OL Musings From A Master
Do you want to be a smarter, more sophisticated football fan?
Read on…
I came across one of the most insightful interviews from a coach that I’ve read in years. Former New England Patriot assistant Dante Scarnecchia is regarded as one of the greatest OL coaches ever and he was absolutely integral in the Patriots winning six Super Bowls. Knowledgeable NFL fans always debate whether Belichick or Brady was more important to the Pat dynasty and that chicken-egg argument is a fun one, but the #3 guy isn’t really up for much debate. It’s Dante Scarnecchia. The ultimate do-more-with-less assistant.
Dante built his reputation turning low draft choices and free agents into strong but cheap offensive lines that were integral to the Patriot empire, allowing the franchise to spend its money and draft picks elsewhere (some wasted on bad wide receivers – even the Pats weren’t perfect). A master technician and teacher, he understood not only what good looked like, but how to teach it, refine it and spot it in a college wrestler or an overlooked free agent abhorred by an industry who couldn’t see the true player.
Some coaches simply see the game as it is and can reduce it to its first principles.
He recently share some musings about OL evaluation for the draft and it’s applicable to every level of football…think about this when watching the Spring scrimmage and the 2023 Longhorn season. Or recruiting film.
Run blocking:
Could he make the tough blocks in the run game, which for me – can he make the backside cut-off? Can he make the front-side reach block? Can he unlock his hips? I don’t want to get technical here, but in blocking you move them with your lower body and you control them with your upper body. Because, again, you’re generating force with your lower body. Can you redirect a guy? So, if you’re into a guy and the ball carrier goes one side, he tries to play off that way, can you redirect the force of your block on that guy?
Some real gems above, but the emphasis on back-side cut-off and front-side reach block are the proving ground for all zone schemes. Further, his explanation that you move defenders with your lower half and control them with the upper is so insightful. Watch Christian Jones when he takes smaller defenders for long rides. The power is coming from his mass and legs, but you don’t drive someone 15 yards without upper body control. It’s why he was our most devastating run blocker last year.
Similarly, plenty of DL lose or tie on the initial strike when facing a massive OL, but the OL’s inability to keep them from redirecting with the upper body means they slide off and a initially promising run gains one yard. OL who can lock down a defender – even without getting much movement – always give their runner a chance.
This next comment is the most important simple truth you’ll ever read about pass protection:
In pass protection, the centers and guards control the depth of the pocket. If those guys are getting knocked back, you’re not going to have a pocket. And especially for us because with Tom [Brady] in there at quarterback, he’s there. He ain’t going anywhere else. The idea was, those guys couldn’t sink and anchor in the middle of the pocket and not get pushed back then we felt like they were a real liability. And the same thing’s true for the tackles. The tackles keep the width in the pocket, so if they’re getting collapsed down in from the outside in, then that does you no good. You have to be able to have the depth in the pocket with the center and guards, the width in the pocket with the tackles.
That’s it. It’s about depth (interior blockers) and width (offensive tackle). That’s what scientists would call an elegant explanation. Using few words to properly describe a big concept.
Do you want to know who starts on the Longhorn interior OL? Well, who gives up depth? Who is an anchored rock? Because Scarnecchia coaches pros, he leaves out another element relevant to the college game: no free runs at the QB.
Interior OL can’t give up free shots at the QB because of movement or stunts. That skill is not really about feet, though analysts see the OL scrambling late and attribute the bad play to that. It’s about paralysis, mental overwhelm, not understanding the blocking rules and tunnel vision. We saw it happen last year with DJ Campbell and in prior years with guys like Patrick Vahe. It’s the ultimate sin for an OL. Some grow out of it with game experience. Others never do.
Similarly, while edges never run through Christian Jones, they do run inside of him. Another sin and Scarnecchia would not have it. You must never allow the most direct path to the QB. If you get beat because the defender took the long way round, your OC can still call an offense. If you’re giving up free interior men, there is no offense. See the Texas-TCU game film for both teams.
And the tackles, they have a double-edged sword; they have to handle speed-to-power rushers, and they have to handle speed off the outside edge or quickness up-and-unders and things like that.
A fast guy just sprinting around you stinks – he’s really quick, it’s 3rd and 14, he guessed the snap – but tackles really fear speed-to-power rushers. If you’re not familiar with speed-to-power, it means what it says. The edge begins with a speed rush to get the pass protector moving and on his heels and then the defender transitions to power. He attacks the blocker. Or part of him. How can a 255 pound edge rusher overwhelm a 320 pound guy? Because his transition from speed to power is faster.
It’s usually not because the big guy is “soft.” Fans think any big guy ever beaten on a football field is soft. The big OT is probably stronger than the edge rusher. He’s not as powerful (strength displayed over time) or agile. So how can he win? Technical proficiency and an understanding that if he can briefly blunt the speed of the guy across from him, it becomes a strength/mass fight. He’ll win that fight.
Do you believe in length?!
I believe in length. I think that length is important. Look, Matt Light played on our team for 11 years, all right, and his arms were 33 inches long at left tackle. Now, do you want them much shorter than that? I’d say no. Do you want them longer than that? Yeah, it doesn’t hurt, it’s certainly good. But it’s not the end-all “we absolutely cannot take this guy if he doesn’t have 33-inch arms”. Look, if you’re blocking a guy, every time you hit the guy, your arms are 20 inches out in front of your body, that’s OK, in fact that’s very doable. But if your arms are sitting in here like Tyrannosaurus Rex arms and you got them right in here, you don’t have 33-inch arms, you don’t have 36-inch arms. So you’re really not using your length to your effectiveness. So what I always say is, look, let’s not hammer these guys because of that.
Arm length is important. It’s why that badass 5-10, 250 pound guard in high school who destroyed everyone won’t play college ball. You can watch a 6-7 offensive lineman literally big brother 6-1 defensive tackle every Saturday. It’s hilarious. But at every level of football, there are very good OL with short arms. There’s also effective arm length. Are you so strong and based that you can extend your short arms all the way out to control a rusher? Plenty of 37 inch long arms are T-Rex’d, get knocked down or are extended feebly.
The three traits that I always look for: smart enough, tough enough, and athletic enough. Ok? And you can’t compromise toughness. If that guy’s not going to hit you in college, he’s not going to hit you in the NFL. He’s just not. And so I believe that that’s an absolute mandatory thing.
Boom. Note the qualifier of “enough.” Enough. Why didn’t he just say: smart, tough, athletic? Because he’s telling you that once you’re at a certain standard, you move on to the next trait. Nor is it a cumulative average. It’s a series of qualifying minimums. That’s a really important thing to understand. Dwelling on minor differences is stupid and fuels false comparison. If a guard is 6-4, 310, agile, strong and runs a 5.07 40, he doesn’t get extra points for 6-4.5, 314 and 4.99. The average scout, fan and evaluator sees it differently. They think the latter guard is better.
Scarnecchia values enough. Athletic enough. Check. He has already moved on to intelligence and toughness — much tougher to evaluate — and if the first guard has these traits while the other guard may have question marks, Scarnecchia has guard #1 high on his board and guard #2 probably isn’t on his realistic board. The average NFL GM has the better athlete higher.
Enough is a very important concept in sports. Optimality is wildly overrated. At a certain point, Steph Curry doesn’t need more work on his jump shot. He needed to get stronger and bigger so he can defend and stay healthy.
Is enough something you can think about with recruiting prospects? Are we sure that 2 inches more of vertical leap and 0.12 of 40 time and an inch in height makes Prospect A better than Prospect B, when B actually has better film? Or B has Roschon Johnson intangibles and he’s mean as hell on the field? Or we learn that B is nine months younger?
Enough is an important concept.
So is the importance of dialogue and coach’s challenging each other respectfully…
There’s no doubt. You have to have checks and balances. Not everybody’s right all the time, not everybody’s wrong all the time. I think it is healthy and it’s something that can be very illuminating and allow people to look at guys and say all right, we’re all on the same page. Joe Thuney. There was nothing not to like about Joe Thuney. Shaq Mason. David Andrews — we looked at David Andrews and said, “What’s not to like about this guy?” Well, he’s not going to be drafted. So, great, we’ll get him for less.
One of the less documented aspects of Mack Brown’s decline was the proliferation of yes-men. Particularly harmful in recruiting evaluation. Each coach had their little kingdom and if one coach spoke up questioning another guy’s four early takes so he could be done with recruiting in May, the challenging coach was the bad guy. Respectful challenge is crucial.
Finally, the David Andrews comment made me laugh. The Patriots knew who the players were each draft that the draft industry hated and would fall to them for free. Andrews was signed as a rookie free agent after starting for three years at an unknown school called Georgia against decent competition and is now entering his 9th year in the league. Here’s his NFL.com draft report. Read his strengths! LOL. Lance Z actually does a tremendous job scouting him, but his grade doesn’t match what his eyes saw.
“If you know the way broadly you will see it in everything.”
― Miyamoto Musashi
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