Thread: Need some help learning mechanics of OL/DL

Originally Posted by soulman

No, not until you're engaged with him in the block or beyond the point where a head fake can cause you to lose him. You have to be aware of head slaps and swim moves and you'll miss that if you're initially looking only at a guys chest. The idea is probably based on the same thing that has tacklers watching a guys waiste. Initially the head can go in a different direction than the feet but the waiste or the feet will lead the basic direction the ball carrier intends to go.

I'm not a football coach but those are some of the basics I learned during a very short HS career when I played ST's.

The eyes at the chest as Soul said come later in the process as you need to keep your eyes forward in case blitzs or stunts come your way.

The eyes on the chest thing is more to keep you from moving on a head fake or a shimmy because in a perfect world you would keep your back, neck and head as rigid as possible, once those move your balance goes to hell.

There could be pages written about o-line technique and what is taught. Windy hit on a lot of points, but he didn't hit them all (I'm sure he ran out of time and wanted to keep it simple)...

Here's other things I watch with pass pro technique...

Knee bend - Proper knee bend will help the lineman keep their balance, help leverage, support their base. If a lineman doesn't bend enough at the knee, they tend to bend at the waist and overextend themselves... again, makes them off balance.

Butt level - Somewhat related to knee bend is hip or butt level. Having a low ass lowers your center of gravity. Also having your butt in proper position will help your leg drive (especially in run blocking). A common technique taught to counter a bull rush from the defender is to sink your ass down low and drive your legs in hopes to cause a stalemate or even drive them back.

Staying Square- In pass pro it's important to stay square to the line of scrimmage until roughly the designed depth of the QB is reached (QB depth concern mostly applies to tackles, but it can apply to others). Staying square ensures you're not giving the rusher an open lane to attack the QB. Once that goal depth is reached, you can turn your body and push the rusher on by, giving that pocket shape. If you want to see an example of someone who is really shitty at this, watch Frank Omiyale vs. an edge rush. I'd say about 50% of the time he goes against an edge rush, he turns his body well before he reaches proper depth. This allows the end to take the corner on him much quicker than he would if Omiyale were square. A common reason linemen don't stay square is because they're simply beaten by quickness, or they don't have enough confidence in their own ability to stay with the rusher on the edge.
(someone wasn't in good position and turned too soon)

Active feet - A lineman will want to keep his feet chopping no matter what. Having your feet 'in concrete' is a good way to get juked or lose your balance. It's also a good way to lose a physical battle. You'll often see guys stop their feet on contact. Again, that makes you susceptible to various moves and is a good way to get pushed back into the QB. Usually lazy feet is more a product of conditioning than discipline. Though you'll see young guys do it when they're not tired... Webb would do this at times last season.

Quick set - meaning you want to see a lineman snap out of their stance and into proper pass pro position quickly. The quicker a lineman gets set, the better off they'll be. That's why in obvious pass situations, you'll often see some of the linemen not even bother putting their hand on the ground. Then they're pretty much in this set position from the start.
(closest I could find to a pass pro set in an image search)


I'm out of time. There's actually quite a bit more that could be talked about.

Keep in mind that the technique isn't necessarily the same across the board for all linemen, mainly the differences are in pass pro. Guards and centers have a little different approach in pass pro than tackles, etc.

Originally Posted by WindyCity

I am Canadian so this is not quite the same but,

I played at the University of Manitoba with Israel Idonidje, my freshman year was his senior year in 2002. That is how I became a Bears fan and I could not be more happy that Izzy is having the success he is having. Nicest guy in the NFL.

I played for 2 seasons in the CFL with the Montreal Alouttes and the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.

Didn't know that Windy. Was Izzy the same great kind of guy he is now? What position did you play in college and the pros?

Butka, thanks for chiming in on this. I thought I remembered you saying that you played and coached lineman in a far away post. Both you and Windy have given me some great insights on OT from an inside perspective. Appreciate the response.

Originally Posted by Dagan81

That's awesome! The closest I have ever come to knowing an NFL player is Doug Atkins. My dad grew up knowing him quite well. Doug used to come to my great-great aunt's tavern in Knoxville during the offseason and he would always share stories of his time in the pros, particularly for his disapproval with George Halas.

Did you start in the CFL? The fact that you had a pro football career is amazing, no matter what level you are at. I should take the time to learn more about CFL football, because past a couple of teams, I know next to zilch as to who plays in what city and where.

I only started a couple of games and spent most of my time as a backup and short yardage TE and NT. I was a little like Solder, and this kills my point about him a little, but I switched from the DL and I was always a little behind where I should have been. I had 4 coaching changes in 2 years and was lost in the shuffle.

The coolest part of the entire thing was some of the coaches that I worked with. Marc Trestman in Montreal is a scary genius who literally knows what everyone is doing on every play and Bob Wiley in Winnipeg who coached the Bears OL under Jauron.

If you ever want to meet a guy who loves Olin Kreutz talk to Bob Wiley, we watched a ton of 1999-2001 Bears film with Aaron Gibson at 420lbs. playing RT.