Relative Something

I have watched a lot of football over the years, but I have never figured out why teams that get desperate late in a game, all of a sudden are able to execute plays that gobble up 10 and 15 yards at a crack. If they are able to accomplish this late in the game, why don’t they do the same thing earlier? If it is because the defense switches to a ‘prevent’ defense late in the game, why doesn’t the defensive team just use the earlier formation that kept that offense from working in all previous possessions?

If a team can march down the field so well at the end of a game, why don’t they do the same thing while the game is young? Is it possible that some athletes need that added incentive of coming from behind with little time left, in order to lift their game to the highest level? I honestly don’t understand why the game changes all of a sudden and an offense suddenly seems unstoppable. In the end, my gut tells me that it has more to do with what the defense changes that allows the offense to succeed, than what the offense does that makes the difference.

If this subject doesn’t resonate for you because you don’t watch any football, just switch out the terms relating to football and replace them with parents/teenagers, or husband/wife, or employees/management and you pretty much get the same effect.

And finally, do I love the fall because I relate it with the football season, or do I love football because it happens during the best season of the year? Both are pretty spectacular. Lately, we are enjoying some pretty fine late summer weather, but with just enough football happening, it still feels like fall.