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Vic Fangio Thinks the Concept of Halftime Adjustments is “Overblown”
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This was good to hear from Vic Fangio midweek:
Q. It’s been a trend going back to last year that’s continued this year in terms of improvement in the second half (of) games. What goes into halftime adjustments or in-game adjustments that allows your defense to do that? (Zach Berman)
Vic Fangio: Halftime adjustments are way overblown. Half time is 12 minutes long, takes me a few minutes to get down, takes me a few minutes to get back up. You need to be adjusting all throughout the game. If our offense has a good drive, there might be more than 12 minutes in between when we’re on the field, so in between series you have to be doing it. I have to be doing it in my own mind from a play calling standpoint, so it’s constant. The idea of halftime adjustments is overblown in my opinion. It’s a constant during a game.
Fangio doesn’t really answer the question, and to Zach Berman’s credit, he mentions in-game adjustments, but either way, it’s good to hear a coach say that the concept of halftime adjustments is fugazi. You’re always tweaking and reacting and responding throughout a game. Imagine getting smoked in the first quarter and then turning to your assistants and saying something like, “we’re gonna have to talk to the guys at halftime.” It makes no sense. No high-level coach thinks like that.
You just wish Fangio would have taken it a step further and spoke on the dullness of “adjustments” in fan and media speech. People throw the concept around so generically that it doesn’t actually mean anything.
“Vic Fangio needs to make some adjustments here!”
Like what? Do you want him to play man coverage? Should they walk Andrew Mukuba down to the line and leave Reed Blankenship in single-high? Should they dust off the “wide 9” and line up Jason Babin 17 yards off the tackle? Should he use the halftime period to try out NJ online casinos and PA casino apps?
People always talk about “adjustments” but never say what they actually want to see, nor can they identify the tweaks that have been made. And in football, you oftentimes can’t even do that while watching on television because you don’t have the all-22 view that shows DB positioning and receiver route running. So it’s best to just not use the word “adjustments” at all. What is this, the chiropractor?
Thank you. Here’s a track by Flock of Seagulls:
Kevin has been writing about Philadelphia sports since 2009. He spent seven years in the CBS 3 sports department and started with the Union during the team's 2010 inaugural season. He went to the academic powerhouses of Boyertown High School and West Virginia University. email - k.kinkead@sportradar.com