Either school of thought could be a positive or negative. A Battle tested team could either be banged up with a low seed playing on the road come playoff time OR be ready for any challenge in the playoffs because they've already seen much better. A team with a softer schedule could be well rested and get some home playoff games OR be completely unprepared for a real playoff challenge. I think ultimately it just usually comes down to who has the best team because I've seen both strategies work. Ideally, you get challenged in a couple of games with playoff caliber teams and still end up with a good playoff seed to boot.
What I’m about to say is probably overly simplistic, but here is my take. To be a championship team, you just can’t have a weakness, especially one that can be exploited. If you focus on big picture items like offense, defense, and special teams, that’s easy to identify weaknesses. And with weaknesses that broad, you probably don’t make it much past 10 games.
If you have a solid, complete team, but you have a smaller dynamic that is weak or missing, it gets magnified by the better teams as you advance in the playoffs. Small things, like you find out that you can get into the head of a lineman and have him lose discipline. If you don’t think good coaching staffs find that stuff and game plan around it, you are not being realistic. Maybe a QB is prone to making mistakes with the ball if he is pressured from a certain side. Maybe a particular defender is terrific defending certain pass patterns, but is vulnerable in certain others. Maybe a team is just too predictable either on offense or defense in certain situations. If you don’t think that the top teams don’t use a microscope to find and plan for these and many other blemishes, then you are pretty naive.
And you have intangibles that, if missing, could easily be the reason for your last game well before Dec. One that I feel is huge is team chemistry/player leadership. Another, conditioning and fitness is a monumental factor. If the majority of your players have not been working on strength, stamina, and diet since January, then the team that has will have your number. Experience and game savvy of your coaching staff. That’s an easy one, a good young coaching staff vs a good veteran coaching staff? Who would you put your money on.
I say this one with reservations and a caveat. Crowd support! Most top teams have it. Like home field advantage, vocal supportive crowds definitely can have an impact. But, I’m sure you have seen darn good teams with very few fans in the bleachers? Lake Taylor is one that comes to mind. In many home games, the visitors stands have more fans than the LT side. But, I’m here to tell you, Coach Sawyer has never let that factor affect his team. There have been many large vocal visiting groups of fans making excuses and making their way to their cars while shaking their heads side to side.
You just have to have all the puzzle pieces, and have them fit, to become the champion. Have you ever put a 1000 piece puzzle together and that last piece is no where to be found. You were so close, but you just needed that one piece to be satisfied and reach your goal? To me, that is what happens along the way…, to all but six teams in Virginia every year.
