Shoulder vs. Hands

Hands all the way, from start to finish. You can't control a man with your shoulders.

Coach Easton PS: IMO

I have always been a believer in hands. However when you are blocking using the angles that we do you tend to get a greater # of holding calls. We put ourselves in a position that if our hands are out whether we are holding or not we seem to get called for it because it just looks like we are holding. I talked to a friend of mine and watched the films from 2 seperate years, one year they taught hands after they had been shoulders for years. The holding penelties doubled.
Remember that this is for the running portion of our offense (wingt) we do use hands for pass pro.
Just a thought!

PS: Sorry about the missing letter A in arms driven up and through, and the letter p in hope.

Coach Easton

Hands most definitely.

Shoulder and flipper blocking went out with the Bay City Rollers and chest medallions.

Hehehe!

You guys are crazy!

tiger

coaching has just accentuated my personality

In 1976, the rule for the use of extended arms and the use of hands is mentioned and referenced in regards to allowing, them to extend out from the body. The rule stipulates that when a teammate of a runner or a passer uses a hand(s) or arm(s) in blocking or to supplement a shoulder block:

a) The hand(s) shall be in advance of the elbow.
b) The hand(s) shall be inside the framework of the blocker's body.
c) The hand(s) and arm(s) shall be parallel to the ground.
d) The arm(s) shall not be extended more than one?half of a fall extension.
e) The hand(s) shall be capped of closed with the palm(s) not facing the opponent.
f) The hand(s) and arm(s) shall not be used to deliver a blow.
g) The hand(s) and arm(s) shall not be used to grasp, pull, encircle or lift an opponent.
h) The hand(s) or arm(s) shall not be used to hook, lock or clamp an opponent.
i) During no block shall the hands be locked.

Richtman;

I realize that I am probably beating a dead horse here, but use of the hands is best.

I agree w/Tiger One. We teach our lineman hands inside, thumbs up. With this technique we can control the defender w/his peck plates on the shoulder pad itself. Also, as long as those thumbs are up, you will not get the flag-too hard to see!

As for your kids not moving their feet. Again, you probably already know this, but the reason your lineman are probably losing control of their assignment is due to poor technique. They need a landmark rule for their helmet placement and hands. We teach our guys to put their helmet on the near-ear of the defender. Also, everytime we do a drill or run a play in practice, we simulate finishing our blocks by saying "Ball's Gone" to which they reply "We're Gone" and the sprint a hard five yards. This does two things; 1.the play is not over until the ball is gone (i.e. keep moving feet and blocking downfield) 2. Simulates how long it may take to finish a block


In Reply To:

I would agree with most of what has been said here. Use the hands. I find that when we get in trouble and called for holding is usually when our feet stop moving. For some reason when our kids start to lose control of their assignment they like to stop their feet. When that DL gets seperation is when the holding is usually called on us.

M. Richtman

At the risk of being behind the times (and knowing that everyone on the board, so far, disagrees with me), I'll throw this out there.

We use our hands for all blocks (whether it's pass pro, run combos, and single blocking a LB) except when we're single blocking a down lineman (whether we're man blocking, down blocking, or pulling and trapping the DL), when we use our shoulders.

I agree 100% with everyone that using hands is by far the best way of controlling the defender, but when we are single blocking a down lineman, we want our guys to play a brand of neanderthal football -- get the best possible leverage and blow the opponent off the line. Because we have gone to combo blocking almost everything, we only single block in limited situations, but in those situations, we use our shoulders (actually we call it the "Big Blocking Base" which looks like the old time pass protection, with elbows as wide as possible, so we can handle an opponent who alters his rush). Maybe it's just the way I was coached and the fact that we've had success with it over the years, but I still think that in one-on-one situations, leverage is the way to go, and I don't know that we would get the best possible leverage by using our hands.

Ya dig?

I'm a huge proponent of the hands.

I was taught forearm/shoulder blocking for a while in HS, and through attending some camps brought back and ended up teaching the hands method (Which I still teach today). I find it easier to get into a leverage position, and 'get sticky' with a defender. When we shoulder blocked - I think Oneback mentioned the overextension of the center of gravity - we got overextended, tended to end up lunging more - a simple push/pull or ole move from the DL often did the trick. We became a much better blocking team when we switched to hands as the 'blow' can be more violent and stand the defender UP easier - forcing his momentum UP instead of forwards.

Yes... we'll also HOLD. I teach my guys to hold. We aim to grab the outsides of the breastplate, and use that as a 'Steering Wheel'. It works. Grab one of your biggest OL, with the hands on the wheel and you can REALLY turn him just by trying to turn the wheel. It's when we get overextended, or forget to let go when they escape that we get called for holding. We average less than one a game - which is still probably 1 too many.

The one place I still like the shoulder is when we do a true double team on a DL (we're not chipping off). If the guy who is taking him head up gets in a nice drive block on the playside number... when the down blocker comes in for the double I teach them to get the shoulder into the NEAR 'nut' and your helmet it outside his near hip... and we DRIVE. We are often able to really move larger stronger players this way.

NOTE... the aiming point is the crotch or hip... I do NOT teach them to go below this. In fact I make a VERY strong point that doing so is illegal, unethical, and will not be tolerated.