Cold Weather Tackling
It’s mid-December and for a lot of the country, it’s COLD! If you are still playing football (like the NFL) you know that the cold weather affects the game in any number of ways. As a former NFL special teams…
Making the Chip Shot (Part IV) –The Kicker
Mike Sweatman, Retired NFL Special Teams Coach Everything that I know about kicking a football has been taught to me by the professional kickers that I have been fortunate enough to have been around and coach. I am the first…
Making the Chip Shot (Part III, the Holder)
We often are tasked with coaching a position or skill that we’ve never had to play or perform. “Holding” for a field goal or extra point is a skill that was completely foreign to me, yet as a new special…
Making the Chip Shot (Part II – The Snapper)
(Part II, The Snapper) Perhaps the most important element in the snap – hold – kick process is the snapper. The play starts with the snap and if the snap is “off”, the play has a reduced chance of success….
Making the Chip Shot (Part I – The Coach)
The offense has moved the ball down inside the 15 yard line. Now it’s time for the coach to send in the FIELD GOAL TEAM for what clearly is a “chip shot FG”…… Come on Man! There is no such…
Super Safety
By Mike Sweatman Retired NFL Special Teams Coach How many Super Bowls have ended with one team taking a “safety” and then executing a “free kick”? We were rewarded in Super Bowl XLVII with multiple exciting special teams’ plays:…