Halftime Defensive Adjustments

[*Wyche'sWarrior*]

(01-04-2022, 12:25 PM)KillerGoose Wrote: I've been told that halftime is usually too short to make any significant adjustments by a couple of coaches that I know. To my understanding, there are some minor adjustments made at halftime and then adjustments made throughout the game. There is also these quotes by NFL coaches...

"It's the same way with people saying these teams make these brilliant halftime adjustments. I've never seen it. I've seen people make adjustments during the course of the game. I've seen people adjust during the second half. But I've never heard of anybody at halftime getting this flash of divine inspiration: 'Oh, let's do this!' " - Brian Billick


"Halftime is about 7 ½ minutes so you’re in (the locker room) and guys are getting something to drink, going to the bathroom and we talk amongst the coaches on a few things we want to hit on. There may be a couple of important things, maybe not. - Sean Payton"


And then this beautiful quote lol


"Jason Pierre-Paul, did you guys make any halftime adjustments for the zone-read? "I don't know. I was in the bathroom." 6:38 PM - 9 Nov 2014



When I played football, I remember some quick check-ins with positional coaches but we never did much. We also sucked and this was just HS, so pretty worthless anecdotal evidence. Largely, I think HT adjustments are overstated by fans. They happen, but are just a continuation of adjustments and corrections made throughout the game.

(01-04-2022, 12:48 PM)WeezyBengal Wrote: lol this is kind of what I mean. I think our defense just got off the field on third down and made some plays. I'm really not sure anything looked drastically different. 

We did blitz Mahomes on the third down in the red zone that lead to a field goal. That was a big play call. 

Guys, it's right on the team's website....lol.

From Trey Hendrickson:

"We have a lot of faith in Joe (Burrow) and knew we needed to get him the ball back. All of the coaches implemented some great adjustments up front. We had to stop the run and pressure the quarterback. Making those halftime adjustments are what it is to be a professional, and I think we did it well."



Now, yes, it's not like you install a new defense, or make radical changes, but during the half (used to be whiteboard and pictures if you were lucky), you get a chance with your position coaches to look at some tape, and show the players what they need to do differently, and what the opponent is doing to you. Players adjust accordingly. Coaches may add a simple wrinkle, and change small things. The position coaches have received instruction from the coordinator during the game on things they need to be looking at. Sometimes you have time to do some of these adjustments in the sidelines, sometimes you have to wait until the half, and sometimes the adjustments are figured out right before the half, so you go in and implement them.