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History Lesson : Vince Lombardi

Ever wonder how the Lombardi Trophy, awarded to the winning Super Bowl team, got it’s name?

It’s thanks to this man, Vincent Thomas Lombardi, whose story is told here by legendary Packers guard, Jerry Kramer:

Would you believe that Coach Lombardi’s original career path was as a priest? Yep, it’s true. After two years of study he decided to switch paths and finish prep school before attending Fordham University. He played football there (as a fullback), but decided to pursue another carrer path – this time, law school – after graduation. Luckily, that didn’t last long. He soon opted for a job as an assistant coach for a local high school and continued to move onwards and upwards, always leaving a trail of success behind him.

His first job in the NFL was coaching as an offensive assistant for the New York Giants (at which time another iconic coach, Tom Landry, was the defensive assistant). In 1959, he became the head coach of the Green Bay Packers.

(And the Packers fans rejoiced.)

Coach Lombardi led the Packers to three consecutive championships – five total – including the first two Super Bowls. He was recently named the Greatest Coach in NFL History by ESPN, a fact that has never been widely disputed.

Perhaps greater than his winning record (96-34-6) was his work ethic and the charisma that acted as a delivery agent of that ethic. I love these thoughts from former Packers quarterback Bart Starr:

For the folks who weren’t in the meeting rooms and on the practice field, I would tell you the story of how Coach Lombardi approached us when he first came to Green Bay. I had already been there for three seasons, and we had not had much success.

Well, in our first session, he was so strong and dynamic and powerful; when we took our first break after 30 minutes or so, I ran down the hall and into one of the offices and called my wife back here in Alabama. I said, “Honey, we’re going to start winning.” I mean, it was that obvious.

His charisma, his manner was very, very impressive. One of the first things he said was, “We’re going to RELENTLESSLY pursue perfection — even though we know full well that we won’t catch it, because nothing is perfect.” Put the “relentlessly” in capital letters because that’s how he said it.

(That last part reminds me of a recent press conference with current Packers head coach Mike McCarthy. We get the good ones in Green Bay.)

Ready for a video that will start your day right? Here’s a pep talk from Coach with audio clips from his famous speech, What It Takes to Be Number One:

(Want a portable version? Check out the book + CD, available here!)

Pocket Guide to NFC Teams

Because the regular season is coming soon (!!!), we’ll start doing divisional breakdowns again in the next few weeks. But in the meantime, here’s a pocket guide to all of the NFC Teams that might come in handy this season.

(Don’t feel left out, AFC fans. Next week is your time to shine!)

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NFL Homonyms : What’s the rush?

In a typical NFL broadcast you’re likely to hear a lot about the rush – rushing yards, rushing the passer, pass rush, stopping the rush, rushing attempts – and so on. Now, it’d be well within reason to think that the word rush and/or rushing pertained to the same action, seeing as how it is used to describe action occurring on a football field. And if there were different types of action happening on a football field, wouldn’t there be different words to describe it?

Apparently not. The NFL likes to keep you guessing!

But really, the difference between rushing terminology is not hard at all once you understand how it’s used in each context.

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Rush can describe action on both the offensive and defensive sides of the ball. On offense, rushing plays are synonymous with running plays. Defensively, rushing plays are plays designed to get to the quarterback and prevent him from passing effectively.

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On Offense:

The official word used for running plays in NFL statistics and records is “rush.” (It didn’t start out that way, but for one reason or another running plays became rushing plays in 1937. We don’t know why.) So when you hear announcers talking about “rushing yards” or “rushing attempts” they are talking about how many yards a team is getting by running the ball or how many times a team is attempting to run rather than pass. Rushing, offensively, basically means advancing the ball downfield in a non-passing play.

It begs the question why running backs aren’t called rushing backs – even though that sounds weird – but that’s another question for another day. When asked why the NFL doesn’t just call it all running, Bob Carroll, NFL Historian, said, “Everybody on the field runs. Even big fat tackles run. Rushing is a precise term that describes running with the ball. After all, you don’t call passing throwing.”

Man’s got a point.

On Defense:

You’ll hear about rushing on defense in conjunction with passing plays, which is completely confusing because didn’t we just establish that rushing pertains to running plays?

Yes.

Thank you, football.

But defensive players aren’t running with the ball (barring an interception), so the term can’t apply to running plays for them.* Instead, defensive players rush the quarterback – literally meaning causing him to hurry for fear of getting sacked. You’ll hearing it talked about in terms of “rushing the passer” or “pass rush.” Both terms mean that the defense is making it’s way into the backfield to disrupt the quarterback before he has a chance to pass accurately.

*”Stopping the rush” is a phrase used to describe a defense that is trying to stop the running game, so that’s the exception to the defense-rush-running rule. Just in case the mud was looking any clearer and you wanted to cloud it up again.

All in all: rushing on offense = running; rushing on defense = hurrying.

Potato…slightly different potato.

Got it?

(Add one more to the list – there’s also NFL Rush, the league’s kid-friendly initiative. Start ’em young.)

Fundamentals : Pulling

Pulling is one of those terms that is just kind of thrown around in football jargon. You might have heard commentators say something like “they used a pulling guard,” or “so-and-so pulled to the left to create the lane on that play.” This is actually one of those times when it is what it sounds like – kind of. Let’s break it down!

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Pulling is when a player, usually a lineman (offense or defense), leaves their regular assignment and moves to the other side of the field.

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Why would a player (or players) pull to the other side? Usually, to stack the offense on one side and create a running lane for a back or receiver. We saw this last week with a couple of screen pass concepts: one side of the line pulls to the other side to create a screen of protection for the ball carrier. But it happens in other types of plays on offense – and defense, too. Defensive linemen can also pull to stop the action they anticipate coming from a particular side.

Here’s a slow breakdown of what pulling looks like from an offensive line perspective:

And here’s what it looks like when humans do it:

And here’s what it looks like in a game – a college game – but still, same concept. Watch how the right guard (57) and the left guard (66) pull in unison to the right to create a lane for the running back (5):

See how it works? Whenever you see linemen pulling, you can expect to see action in whichever direction they are heading.

News and Notes : 6.14.13

It was a busy week for mid-June in the NFL. Here five stories that stood out to me:

1. Chad Johnson will be donating 30 days of his time to the local jail due to a misunderstanding at a recent court hearing. The judge asked the former wide receiver if he was happy with his representation. He said yes. She said he should be; he had a great lawyer. He then proceeded to convey his appreciation in the form of a football-style butt-pat (really, guys…why do you do this?) to his lawyer. The courtroom found it amusing. The judge did not. She rejected his plea bargain and sentenced him to 30 days in jail.

Now, it’s not my call to determine whether the behavior that warranted his appearance in court in the first place was deserving of jail-time. But what he did in the courtroom hardly seems like cause for such a steep punishment – especially considering the source. It didn’t seem like he was trying to be disrespectful; it seemed like a knee-jerk reaction. One way or the other, Ochocinco is having a hard time catching a break these days.

2. Vince Lombardi would have been 100 this week, and there were so many celebrations for the greatest coach in the history of the NFL. Look for one here next week!

3. Darnell Dockett will be freaking out opponents league-wide next season with his new face mask. He might not even have to do anything besides stand there to have his usual dominating effect. I mean, I’m not even lined up across from him and I probably won’t sleep tonight.

4. Packers-related items that you’ll like even if you aren’t a Packers fan: this Youtube series of rookie running back Johnathan Franklin, and this Podcast from Rich Eisen featuring Aaron Rodgers breaking down the Games of Thrones finale. (Do you guys watch that? I haven’t seen it yet.)

5. Fifth on our list and #5 on the Patriots roster: the newly-signed Tim Tebow. I’ve been hoping this would happen ever since the 2010 NFL Draft, so you can imagine my inability to keep my cool when I heard the news on Monday. New England has always seemed like the best possible place for Tim to grow as a quarterback. I seriously can’t wait to see what happens over the course of time if he has a place on the roster for the foreseeable future.

That’s a wrap! Have a great weekend, everyone!

News and Notes : 6.14.13

It was a busy week for mid-June in the NFL. Here five stories that stood out to me:

2. Vince Lombardi would have been 100 this week, and there were so many celebrations for the greatest coach in the history of the NFL. Look for one here next week!

That’s a wrap! Have a great weekend, everyone!