, I’ve probably “borrowed” more stuff from D-II, D-III and high school guys than I have from NFL guys.

Articles on offense, defense, specials, S&C and program development are all included.

***

About those RPO’s……the number of teams that are running them has quadrupled in the past year. If you thought the advent of the Pistol offense was big, well, I think this will eclipse it. My main problem is that with the men, using NFL rules, they’re a bit pickier about getting the big guys downfield. At the women’s level, this stuff is gold, since they use collegiate rules. But no worry – the Bears will be taking full advantage of whatever we’re allowed!

Playing Through

We had “one of those” games this week. Due to the early running clock, some INT’s returned for TD’s by our defense and a general lack of interest by the officials in enforcing a play clock, we were able to run 22 offensive plays – 18 in the first half. Yes, we ran 4 offensive plays in the second half, all of them in the 4^th quarter.

We were missing about 10 players, including many of who you see near the top of the leader board in league stats. But the one who I was most bummed about is my rookie center who probably would have gotten about 18 snaps in. As it was, the one good thing to come out of the game was the chance to play people at different positions along the OL, so if we have an emergency situation later on I won’t be so nervous.

Next week, of course is a league-wide bye week…..please ensure that you give thanks in whatever method you prefer for those who have fallen in defense of our country. After that, is our third in a row of “games that shouldn’t be played” (my opinion only) before we finish out on the road against Pacific and Central Cal.

***

I was watching a DVD of the Steelers offensive line coach. He was talking about a run play that was “power/gap scheme, but without a puller”.  Once again, my eyes have been opened to different ways of thinking. What he said made perfect sense and was easy to install. My main problem with my men’s offense is deciding what to leave out…..there’s so much stuff we could do, and I think we’ll do more than most offenses, but every time I see something new, it is like “oh look – a variation on outside zone! Let’s run it!” and I take off on an ADD type of tangent.

Right now I’m thinking that 80% of my run game is going to be only four concepts: inside zone, outside zone, fly sweep and counter. It’s that other 20% that I really have to decide what I want and how much practice time do I want to put into it.

Coach also talked about a streamlined way to communicate interior and exterior looks by the defense. That is something I need to get better at for sure.

***

I met with my two QB’s the other night, and I’m thankful for them. I’m not always good at seeing things from a skinny guy’s perspective. I’m pretty good at seeing the big picture and definitely good at seeing things from an OL viewpoint, but since I’ve never been a skinny guy, that outlook suffers sometimes.

I’m meeting with my OL tonight, and I’m excited for that. We start practice tomorrow night, and I’m looking forward to hitting the ground running. The first couple of practices will only have one run play (with some variations), and only about 3-5 different routes, but by the time we get to Practice 3 we’ll be putting things together.

***

Just a heads up – our 2^nd annual RS Football Camp is tentatively scheduled for November 14-15. It was a great success last year, in having almost 60 athletes attend from across the country. We’ve listened to your feedback and will be making some tweaks this year, mostly in terms of field time versus class time.

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.

Best Practices

One of the things I strive for always is learning new and possibly better ways of doing things. Hopefully that has come through loud and clear in this blog. I’m not satisfied with any success I had 10 years ago, or even 2 years ago. Now, I don’t believe in change just to change, and I’ll rarely, if ever, change my thought process in the middle of a season – that just makes you look wishy-washy, in my opinion. Adjustments, yes of course…..heck, those come from week to week and from the first half to the second half, and sometimes each series. But from a technique standpoint or philosophical standpoint, things that your vision and identity for the season are based upon, then no.

That is one of the issues I have with the timing of most coaching clinics, is that for the women’s season, they are right when we’re starting practices and by that time you should be pretty set in what you’re doing. It’s been awhile since I’ve done a shameless plug, so here’s one: Our (Coach Mike Suggett & I) RS Football Camp is on the third weekend in November, and why myself, as an experienced clinician, is available from September to January to clinic your team, coaches or players. The new OL techniques that I’ve been teaching are starting to be noticed – by our defense. They might be worth checking out next offseason….just sayin’!

Anyway, the weekend of our mini-camp, I had the opportunity to talk with some players that have played in other organizations. I always ask them how things were done on their previous teams, how we compare, etc. I don’t do it just to stroke our own egos, and I appreciate when players are honest if there is something being done better somewhere else. Sometimes, if it is an OL that I’m talking to, if I like the idea I can implement it right away. But if the comments refer to another position or side of the ball, then I’ll just take mental notes about maybe what to do or not do in the future.

One thing that I heard a few times with the players I spoke to (and I’ve seen this in the past as well) is that individual position time is often sacrificed for team time. No offense to my “skinny position” coach friends out there, but if that is happening I’ll bet you that it is because the OC has a QB/WR/RB background. Fortunately, our OC, Carrie Suggett, recognizes the value of indy time and I rarely, if ever, need to remind her not to crowd it out. On the Bears, since I’m the OC, that isn’t a problem either.

There are pitfalls to having indy time, for sure. The main one is if your position coaches haven’t developed a comprehensive set of drills they can do to fill the time. Last week, I talked about my development of a drills spreadsheet that allows me to track what I’ve actually been doing in practice. If you missed it, I encourage you to check it out.

Recently, I’ve been made aware of where my next couple of road trips need to be…..one would be to head on over to Scottsdale AZ to visit LeCharles Bentley’s OL Performance World. His unique facility caters to a single demographic – offensive linemen. In terms of strength & conditioning for OL, along with technique review, I’m not sure that anyone on the planet does it better than him.

Next, some spring I’m going to need to make time to visit Ball State University, in Muncie, Indiana. I want to go and see how John Strollo does things. Coach Strollo is speaking at the COOL Clinic this May, and since I’ll be buying the clinic DVD’s after it is over I’ll be very interested in what he has to say and what he’s doing.

I also want to give a shot out to a classy coach – Brent Myers, the Associate HC and OL coach of Weber State University. I’ve been acquainted with Coach for some time, ever since he was at Arizona State back in the early 2000’s. I adopted the skip pull technique after listening to him talk about it. At the time, he was about the only one doing it, and now it is really common. Anyway, I also remembered him talking about a low punch on pass pro that I never went to, but with my diving into the double under technique in the run game, I knew who I wanted to talk to about a question I had using it in pass pro. So I sent Coach an e-mail, and within 48 hours he responded in detail to my question, along with an invitation to call him if I needed any followup. That’s just the latest example of coaches who have helped me out, and why I try to do the same to guys starting out or guys that have questions. But the key is, you gotta ask!

Here’s the thing….if you’re not always on the lookout for finding the “best practices” available to you, you’ll never know about them. Coaches are among the most competitive people on earth – why put yourself at a disadvantage among your peers?

What a Weekend!

Before I start to reflect on another awesome football weekend, let me pass along a coaching tip…..A while ago, I decided to think of every offensive line drill I knew. I named each of them, and just basically put them down on paper. I think this was an outgrowth of reading Bill Walsh’s “must have” book, “Finding the Winning Edge” (on Amazon here…..it’s selling in hardback for $250??? Maybe I need to sell mine!) and how Coach broke down every position in the book into skills that each position needed. Basically, I thought that I got into a rut of doing the same drills over and over. Doing “everydays” is one thing, especially for the OL, but I (and my players I think) definitely felt like I got into a rut.

So I took that catalog of drills, and put them into a spreadsheet. I broke them down into run and pass pro sections down the left side. Then across the top I put down all of our practice dates. Once I received the upcoming practice plan, I would plan out the Indy time by placing a X in the appropriate cell. Most of my drills are designed to last for 5 minutes, but sometimes I’ll do three drills at the same time in 2 minute circuits. So for 10 minutes I’ll do a three-drill station and then one 4 minute drill.

What happens is that each time I look at the sheet, I get an instant reminder of what we haven’t worked on in awhile and what we’ve spent a lot of time on. Even if you need to spend more time on something you’ve already spent a lot of time on, then maybe you can just use a different drill that emphasizes the same thing. To your players, it is doing something different!

I’ve said this before (I think) but one of the things coaches need to guard against is drills that go on forEVER….Nothing kills the energy in an individual period like doing the same thing for 20 minutes. I’ve seen it time and time again. And what happens when the coach realizes it, is that they ask for “5 more minutes” because they didn’t get to something else they needed to cover, or even worse, they didn’t install the play they were supposed to. Now the entire group has to wait, or go into the group period unprepared. So don’t be “that coach”…….

OK, back to the weekend!

Saturday morning, we all met at a Park ‘n Ride for a 6:00 AM departure by bus. We had, by my best estimate, 98% attendance. No one was late. This included several of our out of area players….I know one coach left his house at 2:45 AM, and several players were up by 3:00 or 3:30. It’s going to be tough to beat a team with that level of commitment.

We arrived in El Centro right about 2 hours later, just after 8:00, went straight to the field (El Centro Central High School – awesome hosts!) and finished suiting up for the helmets-only practice. This was our “install” practice, so we did a ton of individual position work, and a lot of group install, such as a lot of our screen game stuff – things that required timing, etc. That first practice went until about 10:15. We gave them a break with hydration and fruit served, until 11:00, when we started our fully padded practice.

The second practice featured a lot of hitting, and by this time, it was pretty hot. I don’t think it ever reached the low 90’s that were forecast, but it was definitely in the high 80’s all day. Oh, and in between sessions, we also had conditioning. After a couple of scrimmage sessions, we were pretty beat. That practice ended about 1:15 or 1:30. We fed them lunch at the field, and started chalk talks in classrooms at 2:00. At 3:00, we were back out on the field for the third practice in shells only.

That third practice was the one where mental toughness became the primary focus. There was some hitting, and some conditioning work. By this time, everyone (coaches included) were tired, both mentally and physically. But you have to find a way to push through, and we did. That practice ended just after 5:00, and we bussed back to our hotel for a quick shower.

At 6:15, we were back on the bus to head out for dinner. I mentioned last week that our QB, Melissa Gallegos and her family really band together to take great care of us. We went to their church (I apologize that I don’t remember the name of it, or I’d give them a plug too – such nice people!) to tables set up in the meeting hall/basketball court. Everything is served buffet style, including salad, vegetables, pasta, chicken and beef….the meat is fantastic. Water, tea and lemonade for beverages, and for dessert some of the best peach cobbler I’ve ever had.

We announced our captains for the year, took team photos and then headed back to the hotel around 7:45. Some of us coaches met by the pool for an informal meeting which included one adult beverage (any more would have been foolhardy!) and then we were done and lights out well before 10:00.

Sunday morning we were all up in time for breakfast and then on the bus back to the field at 7:45 for the 8:00 start. This practice was in shells as well, and although initially we all felt rested by a good night’s sleep, soon the fatigue from Saturday took over and it became a battle. There were some great OL vs DL battles going on, some scrimmaging, some 7-on-7 work and the always-drilled special teams and game situations. The practice ended at 10:30 with an offense vs defense relay race, which the defense won (barely).

Back to the hotel for a shower and lunch, then back on the bus to come home. That’s how we do it! How was YOUR weekend?

Ramping Up

I see that an All Star team from Mexico came up and played two games this weekend in the Seattle area. The first game came on Friday night against the Seattle Majestics, a very solid team, whose defense gave us fits for three quarters last year. They’re working in a bunch of new players and so I was very interested in how the game would turn out. The Majestics won 40-8, proving that they are still a solid team. Playing a game this early has to be tough. I’m not sure when Seattle started practicing, but I know that I wouldn’t be eager to play a game already. But really, if the Majestics were looking to be back in the Elite 8 range this year, then this was a result they probably should have expected. It looks like they are well on their way!

To Mexico’s credit, they then turned around and played the Tacoma Trauma on Sunday. After what had to be a very physical game against Seattle to turn around on less than 48 hours rest and play again was awesome. To come out and beat Tacoma 60-8 is even more awesome – for Mexico, anyway. To be honest, that can’t bode well for the Trauma this year. I don’t know the geography or the politics involved in the Seattle area, but I’m thinking three teams is at least one too many up there. It seems to be a similar market to Utah, and three teams was one too many there, while two seem to be shaking out nicely. Of course, it is also entirely possible that Tacoma only just started practicing – again, I don’t know.

Meanwhile, the Surge is marching along, getting ready for our season opener on April 11, just a month away (wow – already?). This weekend, we take off for El Centro, 120 miles east of San Diego, for our annual mini-camp. It’s gonna be hot, and we’re going to be out there with just ourselves. Not too much to distract us. Each year since our owner, Christina Carrillo, started this in 2011, it has been one of the best football experiences I’ve had. It is intense, it is a bonding experience for the team, we grind and we get about two weeks’ worth of work in in two days.

We will leave Saturday morning at 6:00 AM by bus, and go directly to the field in El Centro. We’ll arrive, finish dressing and get out for our first practice. We’ll have three on Saturday, and one on Sunday morning before heading home. Our QB, Melissa Gallegos, has family in the area and they band together to provide food and hydration to us. The dinner on Saturday night is by any standard, epic!

It is a full day and a half of team building, hard work and fun…..my kind of weekend! We’ll know an awful lot more about the players we have after this weekend. Whether we have what it takes to contend for another national title or not. It’ll be the best answer we get until April 11!

On the men’s side, team orientations are starting up as well. I just don’t get what it is with the guys….why they just can’t do, for once, what they’re asked to do. The orientation was billed as starting at 3:00. I raced over to that directly from the Surge coaches’ meeting and barely made it by 3:00, only to find one….yes, one…player there. More eventually showed up, of course, but it all seemed to take place on their own time schedule. Maybe that is part of the reason why no men’s team from this area is in line for national championship contention. No matter what level you play at, there are some constants….and in a team-centric sport such as football, one of those constants is self-discipline – doing things that maybe you don’t really want to do, but because you know it is important to the team, you do them anyway.

The ladies of the Surge demonstrate that regularly. Our Los Angeles area players drive down twice a week, Wednesday nights and Sunday mornings, to make it to practice. Yeah, on Sunday mornings they’re getting up at 4:30 or 5:00 AM to get down here on time. But guys? Not only “no”, but “hell no” would they ever do that. 

If I could ever find a group of guys who were that dedicated to being part of something bigger than themselves, I can guarantee that we’d have the best team in the area, and maybe the country. They wouldn’t even need to be the most talented…..just be willing to learn and execute. Oh well….I can dream, right? Isn’t that what preseason is for? Every team thinks right now they’re in the national title hunt. They’re not, of course, but it’s OK to think they are. It is the time of dreams.

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.

Screen Games

One thing I really, really like about coaching within collegiate rules (besides the OT rules and despite being down without contact) are the possibilities in the screen game. Here are some things to consider when putt in your screens:1.       If you’re in the WFA, go find some film on the Chicago Force, especially the 2013 WFA Championship game. It should still be up on the watchgamefilm.com site. The Force may be the best screen team I’ve ever seen. The sheer variety that they run is dazzling, and they execute pretty well also.

2.       Consider your personnel, and the types of DL that you face. Not all teams can run screens, not all teams are good to run screens against.

a.       Ideally, you would have an offensive line that can get out in space and block. If your OL is more of the “two shoves and stop” variety, then running screens will be quite an undertaking.

b.      If you are facing a DL that isn’t very active – i.e., they pretty much stay on the LOS, then traditional middle screens won’t be much help to you. One of those inactive DL may just luck into the play of their life and get a pick!

3.       Types of screens – please note, this is a very high overview of the screen game…..

a.       Middle Screens – might be the easiest to start with, just know that as I said above, the type of OL you have and the type of DL you are facing may have a bearing on how well it works for you. All you need to do is get a receiver over the middle, behind the LOS somehow….could be a TE from the LOS peeling back; could be a RB settling down as in pass pro, then turning around or it could be a WR coming in motion and being the receiver. There are all sorts of ways to make that happen.                     i.      The OL basically just “loses the first hit”, while possibly shoving or clubbing the DL upfield, then they head downfield for second level defenders. If a DL refuses to disengage with them, then I tell my OL to stay on them.                     ii.      As long as your OL can get a piece of the second level defenders, this play has a chance to be pretty good.

b.      Wide Receiver Screens – these work pretty well, and don’t depend necessarily on your OL being mobile or the DL being aggressive.                     i.      These can be either Bubble Screens, or Jailbreak Screens –                                1.       On the Bubble, a receiver (can be inside WR, motion WR or RB) arcs to the outside. The RB part of that can be especially deadly against teams who don’t adjust well to motion.                                2.       On the Jailbreak, the outer WR is coming in towards the ball. While it still works better if your OL can get up on the second level (NOTE: pretty much everything works better if your OL can move), the receiver can cut it up a bit more vertically if there is too much traffic further inside.                     ii.      However, at least one of your WR’s had better be a beast when it comes to blocking, and it would be nice if the playside tackle can move a bit. Failing that, she needs to make sure the DE doesn’t get too far upfield and disrupt your throwing lane.

c.       “Traditional” left or right RB screens – these I think are the hardest to implement, just because I think they do take more time, although if you happen to play under NFL rules (and maybe high school – I’ve lost track of what they do), they may be your best option.                     i.      The way I taught this to the OL was as follows:                                 1.       Playside tackle, set deep and drive the defender inside to clear the lane. Alternative was to club and drive upfield. Anything except let the DE sit there.                                  2.       Playside guard/center: Whoever of the two is uncovered goes first and either takes “first force” or if they see a man-to-man LB following the RB, that LB.                                  3.       Playside guard/center: Whoever is covered goes second and takes the alley defender (SS/OLB if #1 takes man LB or ILB if #1 takes first force). Basically, #2 reads #1’s block and does the opposite.                                  4.       Backside guard: Is always #3 and goes last. Their job is to circle around and pick off the “first smart DL”. They would go pretty much flat down the line to about the playside B gap, and look back for the first DL to read and react to the screen. It should give an opportunity for a great block!                                  5.       My overall rule for #’s 1, 2 and 3 is “win the first (hit), lose the second”. Using NFL rules, this will keep your OL within the normal boundaries allowed by the referees and not too far downfield. Coupled with a more lateral release due to the direction of the play, you should be fine.

4.       When you install screens, make sure that as an OC you let your position coaches know in advance that it is going to happen that day. They should then drill the essential skills in their Indy period. Sure, there will be some minor timing issues when you come together as a group or team, but they will be minimal compared to if the individual positions have never even performed the blocks/schemes.

Screens are fun to run. They can be demoralizing to a defense, and really take their aggression out of the game. Funny story from last year….we were on the road against a team that had us (me and a coach from the other team) sharing a rather large pressbox. There was probably 15 or so feet in between us, so while we couldn’t hear each other in normal conversation, we certainly could if one or the other got excited. We were facing a 4^th and 10 from their 27, and I called for a middle screen (in our terminology, it wouldn’t have been obvious to the other coach even if he heard it). Five seconds later, I could hear him say, “Bring pressure – bring everyone!” I just silently thought to myself, “YES!” The result? It went from a 4th and 10 situation to a touchdown.

OK….I think I’m gonna take Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve off. Over those two weeks, I would love to get some requests about issues/problems/questions you may have that you’d like to see addressed. You can either comment in the blog comment section, or hit me up directly via my Facebook page or at kmring@gmail.com. Have a Merry Christmas, a Happy New Year, and I’ll talk to you again on January 7^th!