Bucket step

I agree.

Why do those coaches bucket step???

MORE:

Many believe more in hat and hand placement for the covered lineman than footwork. "We want to control the front half of the defender. Once we get to the front side number, we want to run him at an angle to the sideline," "The blocker wants his nose on the outside number of the defender. We do not want the head down the midline, in the armpit or outside the defender. Helmet placement is more critical in zone blocking than footwork. We don’t care if that first step is a lead step, drop step, etc. That’s not important. Getting the helmet to the outside number is critical."

Coaches have gone back and forth on the debate of whether use a bucket (drop) step or step directly at your landmark (lead step) gaining ground when teaching zone blocking. Generally, there are two schools of thought on this topic. One of the forefathers of zone footwork, Jim McNally who has had 28 years of experience coaching in the NFL, always believed in the bucket step (a backward step) as a first step. It’s a philosophy where lineman "lose ground to gain ground" in their assignment. While this may be used for offensive tackles to handle wide five techniques in the NFL, researche has found that 73 percent of coaches believe more in an angle or lead step to the target rather than a bucket step. We’ve found that it’s more of psychological thing to some coaches, because the words "losing ground" can be construed for some form of blasphemy when dealing with offensive linemen.

Another zone coaching legend, Alex Gibbs, who spent 26 years in the league, was more of a lead step proponent when teaching the zone. Gibbs was synonymous for having smaller lineman, rumor has it he never coached a lineman over 300 pounds, so it was probably imperative for him to teach his guys to get off the ball with quickness. "If you’re covered, your responsibility is for the outside half of down lineman if your inside team mate is uncovered," says Gibbs. "Our first step was always a lead step with the play side outside foot eyeballing outside number of down lineman on you. The second step is through the crotch of opponent." It’s that second step that offensive line coaches harp on being the most imperative step. After hearing Steve Loney, another longtime NFL coaching veteran most recently with the St. Louis Rams speak at a clinic, I remember him talking about taking "any step necessary" to get to the landmark of the defender, which he taught was the middle of the play side number. He wanted to force the down defender to make a decision by reaching him. Most of our coaches felt that the second step should be more of a foot to crotch step than any form of crossover step for risk of losing strength and balance.