Coordinating an Offense - Part 1

When most people talk about an Offensive Coordinator, they think of the guy who calls the plays. While in many cases that is true, in other cases it is not. Several Head Coaches have assumed the playcalling role, but still have an OC. This post will look at the more unglamorous, yet vitally important roles played by the OC.

Terminology – you could be the best playcaller in the universe, but if your players can’t remember the plays, they aren’t going to work. This is often a function of the terminology employed by the team. The best terminology evokes a visual stimulus by the player that tells him what to do or where to line up. For example, a three wide receiver formation may best be remembered by a term such as “Trips”, “Trey” or “Trio”, rather than a term such as “Purple” or “Jacks”.

In my previous post, I talked about a pre-snap checklist for offensive linemen. When talking about everyone else (and in some cases the OL as well), the thought process could be “Alignment-Assignment-Technique”. Those first two items shouldn’t be thought about too much – the player needs to know immediately where s/he lines up and what their assignment is. All they should really have to think about is which technique they’re going to use to defeat the defensive picture they’re given.

In addition, there should be some sort of logical sequence to where specific players align in formations. No matter if the players are labeled by number or letter (R, X, Y, Z, H, etc.) the movement between formations should be kept to a minimum. For example, let’s say you’ve got a 2x2 formation, we’ll call it Doubles. Your receivers (forget about the RB for the moment) are aligned left to right as X, Z, (ball) Y, B. When you move to a 3x1 set, that alignment should look something like: X, Z, B, (ball) Y. What you would NOT want to do is do something like B, Y, X, (ball) Z. Some of you might be laughing right now because of the “duh” factor, but I wouldn’t be writing about this if I hadn’t seen it in action.

Something else to keep in mind is the shortening of your playcall verbiage however possible. One example would be the elimination of the word “right”. When you call your formations, tell your players early on that unless you specifically say “left” in your call, the formation is assumed to be to the right. Same thing with your plays themselves.

Designing terminology in an efficient manner takes some thought on the coordinator’s part – both in the terms themselves and in the teaching aspect. When I install my offense, I have a specific sequence of formations I go in so that the players can see how they segue from one to another and it makes sense for them. The thought that you put in pre-installation will be paid back times ten in increased response time from your players.

Next week we’ll look at terminology for the plays themselves.