Question for Icness -DL coaches - What exactly do they do?

[emperorjones]

Anyone have any "on the ground" experience or knowledge with NFL DL coaches? What exactly are they responsible for during the game, during practice (yes I know they "coach" the DL)? Are they responsible for play development (ie taking a certain play and developing stunts/strategies to insure the plays success)?

I'm wondering how much bringing in a college coach (Brick Haley) to coach what was a great DL in 2006 had in 2007-08? Of course TH had the injury, but the rest of the line played subpar (with Alex Brown as a sometimes exception) when healthy for 2 years. Thus I wonder what the DL coach is responsible for and of course it follows how much RM can change/develop the players we have?

I noticed that the charges have hired Don Johnson (our former D Line coach under Ron Rivera).

[emperorjones]

Icness - you seem to have info. Any thoughts on this topic?

[Icness]

Their primary function is to teach and refine technique for the linemen. They work on stuff like hand placement, leverage, countermoves, stuff like that. They also spend a lot of time (at least Marinelli will) at getting the guys on the line to function as a symbiotic organism, working in concert with one another. And IMO the Bears badly need that; too often they've just lined up with no real plan of attack, no coordinated activity like a stunt or a group slide or two guys attacking the same gap. One thing (of the many...) I hate about Lovie is that his teams never do any variation on their gameplan from opponent to opponent. It's been a talented group but also an easy group to prepare against. I don't expect that to change much with another Tampa 2 guy in Marinelli, but Rod showed some propensity for attacking different schemes in different ways. On most teams the position coaches have input on that sort of thing, if they see something that their group can exploit. They'll notice if a guard is slow coming off the snap, or if an O-lineman has a tell about run or pass in their stance (like Garza does too often). The DL coach pores over film for things like that and breaks it down for his guys.

Most DL coaches are fiery, snarly types and strict disciplinarians. Marinelli isn't fiery but he commands respect and demands 100% discipline on every snap. Of course that's part of the reason he sucked so bad in Detroit, but he's got more to work with here--if the players are willing to work. For guys like Alex Brown and Dusty Dvoracek he'll be great, but Anderson and Harris are more sensitive to that type of thing.

Many times the DL Coach will work with the OL coach in developing those players as well. On some teams they do alot with the FG and XP units, not sure if the Bears fall in that or not.

[emperorjones]

Thanks, I was hoping you had insight on this one. Great post.

Overall Icness, it sounds like bringing in RM is definitely a good move (although you seem to suggest that Anderson & Harris might have to step up their effort to meet his discipline expectation - which is good too I guess). I'm really looking forward to this change and hope we get more than just 4 guys trying to Bull Rush their way to the QB. If we blitzed less, our coverage would be so much more freakin effective.

Do you think RM would like to go DE in round 1 or just work with what he has - or is it too early to tell?

Great info on Garza giving away plays btw.