Warrior General Games

Is there any new guides on this in the past couple seasons?

What are ya'll doing, what is working, what is not?

b

Kickoff coverage is more or less all about OU2/IN4/OU5 versus the back wedge. Those are the three slots that 'break' free and meet the back wedge. They basically need to shed a block from the back wedge to make the stop, and it's pretty easy with the momentum they carry. You just need a high strength/high speed type guy in each of those slots. These are the same guys that are going to be gunners on your punt coverage team.

For the rest of your slots, avoid:
- Guys who are too slow (DTs and some DEs)
- Guys who are easy pancakes (CBs)

I'm going to disagree a tiny bit with Romo on his first point (Guys too slow). While speed is the #1 thing for ST's, it's not a be-all/end-all. I use big strong slower guys in specific spots where their speed isn't an issue (like FW for kick returns and D-line for punt returns). They DO need to be strong, agile, and good blockers as that is what they'll be doing. Agility helps them keep from having the quicker player across from them simply "slip by". Strength and blocking helps them hold their blocks and/or pancake their counterparts. Since MOST ST's are comprised of STOPS and positional backups, you don't always get 10-11 perfectly speedy guys for your ST's and you need to find good uses for the slower guys you'll have to use.

There are several guides on GLB for setting up special teams, just make sure you watch some game replays to make sure it it working out for you. If you want a guide shoot me a pm and i can send you the one that I use. It seems to do good job.

Originally posted by mlsntx
http://www.glbwiki.com/index.php?title=Special_Teams_Guide

That one is ok but there are others that imo are better.

can you give us a clue as to what they may be

Originally posted by rileyx4
can you give us a clue as to what they may be

I could... but then I would have to kill you. Seriously though. What I did was take the time to do 2 things. #1, map out the formations against each other (kickoff vs kick return and punt vs punt return). Take note of how the positions line up... and then, #2, watch replays of kickoffs and punts. From this you'll see how certain things show up and give you clues. For example; If you see a gunner (outside player) cause his opposite to "fall down" (as if pancaked... but he isn't, really)... then you'd eventually figure out the reason the dot fell down was because his agility wasn't high enough to face his opponent... and he fell while trying to block his more nimble opponent (see this happen many times). Or, you'll see someone exploit "gaps" in the defensive line (on kickoffs) and get downfield to make good and quick tackles. This happens when you get good speed and agility enough to shoot those gaps you saw when you faced the formations against each other. Lastly, why back wedge and back blockers fail to engage blocks before the returner dashes by them. Reason? Not enough speed and agility to beat the returner to the blocks. Causes the end of many a good return.
Nothing beats doing the homework for complete understanding. Many good coaches here could give you a "list" of what to do... but if you were then confronted with any sort of "failure" you wouldn't be as able to make the necessary changes unless you knew WHY it failed.

Originally posted by rileyx4
can you give us a clue as to what they may be

I can send you one,it's not like it's a big secret or anything. It's just like any other guide, in that, you still need to watch some replays to make sure that you have it dialed in correctly.

Originally posted by mlsntx
http://www.glbwiki.com/index.php?title=Special_Teams_Guide

Originally posted by mlsntx
http://www.glbwiki.com/index.php?title=Special_Teams_Guide

That is pretty terrible and outdated