Revenge of the Birds
The same way he coached all of his QBs in Oakland, like Lamonica, Blanda and Stabler
To reiterate what I wrote a couple of weeks ago, I have been thinking a lot about John Madden these days.
These days...
“Well, I’ll keep on movin’, movin’ on —- Things are bound to be improving these days
One of these days —- These days I’ll sit on corner stones
And count the time in quarter tones to ten —- my friend
Don’t confront me with my failures —-I had not forgotten them”
(Jackson Browne, 1973)
The best gift that John Madden gave me during the summer of 1993, other than the five glorious hours I spent with him in his NYC abode at The Dakota, was a signed copy of his “Man to Man Football” that he used as a teaching guide whenever he gave coaching clinics.
Funny, but due to time, exposure to the sun and the numerous front-to-back readings that I have given the book, the cover of the manuscript has faded —- yet Coach’s signature still looks brand new in blue.
This morning, I felt an urge to flip the book open and read whatever page I had popped up.
Imagine this:
This is what I was greeted with: (from page 106)
“I have always favored a system in which the quarterback calls his own plays. That is the only time when a total quarterback is running his team.”
“Today about 75 percent of the NFL quarterbacks get their plays from the bench. Coaches who advocate this system have four main reasons for using it:”
“1 —- The coaches believe they prepare longer for the game, watch more films, study longer in the off-season and are better prepared for the task.
2 —- When the coaching staff calls the play, they know what is going to happen and can follow its execution better so that even if the play doesn’t work, it might be successful later in the game if the faults are corrected.
3 —- The coaching staff has better control over play on the field in relation to the game plan.
4 —- The quarterback, being relieved of the decisions of play calling, can concentrate better on execution.”
“A lot of good teams use this system, perhaps the most outstanding of these is the Dallas Cowboys, where Tom Landry sends in the plays to Roger Staubach.”
“On the other side of the fence, there are quite a few outstanding teams whose quarterbacks call the signals. The leading advocate of this system is probably the Pittsburgh Steelers where Terry Bradshaw calls his own plays. Bradshaw has won 4 Super Bowls. Down in Miami Don Shula has Bob Griese call his own plays. And in Oakland, over a 10-year span, Daryl Lamonica, George Blanda and Kenny Stabler always called the plays while I coached.”
**Having read this —- a lightbulb illuminated up the room and I knew that if John Madden were coaching or advising other coaches today —-...
