It doesn’t matter what style of tackling you teach. That’s a different argument.
Great tackling comes down to getting in the right position, and taking the momentum away from the ball carrier. If you can do that, you can get him to the ground.
Today’s topic comes from a Youth Football Coach whose players were tackling too high, and unable to hold on to finish the play. We’ll talk about how to drill your athletes for better tackling technique on the field.
This episode of The Joe Daniel Football Quick Clinic is in response to a question sent by email. You can send questions for the JDFB Quick Clinic to me on Twitter @footballinfo or by email to joe@joedanielfootball.com.
Last week I was named the Head Football Coach, after two seasons as Offensive Coordinator at the same school. And I’ve been pretty public in saying that I was not seeking that job.
Things change. In today’s episode of the JDFB Quick Clinic, I’ll talk about why I decided to throw my name in the hat, and to eventually accept the position as Head Football Coach.
This episode of The Joe Daniel Football Quick Clinic is NOT a response to a question sent to me by email. But most of them are. You can send questions for the JDFB Quick Clinic to me on Twitter @footballinfo or by email to joe@joedanielfootball.com.
7 on 7 passing leagues are extremely important for your football team to have success. If you use it the right way.
On this JDFB Quick Clinic, we’ve got a question from Robert about the best coverage to use with your 4-2-5 Defense in 7 on 7 this year.
Don’t worry if you don’t run a 4-2-5 Defense, my response applies to any defense. And it’s simple. Run what’s going to help your team the most! That’s probably not 2-man.
This episode of The Joe Daniel Football Quick Clinic is a response to a question sent to me by email. You can send questions for the JDFB Quick Clinic to me on Twitter @footballinfo or by email to joe@joedanielfootball.com.
You know I want to keep it simple. But playing an inside shade is not always simple for kids that work on playing an outside shade most of the time.
This question was brought up on Twitter and it’s a great one. I’ll give you some solutions for when this is your primary technique, versus when it’s just a part of a change-up front. Plus a few more considerations to think about.
This episode of The Joe Daniel Football Quick Clinic is a response to a question sent to me on Twitter. You can send questions for the JDFB Quick Clinic to me on Twitter @footballinfo or by email to joe@joedanielfootball.com.
Everyone’s offensive play call sheet is a little different. Each coach has certain answers they need to see when they look down during the game.
Here’s the process I use to put together a play call sheet during the week. We start on Sunday with a big package, and then narrow it down during the week.
This episode of The Joe Daniel Football Quick Clinic is a response to a question sent to me on Twitter. You can send questions for the JDFB Quick Clinic to me on Twitter @footballinfo or by email to joe@joedanielfootball.com.
It used to be very simple to coach Inside Linebackers to read the outside run. Then Spread Offenses changed the game.
You need to update your Inside Linebacker reads to handle outside runs like Power Read or RPOs off of the stretch run game or you’ll be in trouble!
This episode of The Joe Daniel Football Quick Clinic is a response to a question sent to me by email. You can send questions for the JDFB Quick Clinic to me on Twitter @footballinfo or by email to joe@joedanielfootball.com.
I coach 11 man football. But 9-man football has always been interesting to me.
Just like 6-man, 8-man and 12-man games, the fact remains that this is still football. You fill up all the gaps, cover all the receivers or zones, and you’re in business.
But coaches have got to be able to apply the principles that are used in 11-man football, without losing the sound aspects of defensive football. In this episode, we’ll talk about how to do that.
This episode of The Joe Daniel Football Quick Clinic is a response to a question sent to me by email. You can send questions for the JDFB Quick Clinic to me on Twitter @footballinfo or by email to joe@joedanielfootball.com.
Some coaches live by the 2-platoon philosophy. Playing guys on one side of the ball has a lot of benefits.
More players get on the field. Players are able to master their position. And coaches can put a little more into that playbook when kids don’t need to learn both sides.
But is it right for your team? I’ll share my thoughts on 2-platoon in this episode of The JDFB Quick Clinic.
This episode of The Joe Daniel Football Quick Clinic is a response to a question sent to me by email. You can send questions for the JDFB Quick Clinic to me on Twitter @footballinfo or by email to joe@joedanielfootball.com.
Sometimes the play calling just isn’t the problem. You know your scheme should be working, but the players just aren’t executing.
Maybe it’s because you’re out-gunned. Or you just didn’t get the fundamentals taught to your players correctly. But it’s a problem.
Here’s how you can decide when it’s time to make that critical adjustment to try to get back on track. Even if the scheme isn’t really the issue.
This episode of The Joe Daniel Football Quick Clinic is a response to a question sent to me on Twitter. You can send questions for the JDFB Quick Clinic to me on Twitter @footballinfo or by email to joe@joedanielfootball.com.
The Press Box Coach in a football game can have a big impact. But it’s not an easy job.
A good press box coach has to know the offense. He needs to be able to communicate what adjustments you’re seeing from the defense. What wasn’t in the game plan?
More important, a good press box coach must stay calm and deliver exactly what the play caller has asked for. It’s on the play caller to communicate that.
Listen to this episode of the JDFB Quick Clinic to find out what jobs a good press box coach will perform.
This episode of The Joe Daniel Football Quick Clinic is a response to a question sent to me on Twitter. You can send questions for the JDFB Quick Clinic to me on Twitter @footballinfo or by email to joe@joedanielfootball.com.
You’ve just installed your defensive scheme. Last year it was a new staff, new scheme, all new. And one player really made things work. Now he’s gone.
Do you change the scheme? It’s a pretty common question. One we should all ask. Ultimately, you do fit the scheme to the players. But you do not change the scheme for the players.
We’re talking about whether to switch from a 1-high safety 4-2-5 Defense to a 2-high safety, Quarters Coverage Miami 4-3 Defense. Or to split field coverage in the 4-2-5 Defense. All on this episode of the Quick Clinic.
This episode of The Joe Daniel Football Quick Clinic is a response to a question sent to me on Twitter. You can send questions for the JDFB Quick Clinic to me on Twitter @footballinfo or by email to joe@joedanielfootball.com.
There’s a lot of ways to evaluate player performance, both in practices and during games. What’s the best way to give your players a grade for their actions on the field?
Grading football players can be time consuming. I’ll tell you why you might not need to spend that much time working on this task. We’ll also talk about a quick method to grading football players on the field that you can use for practice and games.
This episode of The Joe Daniel Football Quick Clinic is a response to a question sent to me on Twitter. You can send questions for the JDFB Quick Clinic to me on Twitter @footballinfo or by email to joe@joedanielfootball.com.
The 33 Stack Defense gives you a ton of flexibility. Can you flex too much, though?
When it’s time to adjust the 33 stack against spread formations, how do you account for those outside safeties getting taken out of the box? Some coaches ‘break the stack’ by sliding the Linebackers. Other coaches never, ever want to break the stack.
Listen to this episode of the JDFB Quick Clinic to hear my thoughts on adjusting your 33 Stack against spread offensive attacks.
We’ve come a long way in pre-practice stretching and pre-game warm ups. There’s still a lot of discussion about the right way to do it.
In this episode of The Joe Daniel Football Quick Clinic, I’ll talk about how you can get your team ready to have a great practice or start the game on a high note.
Folks who don’t know any better, love to tell you that the 4-2-5 Defense is a ‘Spread’ defense. It’s just not true.
Listen to this episode of the Joe Daniel Football Quick Clinic out how to adjust your 4-2-5 Defense to defend the rugged 32 personnel attack of a T-Formation Offense.
It’s a tough call to make. You want to coach. Your players want to play. We are all competitors.
In this episode of the JDFB Quick Clinic, I’m answering a listener question on how to know when it’s the right time to forfeit a football game.
Consistency is the key. Coach Simple, Play Fast, Win.
In this episode of JDFB Quick Clinic, I’m answering a listener question from Mike on how we coach the Inside Linebackers in our 4-2-5 Defense to fit the Iso block on a lead play, or the pulling guard on a Power.
Putting together a great defensive game plan can win your football team some games. But what do you do when it’s not so easy to game plan?
Some teams just don’t have an identity. They run a little bit of everything. Or change every week.
That makes it really hard to create a defensive game plan. The good news is, they probably won’t be able to master a new defense in just a few days of practice.
We stick to the rule of staying simple with your defensive game plan when the offense is complicated. Your players execute the scheme better, while they are trying to figure out a whole new way to play.
In this episode, we’re answering a listener question on how to put together your defensive game plan when the opponent runs a ‘Flavor of the Week’ offense. When you just have no way to predict what you’ll see.
This question was sent into my email. You can send your questions for the JDFB Quick Clinic to me at joe@joedanielfootball.com.
Listen to this episode of The JDFB Quick Clinic to learn about how to prepare your defensive game plan for these opponents. I’ll go through the 3 things you need to focus on most to have success.
In this episode, I also mentioned The 4-2-5 Defense System and my 3 video series on the Foundations of the 4-2-5 Defense. You can get instant access to that download at https://425defense.com/podcast right now!
There’s nothing worse than watching your Middle Linebacker dance around 5 yards from the line of scrimmage, while the opponent runs an Iso right at him. The single most important skill for Linebackers is to get going downhill fast!
Many coaches will try to fill the Linebacker’s head with a million different ‘What If’ scenarios. Then he’s standing there dancing while he tries to figure out which one this play is.
So the coach does the only thing he can think of… he calls a blitz. Heck, at least your guy will be going somewhere!
That’s step one. In this episode of the JDFB Quick Clinic I’ll talk about step two. How to get your Middle Linebackers to play downhill with simple, fast reads. And the ability to make a play even if the ball isn’t run directly at him.
This question was sent into my email from Chris. You can send your questions for the JDFB Quick Clinic to me at joe@joedanielfootball.com.
If you have young linebackers who are not aggressively attacking the run, learning how to simplify your linebacker reads will help get a better result. Listen to this episode now to find out how!
In this episode, I talked about my 4-2-5 Defense System that is part of a JDFB Insider subscription. You can get an introduction to that System with a special 3 video series I’ve put together. And there’s no charge to use it. Visit http://425defense.com/podcast to get instant access to the first video now.
Many coaches are putting their best athletes at Quarterback in High School and Youth football today. You’ve got to have a plan for how to contain the Quarterback to win those games.
Once upon a time, most Quarterbacks were just a distributor of the football. Hand it off. Quick passes. Drop back passing. He wasn’t a weapon. Now, a lot of Quarterbacks are their team’s primary weapon!
This question was sent in by Chris to my email. You can email your questions to me any time at joe@joedanielfootball.com to be discussed on the Quick Clinic.
The issue is those Defensive Ends losing contain on a Quarterback who is more athletic than them. How do we coach it so that we make the best athlete on the team, into nothing more than a drop back passer?
I’ll talk about how teaching your Defensive Line their pass rush rules. This is the first key to containing the Quarterback on your pass rush.
Then we’ll talk about how to drill this skill in practice, and how to work more Scramble work into your Team sessions.
In this episode, I mentioned a really important tool that I’ve started using this year called the Scout Team System. You can get all the details on this at https://www.coachdrive.com/order-sts. I strongly recommend this product, as it has really helped us get more from our scout team on both sides of the ball.
Offensive Line blocking technique is not natural. It’s not something that your players are just born with. You have to teach it.
That means they need to learn who to block, and how to block them. It’s a lot of learning and technical, tedious repetition. Takes a special dude to be a great Offensive Lineman.
And then, somewhere in all that scholarly coaching… you gotta get some kids who want to be a little nasty. Finish the block. Drive their guy to the ground.
This is where I see coaching completely fail. A lot.
Coaches decide to just berate their players into getting mean and being aggressive. And if the player doesn’t do it, it’s because he’s soft.
Not for me. Not good enough. We’ve got a problem, and we need to solve it.
In this episode of The Joe Daniel Football Quick Clinic, I’m answering an email question from Chris. You can email your questions to me at joe@joedanielfootball.com for the Quick Clinic, too.
The problem is that his guys just aren’t finishing blocks. And it’s a problem that I am very familiar with.
I’m sharing my 3 Step Plan for getting your Offensive Line to finish their blocks. Listen now to learn all about it!
In this episode, I also mentioned my Offensive Line Coaching Formula course. It’s available exclusively as part of JDFB Insiders. You can get instant access right now at https://joedanielfootball.com/membership.
The Shovel Pass and Shovel Option Play are becoming increasingly popular in High School Football. You better have a plan for defending it!
If you're not seeing the Shovel Option yet, it'll be coming to your town soon. This is the trickle down from the NCAA and NFL where the play as gotten a lot of highlights lately.
At the heart of the Shovel Option, though, the play is pretty simple. On paper, anyway. It's just a Triple Option.
Tyler sent this topic in via Twitter @footballinfo to help his 4-2-5 Defense team shut down the Shovel Pass. The scout offense was eating up his 1st Team Defense all week.
In this episode of The Joe Daniel Football Quick Clinic, I'll talk about how you defend the Shovel Pass - whether it's Power blocking or Veer blocking, or anything else - with the 4-2-5 Defense.
We'll also look at the purpose behind the Shovel Option. Where did it come from? Why does it work so darn good? And what should our players be looking at so they are ready to shut it down?
In this podcast I mention The 4-2-5 Defense System. You can get my 3 video series on the foundations of the 4-2-5 Defense System at no charge right now, when you visit http://425defense.com/podcast.
Sometimes, you just have to accept that a penalty will not be called. Even if it should be.
On this episode of the JDFB Quick Clinic, I’m answering a great question from Cameron, who sent his question in on Twitter @footballinfo.
The question is simply this: What do you teach when the defenders are cutting your pulling linemen?
We run into this a lot running The Pistol Power Offense System. Teams want to cut the H-Back or Guard who is kicking out.
And that’s illegal. But my experience is, you can’t expect it to get called. You certainly ask for the call… but don’t expect it.
Too bad, so sad. The longer you harp on it with the officials, the more the game is getting out of hand.
Instead, we better have some answers that we actually have control over. And that’s what you’ll when you listen to this episode of The Football Coaching Podcast!
I talk quite a bit about The Pistol Power Offense System in this episode. If you want to study this complete Offensive System right now, you can get instant access today. Visit http://pistolpoweroffense.com to get all the details and get started today.
Great coaches are always learning. Always looking for new ideas and new ways to get more from your players.
Unfortunately, it’s not always easy to know where to go for those ideas. There’s a lot of information on the internet. It’s hard to know what’s good and what’s bad.
I’ve even heard about this one guy who does two podcasts, writes a blog, has sold some eBooks and recorded a few videos. And then had the nerve to name a website after himself.
Anyway, back to the question at hand - Andrew sent me a great question on Twitter @footballinfo. He’s looking for some good coaching books!
Books are still my favorite way to get information. Especially when you want to go in-depth on a topic. Back in Episode 113 of The Football Coaching Podcast, I talked about the best football coaching books I had come across in my search: https://joedanielfootball.com/113.
On this episode of the The Joe Daniel Football Quick Clinic, I’ll pull the absolute top books from that list, as well as update it with a couple of my more recent favorites.
And then I plug my own books. Which are available only as part of JDFB Insider. Check out https://joedanielfootball.com/membership to learn about all of the benefits of being an Insider!
In the Pistol Power Offense System, Power is obviously one of the staple plays. If you’re going to run a lot of Power, you better have a Counter run play.
To keep it simple, our Counter run play is designed with the exact same blocking scheme as the Power play. Only two player’s assignments change.
But the look does change.
In today’s Joe Daniel Football Quick Clinic, I’m answering a listener question on blocking the Counter run play against an Odd Front defense.
Specifically, the question was about the 3-4 Defense. But the rules are the same, and they’ll apply to any other Odd front. The 5-2 Defense, or the 3-5-3 Defense are going to be blocked basically the same.
If you want to learn more about the blocking scheme for the Power series in the Pistol Power Offense System, I’ve got an exclusive video series available for you right now. I’ll break down the Power, Counter and Power Pass in those 3 videos. And there’s no charge to you. Get access to those videos right now by visiting http://pistolpoweroffense.com/podcast.