I am the DC, so my film watching is geared toward my own objectives. If I were the OC, my preparation would be different.
We film endzone tight (interior line) and sideline wide. As for scout film, we get two tapes from each opponent - sideline wide. Usually, the film we get is horrible - like it was filmed by a 10 year-old with a nervous tick.
I watch college and will DVR games of teams that run some part of our system - Utah, Florida, West Virginia, Texas Tech. Sometimes I DVR other games where I want to see the schemes. I am also lucky in that I have some friends who can get me college tapes and sometimes cutups of D1 teams that I want to check-out. I don't watch the NFL at all. I just don't think what they do translates to HS.
My review starts with cutups. I've shared the information below with a few other coaches as to what I do to prepare- and I know this is more than requested, but here it is anyway:
Off-Season Opponent reviewI started doing this after meeting with Phil Snow one year. He made a point of saying that our defense should be ready for each of our opponents in the off-season. He only wants to make minor adjustments in-season based on NEW things we get from film. (Phil has been the DC at several Pac-10 schools including Washington and UCLA).
1. I start with cutups of each of our opponents from the last two years. If they are a new opponent, I'll get film from the last year from a friendly coach.
2. I first pull cutups with a positive yardage result of 15 yards or more - and I look for the reason(s) that we had the breakdown(s). They usually fall into a couple of categories: a) mis-aligned, b) scheme/poorly aligned for the formation, c) scheme/pass coverage, d) player/execution, e) player/effort, f) player/tackling, g) player/athletic ability, and h) scheme/bad stunt for the play call. (The great news is that you can do something about each of these issues.)
I then make my notes as to changes - for example, if we had a problem open field tackling, then I research this issue by calling college coaches or other contacts. If mis-alignment was an issue, then I make sure to script more alignment/assignment into my practice plans - and I would make sure that the scout offense sprinted to the line and snapped the ball on the first sound - to create the urgency needed.
3. I chart the plays and go back thru my call sheets and match-up the formation, play and call vs. the result. I see if my calls were the problem. (for example, did line stunts or blitzes vs. 1 back formations hurt us?). I really want to know about scheme - because those problems I can readily fix. I use my game call sheet since it contains all of the information that I need. I have posted the form that I use here:
www.folsomfootball.com/forms/defensive%20game%20chart.xls4. If I have poor alignment for the scheme, then I create an automatic check from our base defense that gets us in a better defense. For example, we were a cover 3 team. I found that when we played this one wing-T team that we were consistently out numbered strong side when they went twin (x over to the strong side). So, I created a check that identified this formation, and brought our Free Safety up an put him inside the wing. That way, he couldn't block down on our Mike and we had an extra player. I didn't mind losing the FS because they lost a receiver in this formation (the TE was covered by a man on the LOS) - and we went to cover 2 (corners in the deep halves).
5. From film, I card every single play that our opponents ran against us. I use one play per page, with the top and bottom being strong right/strong left versions (I put the way they run the play the first time I see it on the top). On each of the cards, I note which teams ran the plays and their frequency (by right/left). If there was a difference in the blocking scheme, then I considered that a different play.
6. I note each of the plays on a spreadsheet with frequency and team - plus right or left formations and wide/short side.
Doing this, I found one year that one team in our league was consistently running into the boundary when we ran one of our zone blitzes (the weakness of the blitz). Film study showed we were giving it away.
7. When I am looking at the cutups, I run them in game order to see if there are personnel changes that correlate to the formations (and plays). That way, I can put us into a better defense based on Peronnel Group - or even sub a player.
8. I create an defensive scout book from the carded plays. When I make-up my spring or summer practice plans, I use the cards and spreadsheet to run a big dose of the plays that a) had success against us the previous year(s), and b) were run frequently by our better opponents.
9. I script all of my defensive practices for spring and summer at one time - trying to stress the defense as much as possible. I create an installation plan for fronts, stunts and coverages. I script Align/Assign periods, 7-on-7, half-line/inside-run, and team periods.
In-season PreparationAfter the game on friday nights, I take the film and make copies for film trade and the other coaches. (We bought 5 cheap vcr's and use an amplifier/splitter that copies the video signal to 4 vcr's at once. The total system cost was around $600). I also copy the video into the computer after the copies are done, but it's really not necessary. I usually watch the film as it copies (but it's tough to watch if I can rewind).
We have the players come in on Saturday AM and we watch the film. The HC takes the line and running backs and they watch the endzone film. I take everyone else and we watch the sideline film. We get them out of there by 12. Afterwards, we meet as a staff. We talk about personnel, any issues we saw on film and our next opponent.
We have one of the JV coaches come in and he does the film exchange first thing Saturday AM. When he gets back to school, we use the copy system to make duplicates of the exchange film. By the time the coaches leave on Saturday around 1, they have copies of last weeks' game and the exchange tape from our opponent.
The special teams coach, myself, and the HC will all watch the trade tape on Saturday afternoon (by ourselves) and will formulate the game plans. The defense is actually the hardest since I have to prepare all of the things the offense MIGHT do. I really believe that 90% of the work is done on Saturday and Sunday. If you are well prepared, calling the D is just knowing your adjustments- and thinking about tendencies. The worst case scenario is a team that does something they have never shown before. It happened to me a couple of years ago where a Wing-T team suddenly became a spread team the week they played us. They had not shown one snap of spread prior to our game.
From the film, the first thing that I do is to create the scout cards that were not created the last spring (new plays). I use a template, and a bunch of multi-colored Sharpies. I draw each of the offenses' plays, against each of our defenses. When I am done, I sort the cards by formation (back set and rcvr set). I look to see if I can get us into good stunts vs. certain formations. For example if the backs are set strong and they tend to run strong, then I will 'rock' my backside DE - that is have him rip across the face of the weak tackle. So, I will create a rule - Back Strong, check Rock. I leave it on the DE to make the adjustement. I start all of my defensive practices with an aligment/assignment period. I will expect the DE to make a Rock call anytime he sees strong backs. I will then script a bunch of plays in my team periods, where I have strong backs - and I will note the Rock call on the script - so any of the coaches should know - if they don't hear the rock call something is wrong.
We use the scout cards in my scripts. When we run scout, I will call play Red 22b for example. Red is a Run (and correlates to the Red tab in our scout book), while 22 is the card number and b tells the scout coach to run the play on the bottom of the card (top and bottom are left-right versions of the same play). I script and card at the same time to make sure that I have good coverage for what our opponent likes to do.
For each of the offenses' plays and formations, I think about how it will impact our defense. I will come-up with modifications that will help us. For example, if we are playing a Wing-T team and my #1 priority is to stop Jack, I will make a note to slant our weak tackle when they are in the formations that they run Jack. I then go thru the cutups very quickly to find the formations and see what other plays they run from this formation. I want to see if the slant will hurt us anywhere else.
By Sunday night, I want the cards done, as well as the practice plan (which includes the scripts). Also on the practice plan, I put down the individual drills that I want each position to run, as well as coaching points that I want them to emphasize. The CP's might be something that I saw on our last week's film, or it could be something that our opponent does that might give us problems. I email the game plan and our practice plan to each of the other coaches by the time I go to bed on Sunday night.
On Monday night, I will go back thru our last year's cutups and will watch the defensive plays and call our checks. If I see anything that causes us problems, then I adjust. I expect each of the other coaches to have watched the film, and to give me feedback on the game plan by Monday night. We have our defensive practice day on Tuesday. About the only thing I will not tolerate is a coach second-guessing me on the field on Tuesday. It happened once last year with a first year coach and I nearly ripped his head off on the spot (He hadn't watched any film and he started with, 'hey, that won't work, how about if we do this . . .'. I never want the kids to think I pull stuff out of my a$$, or that I am unprepared.
I Don't worry about the cutups in-season as it is even more time than what I describe here (we have LRS). When I get DSV, I will likely change my in-season film review. But unlike some bigger staffs, I'm pretty much on my own.
