Put me in coach! I can play! Well no, actually, you can’t.

EA Sports has released NFL Head Coach for the Xbox, Playstation 2 and PC. The folks at Electronic Arts are hailing this as the first complete football strategy experience, and if you’re an avid or rabid NFL fan, this is going to be a refreshing switch to the traditional sports game. But if you are an avid or rabid fan of traditional sports games, or just want to turn a game on, pick your team and play a quick game with your bud, you’re going to want to buy any other sports game on the market.

If you are ready to try something new that combines elements of other genres and inserts them into the sports world, enter NFL Head Coach. This game allows you to take full command of an NFL franchise and develop the team, coaching staff and players.

The real beauty of Head Coach is the realism. Obviously, this is a different kind of game. Gamers are used to selecting a play, pressing the action button, dropping back with your QB and firing one down field. In this game, your job is to pick the perfect plays for situations and develop a quarterback who will make that throw perfectly and receivers who can bring it in using all your vast football knowledge.

Patience is the key here. This is a tedious game that doesn’t cheap out on the details. This is not a game that you play for an hour and turn off, satisfied, when the clock strikes zero. Be ready to put some serious time into it. To take advantage of the full experience — making your own playbook, creating/drafting/training a team from the ground-up, working with coaches, watching film, scouting out the opposition and working your way to the Super Bowl — be prepared to put some serious hours into this one.

Players get better with practice time, which brings a new twist to the traditionally underused practice feature seen in other sports video games. As coach, you can have simulated conversations with your players and verbally motivate them to perform better. You can even shout out play calls using your headset and head feedback and play calling from your assistant coaches on the earphones.

All in all, a good game and a good first break into a new genre for Electronic Arts. NFL Head Coach is another way for you to show your loyalty to your favorite team, by making all the decisions and running all the plays you shout out to the TV on Sunday. A word to the wise, if you’re looking for multiplayer action, you’re going to definitely be shouting at the TV with this one, because the multiplayer is a chore and a bore.

Electronic Arts has marketed Head Coach with its usual variety of commercial advertising and media bits as well as a steady stream of videos and screenshots that we just love to splash on.