Football Technique Work Time Is Hard To Find


By FirstDown PlayBook on Dec 26, 2021

As we watched the two NFL games last night, at least one thing became apparent. It is still hard for coaches to find time for football technique work. Before we type one more letter here, let us be clear. We are not being critical of the coaches. It has been this way for a long time.

When I coached in the NFL, I was constantly amazed at how the rookies who I coached would show up with very little idea about technique. I struggled to understand how a kid could play four, maybe five years of college football as a tight end and not know how to fit into a block or run a route vs man coverage. It wasn’t exclusive to the position that I coached, either. I personally fought to find time to spend on football technique work.

This football technique work problem, and we do think it is a problem, has not gotten any better. In fact, it is probably gotten worse. Coaches at every level have their challenges. Youth football coaches are always looking for time to spend on almost everything. After all, they are just trying to volunteer to help out. High school coaches barely have enough time to teach the scheme and system. Fundamentals and technique become sacrificial lambs to knowing what to do on Friday night.

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College coaches spend their time on the phone trying to recruit high school kids or players in the transfer portal. They too are pressured to get the game plan installed so that the scheme can take over on Saturday. Also, don’t forget that if you actually coach a player hard, they might go somewhere else to play next year.

Football Playbook Technique Work Is Part Of The FirstDown PlayBook Equation

Coaches want to coach technique. Coaches understand that above all, football technique work is important for safety reasons.  They also know that at some point you are going to play a team with equal talent and/or equal schemes. When that happens, the player will have to play football, fundamentally sound football, to win.

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Make no mistake, if a player is good enough to continue climbing to higher levels of football this day will come. It was on full display last night in the NFL. Once again, it just gets down to time. The more organized with your teaching, the more time you will have for football technique work. This is where FirstDown PlayBook attempts to help. We talk a lot about this on the Coaches Community website.

A lot of your scheme can be taught before your players ever hit the field. This way the practice is about football technique work, not walk throughs to make sure your players know their assignments. FirstDown PlayBook has always played a big role in helping football coaches in this area. That has not changed. Take a look below if you would like to see how.