One of the many perks of being a premium subscriber is getting to learn what to look for when watching film. The average fan is naturally trained to watch the ball. Well, as Pat Kirwan says, “Take your eye off the ball.” In order to analyze film, it’s a must. Players are coached to execute specific assignments on any given play. Those assignments are predicated on what the offense is showing pre-snap and what happens post-snap. So, whether you are trying to evaluate a specific player or the overall scheme, you must put the pieces of the puzzle together. You need to start from the time the offense or defense breaks the huddle to the point the refs blow the whistle dead. You need to know the personnel, the alignment, how the offense or defense is aligning across from them. You need to study a specific player’s assignment, but also what others are doing around him. And that’s just the start. There are so many factors that need to be considered when trying to decipher what an offense, defense, or player was asked to do, and what happened. It’s not an exact science, because whatever conclusion you may come to,…