Coach ,

The C.O.O.L. Clinic kicked off yesterday and it was loaded with detailed coaching knowledge being shared.

NFL OL Coaches Chris Foerster of the San Francisco 49ers and Andy Heck of the Kansas City Chiefs presented on two distinctly different topics, but the common thread running through both was the application of schemes used and techniques repped again and again to be able to allow creativity.  

In using principles that allow for the teaching of “same as,” these coaches get their players very skilled in their ability to execute a play because they get so many reps at their technique and assignments.

For Coach Foerster and the 49ers, everything is built off of a single scheme - the outside zone. He started with sharing how that scheme works for them and then explained how it is the basis for everything else. 

As an example, he showed how the teaching of outside zone carries over to other schemes like the power and counter gap schemes. Because they want everything to cause a reaction to the outside zone in order for the other schemes to be complementary, they do not use the tradition techniques in all regards.

On Power for example, some teams teach getting that deuce block vertically displaced. For Coach Foerster and the Niners, they want everything to get on the same angle as their outside zone, so they teach it differently.

Here’s a highlight from last night’s clinic where Coach Foerster shows the oustide zone, then shows how their power works, and finally shares a creative version of their counter play. The creativity in their offense is generated by having a thought process that begins with the outside zone.

Video: Chris Foerster COOL Clinic Highlights

If you ave watched even a little of the Chiefs then you know how creative they are. Like the Niners though, the creativity is the product of having schemes that they can use in multiple ways.

Coach Heck spent time teaching and showing their slow and quick screens starting with what many people use, then he showed their highly creative versions.  He finished up showing how they use their power scheme creatively as well.

The video highlights how they use a screen down on the goal line and then a shovel pass with their power scheme. He had many more of these in his presentation.

Video: Andy Heck C.O.O.L. Clinic Highlights

The biggest take away from both of these is that you have to establish a base and get good at it before you can do more, and in doing so, you can find ways that everything is tied together in a common way which then becomes very difficult to defend.

Both of those talks are available as replays as part of the C.O.O.L. Clinic ticket. Day 2 begins this afternoon and Saturday is a full day concluding at 7pm. This is a clinic well worth the investment into learning the details of the game. You can register here https://cool2023.coachesclinic.com/.

Always be growing!

Coach Grabowski