Phillip Buchanon was an All-American cornerback at Miami and played 10 years in the NFL, which makes him uniquely qualified to talk about football. By the looks of his Twitter feed, it also makes him uniquely qualified to coach football, or more specifically, to offer some unsolicited advice to Al Golden (whom he refers to as "Folden") in the wake of the Hurricanes' 31-13 loss at Louisville on Monday night. He has some screengrabs, and also a helpful (mostly) numbered list for Golden to incorporate into this week's game plan.
4th down and 1 pic.twitter.com/yEGldqDDYi
— Phillip Buchanon (@PhillipBuchanon) September 4, 2014
My suggestions to our football team: 1. The 3-4 is based on re-routing and bringing pressure by blitzing different guys.
— Phillip Buchanon (@PhillipBuchanon) September 3, 2014
2. Zone dropping with better awareness on the QB by the LB's and DB's to break on the ball is a lot faster for short routes—
— Phillip Buchanon (@PhillipBuchanon) September 3, 2014
3. 1st & 15, 2nd & long or 3rd & long down and distances are screens and draws alert on regular downs or in 2min situations.
— Phillip Buchanon (@PhillipBuchanon) September 3, 2014
4. An Empty backfield is a quick game alert. Our defense needs to be trigger ready because the ball will come out quick.
— Phillip Buchanon (@PhillipBuchanon) September 3, 2014
5. An empty backfield in the red zone is a QB draw alert.
— Phillip Buchanon (@PhillipBuchanon) September 3, 2014
Disguising creates an opportunity for guys on the defensive line and linebackers to come scot-free on regular calls and blitzes—
— Phillip Buchanon (@PhillipBuchanon) September 3, 2014
- It seems like we are reacting instead of dictating the game. - Techniques for certain formations should be better and tighter.
— Phillip Buchanon (@PhillipBuchanon) September 3, 2014
8. On Offense, use 7 to 8 man max protection to give the freshman QB confidence and time to make good reads down the field.
— Phillip Buchanon (@PhillipBuchanon) September 3, 2014
9. Hire someone else as your special teams coach. Folden you need to study good NFL and College special teams coaches.
— Phillip Buchanon (@PhillipBuchanon) September 3, 2014
10. Change the snap count to give our O lineman an advantage.
— Phillip Buchanon (@PhillipBuchanon) September 3, 2014
11. We also need someone who is fast on the kick off team to be the safety just in case someone breaks out(just like in the Louisville game
— Phillip Buchanon (@PhillipBuchanon) September 3, 2014
— Phillip Buchanon (@PhillipBuchanon) September 3, 2014
On one hand, you could argue Buchanon makes some worthwhile points. Even someone who never played the game would likely admit stacking the box on 4th-and-1 is a prudent thing to do.
On the other, you could argue Buchanon is being just a tad unfair given that the offense was being led by a freshman QB (Brad Kaaya) in his first career start, in a hostile environment, and that it was the defense that kept Miami in the game until the 4th quarter. You could also argue that he's out of line in questioning the quality of work of Miami's coaching staff, especially when it appears he himself has no experience in leading a football program at any level.
I guess when Miami beats Florida A&M by 70 on Saturday, Buchanon can beat his chest about the implementation of all his successful gameplan suggestions.
