chuff
Sophomore Member
Posts: 136
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Post by chuff on Mar 23, 2007 8:33:04 GMT -6
American Football Monthly had a feature not too long ago about the most important statistics in winning a football game. I thought it would be interesting to hear your thoughts.
In my opinion, games come down to these three aspects:
1) Turnovers!
2) Starting field position
3) "big" plays
follow up question: How do you emphasize these aspects in practice?
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Post by coachcalande on Mar 23, 2007 8:53:18 GMT -6
1) turnovers
2) missed tackles
3) penalties
4) communication break down/alignment/coverage errors
5) poorly prepared teams
Run the ball hard and cover it with two hands, defensively bring pressure and create havoc, play for fumbles and ints and sacks.
work on live tackling every day and sometimes even in pregame
keep things simple, avoid holding, motion, proceedure, off sides and be disciplined in everything we do.
work on alignment and assignment constantly, quiz the kids, test the kids, walk thrus etc.
work on execution in the three major phases and use time as wisely as possible.
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Post by brophy on Mar 23, 2007 9:07:19 GMT -6
We preach over and over again that the "Game" is not about plays or players........but ALL ABOUT THE BALL.
Whoever has possession of the ball controls the game. Offense, Defense, or Special Teams, the bottom line is moving the ball across the other end zone. Turnovers and protecting ourselves from turnovers is stressed. An turnover is one thing, but the "hidden yards" allowed after the turnover that occurs by advancing the football all account into increasing our chances to pull out a win.
To eliminate our chances of turning the ball over, EXECUTION is the only way we can ensure our investment in the football is protected (never pay for the same real estate twice, with fumbles and stupid penalties).
I've also heard that in EVERY ball game - the game is ultimately decided by 3 or 4 plays. Those 3 or 4 plays ultimately determined the outcome of the game (could be a major stop, a field goal, a key conversion, etc). We teach this (I didn't believe this at first), by saying on ANY GIVEN PLAY a player can be the cause of single-handedly making THAT play (to change the game)
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Post by wingt74 on Mar 23, 2007 9:29:52 GMT -6
Red Zone trips, Red Zone success, and big plays. A big play is a sudden shift in field position by 20 yards or more or a turnover. As a coach, I want more trips to the redzone than my opponent, a higher success rate in scoring in the red zone than my opponent, and 1 or 2 more big plays a game than my opponent One of the best ways increase your # of trips to the red zone? TURNOVERS! One of the best ways to increase your # of big plays? TURNOVERS! The ultimate play? your opponent has first and goal, turns the ball over, and your team returns the turnover for a TD.  But I'm a firm believer in rating turnovers...but you can't put to much focus on them in eveluating your team or a game...because you can go an entire game without a turnover. |
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Post by Coach Huey on Mar 23, 2007 9:37:28 GMT -6
according to 2 studies i have read recently, penalties had very little to do with the outcome of the game. in fact, the team committing more penalties won just as many games, if not more, as the other team.
not saying to disregard the penalties your team may committ, but reporting what the studies showed
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Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on Mar 23, 2007 9:57:08 GMT -6
Defensively we really stress those things.
Turnovers--we never "de-emphasize" a turnover. In 7 on 7 we cheer our kids on when they get a pick, an incomplete ball that hits off a receiver "becomes" a fumble for us and we scoop and score. We strip the ball in 7 on 7, team run, etc. We work on gang tackle and strip. Yep, we work it to death and we take the ball away a ton (80 times over the past 2 seasons).
We think that has given our offense 80 more opportunities. Now our offense knows that those are bonus turns for them and have to capitalize on those. They also have only turned the ball over 16 times in that same span.
Our offense is great at protecting the ball and our OC is NOT afraid to take a calculated risk. If he can score in 1 play he will, but he's patient enough to run zone and power 14 times to march down the field.
Patience, commitment to fundamentals, and prioritizing those things get the job done.
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Post by coachcalande on Mar 23, 2007 10:03:00 GMT -6
according to 2 studies i have read recently, penalties had very little to do with the outcome of the game. in fact, the team committing more penalties won just as many games, if not more, as the other team. not saying to disregard the penalties your team may committ, but reporting what the studies showed theyd have to factor in other things like turnovers and missed tackles. if they could find a game where each team had 0 turnovers, 0 missed tackles then they could say "hey it was the penalties that did us in" ...just a weak example but obviously for us dwers that rely on drives and first downs we certainly dont want to have to beat our own errors first. I know personally that I dont want to give away any positive plays because of late hits or stupid stuff. NOr do I want to allow the other guy a luxury of five easy yards because we were to poorly prepared to be disciplined and not jump the snap count...that kind of stuff kills a ball control team. Discipline is everything to me, Its a big part of what we emphasize. |
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Post by brophy on Mar 23, 2007 10:11:33 GMT -6
"Big Plays" are classified as plays resulting in 10 yards or more (I think it's 15 in the NFL?) any play that gains that much is as good as converting a 1st down. Conversely, stopping drive conversions on defense as worth the same or creating negative yardage plays for our opponent.
"Starting field position" - we emphasize on special teams (return / coverage) that for each 10 yards a returner gains, that's like a 1st down conversion for our offense. If a returner gets 20 yards, he essentially has completed 6 successful plays on offense (to get 2 first downs). Every yard counts on the return game (and coverage unit).
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Post by superpower on Mar 23, 2007 12:20:26 GMT -6
One philosophy that I have heard over the years is that MORE GAMES ARE LOST THAN ARE WON, meaning that teams often beat themselves. Others have already given the reasons on this thread - turnovers, missed tackles, missed blocking assignments, poor execution, poor play calling, etc. With that in mind, we spend a lot of practice time combating the things that can beat us. If we can overcome those issues and physical ability is about equal, we like our chances.
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Post by coachd5085 on Mar 23, 2007 13:42:02 GMT -6
I have found that quite often, the team that scores the most points often wins the game.  I would say that missed tackles (which usually then turn into big plays) would be the number one determinant of games. |
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Post by wingt74 on Mar 23, 2007 14:10:00 GMT -6
I have found that quite often, the team that scores the most points often wins the game. I was waiting for this one... |
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Post by CVBears on Mar 23, 2007 14:36:33 GMT -6
I believe that games are multi-faceted. However, the single biggest factor that I have seen win games most often (not always) is the line battle. If you win the line play on both sides of the ball, it is going to be VERY tough to beat you.
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Post by fbdoc on Mar 23, 2007 14:48:25 GMT -6
One thing we preach over and over is that "EVERY play is a potential game winner, or game loser!" That play where you almost broke free for a long run, that play where you almost caught the pass, that play...
When a kid makes that great block, tackle, run, etc. our position coaches are all over him yelling, "THAT WAS A GAME WINNING PLAY!" We coach them to think every play has the potential to win the game.
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Post by coachjoe3 on Mar 23, 2007 19:29:18 GMT -6
I would have to say a rousing pregame speech.  Mostly, I've tried to stress the attitude to win each down. If you make a mistake, learn from it and win the next down, and then the next one and the next one and so on. As far as which stat it comes down to, I think first downs, the more you have the more likely you are to win. Try and get to the sticks (at least) each down and keep the chains moving. |
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Post by coachjoe3 on Mar 23, 2007 19:32:37 GMT -6
When a kid makes that great block, tackle, run, etc. our position coaches are all over him yelling, "THAT WAS A GAME WINNING PLAY!" We coach them to think every play has the potential to win the game. I really like that fbdoc, I'm going to try that. |
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Post by fbairattack on Mar 23, 2007 20:43:27 GMT -6
We preach over and over again that the "Game" is not about plays or players........but ALL ABOUT THE BALL. Whoever has possession of the ball controls the game. Offense, Defense, or Special Teams, the bottom line is moving the ball across the other end zone. Turnovers and protecting ourselves from turnovers is stressed. An turnover is one thing, but the "hidden yards" allowed after the turnover that occurs by advancing the football all account into increasing our chances to pull out a win. To eliminate our chances of turning the ball over, EXECUTION is the only way we can ensure our investment in the football is protected (never pay for the same real estate twice, with fumbles and stupid penalties). I've also heard that in EVERY ball game - the game is ultimately decided by 3 or 4 plays. Those 3 or 4 plays ultimately determined the outcome of the game (could be a major stop, a field goal, a key conversion, etc). We teach this (I didn't believe this at first), by saying on ANY GIVEN PLAY a player can be the cause of single-handedly making THAT play (to change the game) I LOVE IT!!! and agree whole heartedly! We preach that turnovers are the most important part of the game and that they can not be given but must be created. Love how you put that ANY player on ANY play can change the game. |
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Post by dubber on Mar 23, 2007 22:08:18 GMT -6
according to 2 studies i have read recently, penalties had very little to do with the outcome of the game. in fact, the team committing more penalties won just as many games, if not more, as the other team. not saying to disregard the penalties your team may committ, but reporting what the studies showed theyd have to factor in other things like turnovers and missed tackles. if they could find a game where each team had 0 turnovers, 0 missed tackles then they could say "hey it was the penalties that did us in" ...just a weak example but obviously for us dwers that rely on drives and first downs we certainly dont want to have to beat our own errors first. I know personally that I dont want to give away any positive plays because of late hits or stupid stuff. NOr do I want to allow the other guy a luxury of five easy yards because we were to poorly prepared to be disciplined and not jump the snap count...that kind of stuff kills a ball control team. Discipline is everything to me, Its a big part of what we emphasize. It is not the amount of penalty yardage, but the way in which you give up that yardage. If you have 50 yards of penalties a game and they include false starts, holdings, delay of games, offsides, then that is not good. If you have 60 yards of penalties a game, and they are aggression penalties (hustling to make a tackle and hitting a RB out of bounds, pass interference, etc.) then that is not all bad. If your team gets the hustle penalties, then they are probably hustling the whole time. The difference is the type of penalties you get, because that says something about your team (great executing teams can still have a ton of hustle penalties). Also, coach calande makes a good point about 'being perfect' when running the DW......you can't lost 5 yards on a false start in this offense. That is another biggie: offensive penalties hurt more than defensive. If we get a 15 yard facemask that gives the opponent a first down at their 38, we've bailed them out, but we can still shut them down with the only loss being 5 yards of field position. An offense gets a holding penalty, and that 2nd and 4 just became 2nd and 14. An offensive penalty can kill a drive, and usually a ten yard variety means you'll be punting soon. So, if your kids have to get penalties, make sure they get them on defense. Just not on third down ;D My keys to winning: 1. Rebounds 2. Turnovers 3. Defense 4. Free throws OK, for football: 1. Turnovers 2. Red Zone efficency 3. Starting Field position |
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Post by senatorblutarsky on Mar 23, 2007 22:48:16 GMT -6
according to 2 studies i have read recently, penalties had very little to do with the outcome of the game. in fact, the team committing more penalties won just as many games, if not more, as the other team.
not saying to disregard the penalties your team may committ, but reporting what the studies showed
We classify penalties in to two groups...My belief is that dumb penalties (offsides, illegal motion,personal fouls) hurt chances for winning... I have no study, graph, survey or pie chart to prove this... just kind of a gut feeling. Hustle penalties are classified differently- late hits ("reasonable ones"), some pass interference, hold/clip (working to make a block-just a misjudgment on angle, feet, etc.), and similar penalties come from a strong will to win. With a strong will to win sometimes comes an tendency to be overzealous, which is an acceptable consequence for determination (once or twice anyway... after that, it becomes a dumb penalty, because they are expected to adapt to the style of officiating/adjust to the speed or style of the opponent, etc.).
I am curious to how this would come out in a study (dividing penalties by types), but there would really be no set of criteria, so it would be virtually impossible.
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Post by davecisar on Mar 24, 2007 5:51:36 GMT -6
Preparation
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Post by warrior53 on Mar 24, 2007 9:04:33 GMT -6
davecisar is right - preperation is the key.
Turnovers - we are always teaching our kids how to handle the ball - tucking the ball in before you turn up field - turning away from a defender when you catch the ball and putting it in the proper hand - when running the ball how to switch to the other hand properly when the defender is on the ball side - when carrying the ball around the kids never can hold unless properly holding the ball - on defense we teach kids how to secure the tackle and strip the ball properly - how to correctly scoop a ball up and score when running - how to properly fall on a loose ball when in traffic. We have drills for each one of these things and preach it constantly
Starting Field position - we put our kids in different situations where they have to try to get through that field zone into the next one.
We probably don't do very well praticing big plays - but I really like the idea of picking out big plays in practice and telling the kids that was a game changer. Maybe we can incorporate that into our practices as well.
We feel that these things are important to prepare kids for the situations they will see during the week so they are comfortable when that situation happens on the field Friday night. I am sure most of you do the same things.
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