Game day is here. You’ve prepared well for your opponent. You’ve won the coin toss and receive the opening kickoff. Everything is going your way, until... FUMBLE!! Your opponent recovers the fumbled opening kickoff and takes it in for a touchdown on a freak play. Just like that you’re down 7-0 and playing catch-up. More importantly, if you haven’t set your profile up properly, you may already be out of your game plan.

Fortunately, there’s a simple way to make sure this doesn’t happen.

I employ what I call the “Don’t Panic” offense to keep my teams doing what I want them to do no matter what happens. This gives my chosen strategy ample opportunity to take effect. In short, the don’t panic offense calls the same plays in the same situations throughout the first half no matter what the score.

One of the ways the coaching profile recognizes game situations is by score. When you’re behind, the profile sees the game in one of three ways: behind by 1-3, behind by 4-7, or behind by 8 or more. The play calling may be different at each level (and will be if you are using an unedited or insufficiently edited stock profile to call your plays).

In the example of the opening kickoff being fumbled and taken in for a touchdown, you’d already be at the second level. To ensure that you run the same plays you planned to run if you’d gotten the ball first and started with a tie, it’s a good idea to make plenty of use of the copy button in the Coaching Profile editor. Copy the play calling you would use for a tied game to the same situations at all possible scoring levels.

For example, If I want to run up the gut on first and ten, I will choose Run Middle as my only play option on first and 10, then hit the copy button. I’ll check off all scores, no matter how far ahead or behind, and copy that logic. In this way I know my team won’t panic and change strategies at the first sign of adversity. I will do this for most key offensive situations for the first half to make sure that no matter what has happened on the field, my team is sticking to the plan.

Your play calling will also probably change when you’re ahead if you haven’t edited your profile well. While this may not seem to hurt as much since you have the lead, but it may mean that you stop doing the things that got you the lead in the first place!

If you employ the don’t panic offense, there are some pitfalls to watch out for. Using the same strategy each week will make your team very easy to scout. If you’re scouting your opponents well, it’s likely that you’ll want to adjust the play calling each week anyway. If you’re a lazy scout, it’s best to assume that you’ll be in trouble fast if you try to do the exact same things each week.

Also, the defense may change strategies as the scores change, which can either help or hinder the effectiveness of your plan.

You may choose to use the don’t panic offense as a general principle but make minor changes depending on the score. This is fine, but I recommend that you identify a key strategy that doesn’t change.

If you use the don’t panic offense, the second half is the time to make adjustments based on first half results. By that time, the strategy you thought should have worked in the first half will have had a fair chance to do its job.

How should the adjustments be made in the second half? Well that’s another tutorial altogether