AFM RSS Feed Follow Us on Twitter       
AMERICAN FOOTBALL MONTHLY THE #1 RESOURCE FOR FOOTBALL COACHES
ABOUT |  CONTACT |  ADVERTISE |  HELP  



   User Name    Password 
      Password Help





Article Categories


AFM Magazine

AFM Magazine


Third Down Conversions: Strategies That Will Move the Chains

by: Dan Weil
© More from this issue

Click for Printer Friendly Version          

It’s pretty difficult to move the ball if you don’t convert your third down opportunities. We talked to three offensive coordinators about their approach to third down plays: Sam Venuto at Villanova University, Alvin Parker at Elizabeth City State University in North Carolina and Jim Glover at Lambuth University in Jackson, TN.

OVERARCHING PHILOSOPHIES
    To Venuto, succeeding on third down is so important that it represents one of the three goals he sets for his offense, with the other two being no drive-stopping penalties and winning the turnover battle. “We feel if we can emphasize those aspects of the game we have a good chance of winning,” he said.

    Glover sets a numerical goal. “I’ve researched the importance of third down conversions to coaches. If you look at championship teams from Division I on down, you’ll find they’re all at or above 45 percent on their third-down conversion rate. One of our goals is 45 percent success on third downs.”

    Parker uses numerical goals too, but he doesn’t like using an overall percentage. That’s because if he tells his players he wants a 40 percent conversion rate overall, they’re just as likely to accept that rate on third and short as they are on third and long. So Parker sets goals for each division of yardage. “I tell my guys we want to convert 75-85 percent of third and short (less than four yards), 45-50 percent of third and medium (four to six yards) and 20-25 percent of third and long (seven yards +). So we’ll have a pretty good ratio if we keep ourselves out of third and long.”

THIRD AND SHORT
    Venuto defines third and short as one-two yards. “If it’s one or less, we prefer to bring in the heavy personnel and run the ball. If it’s a long one yard or two yards, we would play it as a standard down, so we could run or pass. We run 60-70 percent of the time, but we could still pass if it’s between one and two yards.” And what kind of running plays does Venuto use? “Power off tackle and some sweeps, and then our passes are play action off those. So our power off tackle is complemented by a power play-action. And our sweep could have a bootleg to get the quarterback on the perimeter.” He doesn’t believe in throwing a home-run ball on third and short. “For us, we want to make sure we get our first down. We don’t want to hedge our bets.”

    Parker views the defense as “sort of at your mercy” on third and short. “You can do different formations and different looks. It’s the perfect situation. If we feel like we can run it better, we will do that on third and short. We can throw a quick three-step pass if there are a lot of guys in the box. It could be play action as well. If they load the box, it’s wide open.”

    As for running plays, if the defense indeed loads up the box, Parker favors attacking the perimeter. “You might run a speed option where the quarterback can run or pitch. We’ll pitch off the end guy. That’s pretty good for third and short because they have to play assignment football.” Parker also doesn’t shy away from occasionally challenging the defense with a deep pass on third and short. “If the other team plays real close to the line, a lot of times you can surprise them. If they play close to the box without a safety and man coverage on the outside, we’ll say ‘Let’s take a shot every once in a while.’ Most of the time we want to be safe. There’s about a 10-15 percent chance that we’ll throw down field.”

    Glover, like Parker, defines third and short as one to three yards. In those situations, “We want our bread and butter,” Glover said. “What are the plays that were successful earlier in the game? Another thing is that we like to put the ball in the hands of our playmaker. It’s as likely to be a pass as a run. There always has to be a threat of a pass in a running situation, just like there always has to be a threat of a run in a passing situation.”

    If it’s going to be a run, “In past years we were very basic, we’d run off tackle,” Glover said. “We were fortunate to have a large and aggressive offensive line and good running backs. Off of that we’d run play action to a back, a receiver or the tight end. Play action gives you the element of surprise because it will look exactly like the running play.” Glover also will run the option on third and short. “It takes away a lot of the aggressiveness from the defense because they have to account for each phase of the option. If they know you’ll run it or have the ability to do so, they’ll be more assignment oriented.”

    And Lambuth would pass and run out of the option. Glover will opt for the deep pass if the head coach tells him he has two downs to get the first down. “I’ll probably shoot for the man on the first one.”

THIRD AND MEDIUM
(3-6 Yards for Venuto,  4-6 Yards for Glover)
    In these situations, Venuto emphasizes high percentage passes. “It could be play action or something involving the tight end in a drop back pass. Defenses might blitz 60 percent of the time on third and medium, so a lot of times we’ll get the ball out of the quarterback’s hands quickly with hot reads. “He knows where to go quickly to a receiver. We’ll use short crossing routes so that he doesn’t have to wait for a receiver to get down the field. A lot of times we’ll move the quarterback outside the pocket, so the defense isn’t zeroing in on the launch point.” Venuto said the Wildcats probably pass 60 percent of the time in third and medium. If he does decide to run, often it will be traps and draws out of a spread formation.

    Parker’s team is primed to run or pass on third and medium. “They won’t pack the box. They’ll play similar to other downs, so your playbook has to stay just as wide as theirs.” As for running plays, “The draw is one of our better plays,” Parker said. “We can run it out of a pro set or a spread. It makes the defense play honest, so they can’t rush you too hard.”

    As for passes in third and medium, “We usually throw quarterback triangle reads. We can dump off to our running backs and tight end and then present the defense with something deeper behind,” he said. “The quarterback can check off from the deep man and pass to the running backs or tight end in the flat. When they go to stop that, we can get something deeper.

    “The running back and tight end should be heavily involved in your passing game. They might do delayed drops after the underneath defenders drop off. You can give them choice routes. If the defense goes inside, you go outside for a quick throw of four-five yards.”

    Glover goes about 50-50 between run and pass on third and medium. “We have run a lot of screens. Whatever run play has been successful, we would run a screen off of that. We feel we can run a screen to any skill position on the field. The idea is to get it to your playmaker. Another thing is to line up in a spread offense and run a bubble screen. That way you can get one of your better athletes in space.” Glover also likes to run counters in this situation. “Anything that gives the defense a second flow to contend with. You can run a bootleg off the counter play, where you can run or throw.”

    He said the option also is “great” for third and medium. “It forces the defense to slow down a bit and account for everyone.”

THIRD AND LONG
(7 Yards and Up)
    Venuto stresses to his quarterback the value of short passes in this situation. “You don’t have to throw to the sticks to get the first down,” he said. “You can throw underneath and have faith in the running back to use his feet to get to the sticks. Sometimes the quarterback ends up forcing the football down the field.

    “We’ll take throws down the field if they’re there. But you take what the defense gives you. If you get a first down, great. If not, you can punt it.” When Villanova passes the ball down field, Venuto favors flooding his receivers, inside breaking routes, a deep dig or a deep in, with a drag or shallow route by a running back or slot receiver.

    Parker scripts about five pass plays during the week for third and long. “Defenses playing the pass often drop back deep or play a zone. We’ll get in a three by one formation, with a tight end and two receivers on one side and one receiver on the other side. We try to put the lone receiver on a route he can win. It’s not the same route every week. It could be a comeback or drop-out route.

    “On the other side of the field, we do things to get inside of the zone. The tight end might run a 10-yard crossing route or a dig. We’ll put the middle receiver on a streak and the outside guy on a 16-yard end or dig.” The quarterback will throw to whichever receiver gets open. “We tell our QB to throw where they aren’t,” Parker said. “We feel they can’t cover all these areas.”

    When Lambuth is confronted with a zone in third and long situations, Glover likes to use flood routes. “You try to get more receivers in an area than they have defenders. You use a numbers game to beat them.” Against a blitz, he likes to use crossing routes to rub off defenders. “You try to cause confusion in coverage. That crossing can occur through motion or shifts before the ball is even snapped. The idea is to get a favorable match-up for our receiver against their defender, or get someone lost in coverage.”

MISMATCHES
    Finding mismatches is crucial for succeeding on third down. And it’s not just a matter of mismatches between receivers and their defenders. “We also look at defensive line match-ups,” Glover said. “We know who our best offensive linemen are. We want to know who their best defensive lineman is. We may take our best guy and put him on a guy he can dominate. Or if we feel we need to occupy their best guy, we’ll put our best guy on him.”

    Glover often divides his linemen so that on one side, he has his quickest blockers, and on the other, his strongest. “In the past, our strong tackle was normally our biggest guy. So we structured plays that started toward the quick side. Our strong tackle would block down on a three technique, and we’ll cut back to the strong side, running to the seam created by the strong tackle."






NEW BOOK!

AFM Videos Streaming Memberships Now Available Digital Download - 304 Pages of Football Forms for the Winning Coach



















HOME
MAGAZINE
SUBSCRIBE ONLINE COLUMNISTS COACHING VIDEOS


Copyright 2024, AmericanFootballMonthly.com
All Rights Reserved