Learning from Football

Learning from Football

This weekend several teams made egregious mistakes that either cost them the game or nearly did. One mistake that should be pounded into the head of every quarterback, especially toward the end of the game is, “Do not lose field goal position.”

LSU was trailing by two and was in field goal range. The QB “scrambled” out of trouble, but did not get rid of the football. He retreated farther and then broke the second cardinal rule for passers. “Don’t force it when you are off balance. Always throw to the outside of the receiver. And cross field passes are always problematic.” Kind of a long rule, but has critical components.

He attempted a pass from one side of the field to the other. Not only did he miss his target, it went directly to the defensive player, who intercepted it and promptly dropped to the ground.

(Note: Several years ago Nebraska was ahead of Texas A & M at the end of the game. A&M was threatening, but the Huskers intercepted a pass in the end zone. Ball game.., Except the player tried to run it out, was hit, fumbled, and A&M recovered for a touchdown, winning the game.)

The LSU QB broke just about every end of game rule that you can imagine. My son and I were discussing some of the other mistakes. He commented that on the irony of guys who have watched over 50 years of football and seen just about everything but are unable to play the game. We have to suffer the guys who have not seen or thought of these thing–yet–are out there losing games. How sad. Sigh.

The Tennessee QB did that at the end of the first half against Appalachian State, also losing an almost sure three points. The game ended in a tie, and only a propitious bounce gave Tennessee the win. But the rest of their schedule may not be so accommodating. Maybe. See below.

Who does the offensive end block on field goals and extra points? Often two guys will line up “over the end” and he cannot block both. On Friday night, we watched a high school game and the end started to go after the outside guy, realized that the inside guy was going too, swung back, missed him, and watched the kick get blocked.

Always take the guy with the shortest route if you have two and cannot get them both. Make the guy go the “long way around.” This kid learned the hard way. The kick was blocked, the game ended in a tie, and they lost in overtime–on another blocked kick. Maybe he has learned now.

Where was the coach? I bet he and the boys watch a few kicks over the week end.

Shall we look at Houston and Oklahoma? I thought every coach in the country would warn his teams against letting down on field goal misses. Alabama lost a chance at the National Championship a couple of years ago by not covering a missed attempt. Oklahoma did the same on Saturday. The guy was about 2" from the end line. It was a 109 yard and 34 inch return.

More coaches are watching film, and showing them to players. Let the games go on. They are, at the least, interesting.