TO PREPARE FOR an upcoming game, you must do an in-depth study of your opponent, assessing their strengths, weaknesses, tendencies, discover what gives them problems, evaluate their personnel and ultimately decide what your team must do to win the upcoming matchup.
While you are watching game film of your opponent and before you begin to devise your game plan, ask yourself the following questions:
1. Are they a disciplined team?
2. Do their running backs and receivers run disciplined routes or make disciplined route adjustments?
3. Do they have disciplined run-blocking schemes?
4. Do they have disciplined pass-protection schemes?
5. What kind of adjustments to formations, shifts and motions do they make?
6. Do they have disciplined run force and gap control?
7. Do they have disciplined pass coverage?
8. Are they a physically tough team?
9. Does their defense pursue to the ball and do their defenders gang tackle?
10. Will the receivers block on running plays?
11. Do their secondary players make big hits?
12. Do their RBs run hard and give a great second effort?
13. Will their receivers catch the ball over the middle or are they skittish after big hits?
14. Does their offensive line finish its blocks?
15. Does the defensive line attack the line of scrimmage?
16. Are they a well-conditioned team?
17. Do they play hard in the fourth quarter?
18. Do their offensive, defensive linemen and skill-position players have physical strength and endurance?
Why Do They Win?
During your initial scouting, you must also determine why your opponent has won games in the past. Study both sides of the ball and rate the following factors.
OFFENSE:
Î Offensive execution.
Î Talent at the skill positions (QB, WR, RB).
Î Ability to make big plays.
Î Offensive line experience.
Î Susceptibility to turnovers (fumbles, interceptions).
Î Return teams (punt returns, kick-off returns).
DEFENSE:
Ï Defensive execution, coaching.
Ï Team speed.
Ï Talent on defense. Any dominant defensive players?
Ï Ability to create turnovers (fumbles, interceptions).
Ï Tackling ability.
Why Do They Lose?
It’s also helpful to study the losses of your upcoming opponent and find weaknesses or bad habits to exploit. Look for the following traits in an opponent’s loss.
Ô Poor execution on offense, defense or special teams.
Ô Poor coaching, lack of team discipline.
Ô Lack of skilled players or team speed.
Ô Too many penalties and turnovers (fumbles, interceptions).
Ô Poor tackling and team conditioning.
Ô Lack of patience and is quick to abandon the game plan.
Ô When behind, they gamble on crucial downs, use trick plays, blitz frequently and pass the ball more often.
Ô Ability to respond to sudden-change situations. Does the defense huddle with the coach on the sideline to gain its composure before going on the field? Or does it go on the field in a helter-skelter manner and look
visibly upset?
Ô Poor communication and a lack of game adjustments.
Ô Substitution game plan and patterns. Do they signal in their personnel substitutions? If so, can you or your players pick these signals?