NFL Coaches and Preseason
The 2009 NFL Pre-Season is right around the corner with the Hall of Fame Game in Canton Ohio scheduled for Sunday August 9th on NBC at
8:00PM Eastern Time. This game will feature the Buffalo Bills and the Tennessee Titans. That game will be followed on Thursday night with four games with the balance of the week’s games played on Friday, Saturday and a double-header on Monday night.
The handicapping process for the NFL Pre-Season is unlike any other with some teams playing to win and some using it more for player evaluation than anything else. This requires different tactics and a diverse set of handicapping strategies to come out a winner. In this article we take a look at the role of the head coach in preseason games.
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The Head Coach can be a very good source of information on how his team will play in a particular game. He may not care about winning certain games; he may use games more for player evaluation and not for racking up useless wins and losses. Regular Season and Playoffs there’s one common goal to win at all costs but in the preseason a head coach may have other motives which can help determine the outcome of a game that would otherwise go unnoticed.
Some coaches want to establish a winning atmosphere especially when this is their debut as the head man with this team or you have a team that is coming off a losing season and wants to get out of the gate fast even if they are just practice games. Just because a coach is making his debut with his current team he may well be a veteran coach just changing jobs and have no interest in winning pre-season games. There again it’s good to know his philosophy and intended goals which will help you when handicapping games his team is involved in.
We want to watch for former head coaches or even assistant coaches who have now taken a head coaching job and are playing their former team.
The coach will know their personnel and if he was an assistant coach he will know what his former boss likes to do during the preseason. The new head coach will know how to game plan for his former team’s players, tendencies and schemes which should give his new team an advantage.
Most NFL teams play by a predetermined schedule as far as when starters play and for how long they will play in each game. In most cases Game One the starters will only see a series or two during the first quarter then its backups and reserves the rest of the way with some rookies likely getting some playing time towards the end of the third and into the fourth quarter.
The middle games two and three are usually quite different in that the starters will usually play the first half of game two with backups playing most of the third quarter and even into the fourth with the reserves bringing it home. The third game is used by most teams as a dress rehearsal for opening day with the starters playing most of three quarters and backups playing the fourth with reserves possibly getting some playing time depending solely on the situation and what the head coach deems necessary.
In years past game four of the preseason has been primarily a throwaway game with coaches focused on their opening day opponent and protecting their starters from possible injury. In most cases the starters may play one series with starters that are nicked up not playing at all. The last thing a head coach wants is to lose a starter in the fourth game of the preseason.
There will be numerous play on and play against situations that the head coach will provide to the astute handicapper during the preseason. Through the internet and local team newspapers the coach’s plans are usually readily available. In doing your homework look for situations that this head coach either excels or struggles and this should help put you on more winners than losers this preseason. Success is where preparation meets opportunity.
Cajun Sports finished 2nd in the 2008-09 29th Annual National Handicappers Bowl with a record of 24-13 ATS (64.9%) +2920 Units in the Totals (Over/Under) Division and 35-27 ATS (56.5%) +2170 Units in the Games (Sides) Division capping off their NFL Season by going 11-5 ATS (63%) +1640 in the NFL Playoffs winning both the side and total in the Super Bowl.
All records are documented by CappersPicks.com, the National Handicappers Bowl and the Sports Monitor of Oklahoma.
Join Cajun for another winning NFL Season in 2009!
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Robbie Gainous of Cajun-Sports has been providing serious sports investors with consistent winning selections since 1989.
