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The Five Keys to Drop Back Pass Protection

by: Ted Newsome
Offensive Line Coach, Portsmouth High School, OH
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Teaching fundamentals of drop back protection can be broken down into five phases. These five areas are the set, relative position, body position, lateral movement, and separation. In this article I will break down each of these phases in detail and provide a sound and proven fundamental approach to each. Before I go on I would like to say that this information has been gathered over several years of listening to and visiting with some of the top offensive line coaches in high school, college and at the professional level.

I. Win The Set
Everything in football begins with the stance. Pass protection is no different. A great stance should be one that allows you to easily move forward, backward, right or left. The stance must allow an offensive lineman to get set with the least amount of wasted motion. A stance that allows for this kind of movement is one with the feet at shoulders width, or a bit wider, with a toe to instep relationship and the weight should be on the insteps of both feet. The down hand should be placed straight out on the ground just inside the right knee (for players in a left-handed stance this would be reversed). On the down hand, I like to have all five fingers on the ground. I believe this forces a player to get more knee bend which in turn creates a flat back and locks in the lower back allowing for explosive movement. This stance allows you to evenly distribute your weight and makes for easier movement in all direction. It should be noted that I am not advocating a stance with no weight forward, but rather a stance that evenly distributes the weight on the insteps of both feet and the down hand. In order to “win the set” an offensive lineman must be able to set quickly and firm and get his eyes on his target before the pass rusher attacks. Being in a poor stance greatly inhibits the chances of setting quickly enough to react to a pass rusher with superior athletic abilities.

Winning the set in pass pro is essential for several reasons. One reason is that it allows you to make the first “meaningful” contact with the defender. I heard Howard Mudd say this several years ago. He basically meant that just leaping out of your stance and getting your hands on a defender does not mean you are going to successfully block him. Making the first meaningful contact means that you have put yourself in a position to successfully react to the rush of the defender. Being in a position to strike or to counter the rush of the defender is a product of your pass pro set.

Most sacks in a football game occur when the offensive lineman gets beat immediately. This is most always due to a poor set. Either he was too slow in his set, or he is fundamentally poor. If the offensive lineman is too slow in his set it is probably due to a lack of effort or his being in a poor stance. It is important that an offensive lineman gets out of his stance under control, setting firm, and not drifting or leaning in one direction. Fundamentally the set should look something like that. The initial set should involve two steps. The footwork will be determined by the alignment of the defender, and where an offensive linemen’s help is, but it is always in a sequence of two steps. For instance if there is an offensive tackle with a defender aligned on his nose, then he is going to want to take a quick inside step, to take away the inside rush and drop his outside foot. If there is an offensive tackle with a wide alignment then he will want to step with his outside foot first and then with the inside foot. Either way you are beginning with a two-step sequence.

A good pass set is one that cuts down the angle of the pass rusher. The wider the pass rusher is aligned, the greater the angle is between the offensive lineman and the defensive player. The offensive lineman decreases this angle with his set. The wider that defender is aligned, the deeper and wider the initial set must be. The same would hold true, in that the closer the defender is aligned then the flatter the set must be. In order to “win the set,” one must be in a great stance, and set firm and under control. This involves a two- step sequence; movement from that point is then determined by the alignment and rush of the defender.

II. Relative Position
Relative position can be described as the spot between the defender and the quarterback. In its simplest form, pass protection is keeping oneself between the pass rusher and the quarterback. As a friend of mine who coaches college football said it once, “hopefully, if all else fails, you can make them run over you slowly on their way to the quarterback.” This statement, as comical as it is, really drove home for me what relative position means. Maintaining this positioning between the pass rusher and the quarterback is probably the most important aspect of all the keys to pass protection. In order to gain relative position an offensive lineman must set to what is known as the “spot.” The spot can be better defined and visualized by understanding that it is the intersect point between the pass rusher and where the quarterback is setting up. It is an imaginary line that runs from the inside shoulder of the pass rusher straight to the quarterback. Before we move forward, it should be noted that the offensive linemen must know the launch point of the quarterback. It may appear that I am stating the obvious here but we as coaches should never take for granted that our players just know these things. Make sure everyone knows where the quarterback will be setting up whenever you talk about protections. With that established, it is imperative that an offensive linemen sets to the spot. Setting at the spot, or intersect point, forces the pass rusher to make a decision. The pass rusher now must decide, will he rush inside or outside, since the shortest route to the quarterback has been taken away by the pass set of the offensive lineman. By setting to the “spot,” it forces the pass rusher into a predictable move.

In order to maintain a good relative position it is also important that an offensive lineman keeps their shoulders square to the line of scrimmage (LOS) for as long as possible. Maintaining square shoulders does a couple of important things for you. First, it increases the angle the pass rusher has on the quarterback. At the same time, it forces the defender to bubble, or widen, his rush to the outside buying you more time. When an offensive lineman gets to the point that he must turn his shoulders, the block turns into a run block and the offensive lineman will force the defender out and away from the quarterback.

For an offensive tackle to obtain relative position, they must set so that they intersect the pass rusher at the “spot” and force the pass rusher to bubble their route to the quarterback. This helps create the width of the pocket. Ideally, the offensive tackle will have his inside leg up and outside leg back. As the offensive tackle engages the defensive end at the intersect spot, his outside leg should split the crotch of the defensive end at the same time maintaining his shoulder square to the LOS. This inside-out position allows the offensive tackle to take away the inside rush and force the pass rusher into a more predictable move. As the pass rusher continues to rush outside, the pocket continues to widen.

An offensive guard should set nose-to-nose with the defensive tackle in order to be in a good relative position. The guards will fight their man at the LOS, and give up very little ground. This creates the depth of the pocket. Setting nose-to-nose allows the guard to be in a good relative position because it keeps a shaded defensive tackle from capturing the guards outside shoulder that makes it easier for the pass rusher to collapse the pocket. Gaining and maintaining relative position allows you to be in a position to win. As I made mention earlier, relative position is probably the most important of all the keys to pass protection. If you do nothing else but get in the way of the pass rusher, you may buy enough time for the quarterback to find an open receiver.

III. Body Position
Having good body position in pass protection is getting oneself in a configuration that enables you to set firm and under control. At the same time it allows you to move laterally in either direction. For many years, I have heard that a good pass pro stance should look like someone is sitting in a chair. The problem with that is that it is nearly impossible to keep your body in that position and be able to move. This body demeanor is far too rigid and taxing to be effective. One year, while at a clinic, I heard Mike Cummings (current offensive line coach at Marshall University) explain that a good pass pro stance should resemble sitting on a bar stool. I thought this was one of the most descriptive bits of information I had ever gotten. From that point on I have talked to my players about getting in that “bar stool demeanor.” This bar stool demeanor begins with a heel to toe relationship. The inside foot is up and the outside foot is back. The inside foot should be up because, as mentioned earlier, it takes away the initial inside move and allows you to set firmer in your pass pro stance.

Having this toe to heel relationship puts you in a much stronger body position. When the feet are parallel, you are susceptible to loosing balance. This makes it easy to be pulled by the pass rusher. The knees should be slightly bent and the weight is on the insteps of both feet, not the toes. Having your weight on the insteps of your feet allows you to be able to move laterally in pass protection. The head and shoulders should be back. I always talk in terms of keeping your head and shoulders out of the block during pass protection. The reason for wanting to keep the head and shoulders out of the block is because leaning forward makes you vulnerable to being pulled by the pass rusher as well as inhibiting your ability to move laterally. A good visual to give your players is to never allow the head to get over the knee of their inside leg. That is an easy fundamental to pick up on and point out when watching practice or game film with players.

I believe that prior to striking the pass rusher, the hands of an offensive lineman should be held low and close to the body with the thumbs up at about the bottom of their jersey numbers. Holding the hands here allows an offensive lineman to strike up and out, generating more of a controlled and powerful punch. Punching up and out from a low hands position makes it easier to keep the head and shoulders back as you punch. The biggest reason why offensive linemen drop their heads and lean forward in pass pro is due to having their hands too high. The next time you are correcting a player for having his head in the block, check the tape and see where his hands are. I’ll bet the hands are too high.

The last part of the bar stool demeanor is a wide base. I like for the base to be wider than shoulders width, and as mentioned before, with a heel to toe relationship with the feet. The inside foot will be up and the outside foot back. Having a wide base is functional for this reason; it forces the offensive lineman to put his weight on his insteps of both feet. I will discuss more of the importance of this weight distribution later in the section on lateral movement. The other point I would like to make about the body position of a pass pro stance is that it should not be rigid. The lower body should be relaxed with very little pressure on the knees. Having the weight on the insteps helps to accomplish this. It is also necessary to enable an offensive lineman to move laterally.

IV. Lateral Movement
If relative position is the most important key to pass protection, then lateral movement is a close second. Lateral movement is essential during pass protection. As we have already established, in order to move laterally the weight must be distributed on the insteps of the feet not the toes. When moving laterally an offensive lineman cannot allow their weight to get transferred to the outside of the foot. This affects balance, making it difficult to make a quick change of lateral direction. We have all had situations when a player got beat back inside because he over-set to the outside. What the offensive lineman has most likely done is while kicking out laterally, he has transferred his weight out over the outside of his foot. Now his weight distribution is out of balance, making it very difficult to transfer back in the opposite direction and defend an inside move. The insteps should always feel the ground in pass protection.

Lateral movement involves two kinds of steps kick steps to the outside and post steps to the inside. Just like short powerful steps are important in run blocking, the same holds true in pass protection. When a player takes a kick-step, it should normally be no more than eight to twelve inches at a time. When performing a kick or a post step, it is crucial that the foot you are stepping with does not come off the ground for a long period of time. When stepping, the foot should stay close to the ground. Getting a lot of air time under your steps causes you to be susceptible to the bull rush. This is because you are compromising your solid base and it slows down you ability to quickly change lateral direction.

To properly perform a kick step, make sure the offensive lineman is getting his ankle out in front of his knee. The player should be landing on the instep of the foot he is stepping with. A good coaching point here is to tell the offensive lineman that when they are kick-steping, they want to drive the ball of their ankle into the ground. This assures that the ankle is getting out in front of the knee. It also ensures that he is landing on the instep and not the outside portion of the foot. When kick-steping, you do not actually step with the post foot. Instead, the post foot will be dragged on the ground as you kick-step. This is referred to as “grabbing grass” with the post foot. As one kicks out with the outside foot, they should be pushing off of and grabbing grass with the post foot. It is important that when grabbing grass with the inside foot, the offensive lineman only drags the foot the same distance that the foot he kicked with moved. This prevents slooping, a term that refers to bringing the feet together while moving laterally in pass protection. If an offensive lineman is slooping his feet together, he is loosing knee bend and his base, both of which compromise balance and inhibits lateral movement. Taking short steps with a wide base and keeping their weight on the insteps will help maintain a centerline of weight distribution.

When a pass rusher makes an inside move, the offensive lineman must post back inside. This involves transferring the weight back to the instep of the outside foot and pushing off back to the inside. As the offensive lineman is pushing off and grabbing grass with his outside foot, he will step with the inside or post foot. The post-steps, like the kick-steps, should be no longer than eight to twelve inches in length. When post-stepping the inside foot should remain up and the offensive lineman must fight to keep the pass rusher as flat down the LOS as possible. Not keeping a firm inside presence with the post leg will lead to dropping the inside leg, verses a strong inside charge. This will cause the offensive lineman to “bail out” with the inside foot, creating a seam for the pass rusher to attack through.

V. Separation
When discussing separation in pass protection, I will be speaking in terms of separation between the offensive lineman and the pass rusher. This, as well as separation created by the pocket of the pass protection between the pass rush and the quarterback. Separation between the offensive lineman and the pass rusher is created by the punch and lock-out of the offensive lineman on the pass rusher. The punch is one of the most intricate skills that a coach must teach. As mentioned previously, the hands should be held low, with the thumbs up at about the bottom of the jersey numbers. The first point about teaching the punch is that you do not want a big wind up by the offensive lineman. This only exposes his chest to the pass rusher and will most likely lead to his shoulders and head moving forward. The punch is a quick snap off, not a big wind up. Starting with the hands low allows you to punch up and out. This will generate a great amount of power and it helps to keep the head and shoulders back. When punching, the energy of the punch should be released from the elbows and the latissimus muscles, not the shoulders. As you punch, the shoulders and head should be moving back and the hips should be sinking. This helps to maintain proper balance and pass pro demeanor. If the shoulders, head, and hips are moving forward, it will cause you to loose balance and easily be pulled by the defender. The timing of the punch is also relevant here. The offensive lineman will want to measure his punch, much like a boxer. The offensive lineman will measure his punch for that distance between himself and the pass rusher at which he would no longer need to reach out to touch the pass rusher without over extending.

Having gone through the technical aspects of the punch, let us now discuss the target areas. I believe it is always a good idea to provide a player with where he needs to target his eyes. When engaged in drop-back pass protection, I have always found it useful to have the offensive lineman focus his eyes on the inside armpit area of the pass rusher. Targeting this area will key the offensive lineman as to what type of rush he is going to see. Whatever move the pass rusher intends to make, the inside armpit area will be an immediate indicator of those intentions.

Ideally, an offensive tackle would target his outside hand to the middle of the numbers of the pass rusher and his inside hand on the point of the inside shoulder pad. This assures an inside-out position creating the desired relative position. The offensive tackle will snap off a quick, short punch to the targeted areas, forcing his head and shoulders back and locking out his arms. For an offensive guard and center, the hand placement will be different. Guards and centers will target their hands for the bottom of the pass rusher’s jersey number with both hands. This should be an underhand grab, punching up and out. Being as it is that in a football game the best-case scenario of a defensive lineman giving you a nice big target to punch is rare to unlikely. It is imperative that we work with offensive lineman to become efficient using each hand independently to punch a moving surface. There are several drills that can be performed in the off-season to help develop eye concentration and increase hand-eye coordination.

The other purpose for including separation in the five keys to pass protection was to emphasize the importance of creating a clean and clear pocket for the quarterback. The offensive line is responsible for the parameters of the pocket. This is achieved by the offensive lineman attaining the proper relative position on the pass rusher. The dimensions of a pocket should provide the quarterback with enough room to easily allow him to throw the ball in any direction. As a rule, the pocket should look something like a half moon and provide four to five yards of cushion for the quarterback to work from. With the tackles stretching the wide rushers on the edge and the guards and center fighting at the LOS, natural passing lanes will open for the quarterback to throw through.

I hope that these five keys to drop-back pass protection can be useful coaching points when instructing your offensive line in the skill and techniques of pass protection. Best of luck next season and let’s keep that quarterback upright.

Ted Newsome is the O-Line Coach and Special Teams Coach at Portsmouth High School (OH). He can be reached at newsomet@portsmouth.k12.oh.us.






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