Is Your Football Film Session a Waste of Time?
The lights are low. Your players are scattered around, some are in chairs, some are on the floor. They’ve been sitting in classes since 8am, and now its 3pm and they’re sitting again, watching next week’s opponent.
You’ve got the remote. A few assistants are scattered around the room. You are narrating the film like Ben Stein, while your assistants chime in with occasional comments. The players rarely say anything, except an outburst over a big hit.
Can’t you do better than this? I know you had to live through it and they should too. But are you using the limited football film study time that we have as wisely as you can?
Film Study Sheets
Create a football film study sheet for each position. Guide the players (and the coaches) in the direction they need to be going as they view the game film.
You want your guy to focus on his EMOLS Read and not the incredible moves that the running back has? Better ask him some qeustions about that Tackle or Tight End.
Have your players tell you who the guy they’re most focused on is, and what he does. Look at this alignment, does it tell you anything? Is he lazy when he’s not getting the ball? Does his butt sit back when he pulls?
Be sure to have the players note the best plays the offense runs. If they really get a good feel for the game, they should be able to tell you what that play is without any help. (Unless you get one of those teams who is a jack of all trades, master of none!)
Take note of jersey numbers. Is someone rotating? What does their rotation tell you? Often times we’ve found a back who rarely carries the ball, but is great catching out of the backfield, or blocking.
Be alert for changes in the Offensive Line, where cohesiveness as a unit is vital to success. Why did the change occur?
Look at where receiver routes are run. As much as pattern reading is in vogue, most of the time you’ll find receivers running routes and making catches on the hash, numbers, or sidelines, where we would have spot dropped in simpler times. If you can speed up your linebackers with this information, it is a benefit.
Group Players with their Coaches
Film sessions are no time for your guys to sit with their buddies, or for you to give a 30 minute monologue. Have the players sit with their position coach.
The goal is to have more of a running discussion in the group, with the coach guiding it. Most players don’t hate football film study, they hate sitting still and not talking. They want to watch football film, and learn from it, so we need to make that happen.
Putting players in these small groups is beneficial because they’ll be more engaged with their individual coaches, and also have someone in close proximity to them. If you have the means to put each position in their own area with their own position coach, then by all means do it – but we don’t.
Another good idea is to only have your two deep depth chart in the room. 6 or 8 linebackers in manageable, but you’ve got 15 guys in the room who play a total of four positions, its going to be tough.
Keep It Simple – and Short
Showing the entire game from an opponent has its advantages, certainly. But if you’ve got a specific message you want thep layers to get from football film study, set them up for success.
Find a selection of 10 plays that show specifically the problem that you want to fix, or illustrate the plan you’ll be implementing in this week’s game. Give players a visual of what they will see and, if available, how to stop it.
I’m not a fan of showing them the wrong way (particularly not repeatedly). Some coaches like to use bad technique to show their point, though. I just don’t want to even talk about it – don’t even address it as a possibility – when you are watching the other teams. Make corrections when you review your own football film.
Extra Football Film Study Sessions
Give your players all of the opportunity they need to study more film. If they want copies to take home, make it happen. If your program isn’t able to pay for lots of blank DVDs, then let the players bring them in. You can probably get each position group to go in on a stack of 100 DVD-R’s and they’ll be taken care of for the season.
Obviously it will help if you have a stack to burn all of those extra copies.
Open up film for players to view early in the morning, and after practice, as well. We should never limit the amount of film players can watch.
Whenever possible, sit in with your players as they watch extra film. Give them the remote, let them see what they want to see, but continue to guide their eyes to the key points.
Quiz Your Players
Give your players a quiz on Thursday after practice. You should be monitoring your coaching ability as much as their focus. Ask the 10 things that players really need to know. Those pieces of information that you’ve been hammering.
Ask the questions in a way that your players can answer. Remember that they are not coaches.
I’ve found that asking them what gap to go to can get some strange answers, while asking them to draw a line showing where they go on a blitz is more effective. Your kids are visual, and most of them learned what to do on the field, not in meetings. So ask them questions that way.
Quiz players on personnel, best plays, strong situational tendencies, and special packages or blitzes that you have developed for this week.
You’re not going to sit anyone for failing the test, but if they fail the test you need to sit down with them and find out why. You may find that they know the information, just not how to answer your quiz questions. Learn to write better quizzes.
If you find that everyone failed it, find out why. Did you not coach it right, or did you write a really bad quiz? Do not blame the players. It is your job to teach them.
Evaluate Your Football Film Study
At the end of the week, when the game is over, pull out your quiz. See if you were right, or if you missed some key points.
Don’t just throw away the film study you did all week at the end and assume you did it right. If your players didn’t seem to get it, you should be looking at what happened. And even if they did get it, you need to make sure you continue to repeat what you did for future success.
Take note of how the offense adapted to your team defense, in comparison to how they played everyone else. I know that by running a 3-man front this season, and in particular a 3-4 Defense, we won’t see many teams playing against a similar front. We will benefit greatly from learning how what they do against a 4-man front will compare to how they handle us.
If you pour yourself into preparation each week, and get your kids to buy into your game plan, you can be successful. Use film study in a more creative and specific way to get the full benefit though. Get your players to immerse themselves in the game week preparation and become an expert in their position in the plan.
For plenty of film to study (not of your opponents though, most likely) check out ChiefPigskin.com






