Maybe the Rams should do what the Broncos are doing

  • To unlock all of features of Rams On Demand please take a brief moment to register. Registering is not only quick and easy, it also allows you access to additional features such as live chat, private messaging, and a host of other apps exclusive to Rams On Demand.

Prime Time

PT
Moderator
Joined
Feb 9, 2014
Messages
20,922
Name
Peter
It's the little things in football that sometimes makes the difference between a winning or a losing season. Often times it seems like opposing teams know what we are going to do before we do it. Half-time adjustments have seemed to be lacking as well.
****************************************************************************************
http://mmqb.si.com/mmqb/2016/10/26/denver-broncos-coaching-player-tendencies-nfl

The Little Things in Denver
NFL teams always are on the hunt for any advantage they can gain. Denver feels like it found one in dedicating two full-time coaches to studying the tells of opposing players. The Broncos believe it’s working
by Robert Klemko

mmqb-shane-ray.jpg

Icon/Getty Images

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — What can a 10-degree difference in the way an offensive lineman points his foot tell you about the upcoming play? The Broncos are one of a handful of teams who believe such minutia can tell you a whole lot, which is why they’ve gone to great lengths under coach Gary Kubiak to educate players in yet another realm of growing specialization in the NFL.

The Broncos employ two unheralded assistant coaches whose job descriptions are a closely-held secret. It boils down to this: Find the tells. Does a certain offensive tackle divulge run or pass with the placement of his feet? Or does a quarterback tip a play with a simple hand gesture? If so, Kubiak would like his players to know about it.

That sort of thinking excites guys like DeMarcus Ware, who had long been the lone preacher and parishioner of his own church of football thinking. Over nine years with the Dallas Cowboys, he developed this theory that NFL teams ought to spend way more time studying and informing players of the individual bad habits of opposing players.

Ware wanted to know these things, and he wanted coaches to study them and teach the individual tendencies, not just the standard personnel and situational team tendencies taught around the league. His pearls of wisdom were met with pushback year after year.

“When the center points, or the quarterback says something, they’re telling you everything, so why not use it?” Ware says incredulously. “Every team should do it; the Dallas coaches would say, ‘You can't go off of somebody’s tendencies.’ And I would say, ‘Well, this guy on the other team has been doing this one thing for nine years and he hasn’t stopped doing it.’

“I had that argument with coaches. In the end, I said okay, I guess I’ll be the only one to use it then.”

Then Ware signed with the Broncos in 2014, and then the team hired coach Gary Kubiak in 2015. Kubiak and Ware could not have been more aligned in their thinking. Kubiak hired two coaching interns that year—ex-Hawaii assistant Philip Rauscher and former Bills quality control coach Thaddeus Bogardus. Their job? Tendencies.

But not just the broad offensive and defensive tendencies being coached everywhere. Rauscher and Bogardus have a special mandate to also study the bad habits of opposing players, and both coaches have the unique privilege of briefing the offense and the defense, respectively, on those habits.

Their current titles are nondescript and imply anonymity: “Coaching assistant,” or what most teams describe as a quality control coaches. Technically, they’re low men on the totem pole, but they might be the two most relied-upon men in their roles in the league.

The defensive players grin at the mention of Bogardus, who earned his MBA from Ball State in 2012. “Thad does everything,” says outside linebacker Shaq Barrett. “He practically prepares us to go. Everything that you need to know, Thad knows.” Offensive players have a nickname for Rauscher, a former UCLA tight end: “KGB.”

Bogardus and Rauscher pore over hours and hours of film, and not just the silent, All-22 copies of games; they’ll break down the television broadcast, hoping an on-field microphone catches an audible call or a piece of defensive communication they can then catalog and use to discern patterns.

They do the same with hand signals shared between quarterback and wide receiver or cornerback and safety. Then both coaches prepare briefings for position coaches and lead a weekly meeting with the offense and defense to point out the smallest bad habits.

The coaches are careful to stress that these are simply clues, and not necessarily the gospel truth of what will transpire on a given play.

Some examples:

“A defensive lineman might tilt in his stance when he’s going inside, or communicate a certain way when it’s a twist.”
—Offensive tackle Donald Stephenson

“Stances, code words, how a quarterback holds his hands or bends his knees, a center’s heels.”
—Outside linebacker Shane Ray

“How does a cornerback stand on any given playcall? Is he flat-footed or on the balls of his feet? Where are his hands?”
—Wide receiver Jordan Norwood

“If this one guy has his right hand down, he’s going this way, or he has his left hand down he’s going this way.”
—Tight end Virgil Green

Then there’s counter-counter tells. The coaches work to identify which guy knows he has a tell and is doing it intentionally so he can break tendency at a key moment. “There’s a lot of smart guys in the league,” said offensive lineman Ty Sambrailo, “so having tendencies isn’t necessarily the worst thing because people then assume that of you and you can use it to your advantage.”

The dedication to this study is something unique to Denver, according to Broncos players who have been in other locker rooms and players across the league. In Kansas City, where Stephenson spent the first four years of his career, lower level coaches communicated this sort of information, and it was left to position coaches to brief players. There was no offensive meeting dedicated simply to identifying individual tendencies.

“A running backs coach might see something the defensive line is doing and tell the offensive line coach about it,” Stephenson says. “Here, we have an actual meeting. There’s a guy for it. We probably focus on it more than other teams.”

Stephenson’s ex-teammate, Chiefs wide receiver Jeremy Maclin, said the study of individual behavior is something veterans do, but wasn’t emphasized by coaches or built into the schedule in Kansas City or in Philadelphia, where he spent his first five seasons,

“Looking at that stuff… that’s next level,” Maclin says. “I do that, especially when you’re going up against one of these good corners. The average guy in the league doesn’t do that.”

In the Denver wide receivers room, Rauscher collaborates with position coaches Tyke Tolbert and Marc Lubick to create a film reel consisting of individual tendency breakdowns of each defensive back they’ll face that weekend, which players can then view on their tablets at home.

Norwood, a veteran of the Browns, Eagles and Buccaneers, says he’s never seen that sort of commitment to the study of individuals. “It’s more detailed here than in other places,” Norwood says. “I can’t say I ever got a film breakdown of each individual player until I came here.”

It is, perhaps, a symptom of Denver’s success; the Broncos have lost just 16 regular season games since 2012 and won the Super Bowl in February on the strength of four defensive turnovers. Though NFL teams rally behind the notion of taking the season one week at a time, the Broncos are built for the playoffs, and their philosophy reflects that.

“This franchise has been to the playoffs a lot,” says Stephenson, who joined the team this offseason, “so I guess in the playoffs those little edges really do matter.”

Naturally, the next question is: Were there specific examples of moments in playoff games where the attention to detail paid off? To a man, the players were wary to go into detail on how the Broncos respond to the clues.

“I cannot go into specifics,” said Sambrailo, “but for example, we’ll look at safety rotation. Usually a defense will roll safeties towards pressure. You can look up at the movement in the secondary and then look at the guy in front of you and piece together what’s going on. Phil tells us which teams will tip you off that way and which ones won’t.”

Often enough, the breakdown is even more micro. Coaches will identify one player on each side of the ball who has the worst habits and brief the entire offense or defense on that player.

It’s hard to study all five guys and look for tendencies, so we try to key in on one guy, whether it’s guard, center or tackle,” says Barrett. “You go down the list of all five guys and say, well he doesn’t have tendencies I can use, and you cross him off the list. But there’s usually one guy.”

Says Stephenson: “If it’s something blatant, we’ll zero in on that one guy. Maybe nobody on their team has told him, Don’t do this because you’re giving it away.

To drive the point home, the two coaches will then recruit a scout team player to play the weak link. Practice squad tackle Justin Murray might spend any given week dropping his outside foot back just a few inches further when it’s a pass play, so that everyone on defense can get familiar with the habit.

Then players get comfortable spotting the tell and relaying it to the rest of the defense. That’s why you’ll see Ware on Sundays turning to Aqib Talib and banging his fists together to signify run, or quickly shooting a hand to the sky to show pass. You’ll see it most often in the second half of games, when fatigue sets in and bad habits manifest.

“You’ve got to pay attention to it and be patient,” Ware says. “I feel like studying this stuff is just starting to be a big thing in the league.”

One man in the locker room didn’t see what the big deal was. Of course, cornerback Aqib Talib said, the Broncos put a lot of emphasis on player tendencies, just like he’d done at his previous stop ... in New England with Bill Belichick.

Well, Aqib, your teammate DeMarcus said they didn’t do that sort of thing while he was in Dallas.

“Well that’s why they suck on defense,” Talib concluded. “They’re not getting that little extra stuff they need.”
 

fearsomefour

Legend
Joined
Jan 15, 2013
Messages
17,074
Yep.
Good stuff.
I remember one of the Redskins "smurf" receivers (can't remember which one) would often leave the huddle a tick or two early....before everyone else....if it was a run.
 

thirteen28

I like pizza.
Rams On Demand Sponsor
Joined
Jan 15, 2013
Messages
8,324
Name
Erik
That's a great idea.

And to add to it, I might have a guy or two on the staff that looks for tells on our team to try to eliminate them.
 

Ballhawk

Please don't confuse my experience for pessimism!
Rams On Demand Sponsor
Joined
Jun 25, 2014
Messages
2,239
Name
NPW
This would never work for a Fisher coached team as it would cut into their trash talking practice.
 

Prime Time

PT
Moderator
Joined
Feb 9, 2014
Messages
20,922
Name
Peter
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #5
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/...e-on-film-study-and-preparing-for-a-nfl-game#

A Former Player's Perspective on Film Study and Preparing for an NFL Game
By Marc Lillibridge, Contributor

When I was scouting for the Green Bay Packers and Kansas City Chiefs, I always felt like I had an advantage over other scouts who had not played football.

This does not mean I was a better scout or had a better eye for talent than them. But as a former player, having spent so much time watching hours of game film, I saw the game differently.

I was an average player at best, so I needed to prepare different than a star player may have to. There are players in the NFL, when I played and even today, who could be in the Hall of Fame off talent alone.

There are players who watch just enough film to grasp the basic concepts, and they still perform at a high level.

A guy like Michael Vick has stated publicly that he did not take film study and preparation seriously early in his career. Then there are players like Peyton Manning, Ray Lewis and Larry Fitzgerald who devour film work and take their God-given talent to a different stratosphere.

nfl-tape-film-video-watching-seahawks_crop_exact.jpg


Everyone in the NFL watches film in preparation for the game the coming week. Every player starts the week after a game by breaking down the previous game as a unit or in positional meetings.

The coaches will correct mistakes individually and as a unit. Great coaches take the time to teach the correct techniques and to show players where they can improve.

Players are the hardest on themselves when they make a mental error or play a technique wrong. Getting yelled at in front of your peers by a coach rarely helps.

One of my favorite parts of watching game film as a team was good plays by individual players. The groups in that room all know and appreciate how special playing in the NFL is and the work that is put in to achieve success. While ESPN may focus on the highlights, NFL players focus on the job they are asked to do in any one play.

Let me give you an example: A defensive tackle will get off the football low and hard, gain leverage on the offensive guard and force the blocker into the backfield. That defensive tackle may not make the tackle, but the running back may have to stutter his feet, lose momentum and get tackled for a loss by the linebacker.

In NFL rooms, the defensive tackle will get shout-outs and “Atta boys.” I know that sounds silly, but when one of the best like Ed Reed or Adrian Peterson give another teammate a compliment, those words go a long way for the individual and the team. Getting props for a solid play that helped the team...that’s about as good as a feeling as you can have.

Once the previous week’s game is dissected and graded, players have to move on to the upcoming opponent. Players, especially quarterbacks, will get a jump on the opponent that same night. If the team played on Sunday, most starting quarterbacks will be watching the next opponent most of Monday night.

yahoo_alexbooneipad_original_crop_exact.jpg


Since Tuesday is the off day for most players, not as much film study is done. But with the new technologies of today, teams like the Buccaneers, Broncos, Rams and Dolphins have game film downloaded to individual players' iPads. This allows the players to watch film anywhere. So even if a player is not at the facility that day, that does not mean they are not breaking down their opponent.

The position an NFL player plays also determines how much film that player needs to watch.

An offensive lineman may watch tendencies of the defensive end or tackle he will be facing the next week. What pass rushes does the player use? What are his strengths and weaknesses? But typically, most offensive linemen watch tape together to game-plan for stunts, blitzes and defensive fronts.

As a linebacker, I would look at the alignment and the formation first. Coaches and players are creatures of habit. Some coaches would call the same play out of the same formation week in and week out.

With solid film study, you could pick up on these tendencies and use them as an advantage. There's nothing better than being 90 percent sure what play was about to be run.

Now, some coaches tried to run what are called “tendency-busters” and run a wacky play off the same formation just to keep their opponent slightly off-guard. While those plays may work once in a while, most players were so used to running the play the original way, they would give the new play away.

Next would come looking for team concepts and plays more likely to be runs or passes. Once those factors are determined, understanding where my coverage or run fit with what the defense called was what I concentrated on.

Though I needed to watch a lot of film to be prepared, there is a fine line between overthinking and just reacting to the play. Sure, there is an advantage to understanding your opponent's strengths and weaknesses, but there is also the old phrase “paralysis by analysis.” Sometimes the best plays are just lining up and beating the guy across from you.

There was a former NFL fullback who was known as a thumper. All he wanted to do was knock defensive players out. But by watching tape from the “coach's copy,” which is from the end-zone view, the fullback showed a “tell.” This player, in his three-point stance, would ever so slightly crane his neck to get a view of the player he was about to block.

At that point, all the film study about formations, alignment, route trees and blocking angles went out the window. As a linebacker, I am running right at the spot he is looking at. Nine out of 10 times, the football was going to be there too.

I have heard of coaches who assign homework, such as formation recognition and alignment responsibilities. But most coaches expect players to watch film on their own and to prepare at their own speed.

Wednesdays and Thursdays are dedicated to studying the practice film of the plays your team will use that week. I remember running scout team one week when the offensive coordinator told the defense, “I love this play, make it look good.” So as a unit, we went about half-speed, and the play scored a touchdown.

I remember that coach going crazy with anticipation of calling that play Sunday. Of course, versus an opponent going full-speed and trying to win, the football was intercepted and returned for a touchdown. We never went half-speed again, and that play was junked from the playbook.


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-tqLG__Al4


By Friday, most of the film work left is looking at certain nuisances and adjustments that can be made to make the play called better and more effective. Friday film sessions as a team are fairly quick and to the point. Some players may stay and look for individual tendencies of the player they may face most of the game, but a common phrase is that the “hay is in the barn.”

I will end with this: Some guys watch a lot of film but do not know what they are looking at. Others may watch just the mandatory amount and still can gain tons of knowledge.

I thought I was a film expert and a hard worker early in my career because I would spend countless hours alone watching film. It was not until I signed with the New Orleans Saints and broke down film with Jack Del Rio that my eyes were opened to the truth.

Viewing film or watching and understanding what you are seeing are two completely different things in the world of the NFL. Players that grasp those concepts and can differentiate them early in their careers are bound to have success.

Proper film study is vital for any NFL team to win. Players that can take what they see on the screen and transfer that knowledge to the field will always have their “eyes on the prize.”
 

Legatron4

Legend
Joined
Aug 10, 2013
Messages
9,427
Name
Wes
Yep.
Good stuff.
I remember one of the Redskins "smurf" receivers (can't remember which one) would often leave the huddle a tick or two early....before everyone else....if it was a run.
Randy moss always came out of the huddle immediately as soon as he heard "9" in the play because he would just need to run deep. Yet nobody could stop him.
 

Selassie I

H. I. M.
Moderator
Joined
Jun 23, 2010
Messages
17,621
Name
Haole
Smart coaching. It is the little things that can make a huge difference at the NFL level.

All players pick up on "tells" that their opponents give. Ever wonder why Divisional opponents usually play closer games... the players are much more familiar with each other and their tells.

Tells are used by players at all levels in every single sport. I know I would use them in every sport I played. Having a couple of coaches making it easier for the players to pick up on them is very smart... especially when you're going up against opponents who you are less familiar with.
 

fearsomefour

Legend
Joined
Jan 15, 2013
Messages
17,074
Randy moss always came out of the huddle immediately as soon as he heard "9" in the play because he would just need to run deep. Yet nobody could stop him.
Well, there are those guys who can't be stopped if they decide to apply themselves.
Getting tells on run/pass or direction of a play is huge if a team can do it.
 

DaveFan'51

Old-Timer
Rams On Demand Sponsor
Joined
Apr 18, 2014
Messages
18,666
Name
Dave
It's the little things in football that sometimes makes the difference between a winning or a losing season. Often times it seems like opposing teams know what we are going to do before we do it. Half-time adjustments have seemed to be lacking as well.
I think most games the Rams have had good second half adjustments, except for the 49er, and Bills games!

Denver feels like it found one in dedicating two full-time coaches to studying the tells of opposing players.
I don't know IF the Rams do this or not. But IF they don't, they should start doing it! I'd assign Singletary and one of our best Offensive coach to this task!(y):shades:
 

Rmfnlt

Rams On Demand Sponsor
Rams On Demand Sponsor
Joined
Jun 3, 2014
Messages
5,342
Good coaching... details... would never work for these Rams... LOL
 

bubbaramfan

Legend
Camp Reporter
Joined
Aug 7, 2013
Messages
6,758
This is the direction coaching football is going.. But when the word gets out, coaches will try to coach players to give a "tell" as bait to make teams wrongly assess a play. It works both ways when the secret is out.
 

12intheBox

Legend
Joined
Sep 12, 2013
Messages
9,909
Name
Wil Fay
I'm convinced that someone on the Rams offense - and probably multiple people - have tells.
 

VeteranRamFan

Rams On Demand Sponsor
Rams On Demand Sponsor
Camp Reporter
Joined
Oct 28, 2012
Messages
2,112
Name
Dale
Remember the movie "Invincible"? This was addressed, on a much smaller scale, in the movie.
 

DaveFan'51

Old-Timer
Rams On Demand Sponsor
Joined
Apr 18, 2014
Messages
18,666
Name
Dave
We just had 11 straight possessions with 0 points....after scoring 10 in the first 2 trips on the field. C'mon Dave!
But our "D" did well, and it was a 1 score game at the end. Our "O" just couldn't get it together.:( I have High Hopes for the Next 4 games. IF Changes and adjustments are made!(y):shades:
 

Selassie I

H. I. M.
Moderator
Joined
Jun 23, 2010
Messages
17,621
Name
Haole
All of you who play cards know about "tells". This is not a new thing... it's real and you can take advantage of it.

Dedicating a coach or coaches to it in the NFL shows you how hard it is to gain an advantage at this level. Coaches can't afford not to flip over every rock these days.
 

Prime Time

PT
Moderator
Joined
Feb 9, 2014
Messages
20,922
Name
Peter
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #17
All of you who play cards know about "tells". This is not a new thing... it's real and you can take advantage of it.

Dedicating a coach or coaches to it in the NFL shows you how hard it is to gain an advantage at this level. Coaches can't afford not to flip over every rock these days.

Life is full of "tells" if one is observant. This also works at home.

For example; I can always "tell" when my wife is getting ready to lose it over something I've said or done by the twitching in her left eye, the "hmm...hmm" sounds, and the disturbing cackling noises.

For your viewing pleasure, behold Inspector Dreyfus from the Pink Panther movies to further illustrate.


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5IvxnK3xZtg
 

Picked4td

Pro Bowler
Joined
Sep 13, 2015
Messages
1,568
honestly I thought every team did this already. I thought part of watching film was looking for things like that.
 

Prime Time

PT
Moderator
Joined
Feb 9, 2014
Messages
20,922
Name
Peter
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #19
honestly I thought every team did this already. I thought part of watching film was looking for things like that.

According to the OP article, the Broncos and the Patriots specialize in this, while the rest of the teams only do surface studies. The Cowboys are used as an example by DeMarcus Ware.