Post by Coach Campbell on Mar 28, 2013 14:31:19 GMT
Advantages of Turn Protection
Posted on March 17, 2013 by Sam Nichols in Offense
By: Justin Iske
Offensive Line Coach
Fort Hays State University
If you are a turn protection (half-man, half-slide) team like we are here at Fort Hays State, the number one job of your o-line coach is to figure out which way you want to slide your protection each week. The purpose of this article is to give you a few ideas that will help you make this determination without confusing your players.
What Is Turn Protection?
In the simplest terms, turn protection is a half-man, half-slide protection with the center, playside guard, and playside tackle responsible for a gap; and the backside guard and tackle manned up on a defensive lineman. (See Examples in Diagram 1, 2, and 3).
We call the weakside gaps X, Y, and Z.
"Rush" is just our term for the weak side End. (End, Tackle, Nose, Rush)
Who Calls the Protection
Sideline — In some systems, the play-caller will determine the slide side of a protection. Some coaches are more comfortable playing the percentages based on film study to determine what a defense is going to do (which are detailed below) and call the protection in the play call. An obvious disadvantage to this is you do not get a chance to see the defense's pre-snap alignment before determining the slide.
With no-huddle teams, oftentimes the o-line coach or running back coach will signal to the o-line or quarterback the protection call at the line of scrimmage. This gives the coach a chance to see pre-snap alignment, but adds a layer of communication to the process and slows the offense's tempo down.
Quarterback — The best reason to give the slide responsibility to the quarterback is that he is the one who is going to pay the price if he sends the slide the wrong way. After he is hit by a free blitzer once or twice, they usually realize the importance of getting the protection correct. Another reason is that the QB has the best pre-snap view of the defense. One reason not to use your QB is that they already have enough on their plate in terms of reading coverages, making route adjustments, and other audibles that you don't want them to be overwhelmed. This is especially true with an inexperienced QB. Sometimes taking some responsibility off their shoulders can help them be successful.
Center (or Guard) — In our system, our center calls out the defensive front every play. Against some opponents, he will also ID the Mike linebacker. Since he is the one that has to know what front we are facing, it makes sense that he be the one to call out the protection as well. However, there have been times when we have had a guard call the protection instead. For instance, if you have a three-year starter at left guard and a redshirt freshman center, then the left guard is going to handle things better than the center is. We have never had a tackle call out the protection simply because his angle is so much different that he can't recognize what is happening on the other side of the line.
At the end of the day, any of these approaches can be successful. We have always designated either the quarterback or one of our interior o-linemen as the player to check protections. As the o-line coach, I prefer that it be one of our guys up front, but we will sit down as a staff before every season and evaluate that group of players before we make a decision as to who will have the responsibility of calling the protection. It is important to note that you need to call a slide every play (even on running plays or non-turn protection plays) so that the defense doesn't have an extremely easy clue as to when you are passing the ball.
Five, Six, or Seven-Man Protection
One of the reasons we use turn protection is because we can incorporate five, six, and seven-man protections with the same rules for the offensive line. We can also run three-step, five-step, seven-step and even some play action concepts while using the same basic principles of protection. The less your guys up front have to think, the more aggressive and confident they will play. The QB and running backs are the ones that adjust.
Definitions of Protection
Five-Man Protection: Any blitzer to the man side is the QB's responsibility
Six-Man Protection: RB or FB is responsible for blitzer to the man side.
Seven-Man Protection: Both backs will check to the man or slide side, depending on the call.
One thing that is extremely important, for shotgun teams especially. Do not always align your back to the man side of your protection pre-snap. The first thing most defensive coaches will look for when attacking protections is any pre-snap giveaway to which side you are sliding your protection. Realize that they watch film just as much as you do and if you align the back to the man side all the time, you are going to see every blitz ever invented to that side on a weekly basis. Going under center or in the pistol eliminates this issue. But so does simply having the back cross the QB's face post-snap (with or without a flash fake).
Determining Where to Slide
While our rules change every week, the first day we install our turn protection the answer to this question is simple. Slide to the three-technique. The reason we do this is so that we in essence have a four-man slide and only one o-lineman manned up (See Diagram 1). Whoever is calling the protection, they know that their number one rule is: When in doubt, slide to the three technique!
Factors that Determine Where to Slide
Going into a game week, we break down opponent's pressures based on various factors, including:
Are they a field or boundary pressure team?
Do they bring pressure more from the three-technique or shade-side?
Down & Distance tendencies for pressures or stunts
Do they like to blitz a certain ILB or OLB more than others?
Do they give away pressure by a certain change in alignment of their linebackers?
Does safety alignment give away when they are brining pressure? (or certain types of pressure)
Do d-linemen shift around in certain situations? If so, why?
What match-up issues do we have?
Do they run Tampa (two blitzers off an edge)?
Some teams are either field or boundary oriented when it comes to bringing pressure. If that is the case, then your decision of which way to slide is pretty simple. The same is true if they bring pressure from the tight end side, to the three-technique or shade, etc. Other teams will give away when they are brining pressure based on the alignment of their linebackers or safeties. There are times we will call our protection towards the widest aligned inside linebacker or based off safety alignment. If a team has an obvious tendency, then you must take advantage of it.
As a coach, it is important to realize that all the X's and O's you draw up might look great, but if their X is a lot better than your O, or vice versa, you have to adjust. There are times when you are stuck in a terrible match-up in the passing game. Usually this occurs when a stud d-end is going up against one of your tackles. There have been games where we have set the protection to our worst match-up every pass play and had success. One of the pressures that we need to learn how to protect each week is what we call Tampa.
How We Stop "Tampa"
Tampa is the zone pressure that most teams run these days with two linebackers off one edge and the defensive end on the opposite side dropping into coverage (See Diagram 4). These various forms of getting "two off an edge" are extremely popular in our league and around all of college football. We have gone round and round in our staff room about the best way to stop these kinds of pressures. The first thing you must do as an offensive line coach is figure out when and where teams like to run these pressures. Versus a four-man front, most teams will bring the blitz from the shade side and drop the d-end to the three-technique. Three-man front teams can be a little more creative and recognizing secondary alignments become more important in terms of a giveaway. One way to force teams to show their hand is to line up in 3×1 sets in pressure situations to force the defense to show their hand. Tempo and/or cadence is extremely important as well.
We have found that the best way to account for these pressures is to slide away from the pressure. Common sense would tell you that that is the exact opposite of what you want to do, but in reality it clears things up quite a bit. In theory, you can block two off the edge whether you are sliding to or away from the pressure. But in reality, sliding away from the pressure is much easier (See Diagrams 5-8).
A possible solution to this, is to have the back scan from Front side to backside and pick up the Will. In this scenario, the LT takes the Mike & LG to Rush. Now the Center carries the Nose. RG & RT stay man on the Tackle & End, which will end up as a double team on the Tackle.A better solution is to call the slide away from the pressure (to the right). Assignments would go as follows:
RT-C Gap. Recognize End drop, stop in your tracks and help with Tackle.
RG-B Gap. Carry Tackle to RT. Do NOT chase air.
C-A Gap. Take Nose as he crosses your face. Do NOT chase air.
LG-X Gap. Recognize Nose slant away, and work back to pick up long stick by Rush.
LT- Carry Rush to LG. Force switch and take the Mike.
RB-Recognize two off the edge and pickup the Will.
Pressure from the Shade Nose
We have found that a lot of teams like to bring pressure from the shade (nose) side of their defense. But they have a heavy down & distance tendency for when they like to bring pressure. In that instance, you need to make a decision as a coach. You have three options:
Slide to the three technique all the time. This will make you vulnerable to their favorite blitzes, but will mean you are solid on normal/run downs.
Slide to the shade all the time. This will make you solid against their favorite blitzes, but leaves you with one-on-one match-ups with both your guard and tackle to the three technique side.
Have one rule for normal/run downs and another rule for passing situations. This can be the best of both worlds...if your center can handle it. If not, you have chaos.
To see game film of Coach Iske's turn protection, click on the link below:
Conclusion
It is important that you give your players specific and simple rules for what you want each week. Realize that you aren't going to be in the perfect protection call every play. Trust the percentages that you come up with through film study and have clear and concise coaching points for your guys. There are certain games where we will have one rule for all situations (i.e.: slide to #14 because he is their favorite blitzer). Other games, there may be a certain rule for normal/run downs and another for passing situations (i.e.: slide to the three technique on normal downs, but slide to the boundary on 3rd and medium or 3rd and long because that is where they like to bring their nickel pressures). You as a coach must determine how much information your center can handle. You can't give a player a checklist of three to four things to look for and then expect him to play well. Give them one or two (at most) things that they need to be aware of and practice the heck out of it all week versus the scout team.
Finally, when you set up your game plan, make sure that you have contingency plans. What happens if my left tackle goes down and a terrible match-up is created? What if they break their tendencies and are hurting you with pressures? Have answers for issues before they come up so that you can get them handled on the sidelines and/or at halftime to get them corrected. Just because you gave your center a set of rules before the game, don't marry yourself to those rules no matter what. In football, things change quickly. When things go wrong, your players look to you for answers. If you don't have any, you are sunk. If you can put them in a position to be successful, then they will play their heart out for you every play.
I would like to thank our head coach, Chris Brown, and offensive coordinator, Justin Schreiber, for helping me with putting this article together. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us here at FHSU anytime
Posted on March 17, 2013 by Sam Nichols in Offense
By: Justin Iske
Offensive Line Coach
Fort Hays State University
If you are a turn protection (half-man, half-slide) team like we are here at Fort Hays State, the number one job of your o-line coach is to figure out which way you want to slide your protection each week. The purpose of this article is to give you a few ideas that will help you make this determination without confusing your players.
What Is Turn Protection?
In the simplest terms, turn protection is a half-man, half-slide protection with the center, playside guard, and playside tackle responsible for a gap; and the backside guard and tackle manned up on a defensive lineman. (See Examples in Diagram 1, 2, and 3).
We call the weakside gaps X, Y, and Z.
"Rush" is just our term for the weak side End. (End, Tackle, Nose, Rush)
Who Calls the Protection
Sideline — In some systems, the play-caller will determine the slide side of a protection. Some coaches are more comfortable playing the percentages based on film study to determine what a defense is going to do (which are detailed below) and call the protection in the play call. An obvious disadvantage to this is you do not get a chance to see the defense's pre-snap alignment before determining the slide.
With no-huddle teams, oftentimes the o-line coach or running back coach will signal to the o-line or quarterback the protection call at the line of scrimmage. This gives the coach a chance to see pre-snap alignment, but adds a layer of communication to the process and slows the offense's tempo down.
Quarterback — The best reason to give the slide responsibility to the quarterback is that he is the one who is going to pay the price if he sends the slide the wrong way. After he is hit by a free blitzer once or twice, they usually realize the importance of getting the protection correct. Another reason is that the QB has the best pre-snap view of the defense. One reason not to use your QB is that they already have enough on their plate in terms of reading coverages, making route adjustments, and other audibles that you don't want them to be overwhelmed. This is especially true with an inexperienced QB. Sometimes taking some responsibility off their shoulders can help them be successful.
Center (or Guard) — In our system, our center calls out the defensive front every play. Against some opponents, he will also ID the Mike linebacker. Since he is the one that has to know what front we are facing, it makes sense that he be the one to call out the protection as well. However, there have been times when we have had a guard call the protection instead. For instance, if you have a three-year starter at left guard and a redshirt freshman center, then the left guard is going to handle things better than the center is. We have never had a tackle call out the protection simply because his angle is so much different that he can't recognize what is happening on the other side of the line.
At the end of the day, any of these approaches can be successful. We have always designated either the quarterback or one of our interior o-linemen as the player to check protections. As the o-line coach, I prefer that it be one of our guys up front, but we will sit down as a staff before every season and evaluate that group of players before we make a decision as to who will have the responsibility of calling the protection. It is important to note that you need to call a slide every play (even on running plays or non-turn protection plays) so that the defense doesn't have an extremely easy clue as to when you are passing the ball.
Five, Six, or Seven-Man Protection
One of the reasons we use turn protection is because we can incorporate five, six, and seven-man protections with the same rules for the offensive line. We can also run three-step, five-step, seven-step and even some play action concepts while using the same basic principles of protection. The less your guys up front have to think, the more aggressive and confident they will play. The QB and running backs are the ones that adjust.
Definitions of Protection
Five-Man Protection: Any blitzer to the man side is the QB's responsibility
Six-Man Protection: RB or FB is responsible for blitzer to the man side.
Seven-Man Protection: Both backs will check to the man or slide side, depending on the call.
One thing that is extremely important, for shotgun teams especially. Do not always align your back to the man side of your protection pre-snap. The first thing most defensive coaches will look for when attacking protections is any pre-snap giveaway to which side you are sliding your protection. Realize that they watch film just as much as you do and if you align the back to the man side all the time, you are going to see every blitz ever invented to that side on a weekly basis. Going under center or in the pistol eliminates this issue. But so does simply having the back cross the QB's face post-snap (with or without a flash fake).
Determining Where to Slide
While our rules change every week, the first day we install our turn protection the answer to this question is simple. Slide to the three-technique. The reason we do this is so that we in essence have a four-man slide and only one o-lineman manned up (See Diagram 1). Whoever is calling the protection, they know that their number one rule is: When in doubt, slide to the three technique!
Factors that Determine Where to Slide
Going into a game week, we break down opponent's pressures based on various factors, including:
Are they a field or boundary pressure team?
Do they bring pressure more from the three-technique or shade-side?
Down & Distance tendencies for pressures or stunts
Do they like to blitz a certain ILB or OLB more than others?
Do they give away pressure by a certain change in alignment of their linebackers?
Does safety alignment give away when they are brining pressure? (or certain types of pressure)
Do d-linemen shift around in certain situations? If so, why?
What match-up issues do we have?
Do they run Tampa (two blitzers off an edge)?
Some teams are either field or boundary oriented when it comes to bringing pressure. If that is the case, then your decision of which way to slide is pretty simple. The same is true if they bring pressure from the tight end side, to the three-technique or shade, etc. Other teams will give away when they are brining pressure based on the alignment of their linebackers or safeties. There are times we will call our protection towards the widest aligned inside linebacker or based off safety alignment. If a team has an obvious tendency, then you must take advantage of it.
As a coach, it is important to realize that all the X's and O's you draw up might look great, but if their X is a lot better than your O, or vice versa, you have to adjust. There are times when you are stuck in a terrible match-up in the passing game. Usually this occurs when a stud d-end is going up against one of your tackles. There have been games where we have set the protection to our worst match-up every pass play and had success. One of the pressures that we need to learn how to protect each week is what we call Tampa.
How We Stop "Tampa"
Tampa is the zone pressure that most teams run these days with two linebackers off one edge and the defensive end on the opposite side dropping into coverage (See Diagram 4). These various forms of getting "two off an edge" are extremely popular in our league and around all of college football. We have gone round and round in our staff room about the best way to stop these kinds of pressures. The first thing you must do as an offensive line coach is figure out when and where teams like to run these pressures. Versus a four-man front, most teams will bring the blitz from the shade side and drop the d-end to the three-technique. Three-man front teams can be a little more creative and recognizing secondary alignments become more important in terms of a giveaway. One way to force teams to show their hand is to line up in 3×1 sets in pressure situations to force the defense to show their hand. Tempo and/or cadence is extremely important as well.
We have found that the best way to account for these pressures is to slide away from the pressure. Common sense would tell you that that is the exact opposite of what you want to do, but in reality it clears things up quite a bit. In theory, you can block two off the edge whether you are sliding to or away from the pressure. But in reality, sliding away from the pressure is much easier (See Diagrams 5-8).
A possible solution to this, is to have the back scan from Front side to backside and pick up the Will. In this scenario, the LT takes the Mike & LG to Rush. Now the Center carries the Nose. RG & RT stay man on the Tackle & End, which will end up as a double team on the Tackle.A better solution is to call the slide away from the pressure (to the right). Assignments would go as follows:
RT-C Gap. Recognize End drop, stop in your tracks and help with Tackle.
RG-B Gap. Carry Tackle to RT. Do NOT chase air.
C-A Gap. Take Nose as he crosses your face. Do NOT chase air.
LG-X Gap. Recognize Nose slant away, and work back to pick up long stick by Rush.
LT- Carry Rush to LG. Force switch and take the Mike.
RB-Recognize two off the edge and pickup the Will.
Pressure from the Shade Nose
We have found that a lot of teams like to bring pressure from the shade (nose) side of their defense. But they have a heavy down & distance tendency for when they like to bring pressure. In that instance, you need to make a decision as a coach. You have three options:
Slide to the three technique all the time. This will make you vulnerable to their favorite blitzes, but will mean you are solid on normal/run downs.
Slide to the shade all the time. This will make you solid against their favorite blitzes, but leaves you with one-on-one match-ups with both your guard and tackle to the three technique side.
Have one rule for normal/run downs and another rule for passing situations. This can be the best of both worlds...if your center can handle it. If not, you have chaos.
To see game film of Coach Iske's turn protection, click on the link below:
Conclusion
It is important that you give your players specific and simple rules for what you want each week. Realize that you aren't going to be in the perfect protection call every play. Trust the percentages that you come up with through film study and have clear and concise coaching points for your guys. There are certain games where we will have one rule for all situations (i.e.: slide to #14 because he is their favorite blitzer). Other games, there may be a certain rule for normal/run downs and another for passing situations (i.e.: slide to the three technique on normal downs, but slide to the boundary on 3rd and medium or 3rd and long because that is where they like to bring their nickel pressures). You as a coach must determine how much information your center can handle. You can't give a player a checklist of three to four things to look for and then expect him to play well. Give them one or two (at most) things that they need to be aware of and practice the heck out of it all week versus the scout team.
Finally, when you set up your game plan, make sure that you have contingency plans. What happens if my left tackle goes down and a terrible match-up is created? What if they break their tendencies and are hurting you with pressures? Have answers for issues before they come up so that you can get them handled on the sidelines and/or at halftime to get them corrected. Just because you gave your center a set of rules before the game, don't marry yourself to those rules no matter what. In football, things change quickly. When things go wrong, your players look to you for answers. If you don't have any, you are sunk. If you can put them in a position to be successful, then they will play their heart out for you every play.
I would like to thank our head coach, Chris Brown, and offensive coordinator, Justin Schreiber, for helping me with putting this article together. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us here at FHSU anytime