Scrimmages

[Cowboy_Up]

IMO, way too many people put way too much stock in what they see in the first scrimmage.
Some coaches actually seem to want to "win" the scrimmage. Some use them for evaluation and play everyone equal time and if I'm a player fighting for playing time, I appreciate the latter approach. Competition reveals who you really want playing.
If my team looks good in the first scrimmage, the first thing I think of is they didn't work hard enough in two-a-days.
Good coaches use scrimmages as another practice; to see how their troops will react under fire.
There is a thread on this first page where someone who should know better is basically writing off a very good team because they didn't "win" their scrimmage. I know the coach of the "losing" team and he's very old school in that he still uses two-a-days to find out who is tough enough to play for him. In other words, his kids are gassed before they even start. He wants to see who can suck it up and still play and think when they are tired. He competes for championships, not scrimmage victories.
When did '"winning" a scrimmage become important?

[K-MAC Chuck]

Dallas Cowboys in Jimmie Johnson's first year as head coach (if I remember correctly)..

5-0 in preseason
1-15 in regular season

[ziggy29]

I would think it's just like an exhibition game -- you play your starters just enough to get them some real work in a game situation so they don't start the season rusty, and you spend much of the other time using reserves to fill out your depth chart, make decisions about who will start in well-contested positions, and provide less chance for your starters to be injured.

I'd hate to be the coach who won the scrimmage by allowing their star QB or RB to stay in there long enough to tear an ACL.

[wordonthastreet]

How did the west texas 3A's do this past weekend?

[Matthew328]

I use the first scrimmage to look at new positions manly, places where starters return I don't much keep an eye on.....I want to see how the first teams look, not so much the backups....

[trojan37]

Originally posted by Matthew328
I use the first scrimmage to look at new positions manly, places where starters return I don't much keep an eye on.....I want to see how the first teams look, not so much the backups....

I'm not a coach, just a fan, but I love to watch the second teamers during scrimmages. Are they actually out there to compete, do they really want to play, and, god forbid, if a key player was to go down with an injury, can that backup come in and step up when needed in the big game. They are just as valuable as the first stringers because you never know when you will need them. That's just my opinion.

[Matthew328]

I should probably clarify, I like to see how individuals do but if my team's second teamers get outscored by someone else's second teamers I'm not real worried about that because that group as a unit won't be out there unless its a blowout

[KONGZILLA]

?

[hawkfan]

Considering our team didn't do so hot last year, we wanted to come out and "win" our scrimmage to get a little momentum going. And I think it is going to work. But we did go 90 plays so our first and second teams got plenty of playing time, and both did pretty well.