anybody run no huddle? how 'bout orbit sweep?

Another website for wristcoaches is www.footballamerica.com

I coach a team in England. A team of adults. The guys practice twice aweek and it is very much a minority sport. However by careful management we have found that we can get players playing to a high standard that allows us to compete well. We wanted to be able to use a no huddle approach but not as a main part of our gameplans

Our requirement:- We decided that we needed a no huddle option for certain times in the game (2 minute, catch up or to change momentum).

Problems:- Firstly we have a playing squad who can learn plays but struggle with complex books. We needed the change up to be foolproof. Secondly we wanted to be able to call plays from all of our playbook at any time. Finally timing; if it takes too long the defence have time to substitute and change up and errors occur. (especially; illegal formation, 6 on the LOS)

Solution:- Calling the play and formation - For installation of the no huddle which was not a featured part of our regular game plan we installed a simple sideline calling system. At most we sent on three players (usually two) as substitutes. One player went on and called out the formation by code. Cities/States for formation (as simple as Indiana for I Formation or Buffalo for Bunch). Then Blue or Red for left or right stronside. The offence has ten seconds to line up in their general area. in practice this worked very well. Once the QB started hiscadence the playersset up in their positions for the snap.

The QB had plays on his wrist coach, a simple worded code was sent to him and he was able to either repeat this if the play was one of our well known plays (everyone knew the code i.e. a weak side out was known by all as a 'Yankee'. If the play was more complicated (or from page 900 of the play book!) The QB could call the entire play as if in the huddle. We had an audible system which called both a run play and a pass play. A code indicated which was used.

In practice it gave us problems early on. The simple reason was the coach was stood on the sideline trying to think of a play for 15 of the 25 second clock. The answer was to script 30 plays from situations. An example was that the coach had to decide on his two plays for a particular down prior to the snap of the previous down. The choice was dependant upon success or failure of the 1st play.

e.g. 1st down and 10 = Success next play a medium pass play, failure an out sideline pass play or a sweep)

This is very crude in the writing but I hope I have demonstrated how one can get round problems and still be adventurous in the use of systems. By the end of the year the team had experienced plenty of no huddle drives that had given them excitement of fast play. Put the defence firmly on their back foot and meant we either put scores on the board or at least regained field position.