A devastating bull rush is the most mentally debilitating power rush a defender can perform – potentially do much more mental harm than physical to an offensive lineman.

It’s a rush that’s not an indicator of who’s the better athlete or who’s the better player. It’s a rush that when executed properly speaks to the core of who we are as football players.

If you haven’t been hit with a bull rush that made you question your desire to continue playing football, you haven’t been playing long enough. It’s a will-imposing tactic that can turn in to your Boogey Man or El Chupacabra, depending on where you’re from.

SEE ALSO: Read Keith Grabowski’s Building an Offensive Line series

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Pass Rush without having to beat your body down. Sign me up coych! #LBDesign #BuiltToDominate™ pic.twitter.com/nz0MHIkMSD

— LeCharles Bentley (@OLineWorld65) March 9, 2016

 

 

Game safety has to improve, but OL need to get better. New pass pro tool here - #BeOLP https://t.co/qHqm7hHnWB pic.twitter.com/y4Bj5x6VCt

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Here are three ways to help linemen better deal with the bull rush:

Set your feet with confidence

The bull rush works really well against a lineman whose feet aren’t doing the work. It’s imperative to be in position at any given point in time to fight pressure with pressure.

The bull rush is straight-line pressure. If your feet aren’t where and how they need to be, you’re in trouble. There can’t be any hesitation or second-guessing. If you don’t know or believe in what you’re doing, you are done.

Do not lock out your arms

Some coaches believe offensive linemen should pass protect with their arms fully extended. Without turning this into a philosophy debate, I’m going to pose two questions:

• If you held a 45-pound plate out in front of you, would it be more difficult to support the weight with straight arms or arms slightly bent?
• If you were to trip and fall, would you want to land with your arms locked out or with a slight bend at the elbow?

Both of the correct answers are rooted in center of mass and stability. The further your arms travel away from the body, the further your center of mass travels with it, thus losing stability. Linemen must hold the center of mass underneath to provide the stability required to stop a bull rush.

Don’t drop your backside

Once you hit 90 degrees of flexion at the knee joint, your center of mass is too far behind you.

Grab a chair, sit down, have a friend pull the chair from underneath you, what happens?

You must think of sinking the hips and not dropping the butt. There’s a huge difference.

LeCharles Bentley is a former Pro Bowl center and guard who played six seasons with the New Orleans Saints and Cleveland Browns. Certified in strength and conditioning, sports nutrition, functional movement systems, fascial stretch therapy and Olympic weightlifting, he operates LeCharles Bentley O-Line Performancein Chandler, Ariz., and is Nike’s lead offensive line performance coach.