Friday, February 25, 2011

Triple Inside Fire Zone - Dick LeBeau


This Dick LeBeau Zone Blitz has already been talked about on Blitzology's Blog here and on Smartfootball.com here.  I liked it so much that I started digging through my video library of blitzes to find a cut-up of it.  It has 5 blitzers to attack vs. the middle 3 of the OL.  I  especially like that the blitz makes it possible to avoid the offense's two best pass protectors, the OTs. 

The picture below is a page from Dick LeBeau's playbook when he was the Head Coach for the Bengals:
2002 Cincinnati Bengals 3-4 Defense - Dick LeBeau.pdf


Saturday, February 19, 2011

Double Slant


Double Slant is a great quick-game concept vs. Cover 2 or any type of Man coverage.  The key is the route by the inside WR.  He doesn't just run upfield and then slant inside.  He has a very specific aiming point at the inside # of the #2 defender.  I chose the video at the end of the article as a teaching cut because it demonstrates this technique extremely well.  Success in the passing game is not about drawing up cool-looking playslike everything else in football, its success is mostly due to fundamentals and proper technique...by the the receivers, the QB, and especially the protection.

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

WR Grading

I grade on two categories and I give a plus or a minus, but you can do it the same way with points. The first category I grade on is alignment and assignment. This includes the proper WR split for the play and running the pattern to the correct depth on a pass or blocking the correct man on a run. The second category is effort and execution. If a guy goes to block (taking the correct angle of approach) and his man gets by him, that would be a plus for the first category and a minus for the second category. If he was standing straight up and he gets juked badly, that would be two minuses. A loaf or a drop is also an automatic double minus.




I would like to do a blog article in the future on this with cut-ups from my old school to show how to grade. A lot of times coaches give a player a grade, but it doesn't necessarily reflect how well the player played. It is for this reason that many coaches see grading as a waste of time.



What I do to get my grades to accurately reflect performance is to give 3 or 4 pluses/minuses for something really good or bad. I rarely give out the 4 pluses on a play. A pancake or a great hustle block would definitely get three pluses. A penalty or costly mental mistake would probably be 3 minuses. This way if a guy plays well, he will have a grade that reflects that.



If I can get guys to score 80% I am happy. That is an A, 75% is a B, and 70% is a C. If they are less than 70%, they are not working that hard and they have better had caught a TD or they will be losing reps the next week. Guys going both ways may be in the 67% range, but your expectations must stay high. For that reason, I like to play a lot of guys to keep them fresh and the competition for reps forces everyone to push harder.

Saturday, February 5, 2011

Bill Belichick Notes - 2009 Florida Clinic


I am a bit limited this year with going to clinics, so I am going back through some of my old clinic notes.  Bill Belichick is the best presenter that I have ever had the chance to hear at a clinic, so I wanted to share these notes.  He shared a lot of good, sound fundamental ideas on Offense, Defense, and Special Teams.

Urban Meyer intro: “The New England Patriots are the least penalized team in the league.  Their formula for success is simple but difficult: Talent, Discipline, and Leadership.”