Keep Score With Me Wants You to Stop Watching the Football

Last week, I gave you a scorecard.

This week, I’m giving you an assignment. One that means, for a good portion of Saturday’s game against Arkansas State, I want you to stop watching the football.

That probably sounds strange considering we’re watching a football game, but stay with me.

Against Grambling State, we were looking for corrections. TCU had just come out of Dublin with 11 penalties, offensive inconsistency, and several things I wanted to see cleaned up.

So, before the game, we established the test.

Then TCU won 63-7, and we graded the Frogs against that test instead of allowing the final score to change our standards.

This week, we’re keeping score differently.

I want to show you some of the things I learned to watch during my playing career that rarely make it into a box score.

There are 22 players on a football field, and only one of them has the ball.

In my experience, I’ve learned the other 21 can tell you a lot more about who that team truly is.

So, this week, you only have three assignments.

1. Next Man Up?

At some point Saturday, TCU is going to rotate players. Depending on how the game unfolds, some of those backups could get their longest look of the season.

I want you to pick a couple of players, or maybe just a position group, on offense or defense.

Think about a backup linebacker, offensive lineman, defensive back, receiver, or defensive lineman who is one injury away from becoming the starter.

You don’t need to know the entire depth chart. You don’t need to diagnose his assignment on every snap.

Just find a number you recognize as somebody who hasn’t been starting and watch him for a series.

Then answer one question:

Could you tell the starter left the field?

Did the effort change? Did TCU stop playing with the same violence? Are the new guys flying to the football, especially when it goes away from them?

If some of those opportunities come late in the game, don’t dismiss them because of what the scoreboard says.

Those snaps matter to the guy getting them.

I learned in the NFL that one of the hardest things about being a backup is preparing all week for an opportunity that most likely won’t come.

Then suddenly, somebody tells you to get in.

It shouldn’t matter whether you get 40 snaps or four.

The mindset has to be:

“I played four snaps, and they were the best damn four snaps I had in me.”

A coach doesn’t necessarily need a backup to become the starter.

He needs him to make sure TCU’s standard doesn’t leave the field when the starter does.

Close-up of TCU tight end Ka’Morreun Pimpton in uniform with his orange mouthguard hanging from his facemask and fans behind — TCU tight end Ka’Morreun Pimpton (88) takes in the atmosphere during the Horned Frogs’ 63-7 win over Grambling State. | Emma Swinney for KillerFrogs.com

Pick some backups or role players Saturday and pay attention when they get their opportunity.

You’ll learn a lot about those guys based on how they grade out on this test.

More importantly, you’ll learn who actually owns TCU’s standard and who is just borrowing it while the starters are on the field.

2. The Next-Play Test

Now we’re going to do the opposite.

This time, watch the guy everybody just noticed.

A receiver makes a 40-yard catch. A defensive lineman gets a sack.

Great.

Find him on the very next snap and see if he really knows how to play the game.

A running back breaks a 40-yard run.

Everybody sees it.

Now TCU throws the football.

Does that same running back identify his pass protection and step up to block a blitzing linebacker with the same urgency he had when the football was underneath his arm?

Or did making the long run somehow make being great in pass protection less important?

Defense is no different.

A defensive end gets a sack on third-and-long.

Everybody notices.

Next series, it’s first-and-10, and the offense is probably thinking about running the football.

Find that defensive end.

Does he attack the offensive tackle with the same get-off and violence?

Does he show the same effort and pursuit if the football goes the other direction?

Or does his motor only find that top gear when it’s third-and-8 and everybody knows he gets to rush the passer?

That’s the entire test.

Big play. Find that player on his next snap.

I’ve always believed you can learn more about a team and its players by watching how they handle success than how they handle failure.

Anybody can be excited after making a big play.

The question is whether that intensity only shows up when they’re making plays and everything is going well.

It shouldn’t.

I had the opportunity to coach TCU’s linebackers from 2015-17, and one of our non-negotiables was simple:

“I don’t care if we’re up by 30 or down by 50. Your level of play never changes. Ever.”

Roles change.

Circumstances change.

Attention definitely changes.

The standard NEVER changes.

3. The Nobody-Applauds Test

This is my favorite test.

Find one player whose work helped make somebody else’s big play possible.

Not just somebody playing hard away from the football.

I want you to find the play behind the play.

If a running back breaks a long one, everybody follows him.

Don’t.

Who made the block that created the crease?

If a receiver scores, was there another receiver downfield blocking the guy who might have stopped him?

Watch the tight ends. We know which guys can catch.

I want to know who is willing to block when he knows the football isn’t coming his way.

Watch special teams.

Horned Frogs' special teams huddle during the Grambling State game — Horned Frogs' special teams huddle during the 63-7 victory over Grambling State | Tony Beblowski for KillerFrogs.com

When a return breaks, everybody’s eyes immediately follow the returner.

That’s natural.

But when they show the replay, forget the returner for a second.

Find the block that turned 15 yards into 40.

One of the easiest places for me to spot this kind of football has always been the defensive line.

And this one means a little more to me personally.

One of my closest friends is my former TCU teammate James Vess.

James played defensive tackle, which meant for three years he did a whole lot of dirty work so guys like me could run around and make tackles.

A defensive tackle can take on two blockers, keep an offensive lineman from ever reaching the linebacker, and create a tackle for loss without getting a single statistic for doing it.

The linebacker gets his name announced.

But the linebacker knows.

Trust me, we know.

What always blew me away about James was that he understood and loved his role. He took tremendous pride in executing it and became one of the best defensive linemen at TCU and in our conference without needing the box score to tell him how valuable he was.

I love James like a brother today, just like I did then.

Not because he helped me make plays that eventually helped me reach the NFL.

But because he taught me what it actually looks like to own your role and genuinely enjoy seeing a teammate succeed because you did yours.

When I made a tackle, he was usually one of the first guys there to pull me off the ground or slap me on the helmet so damn hard that tackling a 240-pound running back felt like the easy part.

He didn’t care whose name got announced.

If one of us made the play, James felt like all of us made the play.

That’s what I want you looking for Saturday.

If a defensive tackle eats a double team and the linebacker comes flying through untouched, don’t stop watching when the whistle blows.

Watch the defensive tackle.

Is he running over to celebrate?

If a receiver makes the block that springs somebody else’s touchdown, is he celebrating like he scored it himself?

Sometimes the best way to learn who a player is isn’t watching what he does when he makes the play.

It’s watching what he does when his teammate makes a play because he did his job.

Find one Saturday, and I promise you’ll have a whole new appreciation for the game.

TCU Jaden Craig and Ed Small — TCU Quarterback Jaden Craig connected Wide Receiver Ed Small with for 5 receptions and 101 yards against Grambling. | Tony Beblowski for KillerFrogs.com

Your Saturday Assignment

No A’s, B’s, or C’s this week.

You owe me three answers.

1. Who came off the bench without TCU’s level of play changing?

2. Who passed your Next-Play Test?

3. Who made your Nobody-Applauds Play?

That’s it.

You don’t need All-22 film. You don’t need to understand every coverage or know everybody’s assignment.

And there isn’t necessarily one right answer.

I’m going to keep my three.

You keep yours.

Then, during or after the game, let’s take it to the KillerFrogs Fan Forum and debate who aced the test and who obviously didn’t study.

I’ll tell you what I saw. You tell me what you saw.

Maybe you catch somebody I missed.

Once you learn to occasionally take your eyes off the football, you’ll start seeing a completely different game.

Saturday night, bring me your three.

I’ll bring you mine. Then we’ll compare scores.

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