CoachSteve

I have to agree with lots of the comments on this board. We follow Pop Warner rules on "Slaughter". Those rules are pretty clear - once you achieve the slaughter, you must not pass or run sweeps - basically up the middle stuff. Now, I do have an opinion on the matter - when you are up 13-0 with less than two minutes to go, you should not be looking to score but you should be teaching your team how to wind out the clock and preserve the win. That is part of football too and they need to learn it. Calling time out and trying to score was without class. One thing we have to remember as coachs is that those players on the other team are just kids. We may be better coachs or have better players and may be able to score at will but as Youth coachs our job also includes not humiliating the other team - they are kids. I'm not saying you should stop hitting, tackling, and blocking - that is a safety issue. I am saying we should back off the big hitting plays like the passes and the sweeps. Put in your subs if you have to. In the end, if you still score but you have demostrated that you were running backups and very vanilla stuff, then you did what you were supposed to do. You can not tell your kids to spend an entire quarter falling down on purpose or slipping blocks to give the other team a chance. That is not safe. So, just keep it vanilla and do your best in play calling and with players on the field to not humiliate the other squad.

we practice a 6-2 for short yardage situations so it is part of our package. mostly, we run a 44 but we do shift in and out of a 6-2. We fidgetted for about one practice with a seven diamond but hated it. The key is getting reps in the formation. you want to run your goal line defense in practice on a regular basis and, like I said, we sometimes run it as in 3rd and 2 from the 50.

we run a 44 and we do some stunting with our DL with solid success. The first we run is the old Taps play....this is where the DL has been attacking the same gap over and over- say B where Mike has A gap. We call Taps after a while when the guard is overplaying hte block on the DT. all we are doing is swapping gap responsibility between the DT and Mike. So, DT suddenly goes to A instead of B and Mike is watching B instead of A.....works very well. Teh other stunt we run is to allow our OLB to pick up outside contain after our DE doing it play in and play out. We call as stunt where DE suddenly crashes inside the TE and off the back pocket of the OT. This also works well. I have play calls for stunting further distances but, alas, I do not have the atheletes to do it this year. I say it can be done but less of a stunt and more of a swapping of gap responsibility to take advantage of an aggressive OL block.

for center related stuff, check Tom Bass' article at: Center Skills

reps for the smaller guy and see if he can improve. See if he can use both hands on the ball if he is not already. for the big guy - is he just slow reacting to the cadence or slow getting the ball back. If he is slow reacting to the cadence, make sure he is reacting to the "H" in Hut and not the "t" (or whatever word you use). Also, go over his stance and make sure he is not leaning too far forward and see if he is getting any hip explosion during the snap. Check his feet and knee bend. You can try to tweak these and see if you can get some more oomph and speed in his snap but truth may be he is just slow. At that point, it is a question of which risk you prefer - big and slow but clean snaps or faster but some fumble problems. Me, I don't like turnovers. Others may disagree.

We just had a fairly lively discussion of gaps responsibility and lb play across a couple of threads. Take a look in the 5-3 questions, help coaching D, and 4-4 questions threads for more. For now, there are lots of ways to skin this as shown in those discussions. If it were me, my initial thought is I would have the OLB's have primary C gap support in what you described. I would flow your ILBs to the C gap to support as the play develops to one side or the other. You need to have more than one player flowing to the ball or power football is going to kill you on the off tackle. I have not run said 5-4 but I would likely do something like: ----B--W---M----$ C--E---T-N-T-----E----C -----T--G-C-G-T-Y Primary Gaps could be something like: E - box contain Bandit - C Will - B T - A gap N - A gap T - B gap Mike supports middle and C gap to his side $am - C gap E - box contain where I am staking Will and Mike behind the DT's and I have Bandit and $ basically over the C gap. Again, but one way to do it. Another option would be to run it like a 5-3 with the DT's inside. You could have 3 backers - Will, Mike, and $am. Bandit would then play like a strong safety in the box by going to the TE side or lining up on the edge or in a gap to blitz. That is a bit more complex and it depends on how old your kids are and how well they would adapt to a shifting Bandit backer or monster man if you will. Basically, you have nine in the box with a maximum of 8 gaps to control. that gives you a free man to work with. However, do not forget pass coverage out of this scheme. For example, if there is a Flanker and TE to one side, you now have two possible receivers so your CB has Z and I would guess your OLB or your monster would have Y. Consider how you will adapt to split twins, trips, quads, backfield receivers and motioning in and out of these formation.

man, I feel you on this one....our QB's this year have superb arms and intelligence but are slower than molasses in an Alaskan blizzard. The problem is much the same. The first thing I will say is that I want my backs going full steam and not waiting (my backs don't need any help being any slower out of the backfield than they already are - yup, we are just a slow team this year). The only time I want a delay is if designed into the play (e.g. draw). We have fidgeted with various back formations to include split backs, I formation, power I as well as with their depth to start the play. It is frustrating but we keep grinding at it and push our QB's to go at full steam. Of course, my problem is we are just slow. i suppose you could oonch out a hair of speed if you open to the play side rather than opening to the backside (if that is what you are doing). You give up some misdirection but may gain a 1/2 step. Ultimately, however, it sounds like your Center is just not getting the ball there fast enough. I have always been fortunate enough to have a center who could get the ball back there so I have never had to work on this particular issue. Perhaps some of the others will have some ideas but I would think that the Center's stance may play a huge role in it. Is he leaning too far forward? Can he line up a hair closer to the ball? Is he getting any thrust from his thighs and into his hips as he snaps? Is he handing the ball to the QB incorrectly thus causing the QB to spend time adjusting the ball? Those are all things I would start looking at - Center technique.

good technique, double teams, and maximize angles. The last may be the most important as it is a question of physics - the blocker coming at an angle essentially has his blocking force increased to the angle he takes. I thought Jack wrote a bit about the physics bit in another thread but I have not found it yet. Actually, there is a very interesting book out there - at least interesting for football geeks like me - called the Physics of Football. Basically, a physicist wrote a book about how different forces are applied and maximized on a football field. It is an interesting read - I cut through most of it in a couple of hours on the floor of the bookstore - I then bought something else!! I know, I know, bad coach! On technique - a solid 3 point stance and solid footwork coming out of the stance is king. Double teams are good but if you are concerned about backers, you can do what I call a chip block. This is where I have an uncovered OL make an angle block on the DL who is over his neighbor. Against a 5-3, the OG is often left uncovered and the OT is covered. So, the OT makes his regular block and the OG angle blocks the DT just long enough to get the DT moving and off balance a bit - the OG then slides off and goes hunting for the next off color jersey.

yup, I too got a kick out of "both hooves in the trough too long..." It's nice and subtle.

One thing I will add to this discussion is that as you profile players and line them up, you are going to find out that you hit it a pretty high percentage of the time. However, you are going to run into situations where a player is just not a fit for that position for whatever reason. Sometimes you will find he is a fit for that position but through observation or for whatever reason, you will try him out somewhere else for a few minutes and you will discover that while he was good where you put him orginally, he is great where you moved him to. So, I like to get players into positions as soon as possible; some players I move around until I find that right groove. a lot of times, it is a great jigsaw puzzle.

we will see, we will see.....Pats are still the team to beat until somebody does it....but sooner or later, all dyansties come to an end.....The Packers did, the Steelers did, the 49ers, the Cowboys......yup, Enjoy the Pats Reign while it lasts!

i am smack in the middle of suberbia USA where nintendo and 4000 channels of garbage are beamed into our living rooms every day. Needless to say, we don't grow them quite that big.

200 and 230 pound 6th graders????? What is in the water around there?

That shoestring block sounds like it might be okay - I would have to see it but it definitly does not sound like it is making the opponents knees the target.

Pats, Very true - there are lots of ways to skin the cat in this game - the options are seemingly endless. I also try to take the best of what I learn from others. I like to have my knowledge bank loaded up so if I run into situations that are not working the way I want, I have literally hundreds of years of other coach's experience to draw upon. I offer some of my opinions here but I realize that if I knew it all, I would be Head Coach of the 5 time SuperBowl Defending Pittsburgh Steelers!!! No replies on that from you Patsfan - ....too many painful memories served up! S

The weather around here is getting very nice in the evenings - perfect for working outside!! Just kiddin' around. I have some plans to make some training books/chalktalk/video stuff on DVD. I sketched some of it out right before the season but have put it on hold for now. My original intent was to create a comprehensive DVD/CD that I could distribute to my team next year. Some things may be changing though and as each day passes, it is looking like I will move down to a younger team next year (my son's team). Only time will tell though.

I just want to throw out another free plug for Jack - I highly reccommend his stuff on SAB blocking. There is a power point presentation out there somewhere which is great. Now, if I could just get Jack to learn Blender (a 3D modeling and animation tool) and create some great AVI's!!!

the question of rules depends on the system you play under. I believe the Pop Warner rule book makes some specific statements and then defers to the National Association or the NCAA rule book on blocking (I think whichever is determined by your League). However, that is all National Level stuff; your local rules may very well be more restrictive. You have to find out what rule book governs your league and go dig up the rule. Pop Warner posts their rulebook on line but you need a password from your league to open it (coachs are supposed to get the password). You can find the NCAA rulebook at www.ncaa.org. I would check directly with your league commisioner or better yet, a league official. All of that said - I agree 100% with Patscoach - I do not like a cut block anywhere on the field. It is dangerous to the blocker and the blockee. I was once asked to teach a cut block by an HC; I flat refused and told him to fire me if he wants. He asked another assistant on the team who gave him the same answer. He never asked again.

oh, I forgot to add - sprinkle in some misdirection if you can get the time out of your line.

small line - fast backs zero splits on the line and sweep like a big dog! You could also look at Wedge blocking - I think JAG (somewhere out here) uses that....I was looking at his double wing site this morning and watching some videos and looking at pictures of SAB blocking. I believe he incorporates wedge blocking as well.... His site is at: Gregory Double Wing

Welcome UKMarine! My first thought was "shotgun at 1st and 2cnd grade? - WOW". My son plays that age group right now and watching practice, I can't see a shotgun working. But, obviously you have a guy who can get it back there or you wouldn't be saying "it always goes right". Typically, I teach a shotgun as nothing more than a pass between the legs. That works well for older kids that I coach. I guess things you could check are his grip and his feet. Is he looking between his legs when he throws it? I don't know what your rules state but I would suspect the center is protected by rule. How is his weight distribution on his feet? My guess, and this is only a guess mind you, that even if you get all those things perfect, he may have a tendancy to go right because that is probably his dominant arm. He is probably pushing more with is right than his left. In fact, he may very well be releasing a bit late if he is right handed. I guess you could have your QB take a step right before the snap....

Patscoach, Yup, this is a great thread. JAG put a great write up of blocking in another thread too. Great stuff. I am a huge fundamentals guy; I like to teach proper footwork. I do understand that in the heat of the game, they are not going to be perfect but we keep rep'ing it. I think this gives these kids a huge advantage when they get to HS because they have at least seen it before and have practiced it. This gives "my kids" a leg (foot?) up when they get there. S

SUPERB!!! Excellent write up Jack!! I especially honed in on the statements about footwork! I believe solid football technique is underpinned by solid footwork. I stress this to no end. I came back to mention SAB and Wedge blocking. I think at 8-10 level, this would be extremely effective. Well done coach!

That worked!!! THANKS!!!

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