Where can I go to find info on playcalling

[jville]

Does anyone have any sites, posts, ect. I think playcalling is my biggest problem. I just need a basic understanding of what I need to be thinking to call a consistent game.

[mad_bomber]

Take the playbook you enjoy using the most and head into practice. From there what you should do is write down or make a mental note of some of the common down and distance situations you'll see in a game. I'd start off with 1st & 10, 2nd & 10, 3rd &10, 2nd & 5, 3rd & 5, 4th & short, Redzone 10 yard line, Redzone 5 yard line, 2pt conversion, and backed up inside your own 5 yard line. For each down and distance situation you should try to identify at least two run plays and four pass plays that you feel give you your best chance of converting in that particular situation.

After you've identified those plays for the specific down and distance situation, practice the plays against defensive schemes you'll more than likely see. For example if you're facing a 3rd & 10 situation you'll more than likely get some form of pass coverage such as cover 2. In this scenario you'd want to practice your 3rd & 10 play against a cover 2 scheme over and over and over again until you feel comfortable enough to know what to do when facing that situation.

Another key you'll want to take into consideration when calling plays is your personnel. Do you have pocket quarterback or mobile quarterback? Who is your best run blocking offensive linemen? Who's your best receiver? Is your tight end a blocker or receiver? Once you've identified who your best players are you can look to call plays that take advantage of their strengths. If you have a left guard with a 95 RBK (run block) rating you'll want to consider running behind him as often as you can.

These are some of the basic things you can do to get better at playcalling. It all starts in practice. Everthing I practice I carry over into the game whether it be on or offline.

[TheTdMaker]

What up J... Go to http://www.westcoastoffense.com/ and click the link a method for game planning. This is a excellent source to use and it was written by Bill Walsh. I use this formula to a tee and offensively it's pretty damn tough to stop once you understand your teams capabilities. Mad Bomber was right about going to the practice mode. Pick out a balanced play book that fits your team and style of play, implement the walsh methods and practice those play over and over until you master them. Once thats done try to understand what fronts and coverages you're getting vs. the formations you're using on each down ad distance. Good Luck

[CrazyOldGuy]

JVILLE,

Hi boy that's a great question and you've gotten some fantastic advice from bomber and TD...

I'm basically a dumb guy and for a long time I had no clue how to call a game... but what I did is I started studying offensive systems (the west coast, the wing t, the run and shoot). Theres tons of free stuff on the net but there are also some good books (I think for the general fan Bud Wilkinson's books are good, also if you can find it Tom Flores Football the Violent Chess Match) that you can find at your library if you want to be a total X and O's expert there a lot of stuff on specific offense although rarely can you run an offense in its entirity on a computer game...

But just real quick...

The first theory a lot of coaches try to have a play series..
For example

They will run sweep (or option),
When people stop the sweep they run dive plays
When that gets stopped they will try to run counter plays and reverses
When people stop the dive,the sweep plays and the counter they will Play action Pass

As you start out this maybe the easiest thing to learn. Take it slow pick one or two formations that you really like and look for plays that compliment each other, ie some of the play action passes and the running plays that go with them



The 2nd thing that a lot of coaches do is what is called "scripting" I'm sure you've heard of it if you watch football... the misconception is that the coaches will have his first 20 plays and he is going to run those 20 plays first come you know what or high water.. while this is sometimes the case what the script actually does is tell the coaches what works best for them in situations based on down and distance and it takes into account things like defensive weakness, what their team does best or preference (this is the famous Bill Walsh method that TD and Bomber referenced)

Hope this helped but be warned studying offenses can be extremely addicting and you might wind up an X and O's geek like me watching game tape for FUN !!:rolleyes: