Execution, not ‘Play Call’ to blame for negative plays on the field.

We’ve heard this a million times; It’s 3rd & 2 for the Bucs at the opponents 27 yard line. The play is sent in, and it’s a pass into the end zone. Dropped. The screams begin… “ What a stupid play call” You hear this every Monday morning on every call in Radio show after a loss; “ The Play calling was horrible” or after a win, “Yesterday the play calling was great”. There is no such thing as good, or bad, play calling. Other than the obvious of course, which is the result of the play! If a play works, it’s a great call; fails, it was terrible; and that’s not the way it’s supposed to be. With the advent of Madden Football on gaming consoles and computers, everyone can finally be their own Bill Parcells, Bill Walsh or Jon Gruden (I just had to)! The problem is, this isn’t Madden football, our boys play it for real on Sundays, and the weeding out process for play callers to get where they are is unbelievable. Trust me Monday Morning Quarterbacks, you’re NOT going to call a better game than ANY offensive coordinator in ANY level of the game! But what the main part of the problem is boils down to one thing, and that is the great football perception filter. If the play works, it was properly executed, and thus a great call. If it doesn’t work, it was a poorly executed play that results in a negative result, and that being it was a terrible call. This of course is ridiculous. Lets take a look at the above situation; 3rd and 2 from the opponents 27. You would think that 7 times out of ten a run in is order. Doesn’t that mean a pass can be called to be different and unpredictable? These aren’t just plays being called on an individual basis, these are an assembly of them, much like a good book is more than just words on paper. Coaches will call plays to set up other ones later on in the game. There seems to be far too many people lately who try to break down football to its numbers. No, stats aren’t for losers; they are an important part of the spectacle. But football isn’t played on paper, it’s played on a field, and unpredictable things happen and usually rely on the unpredictability of the play calls! So the next time your favorite team lines up and doesn’t get a first down, try to resist the urge to say “What a stupid play call” or “ I could have called a better play than that” and come to the realization that neither are true. Every play call is a potentially good one; it comes down to how the team executes it. So lets hope Tampa Bay executes a number of plays well this year, so we don’t have to execute the radio when someone calls up to tell us how stupid a running play was on 3rd and goal from the one!