If you read or listen to the analyses of why football teams lose on both the professional and collegiate levels, you most often hear some of the following reasons: there were too many missed tackles; too many turnovers; too many dropped passes; poor or lack of good blocking; receivers unable to get free of defenders; poor passing; team not strong enough; lack of motivation and poor play by special-teams.
If you closely examine all of these excuses or reasons why football teams lose, you’ll see that they are related to the inability of the players to execute the skills of their position. In other words, the players were not able to successfully execute the skills that they are responsible for.
Notice I did not mention team or coach’s strategy as a reason for the loss. The reason for this should be obvious. Any strategy that is employed by a team is only as good as the player’s ability to carry out the strategy. But if they cannot execute the basic skills of their position, it is impossible for the strategy to work.
Coaches typically deal with poor technique execution by talking to the players and telling them that they should do better. They take it for granted that the player is capable of executing the skills as needed in game play especially against the better teams. However, should they do this?
Understand that the ability to execute skills on a high-level should be worked on every year. Skill technique must be refined and adjusted according to changes in the athlete’s physical abilities especially when you look at the high-intensity strength training programs that most teams employ. Increases in strength change the athlete’s skill technique! This also happens with a decrease in the athlete strength.
This is why coaches should spend more practice time refining and improving the athlete’s ability to execute the skills of his position. This does not mean his ability to execute the movements and plays that the coach wants him to do. It means improvement in his ability to accelerate, jump, catch, catch on the run, throw, throw on the run, tackle, block, especially when the opponent approaches from the sides, etc.
When teams have players who are capable of successfully executing the skills of their position, they will experience more wins. However, it is rare to find a team that has all the players capable of very effective skill execution. This is why they must devote time to the players, especially those who are starters, in need of skill refinement or adjustment.
The ability to correctly and effectively execute the skills of each position can be taught and improved. However, coaches must first be cognizant of the need to do this and then take steps to remedy this situation. Simply buying (recruiting) a better player next year does not solve the problem!
More related information see Sports: Is It All BS?, Build a Better Athlete and The Revolutionary 1 x 20 Strength Training Program.