Years ago I used to write a Coaches Corner series here in Finheaven. I'm bringing it back from time to time as opportunities present themselves about popular topics on the forum dealing with X's and O's
Question: How do we determine of our Offensive staff is doing a good job?
I can tell you right here and now what to look for to determine if our coaches are giving us that edge in terms of scheme. While it might not be easy as a fan to understand all the reads, schemes, and other complexities of what is going on there are some really telling signs of an effective offense. If we don't see these things it's definitely a "coaching issue" not a player issue. The argument can always be made that our players talent or intelligence is limiting what our staff can do, but if that's the problem we are going to be a big fail anyway.
- Of course, the most obvious sign of offensive success is are we moving the ball consistently and scoring a lot. This is the ultimate sign of a quality offense. If they get to the endzone being vanilla all the time then all the better, but most teams require lots of coaching adjustments, movements, and quality play calling that compliments everything else that we do, including drafting or signing players.
- Have we eliminated all Pre Snap penalties?
- If we aren't moving the ball (threatening to score all the time) and scoring a lot, are we using formations, motions, shifts, etc that create big plays for us? If we aren't moving the ball and you don't see those things, I can tell you right now we have the wrong guys leading the offense. An effective offensive play caller builds a base offense around the things we do best as a team, and drills his squad over and over on how we can expect to get attacked. Part of that teaching is helping our players understand where we can expect the defense to be and the types of schemes they will likely use to try and stop us. Of course in the NFL they will see a whole lot of looks and schemes, but remember these players don't have school or a job to go to. There is plenty of time to practice all of this and put in all of our adjustments. If every week you have to adjust on the fly in games then you aren't doing a very good job as coaches anticipating what you might see each week. Even worse, if you see teams doing the same thing every week (like stacking the box with 8 to stop the run) and we have no major big plays against that, then our staff is worthless. An old saying in the coaching world is "if you get beat by it expect to see it again next week. "
- If we fail to see big plays every game, then our coaches haven't broken down and figured out the defense. We should have 2-3 big plays every game that give us a chance to win. These don't have to just be "long" touchdown plays, I'm talking more about plays at key times that impact the game in a huge way. Teams like the Patriots have proven that even marginal players can make big plays as a result of great scheme. That's what we should expect to see.
- We should see consistent production each week from our core focus players. Our workhorse types. Guys that we game plan around so hard every week that they always impact a game, even if its creating a more open field because the defense has "sold out" to stop them. It should be obvious when this happens as the game develops. This also leads to our staff being able to identify this and have quality backup plans B, C ,D. Anticipate the best ways to stop you and have a few plans to kill it.
- As the season progresses, we should see offensive improvements across the board. Confidence. Better timing on routes. Better holes for our rushing attack. Improved ball control on O and improved creating turnovers on D, and more general synch in all aspects of Miami Dolphins football. If we don't see it, then that falls squarely on the coaching staff. This one kind of falls on the side of coaches taking responsibility for their players, because the bottom line is regardless of injuries the players on this team have been chosen by this staff. Thus, like New England has proven over and over - Next man up is a thing. If the next man up isn't getting the job done, that's because the staff picked the wrong guy or they haven't prepared him enough for success. Our players should always EXPECT to win because our coaches have done such a great job preparing them that there is no way they can lose.
So just to wrap this Coaches Corner regarding Successful Offensive Coaching up in a nutshell, ... Yes an obvious sign of effective offensive coaching is we move the ball and score. However, if we are not doing that effectively the questions to ask ourselves are:
- Do we have an identity as an offense? Do we have players that are cornerstone producers that serve as our workhorse players that we can count on each week?
- Do we use formations, shifts, and motions to create mismatches often? Are we seeing big plays explode each week as a result of these schematic adjustments and practices?
- When teams "sellout" to stop our base do we have clear adjustments to make them pay for it? Are we seeing big plays and effective offense when teams sell out?
- Are we getting better or worse as the season progresses?
D-Mike
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