Predicting Offensive Coodinators\' Calls

Warren Central\'s Steve Tutsie knows offensive coordinators\' next move and he\'s sharing his 5 methods with you
by: Mike Kuchar
Senior Writer, American Football Monthly
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Dear offensive coordinators,

Ever get the feeling that someone is watching you? I mean really watching your every move. We’re talking about pure diagnosis here, like the quintessential chess playing tactic of knowing your next move before you do. This is the science of breaking down and dissecting your every move before you do it – and Warren Central High School’s (IN) defensive coordinator Steve Tutsie has got it down pat and he’s just about to share it with you.

But before we get any further, it’s important to know that Tutsie is no mind reader. Well, maybe not literally. The following information is a collection of data that he has stockpiled in over twenty years of being a high school defensive coordinator. Like most of us, he eats, sleeps and breathes football but he was just smart enough to document every single minute component of all the teams he has faced. To his own accord he wasn’t blessed with much but a photographic memory. And it’s his memory that serves him justice as he’s preparing to play against you as an offensive coordinator.

“Behavior reflects personality, and you have to get to know the person on that other sideline,” says Tutsie. “I want to know that cat fully and the only way I can do that is by walking in his shoes.” According to Tutsie, how you walk in those shoes is by studying five major components of how they game plan. Sure, the following five concepts might sound like things that you’ve all done before – but like anything else in coaching, it’s the method by which he does it that grants him success. It’s a method that has been relatively flawless: the Warriors have won 51 of their last 55 games including four straight state titles.

And he’s about to share it with you, offensive coordinators. So pay attention, and be grateful that you won’t see him on the opposing sidelines anytime soon.

1. Start tape study from the fourth quarter.

Think about it. How many of us will sit down with our staff on a Saturday morning or Sunday afternoon and start to break down tape of our opponents’ by watching from first play to last? Relatively all of us. Why? Probably because we are so methodical by nature, our habits tell us to do it that way because that is the way the game has unfolded. But Tutsie reverses field by looking at the fourth quarter first. Why? Because like in a basketball game, that is when most of the important plays unfold. Now, it’s important to realize that Tutsie will only do this in a relatively close game which he considers a three-touchdown difference. According to Tutsie, when we start watching the game beginning with the first quarter, there are a ton of things that coaches on both sides have changed since the last game. He believes there is no greater reflection of an opposing coach’s personality than when it’s crunch time in a football game.

“I don’t want to know what his game plan is to start the game because the defense is usually doing something to take that away or else it wouldn’t be a tight game. I want to know what your plan is to win the game. Every good play caller gets into a rhythm. I want to know what you’re like when someone takes you out of your rhythm. The great coaches are the ones who can successfully execute Plan B when Plan A does not work. I want to see plan B.” What is Plan B? In his experience, Tutsie feels that generally speaking Plan B is often the same plays, but the offensive coordinator will find different ways to run them. “It’s always about getting the ball in the hands of your best cat--even the average coach knows that. So it all becomes about formations. With everything being equal, I see formations becoming more apparent than anything else. In the fourth quarter it’s going to be about how they can out leverage you by using various formations while getting the ball in the hands of their best athlete.”

2. How do you respond when pulled out of your comfort zone?

What is the opposite of being comfortable? Feeling pressure. Like a lot of other aspects in sports, you are measured by how you react to adversity. So, Tutsie will analyze what you are doing when “the walls are caving in” and you are put in compromising situations. Why else would he do this than attack the head of the snake of your offense: the QB. “When you look at the two best quarterbacks in college and professional football, the University of Florida and the New England Patriots respectively, it’s amazing what happened to them when Michigan and the New York Giants starting bringing pressure. They folded.”

Tutsie practices what he preaches on game days by bringing pressure early and often to see how opposing coordinators react and that’s exactly what he watches for when analyzing your game tapes. “To me it doesn’t matter if you run or pass the ball, I’m going to unload my game plan in the first and second quarters,” which could be up to ten blitzes. “Pressure forces the OC’s and the QB’s to strap it up. Offenses become more conservative later in the game. When it gets closer they start to stick to what plays they know and stay inside the box, keeping things close to the vest. They go to their tendencies, and that’s where I get after them. I want to get a beat on you by bringing pressure. Pressure is the answer. I don’t care if you are a spread team, I don’t buy into that whole philosophy that you can’t pressure the spread and stay vanilla. I’m going to make you stay vanilla by coming after you.”

What may be even more effective in getting you out of your comfort zone is by bluffing or faking the blitz. This is something that Tutsie will do just as much. “Fake pressure is sometimes better than real pressure. All of a sudden your QB’s stomach gets a little tighter and he gets a little tense. In the last six years we’ve had 32 defensive scores and half of them were from faking pressure where a QB short armed something or the snap from a shotgun went way over his head because he’s worried about blocking someone. And you can forget about that whole ‘bend but don’t break’ defensive philosophy. That’s loser talk. We’re unloading everything right away to see how you handle it.”

3. Careful where you set your pass protections.

Tutsie knows your style. He knows that if you are going to pass on first or second down chances are it will be the quick game out of a three step or some type of play action off one of your favorite run schemes. He doesn’t sweat that. It’s money in the bank to him and he’ll draw up his pressure around it. “Most people have the same pass protection on first or second down. If they are a slide team, 90 percent of the time their pass pro is going to be the same. If they are a play action team on first down then I’m anticipating it. It won’t be both but will be either or. To me, I hope I get play action on first down. We’re going to get up the field and get after the QB right now.”

Tutsie designs his entire blitz scheme based on the way you are protecting your QB. “If it’s a slide protection with the back involved, I’m coming from the side of the back. If you are going to man protect with your linemen and go big on big, then I’m working my interior games and twists with the front four. I look at protection and see where that weak link is because everybody has one. I’m going to find that and exploit your weakness. It could be as simple as lining up a guy on the center on a shotgun team – often that’s neglected. Or it doesn’t even have to be a lineman. How good a pass protector is your running back? Most kids that carry the ball don’t want to get involved in protection. What does he do? Can we fake inside and then go outside on him? That’s what I’m zeroed in on.”

4. What are your calls after lost yardage?

Tutsie breaks this down into three categories of offensive play calls: after an offensive/defensive penalty, after an incomplete pass, and after lost yardage. “Three or four years ago if an offense threw the ball on first down and didn’t complete it everyone in America was going to run the ball on second down to make up for it. Not anymore. Second and ten is just another down for the offensive guys because of a team’s ability to spread you out and dump you like a pitch and catch. So I’m analyzing those downs on my PowerEdit system to see what they are going to do. If I want to know the artist I have to walk in his feet.”

Tutsie knows that if you lose yardage on the first play you are going right back to your bread and butter scheme – and it may not always be a run. “If we get a sack on first down or a negative play, what is he going to go to? What does he do when there is a negative play on first down? Chances are he’s got a play that he knows can get positive yards – one that he can hang his hat on – and that’s exactly what he is going to go to if he starts to lose yards right away. We have to create one-on-one mismatches and stop your running game. It’s hard to predict nowadays because of the spread scheme teams that can dink and dunk you. But you will get a percentage of what that play is, especially when they need to play catch-up because they lost yardage.”

5. What are your openers? How do you open your drives?

After Tutsie has critically and analytically dissected your offense, he puts the finishing touches on his scouting report by looking at how you open your offensive drives. For this, he goes back to the first quarter of the game and sees what your progression is regardless of whether you’ve scripted your plays or not. “You would be surprised how many guys open the game with a throw to get into rhythm. They’ll try to get their QB going or get the ball to their stud. Coaches are creatures of habit, so they will usually open a game the same way – by trying to establish their core plays. If we get a beat on this early, now we’re talking about getting them in a minus situation by losing yards. It all gets set up to the previous points about getting OC’s out of their comfort zone and picking up their tendencies after lost yardage.

“The one that’s really good is looking at the first down plays within the drive. That’s a tendency in the 60’s and 70’s percentile. A lot of times if they get a first down running the ball within the drive, you’re going to get a pass on the next play. It keeps momentum going and it gives a continual boost for the offense. As a defense, you can’t let them establish tempo. You have to get them on their heels again and that comes with bringing pressure. I’ll probably press in that situation to take their short game away and I’m going to twist a lot up front, making sure my defensive line gets their hands up and restricts the passing lane of the QB.”

Consider this a blessing O-coordinators. You’re getting the ultimate heads up on what the best D-coordinators look for. You’re now safe to re-devise your game plan. But whatever you do, be careful. Tutsie is out there watching – and now so is every other defensive coordinator you will be lining up against this season.

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