A Closer Look with Mark Miller Week 3

Week 3 is in the books and the season is just flying by. The weather was a factor last Friday with rain hitting most stadiums for at least part of the game. That made for messy play to some degree but what made things even worse was the mistakes and penalties.

In all 3 games I have done on radio, the number of penalties have been way up. Sometimes the team with the most penalties wins, but more often they lose. Coaches absolutely hate penalties, at least most of them. Sometimes a penalty is bearable, if not acceptable, if it is because of aggressive play. For instance, a late hit is not always a “dirty play”. I have seen defenders hustling to the ball and they get there just a split second late and get called for a late hit. Coaches can work thru that infraction. What
drives them all nuts is offsides, illegal motion and delay of game (which is usually the fault of the coach for getting the play or subs onto the field late). Holding is a big penalty because of the yardage you lose but let’s be honest, players hold on almost every play, offense and defense. Doug Deiken, OT for the Browns in the 70’s, when asked why he gets a holding penalty every game responded, “I hold on every play, I only get caught once a game.”

Everyone agrees penalties are rarely a good thing for a football team. But how do coaches stop them from happening? It is not because the players are dumb. Rather it is because they are either lazy (in the case of many holding penalties) or they don’t concentrate enough to remember the task at hand. FOCUS man FOCUS! Repetition in practice is the key along with coaches demanding, not asking or encouraging, that players do the right thing at ALL times. If players realize they will be held accountable
in some way, they will make more effort to reduce penalties. For example, discipline like running, push- ups, etc. have all proven successful.

Of course, the best way to get a point across to a young man that continues to make mistakes is to reduce playing time. That is a tough one for coaches as they want the best players on the field to give the team the best chance to win. Sometimes it is addition by subtraction – if a player hurts the team with mistakes, maybe him not playing is a net gain for the team. Of course, teams will never completely remove penalties and mistakes from a game but as Vince Lombardi said, “We will never be perfect, but if we chase perfection, we will catch excellence.” Let’s hope the coming weeks prove to be closer to excellence for area teams.