Every once in a while a gift may come from your youth football opponent and we live by the old saying never look a gift horse in the mouth. For example, you find yourself in a situation where the other team is overpowering your team at the line of scrimmage. I mean to the point where they are getting 4-5 yards per carry directly off tackle or up the middle. You have made all of your adjustments, but there seems to be nothing you can do.
In a flash, the opposing coach, who has just driven the ball 50 yards down your throat, decides to show you how smart he is and starts throwing the football. I don’t know if it is ego, or just stupidity, but I see this situation happen every year, at every level. Maybe the opponent thinks they’ll catch you in a big play. I do not know what their thinking is, but never look a gift horse in the mouth! This brainiac now has a second and long, if he didn’t turn the ball over and begins to panic. What does he do now? He starts throwing the ball even more. He took a dominating good situation and made it go bad.
On another occasion we were struggling with our season and needed a win badly to qualify for the playoffs. We were facing our neighboring nemesis, who gives us fits every year, and were concerned we were in big trouble as they were playing fantastic at the time. As soon as the ball kicked off, we notice something very strange. None of his key players were in the backfield. We thought we made a mistake on our scouting report, but looked over on his sidelines and noticed his studs were sitting on the bench. Not just one or two of them, but all six of them. A gift from the Gods, as we went on to an easy win. This victory gave our players the confidence we needed to finish our season on a strong note, making the playoffs and competing for the championship. We did find out in the off season that the opposing coach was having parent problems regarding playing time and we making a point in this game. He had a completely different agenda for this game than we did.
In conclusion, we do not care why these situations happen, but we know they do happen and we need to be ready to take advatgae of them when they occur.
