The initial focus point of the head coach is to sell the system to the players and making them believe in it. Gimmicks can come and go. A good "complete" strategy, exceptional players and excellent plays win games.
Read and recognizing the strength and weaknesses in the gimmick. Then, knowing when it is coming and how to counter it is important.
It is all about knowing what is the current hot trend and recognizing the next one!? ...
Believe Belichek, Walsh, Riley, Phil Jackson and Scotty B are the best in "insighting and foresighting the trends".
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Monday, July 31, 2006 (SF Chronicle)
Raiders' Walsh says game's still the same
Nancy Gay, Chronicle Staff Writer
To hear the Raiders' Tom Walsh tell it, an 11-year absence from the NFL
doesn't mean he's completely disconnected from the nuances of the 21st century game.
Sure, a series of varied career paths, from software design to owning a bed-and-breakfast inn in Idaho, kept Walsh away from the sideline since his last NFL stint under Art Shell, which ended when both were fired by owner Al Davis after the 1994 season.
Walsh, in fact, hasn't coached since an ill-fated run as the head man at Idaho State (1997-98), which resulted in a 5-14 record and a midseason dismissal after starting 2-6 in '98.
Still, football hasn't changed, the Raiders' offensive coordinator said Sunday in his first interview since being hired in February. In his view, the plays and the players are no different from the time he learned the game under the tutelage of offensive guru Sid Gillman to now.
Walsh once drew up schemes for Raiders players such as wide receiver Tim Brown and running backs Bo Jackson and Marcus Allen during his first incarnation as a Raiders assistant (1982-94). Now, the Martinez native is game-planning for the likes of quarterback Aaron Brooks, wide receiver Randy Moss and running back LaMont Jordan.
He's also confronting a game that has become more blitz-oriented, complicated and faster on defense. Who, for example, was running the zone blitz in 1994?
"There are a couple few wrinkles that change. People try to ... It's like serving chicken," said Walsh, who also had a seven-year run as a college football and NFL analyst for Westwood One Radio. "I mean, one day it's fried, one day it's grilled and the next day it's chicken Marsala, and the next day it's something else.
"But it's still chicken. They still got 11 guys out there. It's just a matter of the philosophies of the coaches. You go from there."
When Shell was re-hired by Davis on Feb. 13 to rescue a franchise that had gone 13-35 the past three seasons, the head coach did not hesitate one second when it came to choosing his offensive coordinator.
It would be Walsh, who favors the same between-the-tackles downhill running and stretch passing game that Shell advocates. "It was Tom Walsh -- first," said Shell, who will allow Walsh to call the offensive plays from the press box, just as he did in their first coaching run together. "Because he knows the system that I love and he knows how to implement it.
"Between (him) and Freddie (Biletnikoff) and myself, we're putting the system together and getting these guys to understand."
Shell and Walsh have kept in close contact over the years, as Shell moved around the NFL as an assistant and a league executive in New York. At the same time, Walsh said he had done some consulting for college and NFL people.
"I'd visit with coaches in college. Staffs (would) bring me in or they (would) come out to the ranch and talk football and get on the white boards and all that," Walsh said. "So I've remained very close to the game in that respect."
In addition, Walsh said he also partnered with a coaching friend to develop a football game for Sega game systems.
All the same, he doesn't believe in what he calls the modern "joystick quarterbacks" who cannot improvise or think for themselves on the field.
Or coaches who are too rigid to allow that type of game-day change. "Too much of this era, of this age, has turned into where there are little 'technocrats' that are out there, coaching people like they're watching some video football. That's not what it is," Walsh said.
/// Technically, he is correct. ...
What do the players think of their new, and largely unknown, coordinator? Left tackle Robert Gallery, who was activated from the physically unable to perform list and returned to practice Sunday with a healed quad muscle, said the gaping hole in Walsh's NFL resume doesn't concern him. "If coach Shell hired him, he hired him for a reason," Gallery said. "I'm totally on board with coach Shell. If he hired, you know, Santa Claus, I wouldn't question it. Because he obviously has a reason for it."
E-mail Nancy Gay at ngay@sfchronicle.com.
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Tuesday, August 1, 2006 (SF Chronicle)
F-BACK TO RESCUE/Norv Turner position adds depth to 49ers' offense
Kevin Lynch, Chronicle Staff Writer
Comb through a transcript of 49ers coach Mike Nolan's quotes and the word F-back abounds.
What does F-back mean? What does the F-back do? And who will play the position?
The "F" stands for "full," as in fullback, but like most words in football parlance, the term makes little sense. The F-back incorporates several different positions including fullback, tight end, running back and wide receiver.
For example, an F-back might line up at fullback, shift to wide receiver, motion to a tight-end position and then wind up as a halfback -- all before the ball is snapped. He can also serve as a lead blocker on a run play, an extra protector on a pass play or go out on a route.
The motion before the snap can be befuddling for a defense. If the F-back motions between the right and left tackle, the defense usually assigns a linebacker to cover him. But if the F-back motions out toward the wide receivers, a defensive back will take him.
Then he could motion back inside the tackles, and the defense has to make a second adjustment.
"It's not something that causes a huge headache, but you have to be aware," linebacker Jeff Ulbrich said.
The concept can be traced to when 49ers offensive coordinator Norv Turner was the head coach in Washington (1994-2000). He moved tight end Jamie Asher to F-back. Former Rams coach Mike Martz was an assistant with Turner for a time, and he stole the concept and bestowed the title on Marshall Faulk in 2000 with outrageous success when Martz was head coach of the Rams.
The 49ers would like to see one player emerge a la Faulk, as the main F-back. Veteran tight end Eric Johnson, who's returning from a foot injury that cost all of last year, plays F-back in four of the offense's formations.
However, if rookies Delanie Walker or Michael Robinson can prove adept at lead blocking and pass protecting as they are at running and receiving, they could gobble up playing time at the position.
The challenge for Robinson and Walker will be blocking. Neither player blocked much in college and both are spending extra time learning the technique of in-line and lead blocking.
Robinson would seem to be a prime candidate. His background at quarterback could provide the added dimension of the occasional pass, and he has the grounding to read the defense along with the quarterback. He also appears surprisingly natural as a runner, something he proved Monday in the morning practice.
The session finished with a rare game-like scrimmage with all-out tackling and blocking. Robinson lined up at running back and carried several times in a row. On one play he slipped out of the backfield, caught a pass, evaded a defender and gained 5 yards before getting tackled.
No matter who emerges, Turner can also tailor the F-back to the skills of his players. He used Asher as a pass receiver and blocker. Martz mainly used Faulk as a runner. Then, when Turner turned Redskins running back Larry Centers into an F-back in 2000, Centers carried only 20 times but caught 80 passes.
The position will provide spice to the offense.
"When you make a standard offense look versatile, the F-back's typically the guy who does it," Nolan said.
E-mail Kevin Lynch at klynch@sfchronicle.com.
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