Helping players not make critical mistakes

[lbedwards]

2 years in a row my team has been in position offensively and defensively to make the necessary play be in our favor. Offensively, no one has stopped our offense but ourselves (turnovers, penalties, etc). Defensively, we are in position to make tackles and get off the field on 3rd Down. However, at critical moments in a game our team makes a mistake (turnover, missed tackle, etc) that creates a snowball effect of negativity. We rep football fundamentals every day beginning with summer workouts. We emphasize fundamentals and not beating ourselves. We run drills to improve execution. When I watch film, I see that we are able to do what needs to be done, we are where we’re supposed to be, we’re just not doing it when it matters. Any council on how to diminish these moments in games that cost us?

[coachcb]

Continue to teach fundamentals and that'll handle the mistakes. But, the "snowball" effect you described is tougher to deal with.

1. Weight room, weight room, weight room. Getting into the squat rack isn't just about strength; it's about developing mental toughness and perseverance.

2. Invoke stress and competition at practice. Goal line and short yardage drills are excellent for this but you can build it into all drills. I used to time the OL when they were driving the sled at practice. They'd have to redo their rep if they didn't drive it a certain distance in a 10 second time frame. It only took a couple of practices for them to learn to do it the right the first time.

[rudyrude9]

Stop emphasizing that one moment in more critical than another. Play each play, one play at a time, do your job. All are powerful. You make a play, {censored} it move on. They make a play, {censored} it move on. Play the next play. Don't make it bigger than it is.

I think it's the snowball you are trying to avoid rather that the one play you miss here or there.

[fantom]

Nov 6, 2024 8:41:31 GMT -6 rudyrude9 said:

Stop emphasizing that one moment in more critical than another. Play each play, one play at a time, do your job. All are powerful. You make a play, {censored} it move on. They make a play, {censored} it move on. Play the next play. Don't make it bigger than it is.

I think it's the snowball you are trying to avoid rather that the one play you miss here or there.

A lot of that snowball effect may have to do with how the coaches react to the mistake. 

[carookie]

Sounds to me like this might be a form of observer bias.

Everyone makes mistakes, and mistakes usually end up being critical to the outcome of the game. Ergo you see them as always coming at critical times. Or, you notice the mistakes that happen at critical times more than those that happen at what you deem to be less critical times; as well as just taking for granted when you don't make a mistake during those critical times.

I have found that most athletes and teams, given a significant enough sample size, are what they are in critical times, non critical times, in 'the clutch', early in the game, etc. Outside of teams that are poorly conditioned or short on numbers and may struggle at the end of the game due to this.

That being written, it would be interesting to see the data that you used, maybe there is something there.

[veerman]

IMO it sounds like a mental thing, and for the most part it's not something you have a lot of control over. You can do drills, talk about it, whatever you feel will help.. but bottom line is..It's something in your kid's heads at moment, and the only way to get it out is they have to perform and make those plays consistently to the point they no longer hope to get off the field, but they expect to.

[groundchuck]

It sounds like a focus and mental thing to me too. You can help it with a lot of the suggestions listed in this thread. Focus on the next play, focus on the fundos etc. Be locked in all the time and coaaches coaching all the time in practice. The best programs the coaches are coaching all the time not talking to each other about other stuff. Same with players.

The standard is the standard and guys need to know that hey substandard is not OK.

[silkyice]

Nov 6, 2024 8:41:31 GMT -6 rudyrude9 said:

Stop emphasizing that one moment in more critical than another. Play each play, one play at a time, do your job. All are powerful. You make a play, {censored} it move on. They make a play, {censored} it move on. Play the next play. Don't make it bigger than it is.

I think it's the snowball you are trying to avoid rather that the one play you miss here or there.

This is great

[silkyice]

Nov 6, 2024 11:57:07 GMT -6 carookie said:

Sounds to me like this might be a form of observer bias.

Everyone makes mistakes, and mistakes usually end up being critical to the outcome of the game. Ergo you see them as always coming at critical times. Or, you notice the mistakes that happen at critical times more than those that happen at what you deem to be less critical times; as well as just taking for granted when you don't make a mistake during those critical times.

I have found that most athletes and teams, given a significant enough sample size, are what they are in critical times, non critical times, in 'the clutch', early in the game, etc. Outside of teams that are poorly conditioned or short on numbers and may struggle at the end of the game due to this.

That being written, it would be interesting to see the data that you used, maybe there is something there.

I agree with this, but want to expand and tangent a little.


Possibly what is going on is that these other teams are just better.

If your team is hanging in there and "only" down 14-7 right before half and then the other team scores because you missed a tackle, and then you end up losing 35-7, that is probably because the other team is most likely just better. That is isn't one mistake and then snowball. Even though it might "feel" like it.

You can easily justify the blowout as, hey it was one missed tackle. And then we had a turnover in the third quarter. And then, etc etc etc.

While sometimes that is true, there is still a very good chance that you were going to beat 35-7 even if you take a few of those mistakes off the board. While you missed that tackle for the TD, we very conveniently forget that they would have picked up a first down even if you make that tackle and might/probably were going to score anyways right before half.


I love to hear teams say that if we just take away all those big plays we could have won. But it doesn't just work exactly like that.

Now of course, sometimes it does work like that, but really and truly, not usually.

[senatorblutarsky]

Nov 6, 2024 8:41:31 GMT -6 rudyrude9 said:

Stop emphasizing that one moment in more critical than another. Play each play, one play at a time, do your job. All are powerful. You make a play, {censored} it move on. They make a play, {censored} it move on. Play the next play. Don't make it bigger than it is.

I think it's the snowball you are trying to avoid rather that the one play you miss here or there.

Good point.

But...

Mistakes made are often what define a play as "critical" when looking back at the completed game.

I lived through exactly that this season.

I'm not going to rehash my "new job" thread... but while I knew this would be a reclamation project, I had no idea to what extent.

A 1st & 10 from their 15 yard line, up 16-0 with 4 minutes left in the half isn't necessarily a "critical moment"... until we fumble.

Forcing a punt against the wind from their own 12, with 4 minutes left in the game down 28-20 isn't really a "critical moment" until we fumble.

Not converting a 2-point PAT down 20-18 with 5 minutes left in the game... ok... pretty critical.  But we came out and made 2 great defensive plays... before giving up a big one.

I'm old... and don't really over-react to mistakes anymore (there was that one half-time this year... and we actually outscored them in the 2nd half 12-7... maybe I should go nuts more).  I try to identify why (ex: "what happened on that play?"), but move on (to be fair, not all of our coaches follow that approach... we're a work in progress there).

I agree completely with coachcb and silkyice in their posts...

I can only speak from our experience this past season:

1. We don't know how to win.  We somehow sabotage a good thing (play, drive, half, etc.).  I have noticed that often it was one of our three seniors who made the most "critical mistakes".  They've lost the longest.

2. We are not as good as other teams.  We played mostly sophomores at a varsity level.  We were a pretty good JV team with a few seniors sprinkled in.  We play schools with 9-12 rosters of up to 120.  We have less than 60.

3. We are woefully behind in the weight room.

4. We are woefully behind when it comes to competing.

5. We are woefully behind when it comes to off season commitment.

However, there are some signs of light.  We do a lot of "competition" things at practice.  Overtime challenges (goal line basically), 2 minute offense/defense competition... I think those have helped.  We competed much better at the end of the year.

We are addressing the weight room- we've never had athletic weight training during the school day.  We have it now and have about 80% of our guys in.  The others have early morning workouts before school.  

As the year progressed, our guys spent more time on Hudl than they had in the past.

After the regular season ended, we had a week of optional practice.  We had around 30 for each practice, which was close to our varsity roster (we had a few JV players join- their season ended almost 2 weeks before the varsity season and most had checked in gear already).  I took this as a very good sign.   These are the type of things we need to do over the summer (which I mentioned... several times).

One big problem we have- we are not very athletic, and we aren't very fast- which goes back to what Silkyice said "Possibly what is going on is that these other teams are just better."  That's true for us.  But we have room to improve, and now have time to improve- and they are excited about next year.  

Will we ever be a state title contender?  I doubt it.  But knowing what we lose vs. what our opponents lose, and knowing we will have another year in the system puts us in a good position to say that we should compete for a playoff spot, which would be huge for us.  We just need to shed the stench of losing... and if I had a magic formula, I'd use it.  

My only real council is this: It is important to identify "why" the snowball effect happens (usually several factors), and then address those factors- one day at a time.  In the end, for us (maybe for your guys too), we lack confidence.  And at some point, like veerman said, we're going to have to make some plays on a more consistent basis to get some confidence, but that is traced back to improving all the things we have identified as the "whys".

Good luck.

[coachwoodall]

Nov 5, 2024 15:24:28 GMT -6 lbedwards said:

2 years in a row my team has been in position offensively and defensively to make the necessary play be in our favor. Offensively, no one has stopped our offense but ourselves (turnovers, penalties, etc). Defensively, we are in position to make tackles and get off the field on 3rd Down. However, at critical moments in a game our team makes a mistake (turnover, missed tackle, etc) that creates a snowball effect of negativity. We rep football fundamentals every day beginning with summer workouts. We emphasize fundamentals and not beating ourselves. We run drills to improve execution. When I watch film, I see that we are able to do what needs to be done, we are where we’re supposed to be, we’re just not doing it when it matters. Any council on how to diminish these moments in games that cost us?

There are 2 paths to address failure.  What are the consequences for failure, and how do you create failure situations in practice.... which in terms have consequences.

Think about it in simple terms of this; 2 players perform a drill.  Loser has 10 up/downs.  

Could be player/team consequence; for every false start the offense has ____ punishment.  You miss a tackle that was because of bad angle/didn't run feet/etc.... run a gasser.

You can do it on Monday after it happens on Friday, or you can reinforce it when it happens each day after practice..

I'm not a fan of punishing a kid for a whiff from Friday on Monday.  It is kind of like sticking a dog's face in his turd on your carpet the next day.  But I am a fan of having a consequence in a time frame that makes screwing up a reminder to not do it again.

But more importantly; are you creating the stressful event in practice that is causing the screw up in games?  Missed tackles b/c you can't 2 platoon..... that is a tough one.  Not covering a fade ball in 1 on 1s b/c you can't 2 platoon; the same.

Find a way when you run your fundamental drills to have a 'winner' and a 'loser' then have some kind of consequences that is appropriate for being the loser.  Doesn't have to be a big drawn out punishment, it just is a reminder that 'you failed'.