Report #2:

Third Down Play Call Plan:

3^rd and Short (1 to 3 yards)

By Steve Axman, Contributing Editor, X&O Labs

Introduction:

The best place to start your 3^rd and short thinking is with your base run and passes games. These are the plays you should know how to execute the best and the plays you, your coaches and your players have put the most practice effort in. Slight adjustments might have to be made to be sound so that you can effectively execute such run and pass concepts against the various types of opposing teams’ coverages and fronts you will see. If you are a zone run team, find ways to effectively run such zone run concepts against the various types of opposing teams’ fronts and coverages you feel you will see. The same would be true if you run an off-tackle power play, a favorite short yardage run play of many teams. If you are an option team, find the option plays in your run option arsenal that you feel best attack short yardage defenses. If your zone counter play is an important play in your run package, then put careful consideration into its usage for 3^rd down, short yardage run offense.

Some coaches feel counters are not effective plays to utilize on 3^rd down situations because of how many defenses work hard to penetrate gaps to disrupt plays. Other coaches, who have strong counter run plays in their offenses, can think just the opposite. They believe that their counter play blocking schemes are extremely sound in shutting off, and sealing, defensive gap penetration efforts. The bottom line is that you start with your 3^rd and Short run attack by determining which of the base offensive run plays you believe can be effective 3^rd and Short run plays. One of the reasons I like have the off-tackle power play as a part of my base offense, beside being a great run play, is that it is also a great 3^rd down offense run play.

What to Design:

Use Your Bread and Butter Plays:Third and Short (1 to 2 yards) is, without a doubt, crunch time. Coaches talk all the time about the goals of getting to a 3^rd and manageable down and distance situation. Having to get a yard or two to convert to a new set of downs is, certainly, a manageable 3^rd down situation. Yet, 3^rd and Short can often seem to be about as tough as it gets in an offense’s efforts to succeed and move the chains. As a result, it is very important to be sure that you rely on “….your very best stuff, ….very best base offense!”

Divide Your Practice Time Based on Frequency:  This does not mean from early on in your fall, pre-season practices that you can’t install plays for short yardage package that are, in themselves, special to this vital game situation only. Running a blast isolation run play or a toss sweep as part of your 3^rd and Short offensive attack is fine as long as you give such plays the proper amount of practice time repetitions needed to make it a play your staff and players feel they can hang their hats on. The only problem with this is that if you have a significant number of such special situation run plays for all, or many, of the different special game situations that you may face at one time or another, you may find yourself overloaded in regard to the number of total plays you have to install, teach and coach. In addition, the use of loaded up defensive fronts with extra defensive line and linebackers and the use of extra, “….big…..,” tight ends and fullbacks on 3^rd and Short situations can definitely add to the increased amount of volume an offense may have to deal with to properly get its 3^rd and Short offense ready to execute successfully.

Use Play Action Schemes:Play action passes should be a “….big….” thought for 3^rd and Short (1 to 2 yards) offense. The reason for this is that so many defenses are run stop oriented on 3^rd and Short yardage situations that play action passes, with good run faking action, can greatly affect the play of 3^rd and Short yardage defenses. Such 3^rd and Short play action passing should, however, focus on quick play action. The offense has to keep in mind that 3^rd down defenses are often in an attack mode, with penetrating stunt and blitz pressure a focal point of such an attack. Quick play action passing helps to effectively combat such 3^rd and short defensive pressure. Remember, a quick and, possibly, short pass completion on a 3^rd and Short situation will, probably, produce the amount of short yardage needed. Actually, this is also very true for quick, three step drop back pass action as it is for quick, play action passing.

Create Space by Formation:Spread offensive formation usage has increasingly been put to good use in attempting to convert 3^rd and short yardage situations. Such spread offenses can be as simple as utilizing 11 personnel, 2×2, balanced formation to isolate on an outside linebacker or nickel type defender.

Option Football Out of Spread Looks:  The use of double and triple option run action from a spread offensive formation is also a very effective means of converting 3^rd down yardage situation needs. A key thought about Spread offense usage is that spread formations spread out a defensive front. Defensive gap control, a positive factor for defenses when the offenses pack in its personnel with extra, BIG, tight ends and fullbacks, is now spread out to a much greater degree. A linebacker can, suddenly, find himself responsible for covering four to five yards of open space instead of a tightened, eighteen-inch gap. Add to this concept the fact that the defense may be faced with run option play assignments where the defenders are placed in far more vulnerable situations. Add to that a quick, nifty quarterback run threat and Spread run option offense is all the more threatening to a 3^rd and Short defense.

Report #3

Third Down Play Call Plan:

3^rd and Medium (3 to 6 Yards)

By Steve Axman, Contributing Editor, X&O Labs

It’s the Best Situation to Be In:As has already been mentioned, a goal for 1^st and 2^nd down “on par” offense is to get your offense into a manageable 3^rd Down, down and distance situation.  Third and short (1 to 2 yards) is certainly a manageable situation. However, it can, indeed, be an extremely tough down and distance situation to succeed in converting. Even though 3^rd and Medium (3 to 6 yards) necessitates deeper yardage needs than a 3^rd and Short down and distance situations, it allows the offense its best opportunity to use its base offense in its efforts to convert this vital, down and distance situation with both its run and pass games. With normal, spread out offensive formation usage, more of the offense’s base offensive attack can be comfortably utilized in its 3^rd Down and Medium conversion efforts.

Balance Is the Key:  The biggest advantage in trying to convert 3^rd down and Medium situations is that there can be an excellent balance of 3^rd and Medium yardage efforts between running and throwing the football. With the ability to have a greater degree of spread, formational control, the ability of the offense to execute its base run game becomes extremely viable in the effort to gain 3 or 4 yards or, even, 5 or 6. The defense is now more fearful of base, drop back passing, which helps to open up the run game. A big mistake many offensive coaches make on 3^rd and Medium is that even though they are good run teams, often very good run teams, they act like they must throw the football on 3^rd and Medium yardage situations. A major reason that 3^rd and Medium down situations can so strongly be in the favor of the offense is that the defense has to be extremely concerned about defending both the run and the pass game of its opponent. This is true provided that the offense uses its run game enough to force such a balanced attack concern.

Be Prepared for Pressure:  When running the football on 3^rd and Medium, a coach must be sure that his run play calls are good versus teams that like to blitz pressure such situations. A man blocked play can easily meet disaster versus twisting stunts and blitzes. Zone schemes are the simplest way to pick up and cover up such stunt and blitz action from both a recognition and pick-up standpoint. If, on a simple zone blocked Dive, Zone run or Belly play, the ball carrier pops through to the linebacker level versus stunt or blitz action, he may find that there is not much left to avoid to produce a big gain. The neat part of utilizing zone blocked runs versus stunting and blitzing defenses is that once the recognition of the defensive variations are made, a pressing, cover-up type block, rather than a need to knock a blocked defender off the line of scrimmage, is all that may be needed to successfully run versus such defensive blitz pressure actions.

What to Design:

Use Man Blocking Schemes: Man blocked plays that block stunts and blitzes well are usually slower developing run plays like a drop back Draw or a Sprint Draw. The slower development of such run plays helps the offensive linemen and blocking backs to have a greater amount of time to see, and sort out, blitz actions.

Utilize the Quick Game:The three step quick pass game offers the offense an excellent chance of having success throwing on 3^rd and Medium down situations. Much of this is due to the quickness of the throw action that requires less pass protection time and the easier task of completing a short throw. Hitches, Slants, Quick-Outs and Stick routes can help produce immediate conversion yardage upon the catch. Quick, five-yard Under Square-In routes and short Option routes at 6 to 7 yards can be very effective quick pass game thoughts on 3^rd and Medium down and distance situations. In addition, the quick pass game offers the offense excellent blitz control versus defenses that try to bring pressure on these downs because it is a blitz controlled passing scheme.

Quick Play-Action Game:  As in 3^rd and short situations, quick play action passing can be extremely effective in helping to convert 3^rd and Medium down yardage situations. Quickly executed play action passes blend well with the offense’s realistic 3^rd and Medium run game efforts. Waggles, bootlegs and naked bootlegs, with the quarterback’s run/pass option abilities, can also be extremely effective on 3^rd and Medium. Some coaches feel very confident in using deeper play action passes on 3rd and Medium. The thought here is that with good faking and proper play action pass protection time, the quarterback may find a wide open receiver down field for much more than 3^rd and Medium conversion yardage needs. If the linebackers do get into deep pass drops, the underneath, dump-off control routes of the backs and tight ends can, often, easily get the needed yardage and maybe considerably more.

Use of Timing Patterns: The use of deeper, five step timed drop back pass patterns can certainly be an effective way of converting on 3^rd and Medium situations but only if the patterns contain good blitz beater routes and concepts within the patterns. Many defenses will feel a great need to pressure on these downs and completions to blitz beater routes and sight adjust concepts can not only help produce needed 3^rd and Medium yardage but might, very well, produce big yardage plays, especially versus man coverage.

Report #4

Third Down Play Call Plan:

3^rd and Medium to Long (7 to 9 yards)

By Steve Axman, Contributing Editor, X&O Labs

Introduction:

Steve Axman, Contributing Editor, X&O Labs

The third and medium play call is usually a difficult one.  It is not as advantageous as a third and short mentioned previously, yet it is not completely desperation mode, either.  There are several variables that need to be addressed- all of which I mention below- but in general this is a down where you concentrate on getting the ball to your best players in space, it’s not so much designing the best plays.  Below are some guidelines I used that worked for me when selecting these plays.

What to Design:  

Design Schemes to the Right, Left, Field or Boundary Side:You may want to only call to the right, or left, side of the field. Your quarterback may throw Sprint-Out or Rollout passes extremely well to his right but much less effectively to his left. I think that that would be a tremendously important consideration for me, as the play caller, to consider on a 3^rd and 5 situation with less than a minute in the game as it hangs in the balance. Some coaches, right or wrong, only run their Naked Bootlegs plays to the right for a right handed quarterback for much the same reason.

Consider Field Position:Field positioning of the football, in regard to the hash marks, is another extremely important thought to consider. When on the left hash, a coach might be very hesitant to call a Speed, or Lead, Option play into the boundary due to the wide, stretching nature of those types of option plays. A perfectly executed Speed Option play, in which the quarterback correctly pitches the football to his pitch back, may find the pitch back only gaining a yard or so due to the fact that he has run out of horizontal room to effectively run for a first down. This keeps in mind the old coaching adage that the sideline has never missed a tackle. On the other hand, a coach may favorably call the same play from midfield knowing that there is plenty of room for such a run option play to totally function successfully. Similarly, midfield placement of the football can very efficiently allow plenty of room to run a split end Speed-Out route to the outside with a halfback Option route (Diagram 9). Such a pattern concept is run away from the formation strength of the offense and, probably, the defense with half the field to work with.

Weak Side Speed-Out/ H-Option Route Rules:

OL: Slide protection. Line slides away from block of first uncovered line blocker from Center to play side.  Covered play side linemen block man on.  TB dual reads LB’s.

FB: Dual read for blocks on LB’s inside out.  Run dump route four yards deep.

TB: Free release.  Run option route 5 yards deep vs. man or zone.

X: Speed-Out 10-12 yards.  Fade adjust vs. squat or press coverage.

Y: Flat route to 4-5 yards on sideline.

Z: Sight adjust (slant) if ILB and OLB/Safety blitz.  Otherwise, run 14 back to 12-yard curl route.  Possible site adjust.

QB: Take X’s Speed out vs. off coverage.  Possible fade throw vs. press technique. Otherwise, take one on one Option route.  Scan Curl/Flat for outlet or FB’s Dump route. Possible site adjust vs. blitz.

The offensive staff must also keep in mind the importance of how the horizontal positioning of the football on the field might affect the defense’s play calling. A defense may blitz heavily from the short side boundary when the football is on the hash but never do so when the ball placement is more towards the middle of the field.

Vary Your Snap Count:One last thought is that you should be sure to incorporate is a deliberate mixture of your snap count on all 3^rd down situations. You must keep in mind that your snap count cadence is a weapon for your offense….or, it should be! In reality, a thorough mixture of an offense’s snap count system should be utilized all throughout the play of a game no matter what the situation.

3rd and Medium to long is a reasonably manageable 3^rd down situation. It is, however, made a lot more difficult because of the reduced threat of the run game to the defense. However, one can make the defense vulnerable by using quick traps, draws and shovel passes can be especially effective against defenses who are thinking pass rush first and foremost. Spread run option teams who have good option quarterback play have shown an increased, and confident willingness to run a double, or triple, option on 3^rd and 7 to 9 yard situations. Utilizing a quarterback who runs well on QB Draws can be an extremely effective 3^rd down weapon, especially with Spread offense, no back formations. Options limit defensive fronts, coverages, stunts and blitzes forcing defenses to be run option assignment oriented.

Report #5:

Third Down Play Call Plan:

3^rd and Long (10 or More Yards)

By Steve Axman, Contributing Editor, X&O Labs

Steve Axman, Contributing Editor, X&O Labs

Now the offense finds itself in a 3^rd and Long (10 or more yards) situation.  The good news is a 3^rd and 10 situation is certainly a more manageable 3^rd down situation than, say, a 3^rd and 20 situation. Early in the game, with the game still well in balance, the thought might be to play it safe on a 3^rd and 20 yardage situation. The offense could run a draw or a screen to see if the offense could be fortunate enough to pop such a play for a long gain. The same could be true for throwing a safer type of pass pattern or route such as a short dig route at ten to twelve yards rather than throwing into deeper coverage and risking a turnover due to an interception. Such a completion may be able to have the same possibility of the receiver being able to knife up field quickly to, possibly, run for the needed, first down yardage. Such safer 3^rd and Long play calling ties into the belief that a 10 yard gain, although not converting the 3^rd and 20 yardage situation, helps to add 10 yards of field position to the punt. It’s when you must get that 3^rd and 20 down and distance yardage that the situation becomes extremely less manageable.

What to Design:

Separate Your 3^rd and Long Play-Call List: Many coaches will utilize a separate 3^rd and Long/Long play call designation. The feeling here is that there are a good number of pass patterns and/or route isolations that can reasonably get 10 to 12 yards without a lot of difficulty whereas 13 or more yards gets a lot tougher to manage. Rather than having two 3^rd and Long designations (Long and Long/Long), I like to list all of my 3^rd and Long yardage plays in one ascending order on my play call chart. Patterns that are designed to get shorter, long yardage needs are listed first followed by patterns that are designed to get deeper yardage gains later. As a result, a pass play designed to get the deepest Long yardage gain would be listed last. 

Be Aware of Risky Downfield Throws:  A coach must keep in mind that it is, often, not so much the ability, or inability, of a quarterback to throw downfield for such long range yardage needs. The problem is that the greater the downfield throwing distance of the football, the more time that the football is in the air. Since football is a game of geometry, the longer a deeply thrown football is in the air downfield, the greater the angle advantage becomes for the defense’s deep secondary defenders to make a play on the football.

Use Your Best Deep Routes:  No matter what the 3^rd down yardage need is, the offense needs to use their best, deep yardage pass patterns and routes. For me, that would mean utilizing some form of Four Streaks vertical attack. Of course, what the opposing defense has shown it does in regard to covering such 3^rd and long situations will have much to do with the pass plays to be utilized. Attacking downfield quickly with Streak, Fade and Post routes is a great aid to the pass protection needs of the offense, not having to hold up as long on the quicker released deeper throws. In addition, completions to such routes often lead to an excellent ability to run for big chunks of run yardage after the catch. Longer developing deep routes such as Post-Corners, Post-Corner-Posts and deep, crossing Dig routes can also offer excellent deep throw opportunities as long as the pass protection can hold up.

Some coaches believe in allowing their receivers to increase the deep yardage of their routes to help achieve needed 3^rd down yardage. Coaches need to be very careful with this thought. Timing and pinpoint route running and throwing are normal requirements for pass game excellence. However, there are programs that allow, teach and carefully drill such allowance for a receiver to break his route deeper, and sometimes shorter, so that a receiver is constantly working to “….green grass.” The teams that successfully do this, however, are often die-hard throwing teams. They often have limited patterns and routes so that route depth flexibility is built in to a team’s pass game structure and are practiced so accordingly.

Use Max Protection:Maximum pass protections can be effective if opposing 3^rd and Long defenses are blitz oriented. A problem here is that teams can blitz one time and fake blitz with maximum coverage the next. To prevent defensive maximum pass drop coverage effectiveness, three man patterns to a three-man trips formation can be extremely effective.

Develop the “Stick” Route:  Some coaches will run Stick routes on 3^rd and long situations. The term Stick extends the route stems of certain deep routes such as comeback outs and deep hooks five yards deeper than the forward, down and distance chain marker signifying where the needed 3^rd down yardage point is. The receivers, initially selling a Streak route, will then plant the foot opposite the final break action and drive back down an outside comeback-out break or a deep hook break that works to the quarterback. The concept relies on a great, deep push of the top end of the 3^rd and long defensive pass coverage. Such action helps to create a void between the deep coverage and the underneath coverage for the receiver to work into. The deep Streak threat is paramount to the success of this concept.

Now Is the Time for a Trick:  How about utilizing a special or, possibly, trick play on a 3^rd and Long or Long/Long situation? Why? …. because it’s late in the game and you are, unfortunately, behind on the scoreboard. It’s 3^rd and 23 (or 4^th and 23) and you MUST convert the down to keep the chains moving and maintain a chance to win. In reality, your team is in a desperation mode. Maybe it’s time to use a play from your Desperation offensive series. Don’t have one? Maybe it’s time that you should!

What to Call:

In Diagram 14 (below), the outside receivers run Streak/Hook up Choice routes with an inside receiver Read route for a closed or open middle coverage read. The tailback is shown running a delayed, four yard Option route.

Four Streaks Read from 2×2 Formation Rules:

OL: Slide protection.  Line slides away from block of first uncovered line blocker from Center to the play side.  Covered play side linemen block man on.  TB dual reads LBs.

Report #6:

Practice Planning 3^rd Down:

Practice Your Offensive Situational Drills With Intent and Purpose

By Steve Axman, Contributing Editor, X&O Labs

If you believe that 3^rd down offense is one of the most critical game situations your offense will face during the course of a game, then your offense must be fully made to understand the importance of this thinking. The thinking strongly goes along with the belief that you get what you emphasize. When we game plan, we start our game planning with the idea of starting with, what we believe, are the three most important facets of offensive play…..Base offense, Red Zone offense (which includes Goal Line offense) and 3^rd down offense. We practice our 3^rd down offense on Tuesdays, the first of our two heavy practice days (for a Saturday game). A major reason that we practice 3^rd down offense on Tuesday is so that we will have two heavy practice days to practice against the blitz. Even if an opposing team’s defense is not a heavy blitz team, we must be sure that we are definitely ready to pick-up whatever blitzes we feel our opponents have shown. This goes along with a firm belief that you must be able to beat the blitz to win.

When using a walk-through practice will be sure to focus on any new patterns or routes that you intended to install for that particular game. During the same walk-through period, the linemen and, possibly, the backs are able to begin practice work on blitz pick-up needs. However, we must believe, very early in our practice week’s efforts, that our staff is very confident in anything new that we are installing.Our individual practice periods allow us to focus on the practice and coaching of our Base and 3^rd down pass patterns and routes.

Once we get to our unit practice drills, our 7-on-7 Pass Skeleton Drill, it’s a rapid-fire alternating the first and second offense so that each group gets equal repetitions. If this is for a twenty minute period, we will script for 32 plays (sixteen plays each for the first and second teams) being sure to move the football’s placement from hash to midfield to hash. We will then allot a specific number of repetitions for 3^rd and Medium, Medium/Long, Long, and Long/Long. A team could include 3^rd and short in that practice order. However, since so much of our 3^rd down pass game may be tied up into heavy formation with two tight ends and possible extra backs, we will normally practice that in a combined 3^rd and Short full team practice period. If a Spread formation team is big on passing on 3^rd and Short, then such practice repetitions should be included in the 3^rd down, 7-on-7 Pass Skeleton Drill.