Fuente: © Buffalo Bills
http://www.buffalobills.com/

NFL: BILLS: Learning a New System

/noticias.info/ by Chris Brown, Lead Journalist

Fans hear players utter the phrase often.

"We've just got to get the terminology down in this new system and we'll all be on the same page."

The Bills are facing such a situation this offseason on offense and defense with new coaches bringing in new systems.

What exactly is involved in learning a new offensive or defensive system? And how different can one system be from another?

Buffalobills.com solicited the help of a former Bills quarterback who has been through a handful of different offensive systems for some assistance.

Bills offensive quality control coach Alex Van Pelt has operated the west coast offense, the K-Gun as well as a host of other systems that came with the coaching changes that were made by the Bills over the last six to eight years.

Most playbooks, according to Van Pelt, have the offensive system spelled out in the finest of detail.

"They usually start with the most basic things first," said Van Pelt. "For quarterbacks some of the first pages deal with cadence, how you're going to call the snap count and how you want the huddle aligned. It's detailed to the point where they list how far the huddle will be set from the line of scrimmage with your backs turned."

After that things begin to get more complicated as all the formations are covered.

"Every formation you have comes in a hand-out that you study and learn," said Van Pelt. "That's the first step. Then you get into learning the run game and knowing the footwork in the run game and the whole numbering system and how you're calling them."

Those running plays are developed further with blocking schemes, ways to get into or out of certain run plays if the defense shows a look where a play has to be changed. The next step is learning the protections for plays.

Van Pelt outlines the vast amount of protection material quarterbacks are often exposed to in one meeting.

"You have to learn base protections and how you're going to call protections," he said. "You have to learn the rules of protection, what makes a receiver 'hot' and where you're vulnerable in the protection. You learn how you can change the protection to help you. It comes at you pretty quickly and there's a lot of information."

In a new system Van Pelt believes the most important thing for quarterbacks to master early is what they're calling with respect to formations, motions and shifts.

"Early on a quarterback has to come into the huddle with a sense of knowledge of the system," said Van Pelt. "You have to know how to get in and out of the huddle and direct guys around formationally."

Of course memorizing all the formations, plays and terminology for them in one sitting is impossible. Day by day players sit with coaches and go over a few plays with a few protections and talk them out. Players take notes and there are pictures of the plays and protections in the playbook for reference. Video footage is also provided for reinforcement.

"Maybe if it's a pass play we'll throw in a tape of St. Louis and say, 'This is how they looked doing it,'" said Van Pelt. "That way the players can see a visual picture and then they have to study like crazy."

Learning the new terminology is something players constantly refer to as the biggest hurdle in getting a new system down. But the new verbiage has to be learned quickly, and again the quarterbacks must take the lead.

"You have to be able to call it what it's called in that system," said Van Pelt. "In football there are different philosophies in offenses, but for the most part it's all the same with respect to reads."

With a quick learning curve an absolute necessity for quarterbacks, oftentimes signal callers refer back to the language of their old system to carry over and translate what the new terminology means.

"You'll link a protection in the new system to what it was called in your old system so you learn it faster," said Van Pelt.

Bills quarterback Craig Nall is coming from the west coast system in Green Bay, and Van Pelt knows what Nall is going through.

"There are definitely differences," said Van Pelt. "There are no numbers for protections in this system which is a big west coast thing. You have to get used to it. There are numbers here for the routes and in the west coast there are concepts, but really there are concepts within the numbering."

When Van Pelt or quarterbacks coach Turk Schonert, who is also familiar with the west coast, see Nall get hung up on something in the new system they'll refer back to the west coast to better reinforce what the new terminology means.

"We'll tell him this combination of numbers together is like a 'Z-hook' in the west coast," said Van Pelt. "We tell him to read it the same way. You're still reading concepts like you do in the west coast, it just takes a little time to realize what concepts are what numbers in our current system."

Getting all of the terminology down usually takes two to three weeks for quarterbacks so utilizing an old system to help you learn the new one is a crutch that's not used for very long.

"As soon as you get it you're expected to know it and speak that language, and that's where you really have to accelerate you're learning curve," said Van Pelt.

Run checks and audibles come later in the playbook as do the reads and progressions on pass plays. Getting the reads down can be one of the most difficult areas of the playbook for a quarterback to master.

"If you have to change your read on a pass pattern when you've read it a different way in an older system that's tough," Van Pelt said. "Maybe in a new system you look to the 'Y' receiver (tight end) first, then the 'Z' (flanker) and then the fullback. And in the old system you read it 'Z' then 'Y' then fullback. Initially you think of the play the way you used to run it and read it the same way and that's not always correct. Those are the habits that take the longest to break."

The only way to break them is continued study, in the meetings rooms and at home. Van Pelt would often go home and just read plays. He would go over play scripts from practice over and over. It's the only way he knows to get comfortable with a system quickly.

Knowing first hand how tough it can be at times to fully absorb a new system, Van Pelt understands what the players are up against, particularly the rookies coming in next month after the draft.

"It could take months before you feel real comfortable," said Van Pelt. "But that's what these minicamps are for to get this stuff down. Once you get toward the end of the OTAs and the last mandatory minicamp most guys feel they can go home with the new system and feel like they know all the intricate parts of it. It's picked up faster by some and with others it takes longer."

Van Pelt says the three guys in the quarterback room have been on the fast track so far.

"Our guys have been sharp and done a nice job of picking it up quickly," said Van Pelt. "And they've gone out and applied it on the field, so they've done well."

Overall most everyone on the roster should have a firm grasp of the playbook come training camp when the plays that have been learned are refined.

"By the time we get out of these minicamps there shouldn't be any question about protections, lining up, what will get us in and out of running plays, reads in the passing game, what we're looking to attack and what will scare us away from a play," said Van Pelt. "That should all be understood by the summer." notas_de_prensa_archivo