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Thanks everyone for the input.
Here's an interesting article on Vince Lombardi's philosophy with regard to playbooks. I agree with Vince.
Here's an interesting article on Vince Lombardi's philosophy with regard to playbooks. I agree with Vince.
What were the key features of Lombardi's methods? I would summarize the article this way:
•Do a few things extremely well rather than many things moderately well.
•Everyone should understand the big picture, not just his/her own tasks. Share responsibility.
•Hands-on learning methods and repeated drilling bring superior comprehension.
Regarding point 1, Lombardi cut the team's repertoire of offensive plays to under 40% as many as the average opponent had. With fewer plays, the Packers could practice each more intensively. They won through superior execution rather than through the element of surprise.
On point 2, Lombardi relieved the quarterback of the responsibility to remind each player of his assignment in the upcoming play. The signals that the quarterback called out were thus simplified and shortened. The other players, meanwhile, were expected to remember their duties, as well as those of their teammates. One player remarked that this gave everyone greater "ownership" of the offense.
Concerning point 3, Lombardi did not hand his players a preprinted playbook with diagrams of each play. Instead, in training camp they had to copy precisely on blank paper his blackboard diagrams. He also made sure not to move to the next lesson until the slowest player in the class fully understood the present one. The process was repeated from the start during training camp each year, even for veteran players.
•Do a few things extremely well rather than many things moderately well.
•Everyone should understand the big picture, not just his/her own tasks. Share responsibility.
•Hands-on learning methods and repeated drilling bring superior comprehension.
Regarding point 1, Lombardi cut the team's repertoire of offensive plays to under 40% as many as the average opponent had. With fewer plays, the Packers could practice each more intensively. They won through superior execution rather than through the element of surprise.
On point 2, Lombardi relieved the quarterback of the responsibility to remind each player of his assignment in the upcoming play. The signals that the quarterback called out were thus simplified and shortened. The other players, meanwhile, were expected to remember their duties, as well as those of their teammates. One player remarked that this gave everyone greater "ownership" of the offense.
Concerning point 3, Lombardi did not hand his players a preprinted playbook with diagrams of each play. Instead, in training camp they had to copy precisely on blank paper his blackboard diagrams. He also made sure not to move to the next lesson until the slowest player in the class fully understood the present one. The process was repeated from the start during training camp each year, even for veteran players.
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