Sunday, January 25, 2009

Percy Harvin Counter Play




Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Math + Football = Win

Recently, I was reading an article in the Nike 2004 Coach of the Year Clinics Football Manual. In the article Noel Mazzone credits Ralph Friedgen for helping them develop how they determine their success ratio. Friedgen proposes that if you take the all the offensive penalties, sacks, turnovers, and dropped passes and divide them by the total number of plays. It is his contention that if you can keep the number under 12% you are 90% more likely to win the game. If the outcome is over 12% your likelihood of winning declines dramatically. I am going to have to go back and check our game films from the previous season and see if this hypothesis holds true for us.

The Shovel Pass with Tags in the Gun Offense

For Xmas I got this dvd and I immdiately watched it when I got home. Ken Leonard and John Allison from Sacred Heart Griffin do an excellent job both with their football program and this dvd.

Here is an example of Hawaii running the shovel pass.


You willnotice that Colt Brennan invites the defense upfield and throws an under hand pass that looks very similar to an option pitch to the rb.


Here is another example of the shovel pass but Florida will fake the fly sweep and run what they call crazy option away from the fly action.




Leonard and Allison add the following tags to their shovel plays:

All of their shovel plays blocking schemes are Power O

Offensive Formation 3x1
Shovel Option the rb/f runs the shovel look that is posted above and number three gets into pitch relationship with the qb. The read key is the 5 technique to the man over number 3. If the five technique squeezes down on the downblock of the tackle then the qb pulls and attacks the invert/overhang. Option rules apply

Shovel Bubble Same rules as above but number three runs a bubble. Easy flip for the qb and this play truly stretches the defense horizontally

Shovel Now which I think is the least effective of the three. It is the shovel to a rocket type screen to number 1.

Overall, I think this dvd is a good buy and I would suggest to anyone who is looking for something different to add to their coaching aresenal.

Friday, January 16, 2009

No Huddle Code Part One

Many coaches ask how they can run no huddle effectively and efficiently throughout a game. I have used a number of techniques to run no huddle. The first of which is based upon a color system and one word. If I want to run an uptempo no huddle during a game I will yell out Speedway and then a color. Speedway tells my players they need to set as soon as possible in our predetermined formation. When I call a color the players know exactly what to run. Each color has a predetermined partner. Both of the colors can dictate the same play. For example I might yell out Speedway yellow or black. The yellow and black colors tell the players what play to run. Upon receiving the instruction the players get set and run the play. If the play is successful I will stay in my Speedway component and call another play or stay with the one I just called.

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Watch Game film. com

I have been a subscriber to this site for several months and it has proven to be invaluable to me and my staff. It allows a coach to develop film for his atheletes and they can watch it at the convenience of being at their work station. Players usernames are their email address and they create their own unique password. Have players watch film at their own workstations is invaluable because it gives you the coach the opportunity to reinforce your gameplan for the week. And a team can not beat the price it only costs $250 and allows a team to upload over 20GB of information and allows for over a 100 members.

The owner and operators of this company are great to deal with and I highly suggest checking out the company. www.watchgamefilm.com

Monday, January 12, 2009

Tunch Ilkin-Hand Strikes

A few Christmas ago I received a Tunch Ilkin DVD on hand strikes and martial arts for offensive linemen. It was quite interesting to view the first time. It was his belief that martial arts were the great equalizer for him in the NFL. He attributed martial arts training with giving him the ability to neautralize much larger enemy combatants simply through the use of his hands. Tunch took the viewer through a series of exercises that he considered to be core to the topic. For more information on Ilkin click this link: http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://tunchandwolf.com/images/photos/bio_tunch.jpg&imgrefurl=http://tunchandwolf.com/team.html&usg=__2YYDHWMCDQ0cRQnngVPuSoeXac0=&h=198&w=198&sz=12&hl=en&start=3&um=1&tbnid=3n-SrXaM_MbHmM:&tbnh=104&tbnw=104&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dtunch%2Bilkin%2Bwife%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN Below are several examples that I have recently incoporated into my teams offseason conditioning program.

Double Handed Strikes-emphasis on elbows being in, sitting in an athletic position, and using the meat of the hand to strike.

Hi-Low- the player will strike a pad high and then low. The aforementioned coaching point are incorporated into this movement.

Single Handed Strikes-Same as doubled handed except only with one hand

Combo Movements-Hand strikes that end being a series of movements. For example, one strike with left hand followed by two with the right.

It is my contention that by doing just these few exercises in the offseason that we should see a dramatic improvement in our players ability to engage a defender.

Sunday, January 11, 2009

COOL Clinic Notes


The past couple of weeks I have been watching little snippets of Rex Ryan and his talk about defeating an offensive linemen's block.

A couple of thoughts on what I have watched thus far:



  • Rex Ryan is a no nonsense sort of guy who cuts through it right away.

  • He does an excellent job talking about how Baltimore takes on double team blocks.

  • He makes an offensive coach rethink their pass protection rules.

  • His film study insight about splits and pass protection are affirming of what any good offensive coach knows.

    If you get a chance I would highly suggest getting this particular dvd from last years COOL clinic. It was well worth the price of the dvd.