NAPA – Paul Guenther breaks the offseason and training camp into three phases. He installs the new Raiders defense in each one. Repetition, it seems, leads to mastery.
The last phase starts in training camp, but the final installation runs unlike the previous two.
Lectures are over. In Napa, students become the teacher. Guenther randomly calls players to the front of the class to decipher plays and call out the adjustments required to make them work well.
Guenther’s teaching methods have worked well. Scheme retention was strong following a summer off, a positive that allowed the Raiders to hit the ground running in training camp.