DC Question

I break down film by charting formations and plays by down and distance. I call defenses based on what we need to do to stop our opponent. I don't overcoach on defense. My philosophy on defense is you win by letting your players play and not doing too much. I try to stay in base 90 percent of the time, but something happens and I end up having to do something to take something else away. I hope this helps.

Coach, we don't do much different than the other 2 posts. We do feel that just as the kids need structure and repetition to become good at what they do, we also need structure and repetition in breaking down films. As a result, we treat film review as a 3 step process:

(1) Personel: We want to know who will be on the field and in what types of formations. We want to know weaknesses and tip-off's of individuals, who their backups are, and their weaknesses and tip-off's.

(2) System: We try to understand the opponent's system, i.e. how it is designed, the techniques, schemes, and tip-offs used by their personel, and what they want to do out of certain formations/motions/pass combinations, etc.

(3) Playcalling: We look at tendencies by formation, down and distance, middle/field/boundary, field position (own end, middle, red zone), personnel, etc.

By breaking it up this way, we feel we get up close and personal with our opponents, so we feel very comfortable with what they are going to do. Generally, we can force the offense to do things it does not want to do, and once we have done that, our kids' get to go back to basics and let their reads take them to the football. Hope this helps.

just to add to the additional information provided.....one thing I found helpful was charting the D&D, attack, formations = general tendencies of the opponent and WHY they are doing such and distribute that to the players on Monday.

Going into the week (by Thursday) they have a good idea of what we want to roll with on a given D&D for that week.

For myself, I type up a defensive call sheet, much like the offense has - with what would be the best defense for a particular situation (aside from the 'base' calls....) this takes most of the thinking out of it for me on Friday (hectic) nights....

ex...

2nd & 8
We're defending POWER
and the particular fronts & stunts we could use to put us in the best position to stop THAT play.

Doing enough scouting helps out and we've guessed right a majority of the time

we look at personnel ( strongest and weakest ) to determine who we attack with our blitzes and where are the mismatches. Step 2 is we look at formations and motions to see if there will be any alignment problems. step 3 is to look at the computer print outs: 1. hit chart: see what areas you like to run 2. d/d & hash mark 3. d/d & field position 4. hash mark & field postion we use these things to find out what direction you run in, what plays you run, etc. we base our calls on what you like to do in these situations. step 4 is to list the top plays we have to stop. step 5 is to look at certain situations: 1. goalline, red zone, and black zone ( gl to -10 yd. line ). 2. ketchup offense, which is the plays they run when they are behind or in 2 min. offense. we don't chart those parts of the game to be put in the computer it screws up the tendencies. 3. catepillar offense, which is the plays they run when they are ahead. again we don't put those in the computer. Step 6 are the pass protections that they use. Step 7 is breaking down how they block the different defenses that we have on film. and what the opponents had success with.
our kids don't have much football knowledge so we don't put much emphasis on checking off to different formations. i take that resonsibility to put the kids in position to make plays. we bringing some sort of heat on every play based on the scouting report.
we script their favorite plays this way:
1. 7 on 7: inside runs
2. Pass Skel: drop passes and favorite pass plays
3. Team Defense: outside runs, PAP, trick plays, and unusual formations.
if we have to defend alot of option, then we run an outside drill two days during that week instead of a pass skel.
my advice to you is this: have a simple system that can be adjusted to fit different personnel each year. know the strengths and weakness of your kids and opponents. put you kids in position to be successful. go talk to DC's in your area who you respect and pick their brains. give your assistants the framework to do their jobs and let them work. you have to trust them to do their job. if they need to be corrected then do it in private.

Hey smd, you say in your breakdown that you put the info into the computer. What program do you use? I am interested in getting a program for this year and am trying to see which ones are the best.

quick scout 2000

Hey Brophy,

Do you have your call sheet in MS Word format, so that you could email it to me. I am trying to improve my organization and would love to see your sheet, either a blank one or one that you have field out to see what you put where. I would really appreciate it. My email is will9216@adelphia.net

My email address is: will9216@adelphia.net

I really appreciate it coach.