been paying attention and is formulating a plan to defeat them.

I mean, obviously this is true of any upcoming opponent. His tone was complimentary; his interest in the team and specific understanding of our offense is not a compliment, but part of his job.

The names thing doesn't bother me. It sounded natural. Also, maybe he forgot some of the names. Maybe he just refers to them by number in his film study.

Also, there are plenty of situations where you don't use names. At the Supreme Court oral arguments, lawyers will sometimes say, "my friend on the other side." They don't say "Paul", "Teddy", "Rex", or "Lisa" like you would call your actual friend. It is just a part of the decorum.