I have spent the last 35 years of my life in and around the NFL, first as a player for 16 seasons from 1978 to 1993, then as a broadcaster: from 1994-2001 doing studio shows with CNN, preseason games for the Carolina Panthers (1995-2001) and regular season games with NBC in 1997 and radio for WestwoodOne from 1999 to 2001. In 2002, I went into coaching with the San Diego Chargers and then Oakland Raiders through 2008. The last five years I have been back in the broadcast booth with WestwoodOne doing the national radio broadcast for Sunday Night Football. I’ve seen and learned a lot about the game and seen it evolve over the past 35 years. Looking back, I thought I’d like to share with you what I remember about a typical week in the life of an assistant coach. Let’s start at the end…
Game Day. Under Marty Schottenheimer, for home games, we did not stay at a hotel Saturday night. That means I’d wake up at home sweet home around 6 AM. I would run at the local high school for about an hour. Breakfast at home and arrive at the stadium by 9:30, where I’d re-read the play sheet and all that small print. I didn’t even need glasses back then.
At 11 AM, it was time for pregame warm-ups with the players on the field. 1 PM: Kick. 4 PM or so: Postgame. Shower, talk to my individual players, and check with training staff for injury updates. 5 PM: Exit the locker room and head home for family time. Some members of the coaching staff would head to the office for a couple of hours to watch the game film and get ready for Monday. With technology nowadays, you can take your work with you always.
Which brings us back to the beginning. Monday is the beginning of a long workweek. You will be in the office the next four days from 6 in the morning to close to midnight Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. What do we do with all that time? Everything. You eat all three meals and snacks at the office. If you’re lucky and smart you wedge in 30 minutes a day for exercise.
Monday you watch the game film at least four times. Once on your own. One more time to grade the film. One more time as an offensive or defensive staff, then again with your players, maybe also with the whole offense or defense. Then when things aren’t going so well, again with the head coach. And that’s all before noon!
There is film study of the coming opponent. You also have to decide what film you want your players to watch when they come back to work on Wednesday. The rest of Monday is a pregame planning type day. You gather your thoughts and ideas on the specific areas you are responsible for and assemble thoughts and ideas that may or may not go into the game plan.
Tuesday you hammer out most of the game plan. There was a time when your base offense went in on Wednesday and your nickel and sub packages went in on Thursday and red zone, short yardage and goal line were done on Friday. That thinking is like the word processor: it just doesn’t cut it any more. With so much work done during the off-season OTAs and mini-camps, the game plan is always full speed ahead. So now you’ve got to be ready with your entire package on Tuesday evening — give or take 50-odd plays on the offensive side of the ball.
Remember Allen Iverson’s great line, “Practice? Practice? You talkin’ about practice!” Well, wonder what Allen would think about walk-throughs? Walk-throughs – or more correctly, jog-throughs – are what happens before practice because you don’t have enough time to practice all the plays in your game plan. On that giant laminated sheet that the offensive coordinator uses to cover his mouth so no one can read his lips are about 500 plays – enough for the first eight games of the season. A walk-through is scripted and jogged against defensive/offensive looks that you’re not going to work in the regular practice. It’s filmed and reviewed by the coaches and players.
Later, we have staff meetings to go over the practice schedules, meetings to determine which player will run a certain play in practice. There’s constant review and evaluation of players. Post-practice the staff will blitz through the film, then watch it again with the players before they leave for the day. You don’t want the players to leave for the day without knowing what they’ve done right or wrong.
Finally it’s Friday! Coaches actually leave the office before the streetlights come on most times. I think coaches invented TGIF!
And just like that, we’re back to game day. I get to see my coaching brethren for a couple hours on the field now before Sunday night games. They have wandered out of the locker room to socialize with their comrades on the opposing team. To a man they look a little sleep deprived, but also anxious knowing that by playing Sunday night the work week is upon them that much faster. Heaven forbid that it’s road game and the arrival back in their home city is scheduled for 3:30 in the morning! That late arrival makes for a tough call: to the cot in the office or home for an hour or two? That’s the big question before they start the next week’s grind.
– James Lofton
James Lofton is the analyst for WestwoodOne’s coverage of Sunday Night Football. This week, James will be in Denver for the game of the week as the Broncos host the unbeaten Kansas City Chiefs with first place in the AFC West on the line. Coverage begins at 7:30 PM Eastern.
