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Post by davecisar on Feb 8, 2011 19:47:07 GMT -6
How Important Are Turnovers in Youth Football?
In the 2011 Super Bowl, the Pittsburgh Steelers probably lost the game due to turnovers. In the history of the Super Bowl the team that has won the turnover battle has won 33 and lost 3 of those games. Important in the NFL? Yes
But how important are turnovers in the youth game? The answer is just, if not more. The reason turnovers may be even more important is the fact that there far fewer possessions in a youth football game. Most youth football games have just 10 minute quarters, while College and NFL games have 15 minute quarters. In youth football there are many more running plays compared to the prevalence of passing you see in the NFL and College games which also brings the number of possessions down. Most youth team huddle and do not run plays at the same pace as most NFL and College teams, which means even fewer plays. Starting to understand why you have to make every possession count in youth football?
More on protecting the ball and ball hawking in future posts. We place a premium on protecting the football in my program. In 2005 we had just 2 turnovers in a 11 game season, in 2006 just 4 in 11 games. In 2007 just 4 in 11 games. This past season we had an inordinately high number of 6 in 12 games, but we did throw a little bit more, getting 18 touchdown passes to go along with the 3 interceptions. Ball security is key and has played a major role in the success of most championship level youth football teams.
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Post by mhcoach on Feb 8, 2011 20:56:19 GMT -6
DC
Turnovers at every level are extremely important. I agree in principle that they may even more important in youth football; however it is also dependent on the quality of your opponent. I work hard with my team on this very issue. This past season we had 5 fumbles all season & 3 interceptions. Unfortunately for us we fumbled 4 times in 1 game at the nationals ( we lost 3 of those). We were able to overcome this & won 50-16 (I know you saw the video). In a usual youth game we should have lost the game.
We coach our Defense to force turnovers for the very reasons you describe in your post. The thing is at the NFL level all those teams are basically on an even plane. So turnovers there will definitely have an impact. You & I both know that against inferior teams at the youth level it may not really make a difference. I have seen the same thing at the HS level. We all have seen it at the college level. Think about Florida a few years ago turning the ball over 4 times against Charleston & winning by 60, a month later they do the same against Arkansas & lose.
All told turnovers are a mark of your team's fundamentals & coaching. I remember posting on here after that game & being upset. Posters here told me to forget it yet it bothers me to today. I just don't ever want to accept fumbles. I know it's part of the game, but that doesn't mean I have to accept it.
Joe
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Post by coachbrek on Feb 8, 2011 21:12:45 GMT -6
"The reason turnovers may be even more important is the fact that there far fewer possessions in a youth football game. Most youth football games have just 10 minute quarters,"
That is exactly right DC I will give you an example, in our second to last game this year we took the ball first and were driving the ball but we lost a fumble and they scored, now we are down a possession and were screwed against a good team.
We were down 16-6, we went no huddle and got two scores back before the half.
We ended up winning 34-22 but we lose that game if we do not have a no huddle hurry up offense to get more possessions before we run out of time.
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Post by cyflcoach on Feb 8, 2011 23:25:25 GMT -6
There's no question that our success on the field in wins and losses is directly related to the number of times we turn the ball over and conversely the number of takeaways we are able to come away with defensively.
We do try to focus on taking care of the ball, whether it's during indy drills, scrimmage or any other time, but I'm not sure that we do anything that's special in that regard. We just emphasize its importance and use a few subtle "reminders" during practice when one of the kids puts the ball on the ground. That focus seems to have paid off for us. Like so many other things, if you allow it, you might as well condone it.
Dave Hartman
CYFL Coach
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Post by coachmsl on Feb 10, 2011 7:08:50 GMT -6
On a side note, this past year we incorporated strip drills into our defensive period. Did them 1-2 a week. We had 6 successful strips this year. This is on top of the normal pick up / cover up a fumble or interception. Really was great for our attitude on Defense. Get that ball!!! You could see the other team just deflate when we ripped the ball out of there best kids hands and ran the other way.
Matt
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Post by coachmsl on Feb 10, 2011 7:08:50 GMT -6
On a side note, this past year we incorporated strip drills into our defensive period. Did them 1-2 a week. We had 6 successful strips this year. This is on top of the normal pick up / cover up a fumble or interception. Really was great for our attitude on Defense. Get that ball!!! You could see the other team just deflate when we ripped the ball out of there best kids hands and ran the other way.
Matt
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Post by davecisar on Feb 10, 2011 8:40:24 GMT -6
On a side note, this past year we incorporated strip drills into our defensive period. Did them 1-2 a week. We had 6 successful strips this year. This is on top of the normal pick up / cover up a fumble or interception. Really was great for our attitude on Defense. Get that ball!!! You could see the other team just deflate when we ripped the ball out of there best kids hands and ran the other way. Matt Matt Please describe the progressions DC |
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Post by ampipebulldog on Feb 10, 2011 10:45:01 GMT -6
What a well timed post. I was thinking the same thing as I watched the Super Bowl, because it mirrored my own thoughts, especially my Senior City Championship game in December.
We were 9-0 with zero turnovers. Our daily mantra that the kids loved to say was, "Thou shall not fumble!!"
They started to be really aware of our +/- ratio and thrived. In the Senior City Championship we lost 4 fumbles in 6 possessions and lost the game 7-0. Never saw it coming based on a season of perfection, but that was the difference.
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Post by bobgoodman on Feb 10, 2011 12:20:04 GMT -6
I'm the one here who advocates "blunt instrument" stripping of the ball using a forearm, elbow, or shoulder.
However, I'll point out that the riskiest way to hold the ball against an outright hands-to-hands steal is directly in front of you with both hands equally. Not bad with overlapping forearms as in layered, but hands and middle of chest as points of contact is just asking for it, although your players may be tempted to do it when ball security is needed most because intuitively it looks safest and because we have the most feeling in our fingers.
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Post by coachmsl on Feb 12, 2011 7:10:08 GMT -6
DC
We will do these 10 minute stations a couple times a week at first. They rotate daily. The LBs and CBs also do a tip drill.
Station 1
1 on 1 strip
Ballcarrier facing North
Defender facing North behind ballcarrier 3 yards or so.
On signal Ballcarrier jogs and defender attacks. 1 hand grabs cloth on the side / front other hand chops, pulls at hand. Once the ball is loose fetal cover.
Station 2
2 on 1 strip
Ballcarrier facing north
Defender 1 facing south fitted in hit position (Hugh Wyatt's term for the tackling position right before rolling the hips)
Defender 2 facing north (or slightly to the side)
On signal Defender 1 will finish the form tackle, while Defender 2 strips the ball.
Station 3
Agility - Scoop and score.
4 dummies laid down parallel about a yard apart.
Line of defenders on one end.
On signal defender navigates thru / over dummies as directed. Once thru dummies, coach bounces / rolls / tosses / drops / kicks.... ball. Defender scoops with PROPER tech and scores.
If the defender bobbles 1 time he must fetal cover.
TECH. Bend at the knees not the waist. Scoop the ball with hans together fingers racking the ground up to chest.
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Post by coachmsl on Feb 12, 2011 7:14:41 GMT -6
Bob
The blunt instrument fumble is just a fumble for us.
Personally i dont teach helmet on the ball anymore. To many kids tackling with facemask down. It happens, but i dont want to encourage it (facemask down). We changed / molded our philosophy 2 years ago to chest plate tackling.
Matt
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Post by texasbuzzard on Feb 12, 2011 11:57:37 GMT -6
I had a kid that stripped a football out, took off for the endzone, one of those long highlight runs. Parents went wild. Took the whole rest of the game to get him back to tackling form, he spent too much focus and energy on trying to repeat his stunt than playing sound football.
Seems like more yards are gained by the offense and therefore more points for the opponent by trying to force a fumble and failing than the yards we have gotten (points) from those forced fumbles. I don't have hard data to back that up, Dave might though. I think we have tackled the same player enough times with the proper technique that his ball protection suffered badly. He didn't want the football anymore.
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Post by davecisar on Feb 12, 2011 12:22:52 GMT -6
Great point tb
Kids can miss tackles by being too concerned with getting the ball loose
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Post by coachmsl on Feb 12, 2011 14:18:19 GMT -6
tb
The nice thing about repping the strip in practice is it will be done correct and in context in a game. Just like everything else in this sport. If you want them to consistantly do something correct, then you'd better rep the hell out of it. Stripping the ball is not THE priority. But it is something we put up there on our list. I guess you need to gauge your own group and whether its something you want to teach. We did not have any problems with what tb is talking about.
Matt
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