Let's talk OTA's

[tshile]

Originally Posted by Defensewins

New coach, but definitely not new techniques.
The technique of using your hands in pass rush has been around since Deacon Jones played the game. Rule changes were put in place in 1977 called the "Deacon Jones rule" because Deacon used his quick hands so well to head/helmet slap his opponent that it would leave his opponents dumbfounded.
Pass rush moves like: swim, grab, rip/inside, spin, under, counter/club, bull rush and speed rush have been in existence for decades.
Why Orakpo and his former coaches have never worked on this in practice before is what is glaring. Probably explains why Orakpo only has two pass rush moves speed and bull rush.

As a critic of Orakpo over the last few years, I hear the last bit a lot and always wonder....

The assumption always seems to be, in these situations, that the coaches are not teaching the player whatever the desired improvement is; in this case: that Orakpo develop and use more moves.

It just makes me wonder... is it possible they are trying, and he (for whatever reason) just isn't doing it? Maybe he can't break old habits, maybe he just doesn't understand, etc?

Maybe it is the coaches, but I'd think at some point this criticism of him became well known enough to both Orakpo and the Coaches that at this point in his career blaming the coaches for not trying seems to not make sense to me.

A counter argument to that, I suppose, would be to ask why they'd franchise him if the problem was that he couldn't figure it out.... but who knows.