Certainly there can be no mistake that Vince Lombardi was a tremendous football coach. I, like most other coaches, have gobbled up about everything written on Lombardi in a constant quest to become a better coach. Regardless of the sport, a good coach is a good coach – a good teacher is a good teacher. However, in my readings on Lombardi, I fully believe that had he coached basketball, he would have undoubtedly been a motion coach.
The Green Bay Packers were known for many things under Lombardi including toughness, fundamentals, and execution – but they will long be remembered for the Packer sweep. What you may or may not know is that Lombardi designed the sweep with precision blocks (screens) and taught his backs to hit the first open hole (cut) and what became known as “run to daylight.” Unlike traditional football plays that call for running backs to run the ball into a specific hole, Lombardi taught his players to make reads by what the defense gave them.
In Lombardi’s biography, When Pride Still Mattered, author David Maraniss made the following observation:
“Lombardi taught the quarterback how to read the defense and select from the options in a rational way so that they did not feel overwhelmed. Freedom through discipline and simplicity...he place the emphasis on reading the defense and giving the quarterback fewer plays but more options.”
Another perception by Maraniss showed that Lombardi ran a system that taught players to think and they he had a great grasp in role development by involving the entire team in the success of the sweep.
“The sweep had another meaning in Lombardi’s system: it was his defenition of team, a play in which the offensive players had to think and reac together, eleven brains and bodies working as one. ‘Everyone was important in the sweep,’ said Ron Kramer.”
Lombardi, noted Maraniss, believed in “freedom within structure” and “perfection came with simplicty.”
The following thoughts came from Lombardi in his book, Run To Daylight:
“Fundamentals win it. Football is two things; it’s blocking and tackling. I don’t care about formations or new defenses or tricks on offense. If you block and tackle better than the team you’re player, you’ll win.”
“In all my years of coaching, I have never been successful using somebody else’s plays.”
“Discipline leads to freedom.”
“Every game boils down to the things you do best, and doing them over and over again.”
“The team that controls the ball controls the game.”
It was in the book Run To Daylight in talking about the Packer sweep that Lombardi noted that the latin root for “decision” is “to cut away from.”
Yes, Vince Lombardi would’ve been a motion coach. As he so eloquently put it, “They call it coaching but it is teaching.”
The Green Bay Packers were known for many things under Lombardi including toughness, fundamentals, and execution – but they will long be remembered for the Packer sweep. What you may or may not know is that Lombardi designed the sweep with precision blocks (screens) and taught his backs to hit the first open hole (cut) and what became known as “run to daylight.” Unlike traditional football plays that call for running backs to run the ball into a specific hole, Lombardi taught his players to make reads by what the defense gave them.
In Lombardi’s biography, When Pride Still Mattered, author David Maraniss made the following observation:
“Lombardi taught the quarterback how to read the defense and select from the options in a rational way so that they did not feel overwhelmed. Freedom through discipline and simplicity...he place the emphasis on reading the defense and giving the quarterback fewer plays but more options.”
Another perception by Maraniss showed that Lombardi ran a system that taught players to think and they he had a great grasp in role development by involving the entire team in the success of the sweep.
“The sweep had another meaning in Lombardi’s system: it was his defenition of team, a play in which the offensive players had to think and reac together, eleven brains and bodies working as one. ‘Everyone was important in the sweep,’ said Ron Kramer.”
Lombardi, noted Maraniss, believed in “freedom within structure” and “perfection came with simplicty.”
The following thoughts came from Lombardi in his book, Run To Daylight:
“Fundamentals win it. Football is two things; it’s blocking and tackling. I don’t care about formations or new defenses or tricks on offense. If you block and tackle better than the team you’re player, you’ll win.”
“In all my years of coaching, I have never been successful using somebody else’s plays.”
“Discipline leads to freedom.”
“Every game boils down to the things you do best, and doing them over and over again.”
“The team that controls the ball controls the game.”
It was in the book Run To Daylight in talking about the Packer sweep that Lombardi noted that the latin root for “decision” is “to cut away from.”
Yes, Vince Lombardi would’ve been a motion coach. As he so eloquently put it, “They call it coaching but it is teaching.”
taken from "The Art of Motion"
