Game 2 of the grand experiment (playing competitive football after age 40) began with a drizzle.  Rain flirted with us all night, with a fine mist glazing the field turf.  We were down a man from Game 1 due to injury, and his replacement also missed due to injury.  We showed with 8 strong and our opponents (the Brinks trucks) were six strong.  We still had a numbers edge, so we needed to keep it close in the first half and wait for fatigue to give us a competitive advantage in the 2nd half.

The previous week my team had started very slowly on Offense, throwing three INTs and have zero points to show for it.  Defensively this put us in bad field position, resulting in 21 easy points for our opponents.  This week, we needed to manage the Offense more efficiently and keep ourselves out of bad situations.  So I trimmed my game plan from 6 formations to 3, from 24 plays down to 12, and from a key ring of 12 flip cards to two simple wrist bands.  The result was very positive – two strong drives, one ending in a TD, and seven points.  We also forced the opposing team to drive the length of the field twice for their two scores.  At half, we were losing 13-7, which is right where we hoped to be, ready to pounce on a tired opponent.

But that’s not what happened.  Injuries mounted in the first half.  In our first drive, we lost a talented CB to a muscle strain.  Then, late in the first half, we suffered a devastating loss of our premier pass rusher to a leg injury (we later discovered, at the ER, that this was a serious calf muscle tear).  Both players were out the remainder of the game, making the numerical odds even.  With fatigue affecting both teams equally, we lost our competitive advantage in the second half.  And we lost the game by two scores.

With that loss, our season was over.  Typically, leagues are for young people, and this league took on our age demographic as a test, a proof of concept.  We had strong attendance and a lot of participation from the core group.  I am confident that other leagues will follow suit, building player rosters and support city-wide for this extension of our youth.  We have another 35+ league beginning in one month.

I did learn a few things, not only about football, but also about life and even a little about myself.  Here are a few items I thought worth mentioning:

1.       QB Play – We used a dual QB system.  We had one QB with great physical abilities and arm strength, but not a lot of experience.  Our other QB had 8 seasons of experience in other leagues and better accuracy, but less elusiveness and arm strength.  Rather than choose one QB permanently, we purposely planned our game plan around their strengths and had a smooth transition of control around halftime.  So, which QB played better, you ask?

Each QB started one game, with the other playing the 2nd half.  And invariably what happened was this – whoever started the game played poorly.  However, whoever came in 2nd played like a beast. 

At first I was tempted to look at the personalities and the skill sets, and draw conclusions that way.  But I quickly determined that was wrong.  Environmental conditions played a bigger factor.  For example, the defense was fresh for the starting QB, and we were still struggling to establish our Offensive rhythm.  The faster rush made it very hard to get anything going.  By the second half, the defense was more fatigued, meaning more receivers were open and the rush was more predictable and less intense.  Take into account also that the new QB had a completely different style, forcing the defense to adjust its pressure and coverage, which they weren’t able to do quickly, and you can see why the 2nd QB always outperformed the first.  The 2nd guy always had an edge.

2.       Injuries – One thing that caught me completely by surprise was the number of injuries we sustained.  Remember, this was a two-week season!  There’s no way I expected more than one person to go down.  After all, we had 10 people on the roster.  During the season we had five (5) injuries!  What can account for this?

Full disclosure, one of the injuries was me during practice, and ultimately it wasn’t serious enough to keep me off the field, but I was a game time decision for sure.  Of the five injuries, we suffered three leg injuries, one groin pull, and one lower back injury (not during play, kept him from participating at all).  All three game day injuries were suffered on Defense.  The “rusher” position suffered two of those, which should tell you something about how our bodies are responding (poorly)to the strain of going “full-out” every play.

Fundamentally, the injuries were a function of age.  We did not stretch as a team, but left that to each person to attend to himself.  In organized ball, of course, the whole team stretches together.  As younger men, we likely could get away with less stretching.  Therefore, my change in the future will be to have organized stretching as part of the pre-game ritual.  I hope this will limit the number of preventable injuries and support our strategy of avoiding 2nd half fatigue through superior numbers.

3.       Coaching – An odd side effect of purely recreational flag football is that the team typically avoids designating a “coach.”  I cannot explain it, but I suspect it has to do with ego and preserving team harmony.  The Offense had a dedicated play-caller.  The Defense had no dedicated signal-caller.  Was there any appreciable difference?

The short answer is “Yes, I saw a difference.”  The Offense improved performance between Week 1 and Week 2 due to better strategy and some dedicated QB practice.  That would not have been possible without coaching.

Our Defense did not regress due to lack of coaching – it was actually injuries that lowered our effectiveness in Game 2 – but coaching could have kept us closer in a tight 13-7 halftime struggle, limited mental mistakes, and allowed us to change strategies to match our new personnel better.  After all, we were so depleted on Defense, I stepped in to play CB for two drives.  Me.  Yeah, that’s saying something.  (NOTE: Though typically terrible at coverage, I did manage to contribute to one of our only 4-and-out stops with a sweet pass deflection on a Hook.  Hey, I don’t get many – gotta brag a little, right?) 

Now, if you are significantly outclassed by your opponents, no amount of coaching can save you.  Where coaching really becomes valuable is in pre-game preparation and in-game adjustments.  And where you see coaching tip the scales most obviously is in a tight ball-game.  Next time, we’re going to designate a Defensive Coordinator and run the D through him.

Our next adventure starts in one month.  I’ll keep you posted!

It is a cool night, crisp, but wet enough for mosquitoes.  There are hundreds of them, but I don’t care.  I am 40 years old, and I am about to play organized flag football for the first time in… well, let’s just say an unreasonable length of time.

The field at Harrell Stadium is a delight.  The field turf is professional quality, donated from the Mercedes-Benz Superdome.  It was the actual turf that hosted Super Bowl XLVII, when the Baltimore Ravens defeated the San Francisco 49ers.  I am hoping the turf will inspire us to play like professionals.

My 5-on-5 team arrives with 9 players.  We have purposely over-recruited to ensure that we can field fresh players on Offense and Defense.  Despite the short length of the game (20 min halves), most of us are at or over 40 years of age.  Our opponents appear, stretching in the end zone, with only 5 players.  Perhaps we will have a competitive advantage in the 2nd half.

Our opponents, however, are built like Brinks trucks.  I chat them up, shake hands, and begin an easy comparative analysis.  Though they bemoan their age, singing our same song of aches and pain, of rust and the march of time, my eye is trained.  Athletically, we’re going to be in trouble.

The field is marked between the numbers, sixty yards long, and we get the ball first.  And from that moment on, the entire game is a haze of motion, a blur of memory, a frenetic… you get the picture.  I am only aware of snippets as we race towards half time.  We throw a few interceptions.  We give up a few scores on defense.  We mount one decent drive late that stalls.  We are losing badly.

But here is the value of experience.  I am very impressed that, at half time, there is no finger pointing.  There is no dissention.  There is only the focus on continual improvement.  We change QB’s, which was pre-planned.  We adjust our receiver route expectations on Offense.  We refine our Defensive pressure and coverage.  And we stay positive.

Defense starts the 2nd half with a stop.  I am right about the 2nd half competitive advantage.  Our opponents, playing both “O” and “D,” are running out of gas.  Offense gets a TD pass.  Defense gets another stop.  Offense gets another TD pass (this time to me!).  Defense gives up a score but intercepts and returns the PAT for 3 points, putting us closer.  Offense scores another TD pass.  In conserving their strength after half time, they open the door for our Offense to be productive and claw back into the game.

We are inching closer before our opponents wake up and turn on their late surge.  We lose by about 2 touchdowns, but that doesn’t matter.  What could have turned into a rout was actually fun and competitive.

Lessons To Share:

1.       Don’t be a slave to the play book.  Start off with a game plan and use your play book.  But as you notice defensive trends, feel empowered to draw up some plays up verbally in the huddle to attack the weak spots.

2.       Designate one person as “play-caller.”  This worked really well for us (it was me) because we consulted on the sideline as a unit, then I incorporated the changes in the play calling on the field.  As a result, the play calling improved as the game continued.

3.       Stay positive.  Perhaps the most important lesson to share, remember that your opponent is the other team, not your fellow players.  Focus your energy on improvement, not blame, and you will have a better chance of success.