
Why on the insteps? If a pass protector plays on the balls of his feet he will fall forward unable to redirect his center of mass. Play on the insteps of the feet with the toes slightly out (toe out). If the knees rotate outside the ankles, the shoulder and hip will open up thus creating a soft hip and soft shoulder. The feet must be outside the hips throughout the pass block, the knees must stay within the ankles and the hips inside the knees (the cylinder). Offensive linemen must not lean on the defender (leaning on the hands and the head must not follow the hands) they must maintain the proper center of gravity, center of mass, as well as have a good base of support. Give them a target (inside or outside target, etc.). As a coach you must train the eyes of your offensive linemen on where to look. Remember, a great pass blocker must be disciplined in his technique while being patient but aggressive.Ī key to pass protection is how fast the offensive lineman can get from his three-point to his two-point stance without any wasted movement (the snap-up). What is inside leverage? Keeping the post foot just outside the foot of the defenders inside foot while maintaining inside leverage and never setting past the midline of the defender. What is relative position? The offensive lineman is keeping his rear-end to the quarterback while maintaining inside leverage and keeping the shoulders and hips square.
#Alabama game lineman jumping line and blocking point pro#
In pass protection the objective of an offensive lineman is to keep his body between the defender and the quarterback’s launch point while maintaining the proper pass pro demeanor and relative position. The angles will even change from a 3-technique to a 5-technique, and so on depending on the depth of the quarterback’s drop. Why is it important? The launch point of the quarterback will change the pass rush angles of the defenders. When teaching pass protection it is imperative your offensive linemen understand the launch point of the quarterback. There are four areas in measuring the success of offensive linemen in pass protection:The number of times the quarterback is flushed out of the pocket.ġ) The number of times the quarterback is flushed out of the pocket.Ģ) The number of times the quarterback is hurried.ģ) The number of times the quarterback is hit.Ĥ) The number of times the quarterback is sacked. As long as they are sound in their fundamentals and technique it should not matter what the defender does.

The goal of every pass blocker is to strive to trust their technique. To be an effective pass blocker, an offensive lineman must take pride and have the confidence in his ability to protect the quarterback. Coaches - and players –must understand that offensive line play is an unnatural task, a skill that is acquired through many hours of hard work and dedication. Pass blocking is an offensive lineman’s toughest challenge.
