Regardless of what system you run or what level you coach, there are 5 things you need to do if you want to be successful on offense. These five things make a huge difference in the level of success you will enjoy.
Before I get into the five things you must do, I want to focus on perhaps the biggest mistake we make as offensive coordinators. One of the easiest ways to jack up your offensive game plan is to try to do too much. It is very easy to draw things on the board and come up with a million great ideas. Those ideas always look good on paper and on the board. Then you get into the game, and your players don't execute them very well. You find yourself scratching your head. How come this concept didn't work.
When you add too much into a game plan, you are going to be frustrated. It is very difficult to be good at anything you do, because you can't rep everything. The most important thing you can do when you build your game plan is to cut things out. Find the best of what you like and build from there.
Think about this. You are going to snap the ball somewhere between 55 and 75 times a game, depending on how fast you play, how much you throw, and how much time your opponent has the football. If you play fast, and you play a team that plays fast, you might get 85 or 90 snaps. If you play a team that runs the ball and eats clock, you might get 45 or 50 snaps. Even you get 80 snaps in a game, you aren't going to need to run 80 different plays. In fact, you are going to repeat things that are working, and cut things out that don't work. It is okay to run the same play back-to-back, and even three or four times in a row. In 1999 we ran I-Right 42 Iso 16 plays in a row. For 2 straight drives that is all we ran. We scored both drives. We had had an advantage on the right side of our line, and our fullback was better than their Mike.
If you have something they can't stop, run it again and again and again. As you game plan, look for formations that give you leverage, numbers, and green grass. You may find that team lines up different than you expected to a set, and they don't have a force guy, or they are a hat short. Once you find this, exploit it.
Early in my career when we were option based, we went into games with 24 calls. That was formation, motion, and play. Over the years we expanded to 36, then 42. Eventually, we felt we could handle 56 to 60 calls a game. From my experience, once we got to above 45 calls, we diminished the success of everything we did. I found that we were planning for things not to work, instead of planning for things to work. This might not work, so let's add this. What if they do this? Well, let's add another call. Pretty soon, we had so much in that we became average at everything and good at nothing.
When we were known for inside zone, we had 6 different variations we could run. Each variation was designed to take advantage of different defensive adjustments. We were going to use different, very simple complements to create angles and leverage. Certain variations worked better against even fronts, and other variations were better against even fronts. When the defense started to involve the secondary in the run game, we had post snap RPO's to take advantage of vacated space.
At one program I was at, we were known for power. We were going to run power 50% of our run plays. In a big district game, we ran some version of power 48 times 52 runs. We ran power, power read, power with a 2nd level RPO read, and power with a 3rd level RPO read. We also ran power with some misdirection. We could run power with a frontside read, or a backside read. The one thing that was consistent was that our offensive line blocked power.
Whatever your identity play is, make sure you have complements. You have to have answers to the problems defenses will pose. You have to build confidence in your players, and they must believe in what you are doing. Your players must know what your identity is, and the complements that you run off your identity.
Third, you have to get your dudes touches. You have to have a plan to get your best players touches in space. If your best player is a receiver, but you run the Wing-T, how are you going to get him touches? This is a dilemma we faced when we were I based running the option over 20 years ago. We had really good receivers who were not very good in the backfield. But we had to get them quality touches. We added a simple fast screen, and we installed jet sweep. The jet sweep allowed them to get the ball on the edge quickly. It also set up some misdirection. The fast screen got them the ball in space, and let them be athletes. It also helped create more space for our run game.
Get your skill guys touches early. When you get your skill guys touches early, it gets them mentally into the game. When your best guys are not getting touches early, they are not going to be as involved. That is something important to consider when building your opening script. Make sure you get your dudes the ball early. I also have a touch chart. How many times did each guy touch the ball. We have certain guys we need to get touches, and we plan for this each week. We have a set number of touches we would like our main dudes to get. If we have a receiver that we are trying to get 8 touches, and he has 1 touch in the first quarter, we need to get him some touches when we get the ball back.
Fourth, Look at matchups. Where do you have an advantage, and where does the defense have an advantage? Know the strengths and weaknesses of your personnel. Study the personnel of the defense. Who are the guys you will struggle to block? Who will you be able to beat in the secondary? Do they have bad eye discipline at linebacker? Do their safeties have eyes in the backfield? Do they have one corner who is not as good as the other? Take advantage of your personnel matchups.
Fifth, You Have to Take Shots. During the course of a game, you need to have a way to take shots down the field. I love when we can score in one play. It is a huge boost mentally when you can take the first snap of a drive and do something that puts the ball in the end zone from anywhere on the field. We are going to script shots into our game plan.
When I talk about taking shots, I am not just talking about throwing the ball down the field. When I am talking about shots, I am talking about a play that has the potential to put the ball in the end zone right now. We have the mentality that we can score every single play, but I am not talking about hoping you pop something. Shot calls are designed to have explosive potential every time you run them.
The most obvious shot play is throwing a vertical route. When a team plays press coverage against our best guy, we want to take advantage. We want the receiver to win on the release and the QB to get the ball out quickly. We would rather have this be a 32 yard throw than a 45 yard throw. If you have a very fast receiver, this is a great way to get them an opportunity to get a win. Even if we don't complete the ball, if we run by they DB, the defensive coaches on the other team are yelling at their corners and safeties to not get beat deep. This gives us more room to operate in the run game and our quick pass game.
Another way to take a shot is with a reverse or trick play. When we see the backside not staying home, we are going to give a fast guy the ball on a reverse. If we are a downhill run team, we might give the ball to our running back, have him take two steps and pitch it back to the QB, and run someone deep. After we run a reverse we might run a reverse pass. This was a huge way for us to score touchdowns back when we ran veer. We would run veer, veer reverse, then reverse pass off the veer.
For some teams, a tunnel or jailbreak screen might be a shot call. A good friend of mine ran the wing-t for years. Their shot call was counter criss cross. They would run it 5 to 7 times a game, and about half the time they would get an explosive. They beat us one year because we were overplaying sweep, and they were able to hit the counter criss cross out the back door late in the game.
These 5 keys will help you to be more successful when you walk on the field. When you go into a game, have a limit to the number of play calls you put in your game plan. Having too many calls is going to keep you from excelling at anything. Start with your identity concept and build out from there. Your game plan should not look vastly different from week to week. There will be some variables that will make things change, but your offense should look the same. You may use more motion one week than another, or add a formation variation, but the identity of your offense should remain the same. This will help with consistency. If you are not consistent, look at your game plan first.
In my career I have made learned many lessons through screwing things up. Each time you screw something up, you have a chance to grow. Remember this, just because you can draw it on the board, doesn't mean your kids can execute it at a high level on Friday Night or Saturday afternoon. Too much is too much, and rarely is less too little.
When I was a defensive coordinator we adapted this to our defensive preparation!
All three of these courses are detailed, with everything you need to be more explosive and to score more points.
The course on communication gives you a detailed approach to your gameday communication. I give you a system and a process to improve the quality of conversations, leading to improved play calling on game day. This course has received outstanding reviews from coaches at all level of football. A coach with multiple state titles told me this course helped them to be much more efficient and explosive this season.
My two RPO courses take you through a systematic process of installing RPO's into your offensive system. RPO's put the defense in conflict, forcing them to defend all 53 yards of width and all 6 skill players every single play. I not only give you a system, but I teach you the methods to develop your own RPO concepts.
When I was a defensive coordinator we adapted this to our defensive preparation!
New Book
Over the last several months, I have stepped out of my comfort zone and wrote a new book about faith and purpose. The book is available as a paperback on Amazon, and as an eBook for the Kindle App. The cool thing about the Kindle app is that you can read the book on any device. I invite you to read it, and discover the power you receive when you make a decision to walk with the Lord. Here is a link to the book: Finding Faith
Since publishing the book, I have received numerous texts, calls, and emails, from people who are going through similar trials and tribulations. They were feeling many of the same things I was feeling. The found comfort in the book. They also found they had a desire to change and to live better. They wanted more joy.
I would invite you to read the book and discover the possibilities that God has planned for your life.
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