Tom Cable: College spread offenses dont teach fundamentals

[SonnyCID]

Seattle Seahawks O-line coach Tom Cable says college offenses are 'really, really bad fundamentally'

Interesting stuff. It's very true and is apparently one of the reasons that Cable likes to take defensive lineman and convert them

"I can go get a guy who runs a little faster, jumps a little higher and has an aggressive streak in him on defense and start with him," Cable said. "I'm going to have to retrain an offensive lineman out of college anyway."

 

[boogiewithstu2007]

Interesting....

 

[WizardHawk]

And yet the best offensive lineman we have had over the last few years came from one of those spread offenses he so much dislikes. Just saying.

 

[jerseyhawksfan79]

How about Cable stops worrying about the college game and worry about getting these guys to pass block better.

 

[Cave_Johnson]

Anybody who witnessed Cable's tenure as head coach of the University of Idaho can attest to the fact that he is indeed an expert on fundamentally bad college offenses.

 

[SonnyCID]

As many shots as we can take at Cable over these comments, he is right. For the most part, outside of pass catchers, offensive players aren't close to ready for the NFL. Offensive linemen dont know how to work as a unit, RBs don't know how to set up blockers or pass protect, and QBs don't know how to stand in the pocket and scan the field. All essential skills for NFL players.

It's not a coincidence that its the same schools every year are the most targeted for offensive linemen: Wisconsin, Stanford, etc.

 

[cdumler7]

As many shots as we can take at Cable over these comments, he is right. For the most part, outside of pass catchers, offensive players aren't close to ready for the NFL. Offensive linemen dont know how to work as a unit, RBs don't know how to set up blockers or pass protect, and QBs don't know how to stand in the pocket and scan the field. All essential skills for NFL players.

It's not a coincidence that its the same schools every year are the most targeted for offensive linemen: Wisconsin, Stanford, etc.

Have to agree with this. While yes Cable is probably not the top guy to be saying these kind of things I would bet just about every OL coach in the league would agree with him on this. The transition from college to pros is becoming that much harder with how simplified college programs have tried to make it and then going to a very complicated system in the pros. Throw in then when they are rarely taught any kind of technique (and that goes for all positions not just OL as a lot of players come in struggling to make a very fundamental tackle and have lived on athleticism alone throughout their high school and college experience). This is where these guys coming out of high school need to think a little harder of where they go in there are certain schools that are better for training at certain positions such as OL seem to be more pro ready from Wisconsin, Iowa, Stanford, USC, Florida, and Boston College.

 

[seattlefan75]

I have to take cables comments with a grain of salt because its not like our offensive line has been great these last few years, sweezy is an avg RG at best, Okung is great but he was a top 10 draft pick, Justin Britt was descent we will see how that goes....Ill give him max unger im not sure if he was coaching the OL when we drafted him out of oregon.

 

[blstoker]

I have to take cables comments with a grain of salt because its not like our offensive line has been great these last few years, sweezy is an avg RG at best, Okung is great but he was a top 10 draft pick, Justin Britt was descent we will see how that goes....Ill give him max unger im not sure if he was coaching the OL when we drafted him out of oregon.

No, Unger was one of the few holdovers from before Pete, having been drafted by Mora.

 

[HammerDown]

"Mariota will be amazzzzzing in the NFL!"

 

[SonnyCID]

I have to take cables comments with a grain of salt because its not like our offensive line has been great these last few years, sweezy is an avg RG at best, Okung is great but he was a top 10 draft pick, Justin Britt was descent we will see how that goes....Ill give him max unger im not sure if he was coaching the OL when we drafted him out of oregon.

Grain of salt? So the guy has to have some great track record to state the obvious? I'd say he's more than qualified to discuss this. They have had some hits and some misses on the line, but like clockwork they get better each year down the stretch, even with injuries mounting. He's a good coach.

 

[seattlefan75]

Grain of salt? So the guy has to have some great track record to state the obvious? I'd say he's more than qualified to discuss this. They have had some hits and some misses on the line, but like clockwork they get better each year down the stretch, even with injuries mounting. He's a good coach.

technically any coach who has made it to the pro level at any capacity is qualified but He has 0 success record as a coach. He was the head coach at Idaho and went 11-35, became the offensive line coach in 06 in atlanta which was a failure, became the OL coach with the raiders and they werent even that good, became the head coach and went like 17-27 and the rest is history from there the weakest part of the seattle seahawks is its OL we get dominated at the line whenever we play our division rivals we gave up like 21 sacks last season in the 6 games we played SF, Ari, and STL and you say we have gotten better each year? Not a single guy he has drafted other than Okung has made the pro bowl on the OL sense he came to seattle. Ill give it to him that he can bring no name guys like breno, sweezy, and Mcquistin from out of nowhere and turn them into descent starters.

this is more of a rant and frustration from the OL more than any shots at you

 

[JMR]

The guy is coaching in the NFL and has been for a long time, which is very difficult to do. I think what he says carries a lot of credibility as a result, regardless of how many challenges we've had on the line the last couple seasons. That's been a lot more to do with injuries than anything else.

 

[HaroldSeattle]

I'm far from a Tom Cable admirer, but he's right on this. The offenses in the college level has been dumbed down. Not only does it hurt the QBs, but the OL. Now longer do they need to hold their blocks for long, because the system is designed to have a quick throw or a QB sprinting down the field.

 

[WizardHawk]

Sure, you have to train up kids coming from college. When you have the same guys for 2, 3, 4+ years and they still lack the fundamentals is that college's fault too?

 

[SonnyCID]

LOL. This isnt even about the Seahawks, or Tom Cable really. Its about something he said, thats becoming increasingly apparent through all of CFB, and NFL draft picks.

 

[Sharkonabicycle]

Obvious statement is obvious. It's a huge reason why I predicted RG3 as a bust before he was even drafted (I was mocked/laughed at by various users on SportsHoopla's general forum - even called racist (wtf?) yet all have quietly dispersed and stfu since).

My next called QB bust is Mariota... partly because he ran like 5 plays with Oregon. He never huddled, did not come across as confident in his interviews (which your offense NEEDS in the huddle, oh wait, Mariota never huddled). If Mariota thrives in the NFL I will be SHOCKED and it will force me to re-evaluate how I rate QB draft grades.

 

[JMR]

If you call bust on every QB picked in the 1st round, you'll hit on 50%. That's about as good as what the NFL teams are doing on getting it right.

On Mariota, some are describing him as a 6'4" version of RW. If he has that sort of athleticism and smarts, then the Titans should take advantage of that in his first few years while he's picking up the passing game at the NFL level. I wouldn't have picked either QB at #1 overall, but if I had to then it would have been Mariota. Still a really good chance he doesn't succeed at this level, but I can at least see a path there.

 

[WizardHawk]

Obvious statement is obvious. It's a huge reason why I predicted RG3 as a bust before he was even drafted (I was mocked/laughed at by various users on SportsHoopla's general forum - even called racist (wtf?) yet all have quietly dispersed and stfu since).

My next called QB bust is Mariota... partly because he ran like 5 plays with Oregon. He never huddled, did not come across as confident in his interviews (which your offense NEEDS in the huddle, oh wait, Mariota never huddled). If Mariota thrives in the NFL I will be SHOCKED and it will force me to re-evaluate how I rate QB draft grades.

The things you describe say he's not likely to come in and start in year 1, or be successful while doing so. It does not say he can't make it.

Does he have the arm, does he have the ability to read defenses, does he know how to anticipate when a receiver will be open before they are so he can get a throw out.

He can learn how to read and throw from the pocket, under center, etc. The rest of those skills you either have or you don't. He does have an arm, but those other things aren't really well known at least at NFL levels. He didn't have to read as much of defenses at Oregon as he will in the NFL and his passing game was hitting the speedsters that were wide open. He wasn't asked to anticipate and make throws before the route breaks.

It's not that he is bad at those things, but he wasn't asked to do them.

IF Mariota makes it as a starter I think it takes at least 3 years and a fair amount of growing pains to get there.

 

[RegentDenali]

Anybody who witnessed Cable's tenure as head coach of the University of Idaho can attest to the fact that he is indeed an expert on fundamentally bad college offenses.