EACH WEEK DURING the football season offensive staffs are preparing weekly game plans. These game plans are based on each team’s offensive philosophy and the defensive style of their upcoming opponents.
What more coaches need to consider, however, is how other defensive staffs are preparing for them. Do you know what other defensive coordinators are studying about your offense? And what can you do to stay one step ahead of them?
There are three main aspects of defensive preparation that defensive coordinators employ.
1. Film study.
2. Computer analysis.
3. Scouting reports.
Film Study
The study of game film is the lifeblood of football coaches and a defensive staff will take great pains in breaking down as many of your previous game films as they can acquire. Defensive coordinators will painstakingly comb through your game films and try to ascertain the following things about your team’s offense.
- Offensive Formations. The first thing most defensive coordinators want to know is in how many and what kind of formations do you align. Many times these formations determine the coverages that the defense will employ.
- Personnel Groupings. The next piece of the puzzle that defensive coordinators investigate is the personnel groupings the offense uses. These personnel groups dictate whether the defense will have base, nickel or dime personnel on the field. Personnel groups can also identify a tendency for running or passing.
- Key Players. The defense also tries to identify your key players. From that knowledge, they’ll design a scheme to limit the amount of touches these players will get during the course of the game.
Many offenses stall when a key player is contained, especially if that player is a wide receiver who is unable to become involved in the passing game.
- Special Situations. Defensive coordinators will also study film and evaluate what your offense does in special situations such as short yardage, second-and-short, third-and-long, on the goal line, etc. Offenses often show tendencies when dealing with these downs and distances.
Opposing coordinators will ask and analyze questions such as:
• Do you always go deep on second and short?
• Do you prefer to run the ball in short yardage?
• Do you have favorite patterns or plays in third-and-long situations?
• Does your offense change or become more conservative as you drive in the red zone?
- Blocking Schemes. Defenses will study your blocking schemes in both the passing and running games.
From this information, the defensive coordination will look to develop a blitz package to defeat your pass protection. He will also try to learn enough about your run tendencies to slant, stunt, or blitz into those points of attack you favor in the run game.
- Trick Plays, Specials. If your offense uses trick plays or specials, an opposing defensive coordinator will make notes about the situation in which you are most likely to call them. He’ll also diagram them so that his players will have seen these plays in both film study and on the practice field.
Computer Analysis
After all of the film study has been done and the statistics are compiled, the information will be fed into a computer program which will help the opposing defensive staff analyze all of your offensive tendencies.
The following tendencies will be studied and information developed and charted for the scouting report.
- “Hit Charts.” A hit chart will simply list the plays you ran and the number of times you ran each of them.
- Down-And-Distance Tendency Chart. This chart will list each play you ran during a particular down and distance situation. Run and pass percentages will be established for specific down-and-distance situations, making your play-calling tendencies a statistical formula.
- Field Zone Chart. This chart shows the types of plays you run from various positions on the field. It also shows what you do when you’re backed up, when you’re at mid-field and what you do in the red zone.
Some defensive coordinators also want to know what your play calling is like from each hashmark, as well as from the middle of the field.
- Boundary Or Wide-Side Tendencies. Computer analysis allows the defense to know if you have a boundary or a wide-side tendency. This information tells a defensive coordinator whether you prefer to run left and throw right or if you favor the tight end or weak side.
Good defensive coordinators have a clear picture of these types of field situations.
- Run-To-Pass Ratio. Computer analysis gives a clear and accurate sketch of your run-to-pass ratios. The defensive staff will not only have access to your overall run-to-pass percentages, but they’ll also know your run-to-pass ratios for each down-and-distance situation.
Scouting Reports
After watching all the film and analyzing the computer-generated data, the defensive staff then decides what information will be helpful to provide to the players in the form of a scouting report.
In this scouting report all pertinent formations will be diagrammed along with the shifts and motions you may try to utilize. From here, the defense will include the checks and secondary rotations they’ll need to make adjustments to your offensive alignments.
Your favorite run and pass plays should be diagrammed so that all defensive players will have a copy of each play. Your blocking schemes will be pointed out and the defense will develop stunt and blitz schemes to attack these plays.
On top of all this information, the defensive staff will produce film cuts of specific items such as down-and-distance situations, the running game, passing game, personnel groupings, formations, red zone play-calling tendencies and goal-line and short-yardage situations.
The opposing players and coaches will use these film cuts all week during meetings and film study sessions to familiarize themselves with exactly what you do on offense.
Countering The Counters
Realizing the volume of information that opposing defenses have at its disposal might cause many offense coordinators a few sleepless nights. What sort of things can be done to counter the detailed picture that a defense will develop about your offense?
- Self Scouting. A major tool in the preparation of any offense must be the use of self-scouting techniques. It’s imperative that an offensive coordinator knows exactly what his opponent knows about his offense. A complete self-scouting analysis allows the offense to keep its tendencies at a minimum and run a balanced attack.
- Develop A Play-Calling Script. By scripting the first few series or a set number of plays, the offensive coordinator can guarantee that a variety of formations and plays will keep the defense guessing.
A good play-calling script should include built-in contingency plays for special situations such as short yardage, third-and-long, etc.
Scripts also takes the pressure off the play caller. All the pressure to come up with the “right play” is done ahead of time and without the theatrics of game-day anxiety.
- Change And Add Shifts, Motions. If you usually use motion in only the passing game, then make sure that you also motion equally in the running game.
Trade your tight end or put both wide receivers on the line of scrimmage and motion the TE.
Be imaginative, do a few things that don’t alter what you do — but rather that give the defense a different look.
- Achieve Run-Pass Balance. Work on balancing your team’s passing and running game. Run when you normally would pass and pass in running situations. Develop a sound draw and screen-passing game.
These plays are safe, but they create problems for the defense.
- Develop a QB-Check System. Your quarterback must have the ability to check the play at the line of scrimmage and make changes when necessary.
Package your plays so that the QB can see the defense and select the best play to attack that defensive look.
If the QB recognizes a blitz, make sure that he can either check out of a bad play or adjust the blocking scheme.
- Get Your Playmakers The Ball. Make sure you have schemes to get the ball to players who are difference-makers. Your most-talented players must get the most touches.
Move RBs to WR and even to QB if necessary. Put WRs in the backfield and motion them. Bunch your receivers and force defenders to constrict their alignment.
Remember, “Scoring is more often about the Jimmies and the Joes — not the X’s and O’s.”
Doing Homework
Offensive coaches have the same access to video and computer technology as the defense. With this technology readily available, make a checklist of the following must-know items as you prepare for each game.
- Know your opponents fronts and stunts.
- Do a study of the opponent’s blitz packages and prepare your players to handle those looks.
- For every situation the defense charts the offense, the offense should prepare for the defense.
- Compare your offensive game plan with the front and coverage tendencies of the defense.
- Put together film cuts of the defense’s various personnel groups and alignments.
- All defenses have a vulnerability. Make sure that through film study, scouting reports and situational practice, that your players understand these weaknesses. Help them to exploit the defense through your game plan and play calling.
- Be selective in what you pass on to your players in your scouting report. Be thorough, but don’t create an informational overload.
Asking Questions
Knowledge is power! As you prepare to face your opponent and develop a game plan, look for tendencies from their defensive units. Ask yourself the following questions:
- How do they defend short-yardage situations?
- What coverage are they most-often in during third-and long situations?
- Which downs they are most-likely to stunt from?
- Who are their weakest defenders? Prepare to take advantage of these weaker players by designing special formations, motions or by using specific types of plays.
- Who are their best players? Make sure to know where they’re aligned and get them blocked.