Post Covid Football isn't as good as expected

[boyblue]

With all the down time, extra practice and eligible super (5th year) seniors, I expected the overall quality on the football field to be improved. I expected minimal penalties, heightened effort, and marked improvement in quarterback play. Instead I'm seeing more penalties than usual, questionable effort (especially during crunch time), inaccurate passes and a lot of dropped balls, and this is at every level.

I saw a D1 game with 3 or 4 false start penalties on consecutive plays, each penalty by a different player. I saw one of the greatest ever QB's lay an egg. I saw a highly ranked team that when last seen could rush for 175 yards a quarter, barely manage that for a game game, and lose to an unranked team.

To be fair no coach (other than Nick Saban) could be certain of what they would be getting and it will probably be years before we understand the full affects of this pandemic on individual's psyche. I had a Covid scare and I was like trying to put my affairs in order (being fat and late 50's I didn't expect to survive it), that was a trip - and it wasn't even Covid! I have however lost close friends and even their passing hasn't really sunk in yet, so who am I to say that the players should have all been dialed in from game one.

I am really thankful for football, so I'm not complaining, but honestly, I did expect better.

[CALUPA69]

With all the down time, extra practice and eligible super (5th year) seniors, I expected the overall quality on the football field to be improved. I expected minimal penalties, heightened effort, and marked improvement in quarterback play. Instead I'm seeing more penalties than usual, questionable effort (especially during crunch time), inaccurate passes and a lot of dropped balls, and this is at every level.

I saw a D1 game with 3 or 4 false start penalties on consecutive plays, each penalty by a different player. I saw one of the greatest ever QB's lay an egg. I saw a highly ranked team that when last seen could rush for 175 yards a quarter, barely manage that for a game game, and lose to an unranked team.

To be fair no coach (other than Nick Saban) could be certain of what they would be getting and it will probably be years before we understand the full affects of this pandemic on individual's psyche. I had a Covid scare and I was like trying to put my affairs in order (being fat and late 50's I didn't expect to survive it), that was a trip - and it wasn't even Covid! I have however lost close friends and even their passing hasn't really sunk in yet, so who am I to say that the players should have all been dialed in from game one.

I am really thankful for football, so I'm not complaining, but honestly, I did expect better.

Don't quite understand why you'd think there would be no fall off. So much of the game is muscle memory that is only truly honed by in game actions and reactions. Stopping, turning, blocking, tackling etc can not really be simulated no matter how sophisticated the tech. Consider taking 18 months away from your local golf course and trying to maintain your skills on the driving range and practice green. Or keeping your tennis backhand sharp in your living room. Teams look to be slowly rounding into shape so this topic should probably be revisited around 10/15.

[Turbonium]

Don't quite understand why you'd think there would be no fall off. So much of the game is muscle memory that is only truly honed by in game actions and reactions. Stopping, turning, blocking, tackling etc can not really be simulated no matter how sophisticated the tech. Consider taking 18 months away from your local golf course and trying to maintain your skills on the driving range and practice green. Or keeping your tennis backhand sharp in your living room. Teams look to be slowly rounding into shape so this topic should probably be revisited around 10/15.

Agreed, you can't replicate game situations in practice. There are so many other factors that impact things as well, various states had differing rules during covid, strength and conditioning programs had to drastically adjust, people had family members die. Even star QBs are allowed to be human and have a bad game too. Not sure who this is referring to but they aren't robots no matter how great they might be 99% of the time.

[boyblue]

Both excellent points but sports is supposedly mostly mental, that being said I did not expect all of the mental errors. Having missed a whole year, I'd think that with under 2 mins left and a chance to go ahead, players would not be moving so slow that the announcers had to comment on it. And although I can understand a QB's touch not being dialed in, I expected that the reads would be quicker because he now has a much better understanding of the offense because he had that extra time to master the schemes.

I guess Covid Malaise isn't universal because as many a team that has looked lackluster, there are programs that have taken a huge leap forward. Clemson & Ohio St look mortal but Bama has actually gotten better, Georgia hasn't fallen off & Florida is much improved, they actually look like they've been working on stuff.

[psugorilla]

On the flip side, I am finding this season to be quite entertaining and perplexing. There has been so many strange upsets and teams going out and beating a top ranked team but then the next week getting their butts handed to them by a bottom feeding team. Games that shouldn't be close have been and some that should have been weren't. West Florida dominating a D1 school was surprising. I wasn't shocked to see them win but was by just how good they played in that game. Here we are 5 weeks into the season and there's really no clear cut favorites even among the still unbeaten. Even they have all had close games they easily could have lost.
It's been fantastic

[boyblue]

On the flip side, I am finding this season to be quite entertaining and perplexing. There has been so many strange upsets and teams going out and beating a top ranked team but then the next week getting their butts handed to them by a bottom feeding team. Games that shouldn't be close have been and some that should have been weren't. West Florida dominating a D1 school was surprising. I wasn't shocked to see them win but was by just how good they played in that game. Here we are 5 weeks into the season and there's really no clear cut favorites even among the still unbeaten. Even they have all had close games they easily could have lost.
It's been fantastic

You're right, Covid seems to have brought a bit of parity to a division that is normally fraught with lopsided wins. I'll tell you what, if a team comes out of the GSC unbeaten you may want to give them wide birth. What is more likely is a conference champion with two losses.

[SW_Mustang]

I expected the exact opposite. Kinda hard to sit around for an entire year and expect to be better somehow.

[OldBison]

[Uwfalum98]

With all the down time, extra practice and eligible super (5th year) seniors, I expected the overall quality on the football field to be improved. I expected minimal penalties, heightened effort, and marked improvement in quarterback play. Instead I'm seeing more penalties than usual, questionable effort (especially during crunch time), inaccurate passes and a lot of dropped balls, and this is at every level.

I saw a D1 game with 3 or 4 false start penalties on consecutive plays, each penalty by a different player. I saw one of the greatest ever QB's lay an egg. I saw a highly ranked team that when last seen could rush for 175 yards a quarter, barely manage that for a game game, and lose to an unranked team.

To be fair no coach (other than Nick Saban) could be certain of what they would be getting and it will probably be years before we understand the full affects of this pandemic on individual's psyche. I had a Covid scare and I was like trying to put my affairs in order (being fat and late 50's I didn't expect to survive it), that was a trip - and it wasn't even Covid! I have however lost close friends and even their passing hasn't really sunk in yet, so who am I to say that the players should have all been dialed in from game one.

I am really thankful for football, so I'm not complaining, but honestly, I did expect better.

I believe the transfer portal has also contributed to teams not being as sharp as we might have expected them to be. I was listening to one of those talking head sports shows and they said Clemson lost 19 transfers from last season and added 0, did that contribute to their difficulties this year, who knows but it certainly seems like a possibility. Either way, practice is practice, and it's always been my opinion that game experience is the only true measure of how successful a team will be.

[CALUPA69]

Still not really post COVID completely. In the PSAC, CLARION @ CAL U is called NO CONTEST due to COVID issues. It was already NO CONTEST due to football issues but at least the EAGLES won't get crushed for a third straight week.