Coach ,

Sunday evening I saw plenty of Tweets about the discipline or lack thereof during the championship games.

When we slow down the play and take seconds to analyze, it was obviously a poor decision which the player made in a split second.  

However, the quote I keep going back to is “Under pressure, you don't rise to the occasion, you sink to the level of your training. That's why we train so hard.” It is attributed to an anonymous Navy seal who expressed that the success of an operation is determined by how well you are prepared for this moment.

So all arguments aside of whether that player should have known better, or any player for that matter who makes a mistake under the lights, the reflection needs to be “Was he thoroughly trained to succeed in this situation?”

The level of sophistication I see trained into the pros is always interesting to think about.  For example, there was a completion in one of the game near the sideline and the receiver immediately got up and made a hand signal and everyone quickly got to the ball and snapped it before the play could be reviewed.  When they replayed it on TV it was a legal catch, but there must have been something that made the receiver unsure and prompted to signal to his teammates. Clearly, a procedure they were prepared for.

Football is made up of so many unique situations, most of which require a quick decision and action.

On Coach and Coordinator we talked extensively about how these are trained with Dan Swanstrom, Penn Offensive Coordinator, who while he was head coach at Ithaca trained these situations.

He pointed out that they will walk through these situations in camp and throughout the season and simulate at game speed as best as possible.  It’s worth noting that it’s hard to recreate some of them.

I believe now is the time to bring all of these into your players’ thought processes and define your team procedures in handling them.  This can start with building a library of examples, and if you are allowed by your state’s rules, you can walk through and begin preparing your team to handle them now while you have plenty of time to work on things.

The process is pretty simple and can apply to any individual position or unit.

1. Identify the siutuations that come up infrequently but can drastically affect the game.
2. Put together a teach tape of the situation being handled correctly and incorrectly. The examples can come from any level.  The idea is to have something to show your players. I suggest following  @TeachTapes which has plenty on their Twitter account.
3. Teach these in meetings, share in group texts…put it in your players’ minds.
4. Determine what you can do to put your players in those situations to train them to make the right decisions and take the right actions.

I have shared the rest of the examples in this email before, but I think it provides a great example of how you handle and prepare your team for all situations.

Swanstrom teaches over 30 of these scenarios to the team.  Whether it’s offense, defense, or special teams, he wants all of his players to be aware of them.

Here are a few examples of how he thinks about, handles, and teaches situational awareness.

Offense

Two men in motion is something that can’t happen.  How many times do you see a big play called back because of illegal motion?  

Coach Swanstrom teaches his players how to handle this with a “May Day” call which anyone on the field or sideline can call to alert the QB/players on the field to ensure at the snap of the ball they are legal.

In this one he uses the Patriots having an easy TD called back because of two men in motion (click on image for video):

Video: Two Men in Motion

Defense

While it goes against all defensive philosophies, there is a time when letting the other team score to preserve one more opportunity for your team to score after them for the win is viable.

Coach Swanstrom teaches this situation as “Free Lunch.” The example he used is from Atlanta against Detroit.

The Lions gave running back Todd Gurley a tantalizing path to the end zone and he couldn't help himself. He tried to fall down, but it was too late. He landed on the goal line for a touchdown that led to a loss for the Falcons.

Detroit let Gurley score with just over a minute remaining to get the ball back, giving Matthew Stafford enough time to drive the Lions to the winning TD as time expired.

Coach Swanstrom explains how they teach “Free Lunch” in this video(click on image for video):

Video: Free Lunch

Special Teams

One which we saw a few times this past season on special teams that is definitely worth teaching is the straddle return.  

The ball moves to the 35 yard line in college and high school when the ball is kicked out of bounds.

What becomes difficult for returners to handle is the ball that is slowly rolling and not necessarily going straight out of bounds.

The straddle return is what helps the return team.

If an out-of-bounds player touches a loose ball, it puts the ball out of bounds. And when you have a kick that goes out of bounds untouched by the return team in the field of play, that's a kickoff out of bounds, and they're going to get the football at the 40 (NFL).

Coach Swanstrom illustrates this with an example of the straddle return being executed by the Green Bay Packers (click on image for video):

Video: Straddle Return

Those are just three examples of how teaching situational awareness to your players creates a smart football team that will ultimately have more success on the field because you spend time teaching and practicing these situations.

Thank you to Coach Swanstrom for putting this useful body of knowledge together in his clinic.

Always be growing!

Coach Grabowski