PLAY CALLING RULES

PRE-SNAP vs. POST-SNAP READS

Before I explain why we do what we do, I need to point out that we flip our
personnel so that the same players are always on the ‘strong side’ whether we
line up ‘strong right’ or ‘strong left’. This keeps us from teaching 2 separate
mirrored formations and 2 separate plays to attack both sides of the field. It also
allows us to ‘show strength’ to one side while remaining in a balanced formation
to force the defense to defend both sides of the field equally.

We have many other reasons for running our offense this way that I won’t go into
here but I am certain that our ‘play calling rules’ also work for teams that do not
flip their personnel because we ran our offense that way for many years using
these same rules.

As a play caller our job is to read the defense and call plays that will work
against what the defense is trying to do. These reads come in different forms?

 Result of the play (yards gained & who made the tackle)

 Pre-snap reads (defensive alignment)

 Post-snap reads (defensive techniques, assignments & reactions)

Naturally the result of the play is the easiest information to get but there are a
couple of problems with using that information to call plays. First you can’t
always tell ‘why’ the play did or didn’t work just based on how many yards you
gained and who made the tackle. And getting the information after the play
ends doesn’t leave you much time to decide what to do for the next play
(especially if you are in a no-huddle hurry-up mode).

So we need more information and that brings us to pre-snap and post-snap

reads. Pre-snap reads are easy to see because almost everyone is standing still.
Post-snap reads are more difficult to see because all 22 players are moving. This
makes it tough to tell if a defender is reading the play or reacting to motion or
just plain guessing at the play call. We will go into great detail later in the article
(Coaches Responsibilities Section) about how your staff can get post-snap reads
and how to use this information to call plays.
So for this segment of the article we will focus on Pre-snap Reads.

Here are a few ways to get Pre-Snap Reads:

 Motioning or Shifting Personnel – how does the defense react when you
SHIFT or send a back in MOTION? By using a SHIFT or MOTION consistently
with the same play being run you begin to associate the SHIFT or MOTION
with that play. You actually condition the defense to expect a certain
result when they see the SHIFT or MOTION. Then the question is: Can we
get the kitten (defense) to chase the string (motion)?

 Using Multiple Formations – how does the defense change their alignment
when you show an UNBALANCED line? Spread Receivers vs. Tight Ends?
Shotgun vs. Under Center? Then the question is: Can we manipulate them
to move stud defenders where we want them based on our formations?

 Using a Strong Side Formation – how does the defense adjust based on
the strength to one side of our numerically balanced formation? Will they
overcommit with more bodies on our strong side? Maybe they will just
move their better defenders? Then the question is: Can we take
advantage to the quick side because they left it poorly defended?

It doesn’t matter what you choose to show a defense in your attempt to get a
pre-snap read. One of two things will happen. The defense will either adjust
before the snap or react after the snap. If they adjust before the snap then we
have our pre-snap read. If they react after the snap then we have a built in
backup plan in the post-snap read.

If you don’t use any of these concepts and you just sit in one formation all day
then you only get one shot at a read (no backup plan) because very few
defenses will adjust before the snap based solely on the plays you are calling.

I spent many years running a balanced offense with only a quick motion by our
WB every play to get a pre-snap read. Then we spent a few years going with
various formations to try and get the defense to move around and give us a
read on what might work. Finally we began flipping our balanced DTDW
formation in addition to the other 2 concepts and things really took off. We now
get the defense to adjust to 3 different things on many plays, making it quite
easy to see how they plan to defend what we run. Most youth play callers
(especially the new ones with little to no experience) benefit greatly from
getting so much pre-snap information about the defense.
3 RULES OF ATTACKING A DEFENSE

We use 3 Rules when attacking a defense. Rule 1 and Rule 2 are short, simple
and to the point. We can usually figure out what we are running early in the
game based on one or both of these rules. And the information we need can
be found through scouting, league gossip or just paying attention during
warmups and the first couple series of plays. Rule 3 is really a whole series of
situations and how we answer those situations with the proper play calls.

RULE #1 – Attack the ‘STUDS’

Of course we will attack weaker players throughout the course of a game but
the guys you have to account for are the ‘studs’. And we account for them by
attacking them or at least basing our attack on where they line up. There are 4
basic types of ‘stud’ player on defense. As a general rule, each type is more
susceptible to certain types of plays … this is how we attack each of them:

 Disciplined w/ Speed – Stays home, recognizes misdirection and fast

enough to chase you down. We want to run right at him because he
can’t be fooled and he is too fast to run away from.
 Disciplined w/ Size – Stays home, recognizes misdirection and strong
enough to stuff you when you attack him directly. We want to run away
from him because he can’t be fooled and he is too strong to run at.
 Aggressive w/ Speed – Uses speed to disrupt plays but he can be fooled.
We want to run ‘misdirection inside’ (at him) because he will overrun
things just enough that you can run ‘counter’ right at him and get him
blocked.
 Aggressive w/ Size – Uses power to disrupt plays but he can be fooled.
We want to run ‘misdirection outside’ (away from him) because once you
fool him you need to use speed to get away from him.

Obviously very few defenses are made up entirely of one type of player but if
we can identify those players that make a lot of tackles and do a lot of damage
to offensive schemes then we can classify them and have an idea how to
attack them.
RULE #2 – Attack the ‘Soft Spot’

Jack Gregory wrote the book on using the ‘perimeter triangle’ to call plays in
youth football (and more specifically for the Double Wing Offense).

Perimeter Triangle for the YDW

In that document he explains his 2-3-4 Rule

 2 defenders outside OT: ATTACK PERIMETER

 3 defenders outside OT: ATTACK EDGE
 4 + defenders outside OT (safety filling): ATTACK INSIDE, AWAY or PASS
 If 4 locate where they came from: Safety support? Shifted front?

But the simple version is to ‘run where they aint’. We identify the Force, Contain
& Fill players for the defense. This is usually 3 of the following 4 players:

 Defensive End
 Outside Linebacker
 Cornerback
 Safety

We read their alignment and their technique (post snap movement). Then we
are able to attack accordingly.

 If there are 2 defenders outside the Tackle, then we run outside.

 If there are 3 defenders outside the Tackle, then we run off tackle.
 If there are 4 defenders outside the Tackle, then we run ‘inside’.

When I was young, I never liked to show my work on math problems so I won’t
go into the numerical reasons (read Jack’s document) but this is a nice simple
method to find the weakness in a defense and ‘attack the soft spot’ or ‘run
where they aint’.
RULE #3 – Problems & Answers

This is a concept we have always used with our Double Wing because it is a
‘series based offense’ where the plays all work together in very specific ways
and many of them look the same for the first few steps of each play. I prefer this
because it really simplifies how I decide what play to call. Over the years we
learned to add the 2 concepts above to complete our play-calling system.

Anyway, our play calling starts with RUN POWER STUPID!!! We have this
statement printed at the bottom of our play call sheet every year and it gets us
started each game, keeps us grounded as the game emotions heat up and
allows us to close the show when the game is on the line.

We believe and more importantly our kids believe that the defense CAN NOT
STOP OUR POWER PLAY without doing something ‘unsound’ or something that
will weaken their ability to defend the entire field. We don’t have just 1 or 2
counter plays that accompany our POWER play. Our entire offense is set up so
that the playbook is full of ‘counters’ … so what does that mean in simple terms?

It means that we run POWER until they stop it and we use their method of
stopping our POWER play against them. They do ‘something’ to stop our POWER
play (causing us a ‘problem’) and we have a list of ‘answers’ to make them pay
for it. Here are a couple of examples:

Problem - Playside CB attacks the LOS when he sees motion toward him
 Answer - Call TOSS PASS
Problem - Playside DE squeezes and stuffs the FB in the hole
 Answer - Call SWEEP

Everyone has different plays in their playbook and use them a little differently.
But the process of how we decide what to use should be pretty similar.
Gathering and processing the information takes some getting used to so we use
a set of guidelines for each coach on our staff so they know what to look for
and how we will use the information they provide.
COACHES’ RESPONSIBILITIES

Any double tight, zero split offensive formation creates a mess of bodies. It is
nearly impossible for one coach to see everything that is going on. We try to
break the DEFENSE into specific zones and assign different coaches to watch
each zone whenever possible. By dividing up responsibilities, we can compile
more information on each play than one man trying to watch everything. This
information is relayed to the Offensive Coordinator to process into play-calling
decisions. In lean years, when I didn’t have enough coaches available to help
with this process, I would try to get a parent or some other volunteer and give
them a quick lesson on who to watch and what to look for.

Zone #1 = Green Rectangle – Inside 1st Level or Interior D-line

Zone #2 = Gold Circle – Inside 2nd Level or Inside LBs & Safeties

Zone #3 = Red Triangle – Play Side Perimeter Triangle

Zone #4 = Blue Triangle – Back Side Perimeter Triangle

FOUR ZONES

Zone #1 (Offensive Line Coach) – This is the Interior Defensive Line. We want to
watch from 5-Tech to 5-Tech (basically anything inside the TEs).

 How are they attacking our Center (reading, cutting or doubling him)?
 Are the DTs slanting inside, outside or playing 2 gap?
 Are the DTs penetrating? Are they deep enough to Trap?
 Are the DTs track-jumping to get over the top of our TKO wall?
 Are there any ‘bubbles’ we can attack?
 How do they react when we go Unbalanced Line?
 How are they defending the A, B & C gaps?

Zone #2 (Running Backs Coach) – This is the Inside Linebackers & Safeties (unless
they are using 2 Safeties in the Perimeter Triangle).

 Are they blitzing?

 How are they pursuing?
 How are they reacting to motion?
 How are they reacting to our TKO Wall?

Zone #3 (Offensive Coordinator) – Identify who is responsible for Force, Contain

& Fill … basically the players defending the off-tackle and sweep.

 Who is crossing the LOS to ‘force’ the play?

 Who is responsible for ‘contain’ to keep us from getting to the sideline?
 Who is going to ‘fill’ the alley and make tackles?
 Are they using 2, 3 or 4 defenders in the Perimeter Triangle?
 How are they defending C-gap (Power)?
 How are they defending D-gap (Sweep)?
 How are they defending Passes to the Sideline?

Zone #4 (Receivers Coach) – This coach has to know the ‘play side’ so he helps
signal plays. Then he identifies who is defending Boot, Counter, Reverse.

 Are they playing disciplined and watching for Boot, Counter, Reverse?
 Are they blitzing anyone (CB or LB) to chase motion?
 Are they chasing across the field through the defensive formation?

NOTE 1 ~ I prefer to watch the ‘play side’ and leave the ‘back side’ to someone
else but you could also assign it by ‘strong side’ & ‘quick side’ or even just ‘right’
& ‘left’. However this requires 2 coaches who know what to look for on both the
‘play side’ and the ‘back side’ of every play in your offense.
TRANSLATING THE INFORMATION
We want each coach to watch his zone every offensive play if possible but
sometimes they have defensive responsibilities or they need to ‘coach up’ a
player so we don’t expect to get feedback on every play from all four zones. In
fact this would make it tough to call plays quickly and efficiently due to
information overload. To keep that from happening, I explain to my coaches
that I will ask them what is going on from time to time so be ready with an
answer. Now I am able to ask specific questions like “Can we TRAP the Right
Side?” or “Are the Linebackers over-playing the motion?” and get what I need
to call the right play.

However, there are some things that happen that require IMMEDIATE attention
(defenders totally abandoning responsibilities or substitutions of weaker players
that we want to attack). In these situations I ask the coaches to notify me during
a play if possible. I can listen and watch better than I can listen and think.

The coaches are assigned zones but they are watching specific players and
what they are doing inside those zones. So the information translation section
below is broken down by positions or defensive jobs.

And remember that our list of ‘answers’ might be different from what you use to
attack defensive techniques or alignments. And because football is the
greatest sport on earth, most of the time that is perfectly alright. There are many
different ways to ‘skin the cat’ as they say.

Sometimes we use TAGs to adjust our POWER play or just the formation we are
running from. While other times we will simply call a different play to take
advantage. Against some techniques we have multiple ‘answers’ that we can
use individually or together. Ex. ON, OVER, DOUBLE will widen the DE out with On
& Over then Double him on the kick out block.

For our specific list, just remember that we start everything we do on offense
based on running our POWER Off Tackle Play. We have had games where
defenses did nothing to slow down our POWER play so we just keep running it. I
am a firm believer in running something until they stop it and so long as we are
getting 4+ yards per carry then we will keep hammering away. So most of our
Problem/Answer scenarios are assuming that the ‘problem’ (defensive
alignment or technique) is slowing down or stopping our POWER play.
Playside Perimeter Triangle (DE, OLB & CB):

Problem – Head up & jamming our TE

 Answer - Tag Window (WB Double Down on the DE)
 Answer - Call Sweep (run outside of him)
Problem – Outside eye & squeezing our TE
 Answer - Tag Window (WB Double Down on the DE)
 Answer - Tag Tunnel (TE turn out on the DE)
 Answer - Call Sweep (run outside of him)
Problem – Overpowering the FB
 Answer - Tag Double (get double team kick-out)
 Answer - Tag On (WB - ON the LOS to widen out the DE)
 Answer - Tag Over (QT - OVER to strong side to widen out the DE)
 Answer - Tag Flex (TE uses 12”-18” split to widen out the DE)
Problem – Wrong-arming the FBs kick-out block to scrape underneath
 Answer - Tag Wide (FB hooks/logs DE and run Power Wide)
Problem – Reading or not crossing the line of scrimmage
 Answer - Call Sweep (run outside of him)
Problem – CB playing shallow (less than 5 yards off the line)
 Answer – Call Power Pass
Problem – CB over-playing Power or Sweep
 Answer – Call Power Pass
Problem – CB playing wide to contain Sweep (less than 5 yards off the line)
 Answer – No Sweep (keep running Power)

Backside Perimeter Triangle (DE, OLB & CB):

Problem – DE chasing ball carrier down the line from behind

 Answer – Tag Boot (with no contain we can get outside)
 Answer – Call XX Fly (with no contain we can ‘reverse’ outside)
Problem – DE over-penetrating (more than 2 yards deep)
 Answer – Call Cut (easy to kick out for our Counter play)
Problem – OLB chasing motion or over-playing Power
 Answer – Call Cut (leaves only 2 defenders to stop our Counter play)
Problem – CB blitzing or chasing motion wing from behind
 Answer – Tag Boot (QB run & pass to TE should be there)
A Gap Defenders (NT, Shade or 2 Tech):

Problem – NT reading or playing soft - No defender between the Guards

 Answer – Call Wedge
Problem – NT slanting to our Strong Side
 Answer – Call Trap
Problem – NT slanting to our Quick Side
 Answer – Call Blast (remind QG he might have to kick DT)
Problem – NT fast get off & jamming Center into pullers
 Answer – Change Snap Count
Problem – NT Bear Crawling or Cutting our Center
 Answer – No Wedge

B & C Gap Defenders (DT – 2, 3, 4 or 5 Tech):

Problem – Reading or not crossing the line of scrimmage

 Answer – Call Wedge
Problem – Fast get off & penetrating
 Answer – Call Trap (easy to kick out)
Problem – Lines up or bounces outside TKO wall
 Answer – Call Blast (B-gap is undefended)
Problem – Too strong for our TKO wall
 Answer – Tag Over (get bigger by adding another OT)
Problem – Bear crawling or frogging or cutting our linemen
 Answer – No Inside Plays (also no pressure on Power & Sweep plays)
Problem – Overloading from C-gap to C-gap (DLs & LBs in every gap)
 Answer – Down Block Front & Pull 1 or 0 linemen

Inside 2nd Level Defenders (ILB & FS):

Problem – Keying motion or Over-pursuing on Power

 Answer – Call XX Cut or XX Trap (double handoff counters)
Problem – Over-playing C-gap
 Answer – Call Blast or Trap (inside plays)
Problem – Playing shallow & blitzing
 Answer – Call Power Pass or Quick Passes
Those are our key ‘Answers’ for the way the defense is playing us. The key to
calling plays in the Double Wing Offense is to run Power until the defense adjusts.
Using this play call guide, you can find that chink in the armor and then hammer
away at it over and over and over until the defense clogs it back up. Then just
check the list, see where they made themselves weak to stop the bleeding …
and then hammer at THAT spot until they adjust again.

I always have this list on my call sheet with the word ‘ANSWERS’ written on the
top of it. Never rely on your memory in the heat of battle. Have this list handy,
ask your coaches what they are seeing, then choose the best play for what the
defense is giving you.

And if you are ever in doubt: Run Power Stupid !!!

Diagrams of how the four zones might look against different defenses: