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Post by 44dlcoach on Oct 23, 2012 19:14:47 GMT -6
So we have clinched our seed in the playoffs, there is really nothing that can happen this week that will change it. Was wondering what your thoughts are on how to approach the last regular season game, which is "meaningless" with regards to standings.
My thoughts are that we obviously don't want to get anybody hurt, but this is a physical game and sometimes things happen, the kids only get so many of them in their lives, and these aren't professionals who can turn it on and off. So I'm of the opinion that the standings don't matter, you treat every game the same, and play the game deciders until the game is decided, as I've heard somebody on here put it, but was curious how others felt.
As an aside, I have no intention of trying to influence how my program approaches the week, I'm not here looking for affirmation or anything, just genuinely curious how others feel. Thanks in advance.
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Post by grouchy71 on Oct 24, 2012 0:04:22 GMT -6
Real good topic, I'm of the opinion that there is no correct answer, it comes down to you and your situation. I've been in this situation a fair amount as an ass't and somewhat as a HC. I've talked with others and gotten some strong opinions both for playing everyone and not playing anyone. Personally, I like to play the "deciders" you mentioned, treat it as any other game when addressing the team. Having said that, I've also found it helpful to evaluate where we are at, what we need to do in order to win in the playoffs, and emphasize the heck out of it: passing game, punt blocks, zone coverages, whatever it is, that automatically becomes the focus of the game plan, and I will even be less than honest with the kids and sell them on the theory that working on whatever aspect is important because of the team we're playing that week, when the reality is that it isn't something we need to beat them, but a team 2 weeks out.
If a kid is banged up and could use a week off, I think it makes a lot of sense to rest him, I've tended to just sit a kid for the entire week rather than try to "limit" him. Just rest his ass if he needs it, i.e. coming back from sprained ankle, separated shoulder that could use an extra week, etc. Having said all that, it's hard not to try to win once the ball is kicked off and I think that's a good thing. The kids want to win, and winning and playing well tends to breed more winning and playing well, so although I mentioned a couple of "tweaks" we'll do schematically and with a kid or two, we still take the field with every intention of scoring more points than the other guy. Curious what others think too.
Grouch
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Post by coachfd on Oct 24, 2012 6:39:02 GMT -6
The philosophy has always been: "The train is going to continue to roll down the track' if another team gets in the way, they're going to get run-over on our way to the Title game."
Prep like normal. Prepare like normal. Play your starters like normal, until the outcome is assured--with the exception of maybe a few starters...give their backups opportunities to get reps. But always, always, always...if you're going to have people on the field, make sure they'll playing at the highest level. You don't ever want people out there going less-than-their-best...it develops bad habits.
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Post by CS on Oct 24, 2012 10:26:32 GMT -6
I think it depends on the opponent. If its gonna be a very competitive game then play balls out! if not then rotate in a lot and get everyone some pt and rest up your starters a little.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 24, 2012 12:03:54 GMT -6
We were in this position last week--last regular season game and our playoff seed was locked no matter what. Like most have posted, we went about our business like normal and ended up winning the game. They only thing I could see doing differently in this situaiton is if you get way up or way behind, pull some starters earlier than you might normally.
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Post by mariettablue on Oct 24, 2012 20:20:01 GMT -6
We were in this position last week also. The team we were playing was running over every opponent through the season and we knew that we have a real good chance to make the championship game where we will meet them again.
We went in the game just to get film to break it down. We had 5 key starters that were already nicked up so they played very limited and 3/4 speed at best.
The things that we already knew about them we were not surprised by but breaking down the film we saw so many weaknesses that we have three weeks to prepare for.
We lost the game but we already had lost one other game so we were not playing to be undefeated so we chose strategy.
What's amazing is that the opponent was prepared like we were out to knock them from finishing undefeated but didn't realize that our goal is the championship. The talk around was that they didn't understand how we came in to the game 7-1 playing how we played....LOL I am in shock that they actually believe that we were easy.
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Post by coachbw on Oct 25, 2012 0:44:18 GMT -6
They only thing I could see doing differently in this situaiton is if you get way up or way behind, pull some starters earlier than you might normally. I agree with this. The only thing that we really ever have done different in this spot is we have waited a little longer to run some of our offensive package depending on what the playoff film exchange policy is. In the past we have showed our base in this situation, but kept it pretty vanilla with formations, motions etc, unless it became clear to us during the game that it was going to be tight. No sense giving them good film of a lot of our stuff if it is going to be a 35-7 game with just our base package anyways. |
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