Alexander
What's it going to be then, eh?
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Interesting article on SI/MMQ, somewhat Cowboys related at least from Ware and Talib's comments:
Wed Oct. 26, 2016
The Little Things in Denver
NFL teams always are on the hunt for any advantage they can gain. Denver feels like it found one in dedicating two full-time coaches to studying the tells of opposing players. The Broncos believe it’s working
by Robert Klemko
“When the center points, or the quarterback says something, they’re telling you everything, so why not use it?” Ware says incredulously. “Every team should do it; the Dallas coaches would say, ‘You can't go off of somebody’s tendencies.’ And I would say, ‘Well, this guy on the other team has been doing this one thing for nine years and he hasn’t stopped doing it.’
“I had that argument with coaches. In the end, I said okay, I guess I’ll be the only one to use it then.”
Then Ware signed with the Broncos in 2014, and then the team hired coach Gary Kubiak in 2015. Kubiak and Ware could not have been more aligned in their thinking. Kubiak hired two coaching interns that year—ex-Hawaii assistant Philip Rauscher and former Bills quality control coach Thaddeus Bogardus. Their job? Tendencies. But not just the broad offensive and defensive tendencies being coached everywhere. Rauscher and Bogardus have a special mandate to also study the bad habits of opposing players, and both coaches have the unique privilege of briefing the offense and the defense, respectively, on those habits.
Their current titles are nondescript and imply anonymity: “Coaching assistant,” or what most teams describe as a quality control coaches. Technically, they’re low men on the totem pole, but they might be the two most relied-upon men in their roles in the league. The defensive players grin at the mention of Bogardus, who earned his MBA from Ball State in 2012. “Thad does everything,” says outside linebacker Shaq Barrett. “He practically prepares us to go. Everything that you need to know, Thad knows.” Offensive players have a nickname for Rauscher, a former UCLA tight end: “KGB.”
Bogardus and Rauscher pore over hours and hours of film, and not just the silent, All-22 copies of games; they’ll break down the television broadcast, hoping an on-field microphone catches an audible call or a piece of defensive communication they can then catalog and use to discern patterns. They do the same with hand signals shared between quarterback and wide receiver or cornerback and safety. Then both coaches prepare briefings for position coaches and lead a weekly meeting with the offense and defense to point out the smallest bad habits.
[CUT]
To drive the point home, the two coaches will then recruit a scout team player to play the weak link. Practice squad tackle Justin Murray might spend any given week dropping his outside foot back just a few inches further when it’s a pass play, so that everyone on defense can get familiar with the habit. Then players get comfortable spotting the tell and relaying it to the rest of the defense. That’s why you’ll see Ware on Sundays turning to Aqib Talib and banging his fists together to signify run, or quickly shooting a hand to the sky to show pass. You’ll see it most often in the second half of games, when fatigue sets in and bad habits manifest.
“You’ve got to pay attention to it and be patient,” Ware says. “I feel like studying this stuff is just starting to be a big thing in the league.”
One man in the locker room didn’t see what the big deal was. Of course, cornerback Aqib Talib said, the Broncos put a lot of emphasis on player tendencies, just like he’d done at his previous stop ... in New England with Bill Belichick.
Well, Aqib, your teammate DeMarcus said they didn’t do that sort of thing while he was in Dallas.
“Well that’s why they suck on defense,” Talib concluded. “They’re not getting that little extra stuff they need.”
----
http://mmqb.si.com/mmqb/2016/10/26/denver-broncos-coaching-player-tendencies-nfl
Wed Oct. 26, 2016
The Little Things in Denver
NFL teams always are on the hunt for any advantage they can gain. Denver feels like it found one in dedicating two full-time coaches to studying the tells of opposing players. The Broncos believe it’s working
by Robert Klemko
“When the center points, or the quarterback says something, they’re telling you everything, so why not use it?” Ware says incredulously. “Every team should do it; the Dallas coaches would say, ‘You can't go off of somebody’s tendencies.’ And I would say, ‘Well, this guy on the other team has been doing this one thing for nine years and he hasn’t stopped doing it.’
“I had that argument with coaches. In the end, I said okay, I guess I’ll be the only one to use it then.”
Then Ware signed with the Broncos in 2014, and then the team hired coach Gary Kubiak in 2015. Kubiak and Ware could not have been more aligned in their thinking. Kubiak hired two coaching interns that year—ex-Hawaii assistant Philip Rauscher and former Bills quality control coach Thaddeus Bogardus. Their job? Tendencies. But not just the broad offensive and defensive tendencies being coached everywhere. Rauscher and Bogardus have a special mandate to also study the bad habits of opposing players, and both coaches have the unique privilege of briefing the offense and the defense, respectively, on those habits.
Their current titles are nondescript and imply anonymity: “Coaching assistant,” or what most teams describe as a quality control coaches. Technically, they’re low men on the totem pole, but they might be the two most relied-upon men in their roles in the league. The defensive players grin at the mention of Bogardus, who earned his MBA from Ball State in 2012. “Thad does everything,” says outside linebacker Shaq Barrett. “He practically prepares us to go. Everything that you need to know, Thad knows.” Offensive players have a nickname for Rauscher, a former UCLA tight end: “KGB.”
Bogardus and Rauscher pore over hours and hours of film, and not just the silent, All-22 copies of games; they’ll break down the television broadcast, hoping an on-field microphone catches an audible call or a piece of defensive communication they can then catalog and use to discern patterns. They do the same with hand signals shared between quarterback and wide receiver or cornerback and safety. Then both coaches prepare briefings for position coaches and lead a weekly meeting with the offense and defense to point out the smallest bad habits.
[CUT]
To drive the point home, the two coaches will then recruit a scout team player to play the weak link. Practice squad tackle Justin Murray might spend any given week dropping his outside foot back just a few inches further when it’s a pass play, so that everyone on defense can get familiar with the habit. Then players get comfortable spotting the tell and relaying it to the rest of the defense. That’s why you’ll see Ware on Sundays turning to Aqib Talib and banging his fists together to signify run, or quickly shooting a hand to the sky to show pass. You’ll see it most often in the second half of games, when fatigue sets in and bad habits manifest.
“You’ve got to pay attention to it and be patient,” Ware says. “I feel like studying this stuff is just starting to be a big thing in the league.”
One man in the locker room didn’t see what the big deal was. Of course, cornerback Aqib Talib said, the Broncos put a lot of emphasis on player tendencies, just like he’d done at his previous stop ... in New England with Bill Belichick.
Well, Aqib, your teammate DeMarcus said they didn’t do that sort of thing while he was in Dallas.
“Well that’s why they suck on defense,” Talib concluded. “They’re not getting that little extra stuff they need.”
----
http://mmqb.si.com/mmqb/2016/10/26/denver-broncos-coaching-player-tendencies-nfl
