An offensive lineman who loses his confidence after getting beat usually starts playing hesitant and overthinking the next snap. That hesitation is usually an involuntary stress response that starts below conscious control, and film study and encouragement typically do not change it. What typically helps is training his nervous system to handle discomfort, through Brainspotting and biofeedback with a mental performance specialist. Most athletes need about 15 to 25 sessions, and the work is usually hard during sessions with real relief afterward.

Published on 11/6/26, written by Benjamin Foodman, CMPC, LCSW, CSCS

Ben Foodman is a licensed psychotherapist & Certified Mental Performance Consultant (CMPC) through the Association for Applied Sport Psychology (AASP). He owns his private practice located in Charlotte North Carolina where he specializes in working with athletes to help them overcome mental blocks (the yips), increase mental toughness and improve focus using techniques such as Brainspotting, biofeedback, exercise science and sport psychology. If you are interested in services, use the link here! Enjoy the article below!

a thumbnail of football offensive linesman using sport psychology

Is It a Confidence Problem or a Technique Problem?

If he keeps getting beat by the same move in practice, it is a technique problem, so start with his position coach. If he handles that move in practice but makes errors or plays hesitant in games, it is usually a stress response which looks like a confidence problem. Many linemen have a little of both, and each one feeds the other.

Coaches are right that many lost reps are technique. Oversetting against an outside rush, high pad level, late hands, and misreading the front will get any lineman beat, in any setting. A good position coach spots those quickly, and working on technique should come first. A new position, a scheme change, a return from injury, or a drop in playing time can also change how he plays, so rule those out too.

Three checks help sort it out before anyone calls someone new:

Does he know the assignment and the front? If he can walk through the play on film after the game and name what the defense showed him, recognition is not the problem.
Does the same move beat him in practice? A mechanical flaw is consistent. If a counter move beats him in one-on-ones during practice and again on gameday, the work needs to focus on technique.
Is his first step wrong, or is it correct and late? A wrong step points to mechanics. A correct step that comes a fraction of a second late, against a move he handles in practice, points to hesitation.

If all of these issues have been evaluated and his coach says the technique is sound, the next question is when and how the tension shows up. This is where things can get complicated because even though most practices or scrimmages can be low stakes, there are some situations where these events can cause stress because the lineman might be focused on the fact that their job is on the line. An important point that coaches and family should consider, is that if the technique was sound before these issues showed up, then this is most likely a mental performance issue that requires a specialist. I have explored this issue in football players in previous Training Report issues, but we will cover this in more detail about offensive lineman in the next section.

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Does It Matter When the Tension Shows Up?

Yes. When the tension shows up tells you what is setting it off and how long it has been building. For example, low-stakes events such as one-on-one drills in the spring are less likely to trigger this type of tension than practices in fall camp when athletes are fighting for a job.

When an offensive lineman or any other athlete starts playing tight, the timing is the clue. Look at what was going on around the time it started. A few things that often line up:

A significant injury in recent months that needed extended rest or surgery
A family or personal event, such as a divorce, a breakup, or a death in the family
New pressure on his spot in the lineup
A recent move to a new area
A schedule so full that he is running on empty
If he has had a head injury, or still seems off after one (get that checked first)

There are other common triggers that can affect this issue as well, but ultimately, what coaches, family, and the athlete themselves need to understand is that lost confidence is not the core issue. Lost confidence is the end result of a deeper issue. After events like these occur, what typically seems to be the case is that the offensive lineman’s brain switched to perceiving the sport environment as a threat rather than a normal football experience. This is because when we experience high-stress events that exceed our nervous system’s ability to tolerate, there is a predictable series of mechanisms that our brain activates in response to these experiences. We will cover the neuroscience behind this in the next section.

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Why Don't Pep Talks, Film Review, and Pre-Snap Routines Fix It?

Because a stress response is involuntary, and these tools work on his thinking, not on how his body reacts to the performance stress that occurs at the line. Pep talks, film review and pre snap routines can help a lineman who is a little nervous, but they typically do not help one who is experiencing high levels of tension.

Most advice for this problem is sound for a lineman who gets nervous: review the film, take a breath, use a short cue before the snap, and move on to the next play. A consistent routine gives him something familiar to do, and film review is how technique improves.

a 4 step infographic explaining how lineman lose confience

A lineman whose body is bracing is in a different situation. He is not choosing to tighten up at the line or be overly anxious. A fear state or an anxiety state appears to reduce activity in the prefrontal regions that support deliberate control, which is why he can logically understand what he should be doing from a technique and performance perspective, but his body and mind will not let him. Polyvagal theory describes the nervous system as scanning for safety and threat below conscious awareness, which fits what many linemen describe: they are not thinking about the threat, but their body is reacting as if there is imminent danger.

Five common responses can backfire for a lineman in this state:

Telling him to forget it and play the next snap. He can say it and mean it, and his body still stays on alert. The instruction speaks to his thinking, and that is not where the response starts.
Review that keeps returning to the rep he lost. If every film session circles back to the loss, he spends more time with the memory of that experience, and nothing changes in how his body responds at the line.
Moving him down or taking him out of the lineup. It can be the right call for the team. It also teaches him that the way to handle the feeling at the line is to avoid it, and avoidance typically keeps it going.
Hoping that the issue will just go away and work itself out. Alot of coaches, family members and athletes think this will just go away on its’ own, or that talking about it makes it worse. Unfortunately, doing nothing will exacerbate the problem.
Trying to fix the problem by doing it yourself. People will watch free YouTube videos, read books, listen to podcasts or review reddit pages for advice, but this would be like breaking your arm and only using basic free content to heal the break.

Fortunately, there are experts who deal with these exact types of issues all of the time, and in the next section, we are going to review some of the interventions they use to help offensive lineman overcome this issue.

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What Actually Helps an Offensive Lineman Get His Confidence Back?

What typically helps is training his nervous system to handle more stress, through Brainspotting and biofeedback with a mental performance specialist, plus daily breathing work between sessions. Sessions are usually hard and mentally taxing, but athletes often experience real relief afterward. Most athletes need about 15 to 25 sessions, and some need more.

Brainspotting uses a specific eye position, held with sustained focus, to help the brain work through stress that has been firing at the line of scrimmage. Corrigan and Grand propose that a held gaze appears to engage deeper midbrain pathways involved in how these responses are stored. That is a hypothesis still being tested, not settled science, but there is a significant number of emerging case studies and research that is both compelling and demonstrate how training your mind to become more comfortable with discomfort can be the way to go.

a 3-step infographic on sport psychology skills NFL Offensive lineman can use to get their confidence back

It is not visualization, a pep talk, or a relaxation exercise. Sessions are usually difficult while they are happening. Offensive lineman that has gone through this process will access the tension they feel in high-stakes situations, the memories, and the body sensations he has been avoiding, and that discomfort is part of the work. Athletes typically report a significant release of tension afterward, and Corrigan, Grand, and Raju propose that processing continues after a session ends. Becoming comfortable with discomfort is an effective framework for training the mind to handle more stress, the same way strength & conditioning works trains an athlete’s body to be ready for the physical demands of their sport.

Between sessions, daily breathing work and biofeedback help athletes stay settled and arrive at practice regulated. A full walkthrough of a session is in what happens in a Brainspotting session for athletes. On timelines, honesty beats marketing. A lineman whose confidence dropped after one specific game may increase faster with this type of approach. But most cases of lost confidence build across a season or longer, which is why the average is 15 to 25 sessions, each about an hour, typically weekly or every two weeks to resolve the issue. Some need well beyond that. Progress shows up as the tension and anxiety are happening less often, less intensely, and for shorter stretches, not as one dramatic change.

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What Does It Look Like When an Offensive Lineman Gets His Confidence Back?

After offensive lineman use Brainspotting and biofeedback, typically they report feeling freer, are excited to be in high-pressure situations and are more aggressive on the line of scrimmage.

Here is what typically happens. The first sessions are the hardest. He is working through what he has been avoiding, and many athletes leave tired. Within a day or two, most report real relief and less tightness in their body.

After that, the changes are small and show up in practice first. He reports some tension still, but it is noticeably reduced. A bad rep stays one bad rep instead of carrying into the next two or three plays.

The first game where he is back to normal is rarely a big moment. He gets beat once, stays in the next play, and finishes the game without hesitating. As is the case with all forms of training, this is a process.

Progress is not a straight line. A tough week or a bad game can bring the tension back and this is not uncommon. But over time tension comes back less often and passes faster. Most athletes need about 15 to 25 sessions, and some need more. A few move faster, but that is the best case, not what to expect. What is important to understand, is that this process is training the mind to take on more stress. And when an athlete can do this, they become less confident and can reset faster when setbacks do occur, because setbacks during performance are inevitable. But when an athlete’s nervous system stops forcing them to see games as a threat, their mental reset times are faster, and their confidence usually improves.

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Frequently Asked Questions About Offensive Linemen and Lost Confidence

Keep it short and start with something other than the film. Tell him you can see how much he cares, ask if he wants to talk, and let him bring up football first. If every interaction turns into a review of every rep, this adds pressure he is already putting on himself.
Start with his position coach to rule out technique, then look for someone who works with the body's stress response, not only routines and self-talk. Titles vary: some professionals are licensed, some hold the Certified Mental Performance Consultant (CMPC) credential through AASP, and a few hold both. The question that matters most is whether the training goes beyond mindset coaching. More on how athletes choose a provider is in this post on elite athletes in Charlotte.
Typically months, not weeks. Most athletes need about 15 to 25 sessions, usually weekly or every two weeks, and some need more. Faster results happen, but they are the best case, not the expectation.
Yes, with planning. Brainspotting sessions are hard and can leave him drained afterward, so they are usually scheduled away from game days.
No, though they can overlap. Lost confidence is a broad drop in how he trusts himself at the line. The yips is a specific skill that breaks under pressure, and on an offensive line the clearest example is a center whose snap breaks down in games. The full explanation of mental blocks is in this review of how mental blocks and the yips affect performance.
It can. Once he is medically cleared, a lineman who still hesitates on the same contact that hurt him may be dealing with a stress response, not a physical limit. I have explored this in other issues of the Training Report.

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Is It Worth Getting Help for an Offensive Lineman Who Has Lost His Confidence?

Yes, if his technique holds up in practice and he still plays tight and late once the game is live, especially after film review, routines, and encouragement have not changed it. If he plans to play in college, starting sooner matters, because the level of competition and scrutiny only increases.

If this sounds like your lineman, effective help exists, and this is a trainable problem, not a character flaw. Most athletes try to get over this issue by either doing themselves, watching free YouTube videos or listen to podcasts. Some will try to listen to music before competitions or will use techniques that their teammates have tried. But this specific type of issue usually requires a specialist and it is worth investigating to see if mental training can possibly help you with this issue.

If you would like to learn more, you are in luck because I offer these types of services. The next step is a discovery call. It is free, confidential, done over video, and takes about an hour. We talk through what you are seeing, what has already been tried, and whether this is a mental block I can help with. If it is not the right fit, I will tell you and point you toward someone who is. You can set it up using this link or the contact form below.

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