Finding Your Passing Game Wrinkle or Two
Many of you have a game or two under your belt at this point and it’s the time when you are looking for a passing game wrinkle or two. Notice we said “wrinkle” and we said one or two. We don’t advise throwing new passing game concepts at your team right now if you haven’t been practicing them.
FirstDown PlayBook understands that being an offensive coordinator can be a lonely job on Sunday nights when it’s time to begin putting together the game plan. This is why we have set FirstDown PlayBook in a way that makes it very easy to find ideas as you game plan by yourself.
You can look at what you are currently doing and find ideas that are similar. Once again, this is not the time of year where you want to be doing big research projects. However, if you understand a basic route tree and a pretty generic numbering system it can be a simple process.
Run This Concept Tomorrow…They Won’t Cover It.
There are really three parts to this easy system.
Understanding The Route Trees
The FirstDown PlayBook route tree is not complicated. Even numbers break in and odd numbers break out. Lower numbers are shorter routes and bigger numbers are deeper routes. The one thing that FirstDown PlayBook does differently is we break our routes up into individual routes. (See the video).
Understanding Formations
FirstDown PlayBook uses a very common and generic labeling system for our offensive formations.
- The Split End is the X
- The Tight End is the Y
- The Flanker is the Z
- The Slot or Fullback is the F
- The Back is The H
Understanding The Numbering System
The system for calling the concepts is an old one that has been around forever. There are many versions of it and we have adjusted it slightly to fit our system as well. Essentially though it is a numbering system calling the plays weak to strong starting with the X, then the Y, then the Z.
The Comeback Route From A Bunch Formation? Sure.
If you called 278 you would be calling a shallow or a drag route running through a bench route/post route combination. Then you tag the F and the H with words like “swing” or “post”. Keep in mind we are not telling you to call your plays this way. This is just a way for you to find the thousands of pass plays that we have for you.
After you find them you can edit the play name, the play, the quarterback reads and coaching points to fit your system. Once again, our advice is do not get carried away at this point in your season. Stay close to home with what your players have been practicing. Let’s take a look at this video to get started finding your passing game wrinkle or two.
