Once upon a time, I actually played football and learned to LOVE it. My size and speed made it clear I would not play past high school, but I loved the game, so I talked about coaching as a way to stay involved. That led me to discuss coaching as a possible career choice with a person I knew who was a pretty good coach in the professional ranks, and well respected.
He told me how simple it is to be a football coach. He told me, if you can get your team to do just 2 things well, you will win a bunch of games. Those 2 things are: Blocking and Tackling. That’s it.
Now, the man who gave me that advise 25 years ago faced some of the days most intricate passing and blitz schemes, and had a great deal of success. His name was George Seifert who coached the 49ers and Panthers between 1989 and 2001. I don’t think he remembers the conversation, but I do.
Clearly I chose against coaching as the means to make a living, but his words have stuck with me as I watch the game and coach my boys teams from time to time. You have to BLOCK and TACKLE well, or the chances are, you are going to lose.
Relating those two ideas to today – it’s clear to me that Boise State is in for a long season if they can’t solve their troubles on the Offensive Line. I’m not pinning blame on any one player or coach, but it’s an issue that needs solved and the consequences have already been felt. (much more literally by Brett Rypien than anyone else)
If you are wondering about the Tackling, I have to admit, I’m pretty happy with what I see from the defense. I’ll give a Tip of the cap to Coach Avalos. I think he has done a pretty good job rebuilding on that side of the ball. I hope he stays for a while.
