May 22, 2013

Posts Comments

You are here: Home / Archives for Football

Why a Tim Tebow Offense Is Completely Sustainable

February 11, 2012 By Leave a Comment

To say that defenses will “figure out” the read option offense is, to be fair, accurate. Teams will almost certainly be able to adjust and configure their lines and schemes to accommodate the risks involved with facing Tebow and the Broncos.

Yet to say that a typical pocket-passing offense isn’t just as susceptible, if not more so, to the adjustments of an opposing defensive coordinator is completely ridiculous.

What I’m trying to say is that every single NFL offense can get predictable, and every scheme will be studied and accounted for. Simply saying that this will happen if the Broncos continue to use the read option Tebow offense isn’t even a real argument. Anyone who uses that as evidence against Fox and McCoy’s game plan is presenting evidence that could be applied to anyone who plays or coaches football.

For Full Article CLICK HERE ¦ Bleacher Report

 

Filed Under: From the Desk of Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Big Ten exploring 4-team playoff

February 8, 2012 By Leave a Comment

The Big Ten, which helped squash the notion of a four-team playoff to crown a national champion in college football several years ago, is taking another look.

BCS Executive Director Bill Hancock said Tuesday night that’s good news.

“Our process is working perfectly,” Hancock said. “One of good things about our process is that there’s no timetable so that a deliberate and thoughtful decision can be reached.

“The tricky part is our 11 conference commissioners and the Notre Dame AD may have 12 different opinions about the direction we should go over the next six to eight months.”

For full article CLICK HERE ¦ Yahoo Sports

 

 

Filed Under: From the Desk of Tagged With: , , , ,

Life after football for NFL coaches & players – “What Off Season?”

February 7, 2012 By Leave a Comment

I’ve always found it amusing after the actual season ended (whether regular or through the playoffs) the perception of family, friends and fans as to “What do you do now?”  For most of those that casually follow the NFL, professional football is nothing more than Sunday afternoon reality television.  Their personal understanding goes no farther than the final score.  They realize there has to be a degree of preparation to bring such a complicated choreography of 22 players on to the field of play, but they have no inkling or interest in how that’s done.

A never ending carousel

Those more into the intricacies of the game clamor for any and everything 24/7.  These are the fans that know the stats, follow the draft, and can break down the incentives in a 5th round rookie contract (though rarely are there incentives).  Today’s NFL never sleeps.  Yeah, the Super Bowl is over, Eli Manning’s already been to Disney World and the debate rages on about Gisele’s comments, but 30 other teams had already been diligently preparing for the League’s other season – the Off Season.

This can be even more compelling and competitive than a Week 5 Arizona Cardinals vs St. Louis Rams game.  As for my career in Player Personnel, there was no off season.  My mother would politely tell our neighbors he’s off doing what he does in Mobile, or Indianapolis, or New York.  My wife would say I’ll see him sometime in May or June, and the resulting blank stare of disbelief would bring an internal chuckle to those in the know.

A time to recharge

For players it’s a time to regroup mentally and physically.  It’s the opportunity to leave the nest and spread “free agent” wings for million dollar paydays.  It’s a chance to have clean up surgeries or to heal from lingering injuries.  Many will start their own off season regimen in preparations for the official team conditioning program around April 1st.  Those with an understanding and an eye on “life after football” take the time to finish a few courses towards completion of their degrees.  Others will put effort into their foundations and charity work.

One thing’s for certain, the term “off season” is a misnomer.  As fast as Spring melts the Winter snow, NFL players find themselves back in their home cities preparing for OTA’s and Minicamps.  January, February, March…done.

A time to reassess

For coaches it can be just as arduous.  Many find themselves packing up boxes and saying goodbyes, the result of the club taking “a different direction”.  Hiring and firing in professional football is as certain as concussions and ACL tears, “They ain’t goin’ nowhere”.

By and large you’ll see most coaching staffs try to decompress with some “unofficial“ time off before the actual vacation period commences.  A day off here, a couple more there.  But most of the months following the end of the season are a quick cram course in personnel evaluations.

Now is the time coaches begin to dissect their own teams, looking for ways to improve on performance by perhaps adding a couple free agents and landing some quick contributing rookies.  They’ll go over their tendencies through “self scout” techniques and look for new ideas that might enhance the overall program.  But it’s their role in the personnel process that takes the most significant amount of time.

A time to reload

For clubs willing to allow their assistants input into draft and free agent evaluations, it’s a season’s worth of scouting rolled into sixty or ninety days.  Coaches compile their own abbreviated reports and perhaps assist in the construction of highlight tapes on perspective prospects.  They attend College All-Star games, the NFL Combine, College Pro Days and play a major role in rookie visits.  They’ll sit through the hours and hours of meetings to build the draft/free agent boards and give final thoughts in the selection process.

And almost as soon as “Mr. Irrelevant” is announced, immediately shift their focus back to all things X’s and O’s.  The days are full, though the hours are a bit less.  Pro football has become so much about out maneuvering, out flanking and out executing the opponent, that in many coaching minds the only way to succeed at this is to out work, out hustle and out think the rest of the League – in the s0-called Off Season.

And so it goes.

 

 

Filed Under: From the Desk of Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Tom Coughlin: More To Giants Coach Than Football

February 6, 2012 By Leave a Comment

“He is still very disciplined. He wants his players disciplined,” quarterback Eli Manning said. “Everything is still five minutes early. He wants guys to be on time and to take great pride in their work, be totally committed to the preparation side of football also. You’re out there on that practice field giving 100 percent, being totally focused on what you have to do to get prepared for Sunday. When he sees a team that does that, when he sees a team that has players that expect that from each other, he can relax a little bit.”

For Full Article CLICK HERE ¦ Huff Post SPORTS

Filed Under: From the Desk of Tagged With: , , , ,

Giants RB Bradshaw continues to play despite broken bone in foot

February 2, 2012 By Leave a Comment

INDIANAPOLIS – Ahmad Bradshaw is playing in pain and loving every second of it.

The Giants running back has played the last eight games with a broken bone in his right foot, and there is no way the injury is going to keep him out of Sunday’s Super Bowl against the Patriots.

“It’s just the love of the game, man,” he said. “I don’t like missing games for nothing. I have been fighting pain for a long time. No matter what it is I got that niche, man. I like pain.”

Bradshaw hasn’t put up big numbers this season, but statistics aren’t what he brings to the offense

For more information CLICK HERE ¦ CBS Sports

 

Filed Under: From the Desk of Tagged With: , , , , ,

Super Bowl Playbook: The Patriots’ First-Down Edge

January 31, 2012 By Leave a Comment

For all of their empty-backfield, no huddle, pass-happy shenanigans, the Patriots are surprisingly conservative on first down. Their favorite strategy is to line up with a single running back and hand off.

The Patriots run from a single-back formation 36.4 percent of the time on first down, not counting goal-to-go situations. They use this straightforward tactic more than one-third of the time because they are very good at it, churning out a dependable 4.5 yards per rush while opponents worry about their passing game.

For Full Article CLICK HERE ¦ NY Times Blog

Filed Under: From the Desk of Tagged With: , , , ,

NFL Football & Marketing – Top 10 Favorite Super Bowl Commercials

January 30, 2012 By Leave a Comment

What do Soap Operas and Super Bowls have in common?  No, not “drama queens” on the sidelines.  SALES!  Pushing the product.  Keeping your seats glued to the seat.   Even if you need to “off load” your 5th BUD Light, you can’t miss the next BUD Light commercial.  I mean c’mon, football and commercials.  It doesn’t get any better than that!

So with that, here are my top 10 Super Bowl commercials, though not in any particular order;

  1. 1989 BUD Bowl 1 – Nothing like the original, as the “original” BUDWEISER out lasted the LIGHT 27-24.
  2. 1999 FEDEX – A SNAFU with the delivery of the Stanley Cup puts hockey’s most prized possession in Bolivia as a grape bowl.
  3. 2008 Audi – A spoof on “The Godfather” puts the bloodied grill of a Rolls-Royce in bed with Jack Woltz.
  4. 1984 Apple Computers – “We shall prevail”… Nothing like a sledge hammer wielding blonde to rekindle memories of having to read George Orwell’s novel  Nineteen Eighty-Four for your high school English class.
  5. 2009 Bridgestone – Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head have an unexpected encounter with a flock of sheep, by which the Mrs. loses her mouth.  We’ve all been there and if only it were that easy.
  6. 2004 Pepsi – Young Jimi Hendrix chooses Pepsi over Coke, a Fender Telecaster guitar over an accordion.  “That truly WAS a close one”!
  7. 1999 BUDWEISER – Sibling rivalry reaches its zenith as two Dalmatian puppies gloat over their gigs, one as a “fire dog” and the other as the Budweiser “chariot dog”.  Take a guess who wins?
  8. 1977 XEROX – Not a copy, but the original.  A monk tasked with the impossible is able to quickly recreate 500 scriptures, and with one commercial create an entire movement of Super Bowl commercials.  It truly was “A miracle”.
  9. 2010 SNICKERS – The candy bar has had a nice little run with this campaign, one of my favorites being Aretha Franklin as the “backseat diva”. But Betty White’s transformation in a game of tackle football was what got the whole thing started.
  10. 1993 McDonald’s – All of us at one time or another have uttered the famous line “Nothing but net”.  Michael Jordan and Larry Bird brought back the game of H-O-R-S-E and raised it to a new level.

 

 

 

Filed Under: From the Desk of Tagged With: , , ,

Building the Patriots? A snap for any GM with Brady

January 26, 2012 By 1 Comment

To understand what the New England Patriots have accomplished over the past twelve years, you have to take into account a sense of their history forty years prior.  The “Patties”, as my former college roommate was so fond of calling his team, had only reached the playoffs a total of ten times in the previous four decades.  Their primary claim to fame?  Losing to Ditka’s “Super Bowl Shuffle” crew in 1985.

By 2000 a former Cleveland Browns head coach with four out of five losing seasons got his proverbial second chance.   Bill Belichick’s first season in New England was identical to his final in Cleveland, 5-11 and a last place finish in the division.

The consummate marriage

Belichick brought to Boston Bill Parcell’s son-in-law and a former colleague from Cleveland, Scott Pioli.  Pioli had been a Pro Personnel Assistant and later gone on to develop through the ranks under Parcells with the New York Jets.  He joined Belichick as Assistant Player Personnel Director and was elevated to Director of Player Personnel, then later Vice President.  There’s no General Manager title in the “Patriot Way” of doing business.  But those that understand how Personnel works in the NFL know that Pioli was de facto GM. (Nick Caserio now holds this title).

With the 199th selection, the Patriots take…

Belichick & Pioli’s initial draft was without a first rounder, but they were able to parlay 10 picks, three of which came in the 6th round and one with the 199th overall selection.  They took afterthought QB Tom Brady from the University of Michigan.  Chad Pennington, Giovanni Carmazzi, Chris Redman, Tee Martin, Marc Bulger and Spergon Wynn were all selected ahead of the seventh QB taken.  “Luck” was a Patriot.  The 2000 New England draft produced only one significant starter from those ten selections, but it changed the franchise for the next decade.

Brady backed up longtime starter Drew Bledsoe, then an injury forced him into the lineup in 2001.  The rest is history; 5 Super Bowls, 3 Championships, 7 Pro Bowls, 2 First Team All-Pro selections, 124-35 career record.

What Brady brought to New England was an identity and consistency to build around.  The Belechick-Pioli General Manager tandem began to carve out an organization they felt best supported the skills of their new found franchise QB.  They used both their backgrounds to construct the “inner circle, outer circle” management style that fed information to the decision makers and all but shut out the rest.

A base to build upon

A mix of draft choices and free agent acquisitions maintained a consistent talent base around Brady.  Though often looked upon as “Masters of the Draft”, the Belichick/Pioli-Cesario General Manager tandem has had their equal share of “busts”.  Forgotten in the lore of the Patriots’ success is that players like Tedy Bruschi, Lawyer Malloy, Ty Law, Willie McGinnist, Terry Glenn, Troy Brown and Damien Woody were already on the roster by the 2000 season.  Free Agent signings and trades for the likes of Cory Dillon, Junior Seau, Randy Moss, Mike Vrabel and Wes Welker supplemented the club nicely. New England’s Draft Record, take an independent eye and compare/contrast with others.

To the General Manager tandem’s credit is a fairly solid record in the 1st & 2nd rounds; Seymour, Light, Branch, Warren, Wilfork, Mankins to name a few.

But the one constant has been Tom Brady and a team whose identity has never faltered or been questioned from within, despite the many pressures exerted from the outside.

All the best have one

The most relevant statistic correlating to NFL team success is Offensive Pass Efficiency (Net Yards Per Attempt).  Five of the top eight active leaders in this category have Super Bowl Rings; Rodgers, P. Manning, Brady, Brees & Roethlisberger.  Nine of the top thirteen in the history of the game have one or multiple rings.

Some might say there’s a tad bit of “the chicken or the egg” going on here.  But don’t underestimate the relevance of a franchise QB to the performance of any General Manager or Head Coach, even in New England.

 

Filed Under: From the Desk of Tagged With: , , , , ,

Many “Thanks” to the game of football

November 24, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Thanksgiving gives us all the chance to reflect on the people, places, things and experiences that have made us who we are.  I know we are all eternally grateful for the many blessings in our lives.  The game of football has meant so much to me (as I’m sure it has to you), so I thought I’d share some of those gridiron blessings with all of you;

  1. For the Dad’s Club YMCA having Youth Football for 8 to 9 year olds in 1970.
  2. For my parents (especially my mother) in hauling me around to youth football practice for gosh knows how many years.
  3. For the Westwood Oilers and the Northbrook Knights.
  4. For Bill Yeoman and the University of Houston; Elmo Wright, Gary Mullins, Robert Newhouse, D.C. Nobles, et al.  You guys inspired me.
  5. For the SWC allowing Houston to join, you broadened my football horizons.
  6. For Coach Charlie Maiorana (Spring Woods High School) , JV football taught me the true meaning of it all.
  7. For Head Coach Ben Bloomer (Spring Woods High School) and the splitback veer.
  8. For playing in Texas 17-4A where truly we experienced “Friday Night Lights” in the late ‘70’s.  Will never forget you TIGERS.
  9. For Stratfford and Memorial High Schools, our two games in ’78 & ’79 haunt me to this day.
  10. For Earl Campbell; hard to root for as a Longhorn, “Luv Ya Blue” as an Oiler.
  11. For Fred Goldsmith (Air Force), who came down to Houston and recruited the heck out of the area (and me).
  12. For the United States Air Force Academy, that gave me the opportunity to play Division IA football.
  13. For Head Coach Ken Hatfield, who saw the wisdom to install the wishbone in 1980 and giving me a chance to continue to dive off tackle as a freshman starter.
  14. For the University of Illinois defense, your inability to figure it out gave me the best game of my career.
  15. For Karl Grant and an inadvertent ACL tear, you gave me true humility.
  16. For Jim Conboy and the rest of the AF training/medical staff.  You got me back out there.
  17. For John Kershner, you pushed me every day to catch your butt and get my job back (even though I never did).
  18. For being a part of the final two minutes of our version of “The Drive” to beat BYU.
  19. For Jerry Faust, you gave me the opportunity to realize a dream,beating Notre Dame.
  20. For Cal beating Stanford on the crazy band play, you guys put us in our first bowl game against Vanderbilt (Hall of Fame ‘82).  We won.
  21. For not one, but two Commander-In-Chief’s trophies in ’82 & ’83.
  22. For a senior season that saw a 10-2 record and 13th National ranking.  The Independence Bowl win over Ole Miss and all my teammates that made it happen.
  23. For Fisher DeBerry and all he did to make me a better person and player, then allowing me to begin my football career as a G.A. in 1984.
  24. For football and bobsledding being so different and so much the same.
  25. For Coach DeBerry on the second “go round” asking me to return from Berlin, Germany to be on the staff of the Air Force Falcons.
  26. For the two years as Head Coach at the Air Force Academy’s Prep School and “Runnin’ Rabid”.
  27. For Cal McCombs insisting that I call the Denver Broncos and ask if I could help them out.
  28. For John Beake, giving me my first job as a Bronco at $6.00 an hour and commuting up from Colorado Springs.
  29. For Dan Reeves eventually allowing me to work my way back to Player Personnel.
  30. For Jerry Frei and Jack Elway, two of the greatest mentors a “rookie” could ever have.
  31. For Bob Ferguson, allowing me to stay on and start my NFL career in Player Personnel.
  32. For the chance to become Director of College Scouting at the then young age of 33.
  33. For realizing the thrill of not winning one, but two Super Bowl Championships ’97 & ’98.
  34. For Joe Bailey identifying my skills and desire to become a General Manager, interviewing with Ted Phillips (3 times) for the Chicago Bears’ job in ’01.
  35. For Arthur Blank and the Atlanta Falcons showing interest in me the following season.
  36. For Pat Bowlen recognizing all the hard work and my desire to remain a Bronco.   He promoted me to General Manager in ’02.
  37. For Jake Plummer, you never got the credit you deserved.
  38. For three straight years of double digit wins and runs to the playoffs, we almost got it done in ’05.
  39. For the Seattle Seahawks confirming our success and giving me the opportunity to interview for their President’s job (another 3 times) in ’06.
  40. For my agent Jack Mills (Ascent Sports) and the contract extension in ’06.
  41. For Mike Bluem, Chris Trulove, Dave Bratten and Pam Papsdorf.  You know why.
  42. For another lesson in humility in ’08.  Good bye Broncos.
  43. For Clark Hunt and the chance to interview for the Kansas City Chiefs GM position in ’08.  Still want that job.
  44. For Rick Mueller and the fledgling Omaha Knighthawks, what a great football town.
  45. For Maurice Clarett.  Very proud of you my friend.
  46. For Jed York and San Francisco 49ers, looks like you guys made the right choice.
  47. For the Falcon Pride Club, Air Force Academy Athletic Foundation and Head Coach Troy Calhoun.  You can always come home.
  48. For the Mountain Network and the “talking head” opportunity, continuing to have a blast.
  49. For those of you reading this on The Football Educator, I hope to continue to gain your trust.
  50. Wishing you a Happy Thanksgiving for 2011!

 

Filed Under: From the Desk of Tagged With: , ,

Athletes don’t do the grunt work

November 10, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Ok, got some interesting feedback on the “Disloyal” article and thought I’d at least shoot over #2.  I’ve had this situation more within the office and working with in-house interns than on the football field.  There’s really no getting around “grunt work” as a player in the NFL, though some of the roles played on a roster can be “grunt like”.

But as I look at young people entering into the profession, I see a group highly motivated to move forward, but not wanting to stay in one place for very long.  I wrote an article on www.thefootballeducator.com called Model Scouting? “Mind your manners” that touches on this subject.  Also take a look at The “pecking order” of professional football front office management.

Remember to replace boss with coach, employer with team, and Gen Y or young person with player.  In this case it could also be a scout or office intern.

Bruce Tulgan’s Newsletter, June 23, 2011 issue – 281st edition

The number two myth about Generation Y is that they won’t do the grunt work.

They’ll do the grunt work. I promise you they will do the grunt work. They’ll do the grunt work very well, very fast, all day long.

They’re so eager to prove themselves to you, they’re so eager to prove themselves to others; they will do the grunt work. If you don’t believe me, follow me around sometime when I’m working with the United States Army. You want to see a bunch of young people do a bunch of grunt work? Spend a day with some soldiers.

They’ll do the grunt work, but there are two catches.

The first catch is they won’t do the grunt work or anything else in exchange for vague promises about long-term rewards that may or may not vest in the deep, distant future. No way.

The second catch is, they won’t do the grunt work if they start to fear that nobody’s keeping track; if they start to fear that they are out of mind. And when they’re out of sight for very long, they start to worry that they might be out of mind. One young person we interviewed was telling us, “They had me down in this deep, dark basement going through boxes and boxes of old documents” and he says, “You know I was down there for seven hours.” Are you with me? Not seven days, not seven weeks, not seven months; seven hours. He said, “I was down there all by myself in this deep, dark basement for seven hours going through all these boxes of documents and I started to wonder, does anyone know I’m down here?”

Seven hours is long enough for a Gen Yer to decide, “You know what? I don’t really like this job.” They will leave the basement, go out and get another job; try it out. They might even decide, “I like the first job better.” They’ll go back to the basement, they’ll come up at the end of the day and you’ll never even know they were gone. They’ll do the grunt work. They’ll do anything; but they want to know that somebody is keeping track, somebody is helping them keep score, somebody is giving them credit for all that grunt work they’re doing. “And by the way, exactly how much of this grunt work do I have to do in order to earn some more interesting tasks?”

 

Filed Under: From the Desk of Tagged With: , , , ,
« Older Posts
Newer Posts »