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AFM Magazine


The Winning Edge: Preparing D-Linemen for Game Day

by: Mike Kuchar
Senior Writer, American Football Monthly
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Mike Waufle and Ray Hamilton know defensive line play. Between the two of them, they have a total of 49 years of coaching experience at the Division I level and professional levels of football. Among those in their tutelage are the likes of Andre Tippett, Russell Maryland and Michael Strahan. So it’s only fitting that the two guru’s of defensive line play collaborated on producing a scouting form called the “Winning Edge” which they give to each of their players during game week. Actually, Hamilton concocted the idea when he was with the Patriots in the mid 1990’s, when Waufle would make routine trips east from UCLA to talk football. Although the entire “Winning Edge” form is available through AFM, both coaches- Waufle the defensive line coach with the Super Bowl Champion New York Giants and Ray Hamilton with the Atlanta Falcons- talked about some of the main components and philosophy behind the idea.

Breaking down the Quarterback

In the NFL, no other position is more important than the one calling the signals. We all know that the success of a team rises and falls on the QB – especially at that level. This is evidenced by superb play year in and year out of guys like Tom Brady with the New England Patriots and the now retired Brett Favre of the Green Bay Packers. At the high school and college level, teams can get away with disguising the talent of their QB based on the offensive scheme they run. But in the NFL with so much parody in the talent levels of skill players, it is usually the team with the experienced and effective QB that wins.

Waufle knows this, so he spends extra time preparing his defensive linemen for the type of personality they will see behind center each week. “The QB is the head of the snake,” says Waufle. “Preparing for the QB goes under coached at a lot of levels, unless you have a dominating one. It’s always our first priority when going into a game.” The first thing Waufle does is examine the depth of the QB on passes, or more specifically, his launch point. Unlike college, many professional QB’s are pocket types that don’t like to get out of the pocket much. But that doesn’t mean Waufle doesn’t prepare for it. On the “Winning Edge” form he’ll label what he calls QB escape points based on where he exits when pressure approaches. It helps players to prepare when they get him on the run and used mainly to track the angle of departure for the QB.

“We’ll count from left to right 1, 2, 3, or 4. On our 4-3 scheme, the one point would be at the left end, the two point at the left defensive tackle, the three at the right tackle and the four at the right end. It’s important that guys know where a QB’s exit strategy is going to be. There are some guys that scramble so we try to find out where. If Michael Strahan is chasing a QB that always scrambles to his side, he’s going to get a lot of depth on his pass rush. So that when the QB starts to run, he’ll change his angle to match up his depth. There are great rushers that run right over the top of the QB and they run right by him because they don’t take proper angles to affect him. Osi (Umenyiora) does it because he’s extremely quick. If you’re playing a Donovan McNabb you have to control your rush and balance your rush lanes. You need to know where his escape area is either inside or outside.”

Determining Pass Protection

In the NFL, the structure of passes revolves around the five and seven step drops. Rarely will you get a sprint out or waggle scheme pushing the perimeter because the guy carrying the ball is worth a couple mil. So, having this in mind, Waufle and Hamilton will design a lot of their rushes around the pocket style passer and the types of protections that are involved with it. According to Waufle, this relies either on the drop of the QB or the personnel in the game offensively. “I figure out what the QB set target is per down, or where he sets,” said Waufle. “Most are at seven yards but some are different, including the shotgun formations. We control our blitz lanes and rush targets based on that.”

Offensive personnel is another major area that both Hamilton and Waufle try to analyze when preparing their game plan. The type of protection will almost always be based on how many eligible receivers an offense will deploy. “We zero in on personnel groups to identify what they are doing,” says Waufle. “For example, if you take each personnel group with two backs whether it be two backs and two tight ends, two backs and one tight end or two backs and no tight ends there is only a certain way they will protect. Chances are those backs will be involved in the protection scheme. Now, anytime there is one back it can really be two formations – a two by two receiver set or a three by one receiver set. Rarely does anyone go empty in this league; the QB would get killed. Who releases and who stays in is based on whether it is a two by two or a three by one.”

Waufle also will play a lot of games with his interior tackles to confuse the center. In most slide protection schemes the center will find the Mike, or middle linebacker in a 4-3 scheme, and set the protection to slide in that direction. A lot of teams will stem or move their front so that the center doesn’t get a clear identification. “If you just cover the guards once in a while, they just can’t figure out where to set the protection,” said Waufle. “I also like to get those quicker defensive ends in space by widening them out. Put them in situations where they can try to handle us. We are better athletes.”

Evaluating the Running Back

Waufle and Hamilton leave nothing to chance which is why some may find it unique that they will even critically analyze the running back when preparing their defensive linemen for game day. They have several sections on the “Winning Edge” form that points out various subtleties in the style of the running back such as his depth from the line of scrimmage, his running style and whether or not he is a fumbler. Usually, this is something reserved for linebackers and the secondary, but Waufle feels it is an integral component of game planning – one that should not be ignored. “The alignment and the depth of the back are important. When he’s deep at eight yards, you want to re-establish the line of scrimmage by using various one man or two man games. You got the time to do it. If he’s shallow in there at six, I also want them to know that because a lot of teams will do that in the pass game for protection purposes. If that back is involved in the protection, they want him at or near the line of scrimmage in a hurry. They don’t want to waste any time by getting those defensive lineman downhill.”

Aside from assessing the personality of the back, Waufle and Hamilton will look heavily at line splits that may “give away” certain run schemes. They even produce cut-ups for their players showing the various types of splits. “Generally speaking when we see a tight split it could signify a double team or scoop block at the point of attack,” said Hamilton. “You will see wide splits in the passing game just to open up passing lanes to buy time for the QB. But we will dictate where we are going to line up. Just because the offensive line may try to spread us out, it doesn’t mean we will line up with them. We will dictate to them, they won’t dictate to us. What we see at this level is mainly zone and gap schemes such as counter or power so if I see a tight split I have a good idea that I am on the front side of a power scheme.”

Because of those gap schemes where offensive linemen are often pulling at the point of attack, Waufle will have his guys examine the stance of their offensive lineman. “One of the biggest things I look for in the run game is the offensive line either backing off the line of scrimmage and their hand placement,” says Waufle. “We also look at the fullback. If he is what we call a near alignment cheating to the tight end side there is a pretty good chance of power that way. If he’s in a far alignment away from the tight end you may get counter back. It’s never a given, but teams will try to be advantageous with their blocking schemes in trying to do this.”

Finding mismatches in the trenches

Probably the most important aspect of the preparation process of Waufle and Hamilton is finding and exploiting mismatches up front. In fact, the entire back sheet of “The Winning Edge” form is devoted to a precise breakdown of each of the starting offensive linemen they will be facing that week. It details their strengths and weaknesses, giving the players a “how to” manual on getting to the QB. “It provides immediate feedback for the players and their assignments,” said Waufle. “It’s a confidence builder and a security blanket that you can fall back on. This is the ultimate study tool. I walk out of the locker room and you won’t believe the number of players who are reading this stuff. They will ask me in the middle of practice and I just hand it to them. It’s on the sidelines with us all the time.”

Without getting too specific because of legalities, Waufle and Hamilton touched on finding mismatches based on individual players along the front. He’ll find a weakness in that players pass protection and try to exploit it. “We look at how he sets for the pass rush,” says Hamilton. “We try to counter everything they do. If he sets deep anticipating a speed rush than we’ll attack up field, and punch with an inside hand to get inside to the QB. If he quick sets, we’ll try to work our speed. We do want to find a weakness in our opponent, but more than anything we have to find out what each lineman does not do well and use that to our advantage. We’ll beat them with what we do. Realistically, most defensive linemen only have one great move, and then a counter off of it.”


WHAT IF?

Q1. What is so important about examining the depth of the running back when preparing your defensive linemen?

“We try to find out what type of runner he is. If he is a power runner, we will defend stronger to the inside. If he is a slasher or perimeter runner we will defend to the outside. If he comes hard downhill, we come hard downhill. If he’s a fumbler, we’ll watch to see how he carries it and we will drill that for the week. We are exact on that stuff. It’s that important.”- Mike Waufle

Q2. What separates “The Winning Edge” from other scouting reports coaches will give players?

“It is so precise and so specific. I tell my guys to look at it like a math problem. In Algebra you need to find what X equals. In order to do that you have to simplify things and that is what this sheet does. It puts your players where they can be most successful. While each coach has their own way of instructing, at least this form tells the player point blank what the QB, RB and offensive line does with their tendencies and we just match up against it. By nature football is a simple game and we try to outthink ourselves sometimes. We don’t need to.”- Mike Waufle

Q3. Can a high school or small college team be able to use and implement the “Winning Edge” or is it too sophisticated?

“I think it depends on how extensive your game plan is. I know that for me everything on there is important, but if I was a high school coach I would keep the sheet’s components the same, just be a little less specific on the running back stuff. But it’s such a valuable tool that I think it’s imperative at any level.”- Ray Hamilton






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