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Sporting News, The, Feb 4, 2005 by Troy Aikman

My advice to the coaches preparing game plans for the Super Bowl: Remember what got you this far. It's your best shot at succeeding in Jacksonville.

With an extra week to prepare, coaches spend more time than usual watching film. That gets them thinking: "Here's a new wrinkle we can add. Let's put this in. And this. And this." Before you know it, players are having to absorb all these new variations to what they've been doing all season. That can be dangerous.

Players reach a comfort level with their base offense or defense because they get to practice it so much. For the most part, they can execute those plays in their sleep. But when new schemes are introduced, they get fewer practice reps and their comfort level with the plays is much lower. And that can lead to more mistakes and less aggressiveness.

That's not to say game plans should be vanilla. Hey, I love tweaks that allow a team to take advantage of an opponent's weaknesses. But coaches should avoid the temptation to go hog-wild with changes. They got to the Super Bowl for a reason, and for the most part they should stick with it. That said, having an extra week to prepare for the Bills in Super Bowl 27 probably worked to our advantage when I played for Dallas. Buffalo ran a no-huddle offense that was unlike anything our defense had seen all season. Trying to simulate that offense in practice was quite a challenge for our coaches.

They came up with a clever idea: Use two scout team offenses. While the first unit was running a play, the other would huddle a few yards behind and call the next play. As soon as the first play was over, the second unit would hustle to the line and start calling its play while the first unit gathered quickly to set up another one. And so on. This forced our defense to adjust to the style and tempo of Jim Kelly's offense.

We started this during the open week. By the time we got to Los Angeles for game week, the defense and scout teams had the system down pat. Practices were efficient, and the defense was so well prepared it allowed only 17 points to the league's No. 2-ranked offense.

I love the open week, and not just because it might have helped us win that Super Bowl. Coaches can make great use of the extra preparation time--as long as they don't get too cute.

(S) The Troy Aikman show airs at 5 p.m. ET every Thursday through the Super Bowl on Sporting News Radio. Listen online at radio.sportingnews.com.