It's like when Woody Hayes explained passing the football as "3 things can happen when you pass, and 2 of them are bad"...the same holds true with pass protection. You are talking about being able to go 1 on 1 with a defender and prevent him from getting to a semi-stationary target, who may not be looking at the defender.
A lot can go bad there!!!
Step the wrong way, lunge for the defender, kick too far, or give up too much ground...those all lead to a really bad thing! Your QB getting whacked by the defender or by you being destroyed by the defender.
At least with the run game, if you get off the ball and are aggressive, you can squeak out success a little. Run blocking does have its technique, but it has much more flexibility just for the sheer fact that person you are blocking for is running and trying to look for the defense and get away. There is a lot more room for error in the run blocking department versus pass blocking.
I feel like it takes way more time to teach the techniques of pass protection and how to fine tune them, compared to the techniques of run blocking. The kid has to find the right balance of stance/posture, steps, and striking. You put too much weight on one leg or strike too soon, you may put yourself in a position to get beat and get your QB killed.
So where does this process start? The 3 S's of Pass Protection.
STANCE
When you are looking at Stance, you have to decide if your OL will be in a 2 point stance or 3 point stance. The factors to determine that are talent level and offensive scheme, mostly. If a kid can run and pass block effectively out of a 2 point stance, then that's fine. My personal experience has shown me that not many HS OL can do that effectively and so I am really not a fan of the 2 point stance. Most HS OL cannot generate enough power out of a 2 point stance and false step a lot more when it comes to run blocking (big no-no!). Some schemes dictate a 3 point stance due to nature of offense (Wing-T offense) and some coaches just prefer it in certain situations. Alex Gibbs was one that preferred that his guards were always in a 3 point and his tackles were in a 3 point if they had a TE next to them. No TE, they had the choice of 2 point if they could do it.
I am one of those coaches that does not like to mess a kid's stance too much if it is not needed. If the kid cannot get out of his stance properly to execute all the blocks, then I change some things. If he can do all that, then I leave it alone. So I do not get fancy with what hand is down in the stance or things like that. I want the kid to be comfortable and able to move effectively.
Once the player starts to step, his posture throughout his footwork is key. Especially, with drop back passing, you want your OL to "sit back in the chair". Knees bent with hips underneath him, his chest needs to be up and pointed at the defender, shoulders square and facing forward, and his back flat, like its resting against the back of a chair. His weight must be distributed evenly throughout the posture, so he is not knocked down forward (leaning forward too much) or backward (too much weight on heels).
STEPS
This is where things start to be real critical. These steps are going to be key to your OL being able to get off the ball quick enough and position himself into position to protect the QB.
The most fundamental idea an OL needs to understand about any pass protection is the half-a-man concept. You always want to attack one half of the defender, so you do not give him a 2 way go around you. Usually, with drop back passing, you want to attack the inside half of the defender and step to stay on the inside half of the defender. This allows only an outside pathway for the defender to travel on, which means further away from QB. The only time you would be working to the outside half of a defender is if you are blocking a sprint protection. If you are covered by a defender, you want to work to the outside half, while the uncovered OL is working to overtake the inside half if possible.
To get to the inside half of a defender, it may require different steps.
If you have a wide technique defender on you or an outside shade, you will need to just kick your outside foot back and drag the inside foot. The wider the technique, the wider and more you have to kick back. If the shade is tight, you just have to kick once.
If the defender is head up to inside shade, then you need to post step with your inside foot and then vertical set once you get inside. Again, the more inside they are, the more you will have to post step to get to them. For example, if the guy is head up on you, you need to post step to get inside, then vertically set to get into position to pass protect. To post step, you need to stomp your side foot hard horizontally while dragging your outside foot, similar to a basketball slide. Once in inside position, you can start kicking back vertically a little to give you time and space to work with.
If you are doing sprint protection, I teach it like outside zone blocking, minus the working to second level physically. I have never been a fan of losing ground like some coaches teach outside zone, so I teach a horizontal step, but instead of keeping your foot point perpendicular to the LOS, I have my guys step with their foot pointing at a 45 degree angle. That will open up the hips a little, which will allow them to get running to catch up with that outside shoulder and pin it inside of them. The uncovered linemen are working to the next down lineman in case of stunts, with eyes on backs for any blitzing. If there is no work for them, they peel back and look for backside pursuers.
To work all these different steps, there are simple drills that can be run to rep the kick vs the post and when to use each. I suggest that everyone purchase Steve Greatwood's 40 Drills for OL DVD. He does a great job of giving you great variety of drills and variations off each of those drills. A lot of them focus on pass protection. Some of the drill videos below have those same drills.
Here is some links to some drills by Steve's crew in Oregon and some cone drills for pass protection
Steve Greatwood's Pass Pro: Part 1 and Part 2
Cone Drills for Pass Pro: Z-Drill and Christmas Tree Sets
STRIKE
This I think is the one that the players have the hardest time with due to the critical factor of timing when it comes to striking a pass rusher. They have a hard time gauging when to hold back and wait for the strike or when to bring it and sink the butt down. It takes time and practicing the reaction to the different techniques of pass rushers.
Depending on what position you play and what kind of pass rush you are getting, you will have different kind of strike techniques.
If you are a guard or center, you are going to have to sit down and stone the DL fast. You are the closest linemen to the QB, so you do not have the room to kick back a lot. You will have to sit your butt down low and be more forceful with your strikes. Guards and Centers are dealing with 3 techs and Noses, so you get a lot of bull rushing...which is stopped by sinking and stoning them. You are looking to get inside on the chest pads and lock on.
If you are a tackle, you will have to be able to sit it down and stone, especially if an end tries to bull rush. If you get an end that tries to speed rush and dip the shoulder, you are mirroring him with your kicks to stay inside half and you are jabbing him. So in this case, you are not sitting it down and stoning, you are kicking and jabbing until he is so up field that he is out of the play or he decides to go through you (then sit it down and stone).
There are 2 things that are a must when you are striking...You must keep your feet moving and you must get ready to hand fight.
Your feet have to keep moving so you can keep your inside leverage on the defender and work them outside. Also, if you have your feet still and they do a rip/swim technique and get their hips through, you are done for and so is your QB. Even if he is executing the rip/swim tech, if your feet move to never let his hips get by you, you will be okay.
Very rarely are you going to be able to get your hands inside and keep them there the entire time. The DL is trained to hand fight with you and try to get inside leverage on you, so you must fight back and work your hands back inside, no matter if you are stoning them or jabbing them. This is where the balance issue comes in because if you are not balanced posture wise, you are going to fall flat on your face when a DL swats your arms down. Keep a balance posture and work the hands inside and try to lock their shoulder pads, near the armpits.
Well, that is my two cents on pass protection. The 3 S's are vital fundamentals all pass protectors must have, including RBs and TEs. Next time, I'm going to talk about the 4th S with pass protection and that is SCHEMES. I am going to start breaking down different pass protection schemes and how they work.
Hope you enjoy and always appreciate the feedback!
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