Post by Coach Campbell on Apr 2, 2013 22:28:13 GMT
3rd Down Offense:
Developing a Play-Call Attack
By Steve Axman
The more I coach, the more I have come to believe that there are some very important game situational keys, or concepts, to winning or losing football games from an offensive standpoint. Most, or many, of these keys become the important goals that you put on your weekly goal board for all of your players to see. Meet a solid majority of those goals and you help to give your team a tremendous opportunity to win. Some of theses goals could include scoring in the Red Zone, scoring on the Goal Line, converting your 3rd Down situations, and succeeding on your Coming Out offense when backed up on your own one or two-yard line. Other scenarios could include being productive with your Two-Minute offense and running the clock down to zero in the fourth quarter with your "Slow-Slow" offense and "Kill-The-Clock" offense and desperation offense are, definitely other keys that vitally need specific game planning and practice attention.
Over the years, the one game situational key that I have increasingly come to believe that has much more importance, in its ability to help its team win games is the successful execution of 3rd down. A major reason for this is that 3rd down offense is such a big part of the other, vital, key game situations. It's hard to succeed in the Red Zone, on the Goal Line or when using your Two-Minute offense if you're not successful with your 3rd down offense.
Having said that, 3rd down offensive success is not easy chore. In 2011, Wisconsin led the country in 3rd down efficiency with a 54.7 conversion percentage. That means the best offensive 3rd down conversion team in the country didn't convert their 3rd down situations 45.3% of the time! Of the 120 Division 1A football programs in the country, only 7 had a 50% or more 3rd down conversion success rate percentage which means 113 FBS football teams had 3rd down conversion percentages of less than 50%. The bottom line is that, on offense; converting 3rd down situations is hard....very hard!
Having your offense trot off the field in a disparaging manner after a failed 3rd down conversion attempt is extremely disconcerting to a team's positive momentum, energy and exuberance. What's even worse is a failed 3rd down conversion as part of a three and out offensive series. Your defense is now quickly back on the field after just helping to give the offense possession of the football. Failing to convert on 3rd down can easily be a major reason that a team may win, or lose, a football game. Conversely, successfully converting a 3rd down attempt, resulting in that all-invigorating "....moving of the chains..." allows the offense to aggressively and confidently feel in command of their play.
Developing a 3rd Down Play-Call Attack
Successful 3rd down offensive starts with focused, detailed planning. After a season and a detailed video breakdown study of our offense, we will then create mini, situational game plans for every part of our offense versus "....the world." By "the world," we mean a general, yet tight, listing of the play calls we feel confident are sound calls in our offense for our situational needs versus the basic defenses we will see during the course of a season. As a result, we will come up with mini, 3rd down game plans for the following situations:
3rd and Short (1 to 2 yards),
3rd and Medium (3 to 6 yards)
3rd and Medium/Long (7 to 9 yards)
3rd and Long (10 to 12 yards) and 3rd and Long/Long (13 or more yards)
This down and distance breakdown yardage designation is the breakdown that we feel allows our pass patterns and routes the best chance to gain the necessary first down yardage upon completion. As a result, we would probably not call a Hitch pattern on 3rd and 7 because we realistically think a Hitch route is designed to gain five or six yards. We will, however, include a Slant pattern on 3rd and 8 or 9 because of the fact that Slants have the excellent ability to run for yards after the catch even though the pass completion might only be a few yards beyond the line of scrimmage.
We use this play call game plan versus ".... the world...." as our reference point of the basic application of our entire offense going into spring practice. We will revise and update the "....world...." plan in the summer to be ready for fall camp and the oncoming season. Once we're in season and are specifically game planning for opponents, we now have a reference source of our run and pass plays including formation and motion variations. We can now check versus a specific opponent's coverage tendencies, that we have not overlooked play calls from past success that might be effective for that particular game and opponent. We also establish our "Ready Lists" for spring and fall pre-season practices, which are game specific.
We are also very careful to have separate, general game plans established for blitz control and press coverage's. These are two areas where we never want to be caught short by not being well prepared. In this manner, if a team is extremely blitz-happy, or utilize press coverage on 3rd and Medium, we will already have a pre-established, well prepared resource list of play calls to go to per down and distance situation.
During the season, we will now begin our 3rd Down game planning by first watching a 3rd down video breakdown of all of the 3rd down situations per our yardage designations. As a result, we will start by analyzing all of the 3rd and Short (1 to 2 yards) situations our opponent has shown in four or five games that the upcoming team's defense has played versus opposing offenses who are, at least, somewhat similar to our offensive style. As a result, we would not include breakdowns of our opponent's defense in a game where they were defending a Wishbone-type triple option team if we are a Spread type passing team. From this analysis, we will initially note what we feel are the best play call thoughts we have at this point in our play calling decision-making.
Before finalizing our mini play call packages for each 3rd down situations, we will take a look at a 3rd down video breakdown of what we have called in the past four or five games. This helps us to see what tendencies our upcoming opponent sees as they plan to defend us. The opponent might see that we were successful converting six of nine 3rd and Medium/Long situations, all by pass. The opposing coaches might also see that on five of the six completions, the football was successfully completed by throwing to the tight end on some type of a tight end Option route. We would then factor in the success of such a successful play when finalizing our specific 3rd down game plan calls. Do we try to throw a curve ball and not utilize the tight end Option route pass play that we have been so successful using? Or, instead, do we go to other facets of our pass game? Actually, I'm sure I would try to force my opponent to try and stop our tight end Option pass play as part of the overall 3rd and Medium/Long play call plan. However, I am also sure that I would try to disguise such a successful play's usage by utilizing formation variations, shifts and motions. In addition, we might discover, from our analysis, that we were 9-for-9 using a pass play on this 3rd down yardage situation. This might mean that it is a good time to get our Draw play ready.
Below shows a 3rd down play call plan for 3rd and Medium/Long (7 to 9 yards). Note that potential run calls are listed above the solid line with pass plays below the dotted line. How many possible calls should you have listed for each 3rd down offensive situation? That really depends on what the play caller feels comfortable with. Some coaches like a very small, tight package of 3rd down runs and passes. However, even coaches who like to keep their 3rd Down play call lists small will usually have a slightly larger 3rd Down play call list for 3rd and Medium (3 to 6 yards) since offenses are often in that 3rd Down situation more than the others. I have always liked having a relatively larger list of 3rd down situational play calls. The thinking here is that you never know when you might be called upon to, unexpectedly, have to make a larger amount of 3rd and Short or 3rd and Long/Long calls than you expected. In addition, I like to have slightly larger 3rd Down play call lists to allow myself to have a fairly versatile amount of 3rd Down play calls to be able to fit what I feel is the flow of the opposing defense's play during an actual game. A constant here is that these mini, situational 3rd Down game plans are exactly what we will practice when we go to the practice field this way a sense of familiarity will be afforded the players having practiced that situational call a good number of times during the past week's practice. See below for an example of these mini, situational plans:
3rd and Medium/Long (7 — 9 yards) Play Call Menu:
Gun Spread Rt/Lt QB Draw-2/132 CWM
(Midfield) Gun Trey Rt Off YoYo Speed Option Left
Spread Rt/Lt 2/132
Spread Rt/Lt Hot 2/130 Double Out/H-Option
Gun Tiger Lt/Rt 1/259 Y-Option Curl
Gun Tiger Lt/Rt 1/253 Y-Out Curl
Gun Trey Rt/Lt 2/164 Y Cross Z Hook
Gun Trey Rt/Lt Flex Sally/Sara
Gun Rt/Lt Max Pro Acute/Speed-Out
Read more: insiders.xandolabs.com/...eport-1/#ixzz2PMafScKe
Developing a Play-Call Attack
By Steve Axman
The more I coach, the more I have come to believe that there are some very important game situational keys, or concepts, to winning or losing football games from an offensive standpoint. Most, or many, of these keys become the important goals that you put on your weekly goal board for all of your players to see. Meet a solid majority of those goals and you help to give your team a tremendous opportunity to win. Some of theses goals could include scoring in the Red Zone, scoring on the Goal Line, converting your 3rd Down situations, and succeeding on your Coming Out offense when backed up on your own one or two-yard line. Other scenarios could include being productive with your Two-Minute offense and running the clock down to zero in the fourth quarter with your "Slow-Slow" offense and "Kill-The-Clock" offense and desperation offense are, definitely other keys that vitally need specific game planning and practice attention.
Over the years, the one game situational key that I have increasingly come to believe that has much more importance, in its ability to help its team win games is the successful execution of 3rd down. A major reason for this is that 3rd down offense is such a big part of the other, vital, key game situations. It's hard to succeed in the Red Zone, on the Goal Line or when using your Two-Minute offense if you're not successful with your 3rd down offense.
Having said that, 3rd down offensive success is not easy chore. In 2011, Wisconsin led the country in 3rd down efficiency with a 54.7 conversion percentage. That means the best offensive 3rd down conversion team in the country didn't convert their 3rd down situations 45.3% of the time! Of the 120 Division 1A football programs in the country, only 7 had a 50% or more 3rd down conversion success rate percentage which means 113 FBS football teams had 3rd down conversion percentages of less than 50%. The bottom line is that, on offense; converting 3rd down situations is hard....very hard!
Having your offense trot off the field in a disparaging manner after a failed 3rd down conversion attempt is extremely disconcerting to a team's positive momentum, energy and exuberance. What's even worse is a failed 3rd down conversion as part of a three and out offensive series. Your defense is now quickly back on the field after just helping to give the offense possession of the football. Failing to convert on 3rd down can easily be a major reason that a team may win, or lose, a football game. Conversely, successfully converting a 3rd down attempt, resulting in that all-invigorating "....moving of the chains..." allows the offense to aggressively and confidently feel in command of their play.
Developing a 3rd Down Play-Call Attack
Successful 3rd down offensive starts with focused, detailed planning. After a season and a detailed video breakdown study of our offense, we will then create mini, situational game plans for every part of our offense versus "....the world." By "the world," we mean a general, yet tight, listing of the play calls we feel confident are sound calls in our offense for our situational needs versus the basic defenses we will see during the course of a season. As a result, we will come up with mini, 3rd down game plans for the following situations:
3rd and Short (1 to 2 yards),
3rd and Medium (3 to 6 yards)
3rd and Medium/Long (7 to 9 yards)
3rd and Long (10 to 12 yards) and 3rd and Long/Long (13 or more yards)
This down and distance breakdown yardage designation is the breakdown that we feel allows our pass patterns and routes the best chance to gain the necessary first down yardage upon completion. As a result, we would probably not call a Hitch pattern on 3rd and 7 because we realistically think a Hitch route is designed to gain five or six yards. We will, however, include a Slant pattern on 3rd and 8 or 9 because of the fact that Slants have the excellent ability to run for yards after the catch even though the pass completion might only be a few yards beyond the line of scrimmage.
We use this play call game plan versus ".... the world...." as our reference point of the basic application of our entire offense going into spring practice. We will revise and update the "....world...." plan in the summer to be ready for fall camp and the oncoming season. Once we're in season and are specifically game planning for opponents, we now have a reference source of our run and pass plays including formation and motion variations. We can now check versus a specific opponent's coverage tendencies, that we have not overlooked play calls from past success that might be effective for that particular game and opponent. We also establish our "Ready Lists" for spring and fall pre-season practices, which are game specific.
We are also very careful to have separate, general game plans established for blitz control and press coverage's. These are two areas where we never want to be caught short by not being well prepared. In this manner, if a team is extremely blitz-happy, or utilize press coverage on 3rd and Medium, we will already have a pre-established, well prepared resource list of play calls to go to per down and distance situation.
During the season, we will now begin our 3rd Down game planning by first watching a 3rd down video breakdown of all of the 3rd down situations per our yardage designations. As a result, we will start by analyzing all of the 3rd and Short (1 to 2 yards) situations our opponent has shown in four or five games that the upcoming team's defense has played versus opposing offenses who are, at least, somewhat similar to our offensive style. As a result, we would not include breakdowns of our opponent's defense in a game where they were defending a Wishbone-type triple option team if we are a Spread type passing team. From this analysis, we will initially note what we feel are the best play call thoughts we have at this point in our play calling decision-making.
Before finalizing our mini play call packages for each 3rd down situations, we will take a look at a 3rd down video breakdown of what we have called in the past four or five games. This helps us to see what tendencies our upcoming opponent sees as they plan to defend us. The opponent might see that we were successful converting six of nine 3rd and Medium/Long situations, all by pass. The opposing coaches might also see that on five of the six completions, the football was successfully completed by throwing to the tight end on some type of a tight end Option route. We would then factor in the success of such a successful play when finalizing our specific 3rd down game plan calls. Do we try to throw a curve ball and not utilize the tight end Option route pass play that we have been so successful using? Or, instead, do we go to other facets of our pass game? Actually, I'm sure I would try to force my opponent to try and stop our tight end Option pass play as part of the overall 3rd and Medium/Long play call plan. However, I am also sure that I would try to disguise such a successful play's usage by utilizing formation variations, shifts and motions. In addition, we might discover, from our analysis, that we were 9-for-9 using a pass play on this 3rd down yardage situation. This might mean that it is a good time to get our Draw play ready.
Below shows a 3rd down play call plan for 3rd and Medium/Long (7 to 9 yards). Note that potential run calls are listed above the solid line with pass plays below the dotted line. How many possible calls should you have listed for each 3rd down offensive situation? That really depends on what the play caller feels comfortable with. Some coaches like a very small, tight package of 3rd down runs and passes. However, even coaches who like to keep their 3rd Down play call lists small will usually have a slightly larger 3rd Down play call list for 3rd and Medium (3 to 6 yards) since offenses are often in that 3rd Down situation more than the others. I have always liked having a relatively larger list of 3rd down situational play calls. The thinking here is that you never know when you might be called upon to, unexpectedly, have to make a larger amount of 3rd and Short or 3rd and Long/Long calls than you expected. In addition, I like to have slightly larger 3rd Down play call lists to allow myself to have a fairly versatile amount of 3rd Down play calls to be able to fit what I feel is the flow of the opposing defense's play during an actual game. A constant here is that these mini, situational 3rd Down game plans are exactly what we will practice when we go to the practice field this way a sense of familiarity will be afforded the players having practiced that situational call a good number of times during the past week's practice. See below for an example of these mini, situational plans:
3rd and Medium/Long (7 — 9 yards) Play Call Menu:
Gun Spread Rt/Lt QB Draw-2/132 CWM
(Midfield) Gun Trey Rt Off YoYo Speed Option Left
Spread Rt/Lt 2/132
Spread Rt/Lt Hot 2/130 Double Out/H-Option
Gun Tiger Lt/Rt 1/259 Y-Option Curl
Gun Tiger Lt/Rt 1/253 Y-Out Curl
Gun Trey Rt/Lt 2/164 Y Cross Z Hook
Gun Trey Rt/Lt Flex Sally/Sara
Gun Rt/Lt Max Pro Acute/Speed-Out
Read more: insiders.xandolabs.com/...eport-1/#ixzz2PMafScKe