Hixon

[Lughead]

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New York Giants' Hixon ready to step into Burress' shoes, unusual stance intact

 

by Mike Garafolo/The Star-Ledger Saturday December 06, 2008, 7:32 PM

 

Chris Faytok/The Star-LedgerDomenik Hixon's hands-in-front-of-face stance has his teammates thinking he looks like a praying mantis. Early in his stint with the Giants -- sometime last year after being claimed off waivers from the Denver Broncos -- Domenik Hixon received the film-room ribbing he had been expecting for a while.

 

Up on the screen, he was standing at the line of scrimmage -- hands in front of his face and knees bent in a crouch. Amani Toomer told the second-year player he looked like a mixed-martial arts fighter.

 

Maybe.

 

"Did I really say that? I don't remember saying that, but I might have," Toomer recalled in the locker room the other day in response to Hixon's recollection. "Actually, he looks like those bugs that look ready to punch. What's that bug?"

 

Praying mantis.

 

"Yeah, he looks like a praying mantis," Toomer said, before laughing his way into a side room for a post-practice massage.

 

The Giants' postseason prayers are resting on Hixon's ability to take over for the suspended, self-wounded Plaxico Burress on a full-time basis, starting Sunday against the Philadelphia Eagles. With a victory, the Giants will clinch the NFC East division title and a first-round bye, so they'll take a big game from Hixon even if he's standing on one leg before the snap.

 

For Hixon, with his preferred stance, the jokes are endless. In a league in which wide receivers often stand casually at the line of scrimmage -- backs straight and arms at their sides, almost as if they're too cool for proper form -- Hixon employs a technique that one might expect from a Pop Warner player. It's a kung fu-style stance before the snap that makes him look more prepared to roundhouse kick the cornerback than run past him.

 

But while viewers at home, fans in the stadium, opposing players and even Hixon's teammates are scratching their heads and laughing at the squat, one coach is smiling.

 

"We'll be sitting in the office on Sundays and some of the players will be in here and they'll remark -- 'Hey, Domenik still has his stance,'" Akron offensive coordinator Joe Moorhead, who coached Hixon in college, said the other day by phone. "It's worked, so I guess he's grasping onto what's been good for him."

 

Moorhead, who also serves as the Zips' quarterbacks coach, was the program's wide receivers coach during Hixon's junior and senior seasons in 2004-05. Hixon was a safety in his first two years at Akron before switching to receiver, so he was a "blank slate" and willing to accept all coaching pointers, according to Moorhead.

 

"You could have told him to stand on his head at the line," Moorhead said, "and if he thought that was the best way to beat (the opponent), he was going to do it."

 

Moorhead's preferred stance was actually developed by Zips head coach J.D. Brookhart during his time at Pitt, where he coached two players who won the Biletnikoff Award (nation's top receiver): Larry Fitzgerald and Antonio Bryant. The Cardinals' Fitzgerald continues to employ Brookhart's technique in the NFL. Bryant, the Buccaneers' leading receiver, dropped it at some point and now stands with his hands at his sides.

 

"Knee over toe, chest over the knee, shoulders back, hands up and see through your hands to the defender," Moorhead said he tells the players every day during release drills.

 

Moorhead believes that receivers' putting their hands in front of their faces allows them to beat bump-and-run, man-to-man coverage.

 

"(The cornerback) doesn't get a chance to jam you, and with your hands inside, you're going to have the first shot to implement your release move at the line of scrimmage," Moorhead said. "I'd say halfway through (Hixon's) first year at receiver, we basically stopped seeing press coverage because he was so good at getting off of it."

 

Hixon tied a school record with 66 catches in 2004 and set a new mark with 75 for 1,210 yards and eight touchdowns in his senior year. He also had a diving, 36-yard touchdown catch with 10 seconds left to beat Northern Illinois in the MAC championship game after sitting out most of the fourth quarter because of cramps and dehydration.

 

The next spring, the Broncos drafted Hixon in the fourth round. One of his fellow rookies -- receiver Brandon Marshall -- thought Hixon looked stiff at the line, so he tried to get him to stand casually.

 

"It was bad news. I couldn't do it," Hixon said. "It took me too long to get my hands up to beat press coverage. That's your first move, so why not have them there already? It might look a little funny and a little different, but it works for me."

 

At 6-2, 182 pounds, Hixon doesn't have the size of the 6-5, 232-pound Burress, so proper technique is a must for him at split end, or the "X" receiver spot. At that position, he stands on the line of scrimmage, meaning he doesn't have the extra yard or two to avoid a defender that slot receivers and flankers have when they line up off the ball. Hixon's stance has helped him to create enough room to catch 26 passes for 373 yards and one touchdown this year, a breakout in his third NFL season.

 

But Moorhead said Hixon's attention to detail is also why he's grown to be more than just a special-teams contributor.

 

"As a coach, you knew he never was going to make the same mistake twice," Moorhead said. "Something would happen on the field, you'd come in the film room and would say, 'Domenik, this is what you did wrong.' You never had to mention it again. It was done and corrected.

 

"As he grows as a pro player, he'll continue to get better and better"

 

Said Giants coach Tom Coughlin: "He has (improved) from day one. From training camp, when he was given great opportunities to work, and times throughout the year when he has had a chance to really spend his time working with the quarterback and the offense in preparation to play, he has performed well."

 

Hixon credits good coaching, which is something he's tried to pass along. In the offseason, he worked with a group of children at a football camp back home in Ohio.

 

"I said, 'Okay, get in your receiver stance,' and they all put their hands down at their sides," Hixon recalled. "I'm like, 'No, we have to change that up.'"

 

 

 

 

good read

[boohyah]

I've seen other wideouts with the same stance.

[Lughead]

I've seen other wideouts with the same stance.

 

Yeah Fitzgerald and Bryant (of TampaBay) it said in the reading . I I am sure there are more but not sure though how far it goes back .

[Lubeck]

I love that stance. As soon as I see it I know where Hixon is lined up.

 

Hey if it works for a guy good for him. Receivers throughout NFL history have had odd quirks that they feel are part of their success. Hixon has the praying mantus look.

[Storm]

IDK, I don't see what's really odd about that stance at all...as opposed to looking like he doesn't care, Hixon looks like he's ready to start sprinting down the field and also use his hands to get that first separation...

[rphguy]

he looks intense...... like he actually cares.

[Lubeck]

Moorhead believes that receivers' putting their hands in front of their faces allows them to beat bump-and-run, man-to-man coverage.

 

"(The cornerback) doesn't get a chance to jam you, and with your hands inside, you're going to have the first shot to implement your release move at the line of scrimmage," Moorhead said. "I'd say halfway through (Hixon's) first year at receiver, we basically stopped seeing press coverage because he was so good at getting off of it."

 

"It was bad news. I couldn't do it," Hixon said. "It took me too long to get my hands up to beat press coverage. That's your first move, so why not have them there already? It might look a little funny and a little different, but it works for me."

 

Going back and reading the article again those comments stuck out. The media is prognosticating that opposing defenses will use a LOT more press coverage and put an extra guy in to load up against the run with Burress out. If Hixon is really that good at beating press coverage regularly DCs are going to start rethinking their press coverage ideas.