CommenTerry, February 9th, 2007
If I were a football coach, I would request at least three unusual things of my players:
First, I would request that any of my ball carriers try to position himself for first-and-ten on the 11 yard line, rather than first-and-goal on the 10 yard line, even if that meant going down sooner and giving up a yard. Doing this gives your team a shot a four extra downs to score (even without a penalty on the defense).
Second, with less than five minutes left in a game and the other team inside our 10 yard line, I would request that my defense allow them to score a touchdown, if the game was tied or we were ahead by one or two points or the other team was ahead by only one point. This keeps the other team from running out most of the clock and then kicking a field goal to go ahead or extend their lead. My strategy would give us time to tie or win the game.
Third, I would require that my defensive players avoid intercepting a pass on fourth down unless they are certain they can bring the ball past the line of scrimmage. Otherwise, the interception is costing our team valuable field position and becomes a net negative. I'm thoroughly amazed at the number of players, both college and pro, who will dance and prance around after intercepting a 30-yard fourth-down pass! They obviously don't realize that they have just hurt their own team. Their coach should quickly clear that up for them.
