Gameplan

Welcome back to The Call Sheet!

Today, we’ll dive into an obsession of football coaches nationwide: situational football. From 3rd down to the 4-minute drill, I’ll walk you through the most critical situations coaches obsess over. Then, I’ll quickly touch on efficiency metrics before unpacking a recent EA College Football 25 dynasty game clip. TLDR:

• Cover 1 Robber

  • Situational Football

  • Efficiency

• Quick Game

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Cover 1 Robber

Situational Football

It’s a bit cliche, but coaches constantly harp on having their teams execute well situationally. But football is jam-packed with situations. Quite frankly, every single play falls into some situational category or another.

So, what are the most critical situations in which viewers and younger coaches should pay close attention?

• 3rd Down

• Redzone

• 2-Minute

• 4-Minute

3rd Down

Broadly speaking, 3rd down is the most important situation for football teams to master. However, there are several scenarios: 3rd & short, 3rd & medium, and 3rd & long.

I’m smuggling short yardage into 3rd & short because they’re closely related. Whenever coaches or broadcasters talk about either, they’re referring to moments in which the offense needs to gain two yards or less. Conventional wisdom would dictate bigger personnel groupings with the offense attempting to run the ball. Yet, in recent years, we’ve seen more quick game pass plays get called in these situations. The best teams that trust their offensive line to knock back the defensive line will stick to running the ball downhill (i.e., inside zone, duo, A-gap power, iso). Last year’s Michigan squad comes to mind.

When it comes to 3rd & medium (3-6 yards to gain), the whole playbook is typically open for offenses, especially after crossing mid-field, where teams may be more likely to go for it on 4th down. Unlike short yardage, where brute force is essential, winning on 3rd & medium is about creativity. Whether finding ways to create space in the passing game or creating a numbers advantage in the run game, the best OCs have a Rolodex of play calls to cycle through.

3rd & long (7 or more yards to gain) represents a significant advantage for defenses as offensive playcalling is limited. The most creativity you’ll typically see on 3rd & long will come in screens. Knowing that the defensive line will pin their ears back to rush the quarterback can be used against them. A well-designed screen for the running back or a receiver can gash a defense for a huge gain. That said, offensive coordinators will call straight dropback passes 85% of the time.

Redzone

For obvious reasons, redzone plays are of the utmost importance. When scoring points are at stake, everything has to be precise, and fundamentals such as blocking and tackling are scrutinized more closely. But the redzone, like 3rd down, is more than one situation: high-red, low-red, and goal-line.

When an offense enters the high redzone, it snaps the ball between the 20- and 12-yard lines (for some programs, the high-red starts on the 25). What often gets overlooked is that the field condenses in size, so there’s less room to work. While most of the playbook is available to offensive coordinators in this area of the field, the need for creativity significantly increases. Think back to 2019 LSU running redzone scissors for a touchdown to the running back against Alabama.

The low redzone (below the 12-yard line and above the 2-yard line) truly reinforces the presence of the 12th man (the sidelines and back line of the endzone). Defenses have the advantage in the passing game to play aggressively and undercut routes, knowing the offense is working in a much tighter space. However, playing too much man coverage will lead to defenders running into one another, leaving receivers wide-open to score six points. In the low redzone, offenses will use misdirection in the run game and mesh (or rub) concepts in the passing game to find the slightest opening to score; even the best defenses in the country find it difficult to defend.

Goal-line situations are just like short yardage; brute force reigns supreme. But when an offense meets an immovable object in the shape of a goal-line defense, you may see some play-action, a pop pass, or even Tim Tebow’s signature jump pass.

2-Minute

On its surface, the 2-minute drill is pretty simple: the offense is trying to move down the field as quickly as possible and score before the end of the first half or the end of the game. But the 2-minute drill isn’t confined to the final two minutes of either half. It’s common to see offenses run their 2-minute offense as a change up to their tempo or if they’re down multiple scores and working to mount a comeback.

So, what does a 2-minute offense look like? Let me blow your mind: it’s not strictly pass plays. Running the ball in 2-minute situations is more than plausible, and often, it can be pretty successful. Defenses typically focus on dropping back in coverage, be it man or zone, and that makes them susceptible to being outmanned in the box (the immediate 7-yard area in front of the offensive line). So, if an offense only has to block five defensive players in the box (aka getting a body on a body), they’ll hand the ball off to a back and gain 10+ yards. It’s important to remember that beginning at the 2-minute mark in the second and fourth quarters, the clock briefly stops after every first down. Two minutes can be stretched out to feel much longer, so teams don’t need to force themselves to rush if they’re moving down the field at a steady pace.

4-Minute

Most of my readers have likely never heard of the 4-minute drill. The only time you’ll see it is when a team is attempting to drain the clock at the end of a game and walk out with a win. The name derives from a hypothetical scenario: up one score, with the ball, four minutes left in the game, and draining it to prohibit the opponent from having another possession.

A 4-minute offense will be heavy on running the ball, but it’ll also be met with heavily loaded boxes from the defense desperately trying to get the ball back. Because of the run-defense commitment, one of the best ways to keep possession of the ball is by incorporating play-action passes, specifically bootlegs. Hard-selling run in one direction and bootlegging back to the other to float the ball to a wide-open tight end is a beautiful thought for OCs.

Efficiency

Tied into their obsession with situations, coaches pay close attention to how efficient their team is within the many situations they face. Here’s a look at how coaches determine their team’s offensive efficiency (the inverse would be used for defenses):

By Down & Distance

• 1st & 10 - gain 4 yards or more

• 2nd Down - gain half or more

• 3rd Down - get 1st down

• 4th Down - get 1st down

3rd Down Efficiency

• Successfully get 1st down on 60% of 3rd downs faced

Redzone Efficiency

• Score points on 90% of total trips to the redzone (TDs & FGs)

• Score touchdowns on 70% of total trips to the redzone

Quick Game

Finding Different Ways to Create Mesh

As promised, when I started this newsletter, I planned to use Team Builder to turn my high school into a UMass replacement (currently impossible to sign a 5-star recruit, but I’ve gotten some 4-stars) for a dynasty in EA College Football 25. I’ve also been having fun making minor tweaks to plays that can lead to significant gains. Something I’ve been doing in situations where I feel I’m getting man coverage from my opponent is hot-routing receivers to ensure I have “runaways” on every play. In a recent game, I hot-routed a snag curl on Slant Spacing to be a drag, and against 0 pressure, it went for six. Replace the unblocked man with the ball. Check out the clip and drawing below.

It turns out I created a pseudo-mesh concept with the drag coming underneath the slant. But the best part of this play is seeing two DBs run into one another (which sprung my 4-star freshman receiver free) when their man responsibilities run away from them.

If you’re new, you can catch up on previous posts here. Thank you all for spending a little bit of your day with me. See you next week!