Self Scout

Are You Digging Deep Enough?
by: John Bond
Offensive Coordinator/Quarterback Coach United States Military
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Football is a forever-changing game. Almost everybody has access to film editing systems and computer scouting systems. We all are trying to get an edge. Where does that edge come from? Everybody scouts their opponent. We know as offensive coaches, what their favorite blitzes are and when they come. My question is, do we know enough about ourselves?

I believe good teams have tendencies. I think if you are a good offensive football team, you need to sometimes say, “here we come, stop us if you can.” I also believe that to be a good play caller, you have to keep people off balance. Part of keeping people off balance lies not only in multiple formations and movements, but in calling the unexpected. Whether the play works or not does not necessarily matter. Just the fact that you called something that was different than what the chart said, potentially, made it an investment for the rest of the game.

I would imagine that for the most part, we all know our run to pass ratios. We know what it usually works out to be over the course of an 11 or 12 game season. Usually it works out to be what your offensive philosophy is as a play caller and what you want to call as a play caller. I am sure that we know what we are calling on 3rd down. We know what we are calling on 3rd and short, 3rd and medium, and 3rd and long. I think that we sometimes stop short on all these accounts and we end up deceiving ourselves because we do not dig deep enough in all these situations. Just because we know that on first down we run the ball, lets say, 60% of the time does not tell the whole story. What is your percentage coming off your goalline as opposed to the red zone? How often are you running the ball on the 1st down of a series as opposed to 1st down during a drive?

We have made it a priority to know what we did the last game and keep a running tally throughout the year on what we are calling offensively. I won’t go to the next opponent on Sunday until I know what we’ve done yesterday. These are some different things for you to think about and some of the things that we try to know about ourselves and this is how we break it up.

Coming out (-1 to 15) Field (-16 to +31) Red Zone (+30 to G.L.)
Start of Drive During Series Start of Drive During Series Start of Drive During Series





1st and 10
Run/Pass % - Coming out -1 to -15. Start of a series and during a drive.
Run/Pass % - Field -16 to +31 of the start of a series and during the course of a drive.
Run/Pass % - Red Zone +30 to Goalline of the start of a series and during the course of a drive.

I like to be as balanced as possible on first down. At the end of the year we generally are just a few snaps from being 50/50 run pass. I bet you will find your numbers differ in some of the different categories, as seen above.

2nd Down
I think this down gets lost sometimes. I think most people will know what they are calling on 2nd down but I think this is a down where we miss the boat. The key question becomes “What have you done on first down?” If you gain 3 yards or more on 1st down, you are more likely to run the ball on 2nd down because now all you have to do is gain one yard and you are in a manageable 3rd and medium situation. If you gain less than 3 yards you are much more likely to throw the ball and try to get to that 3rd and medium situation. Therefore, I try to know what I am doing on 2nd and 7 or less and 2nd and 8 or more.

Coming Out Field Red Zone
2nd + 7 or less
2nd + 8 or more



3rd Down
We will break our 3rd downs up into 6 different yardage situations and also in the 3 different field zones:

3rd - 1 Coming Out - Field - Red Zone
3rd - 2-3 Coming Out - Field - Red Zone
3rd - 4-6 Coming Out - Field - Red Zone
3rd - 7-8 Coming Out - Field - Red Zone
3rd - 9-11 Coming Out - Field - Red Zone
3rd - 12+ Coming Out - Field - Red Zone

We obviously go into more detail in these categories with what the actual play is and the frequency of these plays in these different categories and situations.

Coming Out Field Red Zone
3rd - 1
3rd - 2-3
3rd - 4-6
3rd - 7-8
3rd - 9-11
3rd - 12+



I hope this article has provoked some thought and given you some insight as to what we look at when we break ourselves down. It has helped us become a more balanced offense and has helped us see how other people are seeing us as well. I truly think the better we know ourselves, the better our opportunities are for success.

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