Teaching by coaches an NFL offseason staple

A selection of recent reports on the opening minicamps of the season has focused on teaching by coaches.

New Philadelphia Eagles special teams coach Bobby April (right) has a bulletin board posted in the team’s training facility labeled “Special Ops,” according to Les Bowen of the Philadelphia Daily News.

“All the detail in the bulletin board…gives [players] the opportunity to look forward,” April said. “There’s three phases in the process of these guys executing what you want. There’s teaching, technique, and then there’s testing. I think all too often, we go into the testing phase without teaching them, talking them through the technique, and literally walking them through it.”

With Green Bay beginning its second season with Dom Capers as defensive coordinator, Packers beat writer Rob Demovsky examined Year 2 of a new defensive scheme in a recent Green Bay Press-Gazette story.

“The first year of putting in a new system, regardless of what side of the ball you’re on, there’s always transition because to do it the right way, you have to teach your system of football,” said Packers head coach Mike McCarthy (left). “So sometimes you may be teaching elements and principles that you may not use during the course of the year, but you have to put it in that way because you want to build your foundation. When you teach concepts as opposed to just individual responsibilities, it definitely helps individuals see the big picture.

“Now what we’re doing, what we’re practicing to start OTAs all the way through training camp, are going to be the things that we feel directly apply to our players talents and to the opponents that we’ll play in the 2010 season,” McCarthy continued. “So Year 2, to me, it should be much cleaner for us as a defensive football team.”

For the complete Philadelphia Daily News story, click here.

For the complete Green Bay Press-Gazette story, click here.