Here we are ready to start a new NFL season. As your prepare to make selections for your team, let us take a look at some areas that you may want to research and factor into your selections.


INJURIES
Obviously all of us will be aware and make note of any key injuries suffered by skilled offensive players during this pre-season. This is a given.

But of equal importance are any injuries suffered by starting offensive linemen. The loss of one or more offensive linemen during this time can seriously affect the team’s offensive production and limit the time the offense has on the field.

Of special concern is any serious injury to either of the players in the offensive tackle positions. These two players are the key for your passing game and the better they are, the better chance you have of throwing and completing passes.

Diligently check the injury report after every pre-season game and factor into your thinking any offensive line injuries, especially serious injuries that will take a player out for four weeks or more, while making your selections for your team.


COACHING CHANGES
As we all know it is the players that make a difference. Players make plays. It is also true that coaches can make a significant impact in the productivity of certain players who you may be considering for your team.

This past off-season has seen some changes in coaching staffs that can seriously affect the productivity of players from one season to the next.


SCHEDULE
Strength of schedule has little or no affect on teams that are consistently in the hunt to be part of the playoffs. These teams are used to consistently having to play the better teams in the league. The players on these teams know how to prepare and perform against the elite teams in the NFL. Every week they are motivated physically in practice in their preparation and are mentally focused on defeating the better teams. This is nothing new to them.

Teams that are usually strong contenders for a playoff berth, but last season suffered key injuries or a rash of injuries to many starters on the team, may actually benefit from getting to play an easier schedule this season because of last year’s won-loss record. If their players are now healthy, you may see them become instantly productive in their offensive numbers.

Teams that last year started slowly and may have lost early games by close scores but then turn it around and finished strong will be in the same situation as teams that had injuries. Their teams will have ended the year on a high note and with a lesser schedule they should show marked improvement.

The teams that may have the biggest problem will be the teams that made a marked improvement last season when playing an easier schedule and now find themselves faced with the challenge of playing division winners this year. Playing this much more difficult schedule will be new to them and present a very new challenge to the coaching staff and the team. 


STATISTICS
Once the season begins, each of us will be checking the individual statistical performances of the players on our teams. This is certainly not something that you need to be told to do. Individual statistics can often be misleading if you do not consider the opponent. As a coach, I always looked at three areas when evaluating the other teams in the league.

POINTS
I wanted to know the points scored by a team: broken down into scoring by offense, defense and special teams. Early in the year, many points scored by a team will come off of kick returns or defensive scores and really do not truly reflect the ability of the offense.

Defensively, I wanted to know the amount of points the defense gave up in a game, not the total number of points the opponent scored, but the actual number of points given up by the defensive team. This would include touchdowns and field goals.

YARDS PER RUNNING ATTEMPT
Offensively, I needed to check the actual number of times they ran the ball and the average number of yards they gained with each attempt. When checking this statistic, it is good to try to determine the weather conditions when the game was played and the score of the game.

These two factors gave me a good idea if the team planned to focus on running the ball, how they would feature their running game in bad weather and what their thinking would be if they were involved in a close contest.

Some coaches will automatically go to a ball control type of game when the score is close and this shows up in evaluating their running game. Other teams will still be trying to score and give little or no concern to managing the clock or keeping the opponent off the field. Regardless of the score, they will keep putting the ball in the air.

Defensively, stopping the run in the NFL is the number two objective of every defense after keeping the opponent off the scoreboard. Stopping the run forces the offense to become one-dimensional, with the result that the defense can pin their ears back, attack off the line and focus on harassing the quarterback.

YARDS PER PASS ATTEMPT
This is the one statistic that really can show you the strength of a team’s offensive passing attack. Completion percentage can be misleading, especially when offensive coordinators are content to continually throw a three-yard pass when it is third and six. All they think about is the quarterback percentage and never are willing to get the ball down the field and gain field position or move the team into position to score by either a touchdown or a field goal.

When you evaluate a defense, you will quickly see if they are giving up big yards each time the ball is thrown or if they may give up completions that result for little or no yardage. Allowing an offensive receiver to make a catch on third down and then hit him with a hard tackle that does not result in moving the chains is a win for the defense and often discourages some receivers from running the pattern again.


TEAM TRAVEL – AWAY GAMES
This is one area that can greatly affect the productivity of a team. Traveling to a game within the same time zone is not a problem. Teams that move north and south in the same time zone or move from one time zone to the next do not find this as a big challenge.

The challenge comes to the teams that must travel completely across the country, traveling from one coast to the other. Having coached on the east coast at Tampa Bay and on the west coast with the San Diego Chargers, I guarantee you that it affects the way your players play.

Traveling from east to west seemed to be easier in preparing the team for the kickoff during the day. Playing a night game was a problem not only for the game but also for the return flight and the preparation for the next opponent.

Going from the west coast to the east coast and playing a game, regardless of the time, always seemed a much greater challenge. 


LOOKING AHEAD
I have given you five areas of the game that you may want to consider and factor into your thinking as you are putting your team together as well as with any changes you may contemplate making as the year goes along.

I really hope you get the chance to select the players in the draft that give you the greatest chance to win. 

Good luck to all of you,

Coach Tom Bass