Coach ,

Here’s the situation. Your top running back, also one of the league’s top backs is out for over a half of the game. Your back up, who is outstanding, is limited, so most of your touches will go to your 3rd and 4th back.  

It’s not a situation that many coaches would want to be in. Unless you are the Cleveland Browns. The Browns faced that situation and made the most of it to execute the best rushing performance against the Dallas Cowboys ever, putting up 307 yards of rushing in their 49-38 win.

Much of the technique used by the Browns offensive line and coach Bill Callahan was developed in conjunction with his assistant, Scott Peters.  

Callahan praises Scott Peters and the techniques he’s developed in this short clip. After this glowing review, it’s not a surprise years later that Peters is on his coaching staff: (Click image to watch)

Clearly, the Browns have upgraded their performance. The Browns are currently 1st in the NFL in 4 team categories with 818 yards rushing and 5.9 yards per carry, 8 rushing TD and 11 runs of 20+ yards.

Peters’ story is an interesting one. In rehabbing from what he felt was an NFL career ending injury, he began studying and practicing Brazilian Jujitsu. This is where he learned much about leverage and harnessing the strength of the body, especially the hips.  

That developed into a system of techniques for blocking and defeating blocks which led to consultation with top teams from the FBS and NFL and eventually to his current position with the Cleveland Browns. Peters shared more about how this developed on The Coach and Coordinator Podcast.

In this short video, Peters shares five tips for developing contact skills. These are ideas you can implement with your team right now. (Click image to watch)

Mike Pollak, former NFL offensive lineman and an associate of Scott Peters shared some of the basics of teaching blocking this way. In this video he talks about a core fundamental which Peters has called “Force Deflection.” (Click image to watch)

Yes, I know, “but these are NFL guys who work with NFL players.” That’s true, but this also has been implemented successfully at the college, high school, and youth levels. Pollak highlights a youth football player using these techniques successfully in this video.

Recently, Sean Peterson, offensive line coach at Wayzata HS in Minnesota tweeted about their success with these techniques:

So long story short, it can work at whatever level you coach.  

This is a great starting point to learn more about improving the performance of your team. Be sure to check it out.

To Your Success,

Coach Grabowski