Miles
Well-known member
- Mar 18, 2019
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There’s a nugget of information to glean from each player and each conversation.
Former Broncos outside linebacker DeMarcus Ware demonstrates a power rush move, and Campbell and Donald jump in to offer their own expertise. Melvin Ingram chimes in as the conversation turns to the cross chop, a move that Ngakoue has nearly perfected.
Raiders tackle Trent Brown shares how he blocks a rusher when he has help from a running back — and how he’d prefer to never have any help.
Former quarterback Doug Flutie tells Miller and Ngakoue the secret to learning the offense’s snap count and why he always felt he could make at least one edge rusher miss. Against today’s players, Flutie says, that might not be the case. Miller tells the former Bills quarterback he’s working on avoiding getting too far upfield. “I’ve been trying to address that,” Miller says.
Ware works one-on-one with Ngakoue on a move that shortens the edge and gives the rusher a way to push the offensive tackle’s hands away. “It clicked,” Ngakoue says. Ware offers the same one-on-one instruction to Donald.
Miller leads the group in a conversation about stance and get-off and how he approaches crunch time. “The get-off is going to do it for me 70 percent of the time when the game is on the line. … I’m a gambler. … Where we get our money is when there’s blood in the water,” the Super Bowl 50 MVP says.
The lessons continue in the film room, where Miller, Donald, Ngakoue and Campbell show their own tape and walk the rest of the players through their thought process.
“I think the biggest thing is being able to share ideas,” Campbell says. “I watch their tape, you know? I study these guys already. So I talk to them and get an understanding of what they’re seeing [so] when I’m actually looking at tape, it makes sense. We get a chance to get an idea of [where] they’re coming from. I always like studying great players to see what I can learn from them. …When I’m watching tape and I see it, in my mind I’m like, ‘What is he doing there? Why is he doing that?’ And then you come out here today and it’s like, ‘Ohhh. That makes sense.’”
When’s Brown’s film gets put up and he rewinds a play of himself blocking Ingram, the room roars with laughter. The reaction is similar when Brown, a former Patriot, and Donald trade barbs about their Super Bowl LIII matchup.
The value of the sessions — both on the field and in the classroom — is clear. Donald, perhaps scarily, says he learned moves that can make him better. Campbell says the field work is rare and crucial to their improvement. Ngakoue calls the different perspectives valuable.
Miller, of course, says picking the brains of these top-tier players is “incredibly dope.”
And Ware, even with his 138.5 career sacks, is jealous of the opportunity he never got.
“I wish I had something like this when I was playing,” Ware says. “I would’ve gotten to see the Larry Allens and the Dwight Freeneys and the Simeon Rices and Jason Taylors, [the] Michael Strahans.
“If I would’ve gotten to see some of those guys at the time, I would’ve picked their brains like these guys are picking my brain right now.”
There’s a reason, of course, for the collaboration. Though it may seem counterintuitive for Miller to help division rivals like Ingram and Clark, there’s an added value for each of these players to “link and learn,” as Miller puts it.
It could also even the playing field between offenses and defenses.
“The NFL still wants points to be scored,” Campbell says. “We’re going to have some fun, though.”