I had an opportunity to take a backseat in the coaching arena today. I am an assistant coach in Baseball to a pretty awesome head coach who has all the patience and dedication in the world. It made me take a step back and evaluate the kids I coach on the eve of the Super Bowl.
I love football. I love the intricacy, the play calling, the speed of the game, and everything in-between. As is well documented here, I washed out at Iowa State, ending what I felt was a promising career at WR before it even got on track. Now I coach the little guys, hoping to build in them the dedication and grit that I myself lacked. It is not entirely working. The last practice was a joke. The kids were amped in all the wrong ways and I could not get them to understand how I put in the play calls. I sent them home with cheat sheets, which hopefully will work to my advantage this thursday.
We run a complex offense which is basically a 5 man version of the pistol complete with screens and draws. In order for that offense to be effective players need to be able to read a defense and know where the blitz is coming from and know where the to run when there is a hand off. Now, I started engaging them in that conversation this tuesday, but tomorrow has to be a serious practice. We need to learn how to avoid getting stopped at the line of scrimmage. That is what happens when the ends are allowed to cheat up and the RB doesn’t read the D. The plan is for the two guys in the backfield to be aware of how far out the receivers are split, and move them according to the needs of the play. The mighty mighty center is going to call out the Mike (blitzing linebacker in this league) and if there is no mike we are throwing that sucker every time.
All this has to get done within the confines of a 30 second playclock. So, yeah, we have a lot of work to do. When we get it done, it will be hard to stop. Perhaps as hard as stopping the Niner’s offense this sunday.
I don’t think we’re gonna be stopped in the 8-9 league. I do think the Ravens will handle their business in the Super Bowl.