My NEW Play Call Sheet & Gameplanning Process

It didn't take me long into my first year as an OC to change my call sheet and gameplanning process. Here's what I'm doing now as we begin the season!

Filling out a play call sheet is one of my favorite things to do in the sport of football. Endless possibilities for an offensive attack, but is that a good thing? Where am I looking for specific plays?

In being promoted to OC, I realized I needed a more efficient approach to gameplanning and calling a game. A coaching friend recommended the R4 system to me, and I read one of the books, What is Open? by Dub Maddox. I couldn’t recommend it more to current or aspiring offensive coordinators (not sponsored). I’m not going to go into all the details about the gameplanning system because it’s not my intellectual property, but after reading it and deciding to adopt some of the gameplanning practices, I realized that my play call sheet was misaligned with my gameplanning, so I have an updated play call sheet to share with you with lots of awesome features built-in for creating play sheets faster.

As I like to do, I still wanted it to have elements of the Shanahan/McVay style play sheets. I took a lot of inspiration from this one specifically, from The Athletic. Click here for a better resolution for zooming in.

As you’ll see below, my sheet isn’t a carbon copy, just a personal adaptation that I want to share. Before diving into the sheet, I want to mention a bit about how plays are packaged within a formation.

A formation has 3 sections: Run Game, 3 Step (Quick Game) Passes & Screens, and 5 Step (Drop Back) Passes & Play Actions. The Run Game is divided up into sections. When in the dot (Under Center or Pistol), the run game is separated into strong and weak-side runs. In the Gun, I plan based on the RB’s alignment being strong or weak because of the amount of misdirection and same-side runs I call, and I know many defenses call fronts and pressures based off of his alignment. Regardless of Dot backfields or Gun, if it’s a two back formation, I plan based on where the Fullback is aligned.

Within each of those 4 sections, there are 4 types of plays:

• Base Play: best play vs. base defense

• Constraint Play: best play vs. the expected adjustment the defense will make to stop the base play

  • Secondary front vs. run

  • Secondary coverage vs. pass

• Blitz Beater

• Trick Play

Rarely will any formation have all 16 possibilities filled. If they did, you wouldn’t have enough practice reps in a week to install the gameplan anyway.

TOP FORMATIONS

The base of the call sheet is the Top Formations chart. These are what we decide our best formations are going to be against the defense we’re seeing. A few rules about these formations for me:

1. The formation also includes the formation adjustment (ex. East Flex & East Open would be different formations on my sheet because they aren’t the same look to the defense).

2. Motion can be included for multiple plays. It doesn’t need to be every play in the formation, but if I’m only wanting to motion for one specific play, that play would be better placed elsewhere on the sheet.

3. Shifts are not mandatory in the formation call, as motions would be in this section. I didn’t explicitly mention it in the clinic, but last month’s clinic on shifts & motions that included purposes for shifting don’t necessitate the need to be called here. I include an optional shift on the line, and I will signal to my QB whether or not to activate it when calling the play in the huddle, opposed to motions, which are mandatory when written in here.

4. Need to be able to run at least 10 plays out of the formation. Otherwise, it should be considered an auxiliary formation, not a top formation.

AUXILIARY FORMATIONS

These formations follow the same rules as Top Formations, but they will generally have less plays in them. A good example would be a secondary personnel grouping in where we might be less likely to pass, so there could be 6 run plays and 3 pass plays out of that formation.

These should not have as many plays as Top Formations, otherwise they should be Top Formations. However, there are limited numbers of practice reps in a week, and if every formation was a Top Formation, it would be impossible to practice the gameplan throughout the week.

This location is also where micro packages would go, i.e. a 3-4 play series based off of a specific motion.

3RD & 4TH DOWN

This is the first place I don’t actually script new plays. I have created formulas such that I only need to type in the number of the play in it’s base location, and it will populate automatically. There are a healthy mix of plays from Top Formations, potentially some Auxiliary Formations (maybe a motioned pass concept) and plays from the Short Yardage section for the 1-4 yard section.

RED ZONE

Red Zone is similar to 3rd/4th down in that plays are not housed here. They are pulled from locations elsewhere on the sheet. Generally I will pick my top condensed formation for the Hi Red Zone with the expectation of Cover 0 or Cover 1 defenses. In the Lo Red Zone, I start wanting to really get Under Center, heavier personnel, or both, which lends to an Auxiliary Formation. Once inside the +2, whether it’s Goal Line or 2 Point Plays, I would pull from the Short Yardage package. Some of the plays from 3rd/4th & Short can be placed here as well.

SITUATIONS

Outside of Goal Line, Short Yardage, and Turbo, all of these sections are set like 3rd/4th and Red Zone to be able to re-use calls from other areas without having to type the whole play in again.

Openers: Drive starters, P & 10, goal to get 4 yards on the first snap of the drive

Priority Calls: calls that I want to make sure get called at some point in the game, although not a specific time. Could be a planned explosive, something I want to make sure gets on film for the next team or two to see, or just plays I think will work and want to make sure don’t get overlooked in the middle of the game.

Get Back on Track: 2nd and 8+, need half the distance to the first down to be efficient, potential of expecting blitz

1st 10: the opening script. First line would be what my first play call is going to be in the game, assuming we get the ball in a normal situation. The majority of this section is going to be filled with what I think is the best play from each Top Formation so I can either be assured that it worked or know where to adjust to within that formation’s plan. I also want to plan a touch or two for top playmakers, get the QB comfortable with an easy read, and run a trick play. I think it was Tony Franklin that said you never want to be the team to run the second trick play in the game, so the opening script is the best place for it. Some of these plays can overlap (i.e. a reverse to the best WR would check off a trick play and a touch for him).

Reminders: a space to type or write reminders to myself for in the game, keys to the game, etc.

Starters/Backups: the top half of each individual section within the entire category would have that starter’s favorite play and one or two plays that I like to get that player the ball with a good matchup. Underneath the solid line in each section would be a few plays in case the backup has to go in. Maybe the starter had a kneepad issue or his helmet came off, what is one play I can run where this backup won’t be a factor? I also want to have a play or two to get that player comfortable. Maybe the starter got injured and the backup is going to have to play for an extended period of time, maybe even the rest of the game. He needs the opportunity to get comfortable as well.

Goal Line, Short Yardage: separate sections with the same purpose - the base input area for plays in these situations to be pulled from elsewhere on the sheet.

Backed Up: best plays inside our own 10 yard line. Balance trying to advance the ball with not turning it over. Expect pressure

4 Minute: best plays to run out the clock in a close game. Get 4 yards every play.

Turbo: 2 minute package

Final Plays: we have one more play to get the ball in the endzone. Succeed, and we win. Fail, and we lose. Based on where we are on the field, what is that call going to be?

WRISTBANDS

I mentioned numbers, but outside of the Turbo package, you won’t see any on there. I have the numbers set to only populate when a play has been entered. It can be tedious even going down the list and just typing in each number to correspond with the wristband, and I automated that.

In addition, it automatically fills out the plays on the wristband. When the number populates on the play sheet, the wristband sheet can find the play to put on the wristband. I never have to worry if the play sheet matches the wristband because it happens automatically, and all I have to do is type in the play on my play sheet.

PRACTICE PLANNING

The final feature of this entire spreadsheet workbook is that it can plan out my practice script for me, based on where plays are located in the spreadsheet. Mondays are base and trick play days; Tuesdays are constraint play days; Wednesdays are for blitz beaters, 3rd/4th down, and Red Zone; and Thursdays are a simulated game where I will print out my play sheet and call practice from it. I have a sheet within the workbook for each day of the week, and the plays for that day are pulled automatically. Again, all I have to do is type the play in my play call sheet one time.

If I fill out my sheet, go to check the scripts for the week and notice one day has too many plays for that practice, I know I have over-gameplanned in that area. For example, say I have too many plays on Tuesday. That means I have too many constraint plays in the gameplan and need to decide which base plays am I going to center the gameplan around and which ones are just the best play in that category for a specific formation but won’t be run enough to force a defensive change. The former requires a constraint play, and the latter can be planned without one.

Ultimately, my goal with this sheet is to be able to just duplicate the master file each week for a fresh sheet, fill out the plays on the call sheet once, re-use them on the sheet for specific situations, and have my wristbands and practice scripts for the week made for me automatically. I’m still working out the kinks with it, but if you’re interested in this spreadsheet workbook, fill out this form to be added to the wait list, and I will let you know when it is good to go!

Stay sharp, Warriors.

Coach Davidson