Vikings Parents
Outstanding performance in Sunday’s game!!!
We really came together as a team, and played an excellent game (even in the harsh September Michigan weather, LOL)
- Special shout out to the parents that braved the elements and cheered on our team from the sidelines
Team Highlights (Both squads):
- Our offense played great and successfully moved the ball down the field, using multiple QB's and multiple RB's (outstanding!!!)
- Our defense was excellent, stopping our opponents offense all game long (except for that last play that somehow got by us)
Game Result:
Vikings: 0
Patriots: 6
What went well:
RB hand-off plays:
Our QB x RB exchanges were great.
- Overall we very clean on this exchange and the QB’s did a great job hiding the football for the fake hand-off’s while getting
the ball accurately to the real ball carriers.
- Also, our RB’s were quick to take the hand-offs & turning up the field, following the intended direction of the play and letting
the fake RB’s draw the defense away.
(Great job QB’s & RB’s)
Defense Speed and Flag Pulling:
Overall, our defense played really well all game long.
- We were quick to move of the snap and pull the ball carrier’s flag.
- We were also good at holding our "home" positions and getting to the RB's path to make a flag pull
(Great job defense – both squads)
What we can work on:
QB x RB Timing:
Even though our QB x RB exchanges overall were good, we did not quite have the timing down to make the hand off to the RB in stride
- We've been working with the RB's to move fast off the snap to get to the handoff area.
- We've also been working w/ the QB's to know their RBs' positions, and get the ball into position quickly
Overall, the kids understand the play concept, so it's really just a matter of getting the timing down, which should come w/ a little more practice
(We’ll keep working on this at the pre-game practice next week)
Pulling out flags vs. Grabbing at flags:
One thing we noticed on defense was that the kids were grabbing for flags vs. pulling the flags out
- The difference being grabbing or reaching for the flag and trying to hold on as the RB goes by (letting the force from the RB pull the flag out)
- As opposed to being in front of the RB and pulling the flag out ourselves (which is much more effective)
- Especially in the weather like we had in yesterdays game, we saw several plays where we had the RB's flag, and it simply slid right through
our defender's hand
(Including that last play, which actually slipped through two different defenders hands and resulted in the game winning score for our opponents)
(We’ll work on this at the pre-game practice next week)
Being in Position on Defense
Another item we noticed was that the kids were doing a lot of diving or snatching for flags
We call this the "sports center highlight syndrome", where the kids are either:
- Diving from behind the RB to make that game saving flag pull
- Or running at an angle from across the field to intersect the RB's path allowing them to snatch the flag in passing.
Now we understand this looks cool when it works (and it gets a big cheer from the crowd), but if they miss, they take themselves out of the play
(Giving up a lot more yardage to the RB)
- It's less flashy, but we really want the kids to work more on moving together as a group to box the RB in, then swarming to get the RB's flag
(while keeping position in front of them)
If we can get the kids thinking more as a defensive unit, it will become much easier to trap the RB's in our defensive boxes and quickly pull out the RB's flag.
(We’ll work on this at the pre-game practice next week)
But, we want to stress that the kids played extremely well in this 1st game, and we were very proud of every one of our players.
(Fantastic job to everybody)
Follow-up Items:
Game Snap Shots:
Parents, throughout the season, if you happen to get a good picture of your MVP during the game, be sure to send it to us.
- We can load up pictures to our teams homepage (1 picture to the game wrap-up news article and/or add up to 3 additional pictures in the picture gallery section).
- And the gallery can be updated for each week’s game
- Let us know if you were able to get any good shots you'd like to share with the team
That should be it for now
- Let us know if you have any questions / concerns
Sincerely,
Tom Dohring
Greg Thomas
Okey Eziuka
Vikings Coaches