Good evening Falcon fans, today I wanted to talk about coaching scheme vs coaching flexibility. Which ones is more important? I am not sure there is a correct answer to this question, it all depends on the coaches and the players on the team. Me personally I feel like the coaches should be the flexible ones in the bunch. Players only have the skill they have, you can't make a defensive tackle a defensive end just because you want him to be. Mike Nolan and Mike Smith found this fact out in 2013 and 2014.
The perfect example of a flexible coaching staff is the New England Patriots. Bill Belch is a master of putting his guys in the best position to succeed according to the talent and skill level of the player. Belichick will switch his scheme week to week depending on who he has available and even on who his opponents are. One week he will come out with two tight end sets as the offensive focus. Then the following week as you are preparing for the two tight end sets, Belichick is preparing a power run game that is going to run you over.
Some of the worst examples are just about every other coach in the league. Most coaches do a good job of bring in players that match and work well in the scheme that they coach. Those coaches know their scheme so well that they can look at a player in college or a free agent and see how that player may fit with their team. This is a tried and true method in the NFL that most teams live and die by. The problem with this method is when the coach wares out there welcome and moves on the players who are talented are left in limbo. The new coach my want to go in a different that doesn't fit the player's skill set. So most people will tell it's up to the player to adjust to the coaching staff but I don't really feel that way.
If a player is expected to be the best at his job, shouldn't the coach be the best at his? What I mean is, if you have a smaller running back who excels at one cut and go you wouldn't ask him to run it up the middle every time. You would run mostly zone blocking schemes hoping to open up holes for the back to cut to. Same thing with a QB, if you have a mobile type QB you asking for trouble by wanting him to be a pocket passer. Just ask Cleveland and Robert Griffin, by asking him to stand in the pocket read a defense and make a throw you are taking away his natural instinct that made him the player he was at Baylor. The reverse opposite can be true as well just ask our OC and Matt Ryan. Matt Ryan is a pocket passer who is best suited for timing route throws and play action passes. By asking him to roll out and turn his back to the line you are asking to do things he is not used or best suited for. So in these situations who needs to adapt the athletes or the coaches?
If the coach can adapt then you can have a situation like New England. New England can consistently take players in later rounds of the draft that no one ones, no one cares about and turn them into pro bowlers. I could take the low hanging fruit and tell you about 6th round pick in Tom Brady but most people knows that story. The one thing no one talks about is the fact that the Patriots pass on him for 5 rounds before taking him. That tells me they didn't really know what they had until they got him in the building. When tell got him in there they began to learn Tom Brady learned what made him tick. So when they did put him in they had a good idea what his strengths and weaknesses were and played to them. I will tell that if Mr. Brady had went to a different team with a close minded coach we probably would not know who he was.
The perfect example of a flexible coaching staff is the New England Patriots. Bill Belch is a master of putting his guys in the best position to succeed according to the talent and skill level of the player. Belichick will switch his scheme week to week depending on who he has available and even on who his opponents are. One week he will come out with two tight end sets as the offensive focus. Then the following week as you are preparing for the two tight end sets, Belichick is preparing a power run game that is going to run you over.
Some of the worst examples are just about every other coach in the league. Most coaches do a good job of bring in players that match and work well in the scheme that they coach. Those coaches know their scheme so well that they can look at a player in college or a free agent and see how that player may fit with their team. This is a tried and true method in the NFL that most teams live and die by. The problem with this method is when the coach wares out there welcome and moves on the players who are talented are left in limbo. The new coach my want to go in a different that doesn't fit the player's skill set. So most people will tell it's up to the player to adjust to the coaching staff but I don't really feel that way.
If a player is expected to be the best at his job, shouldn't the coach be the best at his? What I mean is, if you have a smaller running back who excels at one cut and go you wouldn't ask him to run it up the middle every time. You would run mostly zone blocking schemes hoping to open up holes for the back to cut to. Same thing with a QB, if you have a mobile type QB you asking for trouble by wanting him to be a pocket passer. Just ask Cleveland and Robert Griffin, by asking him to stand in the pocket read a defense and make a throw you are taking away his natural instinct that made him the player he was at Baylor. The reverse opposite can be true as well just ask our OC and Matt Ryan. Matt Ryan is a pocket passer who is best suited for timing route throws and play action passes. By asking him to roll out and turn his back to the line you are asking to do things he is not used or best suited for. So in these situations who needs to adapt the athletes or the coaches?
If the coach can adapt then you can have a situation like New England. New England can consistently take players in later rounds of the draft that no one ones, no one cares about and turn them into pro bowlers. I could take the low hanging fruit and tell you about 6th round pick in Tom Brady but most people knows that story. The one thing no one talks about is the fact that the Patriots pass on him for 5 rounds before taking him. That tells me they didn't really know what they had until they got him in the building. When tell got him in there they began to learn Tom Brady learned what made him tick. So when they did put him in they had a good idea what his strengths and weaknesses were and played to them. I will tell that if Mr. Brady had went to a different team with a close minded coach we probably would not know who he was.
As far as our Falcons are concerned I think we have two bright minded coaches in Dan Quinn and Kyle Shanahan. I just feel like we have two scheme locked coaches. ON the defensive side I think we are only going to get better as we bring in and develop guys who work well in Dan Quinn's 4-3 under scheme. He is already showing some ability to put guys in place to succeed such as switching Ricardo Allen from corner to free safety, also moving Vic Beasley to OLB/DE. As far as Kyle goes the jury is still out. Last year didn't to go well for the offense after about week five, when there was enough tape out there for opposing defense to guess what we were doing. Now I don't where the break down really came from, there are too many variables to really point fingers. That was also the time when Hankerson started to get hurt taking away our number 2 wideout. Roddy White just wasn't the same guy as he had been in the past so that just left Julio Jones and Freeman to really carry the load. You add that to a scheme that Ryan is not well suited for and you got last results. The hope is that this year Ryan will have made the adjustments necessary from him to work in this system because I am not sure Shanahan is willing to adjust on his end. At the end of the day adjustments have to be made its just a matter of who can and is willing to make them. As always Falcon fans keep you head up, eyes on the prize , and RISEUP
Earlier last week I got a mention on /http://www.profootballrumors.com/ this site is a really great place to get all your NFL news and updates with out much fuss or chest beating I highly recommend you check them out
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