Question/Thought About In-Game Coaching

Submitted by TheRonimal on

The PFF grades I've been seeing brought up a couple thoughts I've been having for a while about In-Game coaching. How much can coaches actually gather about performance during games from the sidelines? Some stuff is obvious, but it seems like overall line play is extremely difficult to judge during the course of a game with so much happening on a given play. Of course Harbaugh and other coaches are much better at this than fans, but I would assume they learn a large majority from reviewing game film. That also leads to the question of how much of an impact does coaching have throughout the game? Obviously gameplans and preparation are extremely important, but how much can a coach really change during the game? At some point you just have to let the boys play. Any coaches on the board have any insight? 

Obviously this is mostly meant for discussion as these questions can't be answered by us exactly, but I still find it interesting to think about. 

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Wolfman

September 12th, 2016 at 4:54 AM ^

Now in this game, for instance, Carr would have kept butting his head against the wall trying to run into a nine man wall. Thankfully, he had qbs that could usually bail him out late in the game. In this case, it was obvious they were going with an 8 man, 9 man front, so the natural adjustment was to go to the air. Overlooked I think was the play of the offensive line. I think Wilton got hit about three times, but he was completing long passes and that's rare against that kind of pressure. Kudos to the line for long completion where screens and quick hitting routes are usually the answer to this type of pressure, and to Drevno and the players as well. 

As to normal in-game adjustments, if the D is sending a blitz that's well disguised, yes adjustments are made to throw quick hitters to that area. If there is a D lineman that is having his was with the O lineman, traps and screens to his side are normally called quickly to take advantage of that type of agression. Quarterback draws should have been called by Frost, rather than having his qb scramble. And although not in-game, Brown, I thought, made nice half-time adjustments to take this away in the second half when we were "over pursuing" perhaps mixed with timing issues on the part of the lbers. One, at min, should have been given a thousand one delay to prevent this, as was pretty much the case in the second half. 

You also have to remember if it doesn't hurt a good coach is not going to worry too much about it, but will definitely learn from it and make sure it isn't available against a tougher opponent. While it may have inflated their stats, those qb scrambles extended a few drives but did not hurt us, obviously, as borne out by the final score. Adjust, but keep a good plan intact. Tighten the nuts but keep the housing intact. 

Joined: 07/23/2008

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Space Coyote

September 12th, 2016 at 4:58 AM ^

Which allows you to get a general feel for what each guy is supposed to be doing. But particularly from the sideline, it is still difficult because you don't know what the defense is doing, shades, etc. immediately. So there is still very much a feel component to it and frankly you can't see everything. That said, it's a much more informed feel, and the best coaches are able to gather and process more off of that informed feel.

Joined: 06/18/2009

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samsoccer7

September 11th, 2016 at 10:17 PM ^

I think these analyst guys are doing some of these very specific tasks and sharing that info. It's possible that's not allowed in-game, but maybe they can have reports ready at halftime?

Joined: 07/08/2008

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Farnn

September 11th, 2016 at 10:20 PM ^

Do you realize how many people Harbaugh has on staff now?  There are people watching for specific things to help the coaches.  I'd also imagine that with todays computer power and speed, grad assistant types could be clipping things in real time, especially if someone thinks they see stuff.

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Space Coyote

September 12th, 2016 at 5:01 AM ^

But most of that stuff you're talking about happens post game. The extra guys on staff can't act as coaches and provide clips and such real time. You can make basic adjustments during the game, particularly when you're on the sideline. But it's limited because you only have so much time and so much information on hand. Halftime is still the best time to make major changes because it's a natural break and stopping point, it gives you time to conclude a lot of things, and it gives you time to get the players on board with the more major changes that will be made (it should be noted, you can't just come out with a completely different playbook and gameplan, it's not realistic because guys can only prepare so much, so you still need to work to make adjustments based on what your players can actually do; the better coaches are able to prepare their players to execute a number of things so that they can make more adjustments at halftime).

Joined: 06/18/2009

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FolkstyleCoach

September 11th, 2016 at 10:24 PM ^

Coordinators and coaches up top see things immediately and once they notice a trend the good ones adjust. If you have a well prepared team then you have a variety of plays at your disposal. You can easily change mid game, mid first quarter. These guys understand and process football on a different level. Most people have no idea how insane a talent like that is. And our coaches have it.



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rwilb

September 11th, 2016 at 11:00 PM ^

Offensively I'm very happy with how it went. Defensively I think the mistakes were due to lack of experience at the defensive end/LB positions so I'd say defensively we were fine too

Joined: 10/03/2015

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Yooper

September 11th, 2016 at 11:05 PM ^

Then be humble enough to be a great contributor to the collective judgment. Then be able to figure it all out on the fly then salt it all with better ideas then everybody else = Harbaugh. I still can't believe this guy is our coach.

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The Fan in Fargo

September 11th, 2016 at 11:18 PM ^

I get it, the staff is good at making adjustments but why not attack the one armed man?!?! Did I miss that or is it a pride thing? LMAO How does that guy get on the field with one hand? No disrespect towards that player but holy crap UCF. I cant imagine how painful that could be to take a helmet on the nub.

Joined: 09/04/2016

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Space Coyote

September 12th, 2016 at 5:05 AM ^

Won the NCAA championship in wrestling.

Certainly, there are limitations and there are hurdles, but just because he has a disadvantage in one area, doesn't mean he doesn't have advantages in other areas that are more than enough to make up for it. Plenty of guys have played with basically "clubs" on their hands after breaking hands/wrists and been successful.

Joined: 06/18/2009

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UMProud

September 12th, 2016 at 5:46 AM ^

The guy you're referring to is one of their top defensive players.  I was impressed as hell with him.  Believe he also led in interceptions or some other mind blowing metric as well.

You should think of this guy as a fuckin superman being able to land a spot on an NCAA team missing a hand.  That guy has to have some serious skills don'tchathink?

Joined: 12/18/2014

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bluinohio

September 12th, 2016 at 12:13 AM ^

I'd say it involves the players feedback too. When they go to the sideline and talk to their coaches they can explain what an opposing player or defense is doing on a particular play or when we're in a particular offensive set. Then the coaches make an adjustment to that play or call a play to counter what the defense is doing

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