Sometimes a content idea just hits you like a bolt of lightning from the sky.
This is one of those moments.
As the football world prepares for the first training camp in the COVID-19 Era, organizations are thinking of ways to excite fans, even though they might not be able to attend games in person. For example, the Miami Dolphins recently announced that they will turn Hard Rock Stadium into a drive-in movie theater. As the team stated, featured items would include “classic Miami Dolphins content from the team’s 54-year history, classic motion picture films, host commencement ceremonies and other events.”
Paving the way for games to be shown, perhaps.
Not to be outdone, the Cleveland Browns announced a fundraiser of their own last week. A chance to “script” the first 15 plays of a preseason game with new head coach Kevin Stefanski. As part of a fundraiser for COVID-19 relief, the Browns are auctioning off the opportunity to script plays with Stefanski and offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt.
Think you can script an NFL game?
Coach Kevin Stefanski is offering the chance to help script 15 plays for one of our preseason games and even more immersive experiences — all for a great cause!
Details » https://t.co/xHlvlYr3ZN#ALLINCHALLENGE @allinchallenge pic.twitter.com/rOdsRaoFbw
— Cleveland Browns (@Browns) May 22, 2020
Consider this piece part of my formal bidding process.
You see, scripting plays is something that I take seriously. You’re reading someone who would never consider turning on a game of Madden or NCAA Football without having a script at the ready. Oh, and this is not just some “back in college when I had time on my hands thanks to ignoring schoolwork” thing (oh, hi mom!) but something that I was doing as recently as this holiday season.
Because when my wife and I decided that our oldest, Owen, could start playing Madden, I needed to be ready. So late at night I would fire up Madden 20, try out plays, and with a whiteboard at the ready start piecing together what worked, and what did not, for a game script.
And to think, this was pre-quarantine behavior…
But back to the issue at hand. Mr. Stefanski, please consider this my offer for a potential game script. A more formal bid will follow.
The way this will be constructed is as follows. As covered in this previous piece breaking down the play sheet from Tom Brady’s first NFL start, the scripted plays cover situations. The first part will cover first and second down passing plays, as well as shot plays where I want to attack down the field. The second part will cover both the run game and the play-action passing game, with some run/pass options built in, and finally we’ll get into more situations, with third and long as well as the screen game and the “gotta have it” play.
First and second down pass plays
We kick things off with the passing plays I’m willing to call on almost every situation, save for third and a country mile. Whether 1st and 10, 2nd and 7, or 3rd and 1, these routes have an answer for almost anything a defense can throw at us, hence the comfort level.
92 – Mesh
We start with a Mike Leach/Air Raid staple, the mesh play.
This route concept has an answer for everything. Before the play, if the quarterback identifies one-on-one coverage over the X receiver he can take a deep shot. If it’s a single-high look, he can work the Corner/Swing combination which sets up a high-low bracket over that cornerback, before coming to the crossers underneath. Same basic read structure for a Cover 2/4 look. If the QB gets man across the board, he can peek the route to X, then peek that wheel route to H, before looking to the mesh. Coach Leach gave a tremendous presentation on installing the mesh play a few years ago at a Nike Coach of the Year Clinic, and I highly recommend checking it out.
Building off mesh, you set up a nice little counter for when the defense starts to play more zone to take away the crossers underneath: Mesh return.
92 Out or 92 Return
Here is an example of a return concept from the New England Patriots’ playbook:
As you can see, both H and Z have options after showing the defense the standard mesh underneath. If they see zones underneath they can sit down in grass. If they get walled off from the underneath defenders on the inside, they can break back outside, away from them. In addition, this route concept has a Hoss element to it, with the hitch route on the outside and the seam route from the middle receiver in the trips. That seam will convert based on the coverage, so if you get a two-high look (middle of the field open or MOFO) that receiver will cross the face of the nearest safety to split the two safety look. If the defense is in single-high (middle of the field closed or MOFC) that receiver will stay vertical, forcing the single safety to rotate over. Then you have the hitch route on the outside, which will convert to a fade/go against press coverage.
Curl/Flat or Hank
This is from an old Jon Gruden playbook. But mirrored curl/flat, or Hank, is still a staple of offenses today. If you watch the Chicago Bears, for example, you will see a ton of this route concept. With good reason. First, it gives the quarterback a nice defined read structure and second, it is a mirrored passing concept, that basically divides the field in half and allows the quarterback to pick his “best side” if all things are equal coverage-wise, throwing to either the short side of the field, the best matchup, or however the coaching staff wants to define “best-side.”
As you can see, the read progression is as follows: The QB first checks that sit route over the middle (with an alert on a potential hot route as well) and then works either side of the field on the curl to the flat.
Curl routes, when they are run well against a cornerback who has to worry about getting beat deep (Cover 1, Cover 3) are very difficult to cover. If the defense starts to respond by dropping that overhang or slot defender under that curl route to help, then the flat route should start to open up for you. Cover 2 and Cover 4 are a bit trickier with this concept, as the defense can keep the corner in the flat to take that away and then have the LBs drop under the curls, but there are still options. That sit route over the middle could work to get under the MLB as the linebackers drop, and then you can work in the flat-wheel variation, where the inside receiver runs a wheel route and should find grass along the boundary.
Both Bench or Both Swirl
Finally, two more plays that are mirrored passing concepts, similar to Hank. There is first Both Bench, and then Both Swirl. These give the quarterback some simplified, half-field reads, as well as the opportunity to high-low a defender to one side of the formation or the other. On the first design, Both Bench, we pair a deep out route with a flat route to both sides of the field. The quarterback will work this concept high to low, starting with the out route and working to the flat route.
On the second design, Both Swirl, the quarterback again reads this from high to low. First he will check the swirl route, which starts out like a corner route but then cuts off, as a corner-stop route, and then the QB works down to the flat route.
Shot plays
I’ve always been a fan of taking a few designed shots downfield throughout the game based on situation: After turnovers, after a big run, near midfield, and on 2nd and short. Shot plays can be run with or without play-action, but I particularly love the idea of pairing a shot play and play-action on 2nd and short.
We can start with a switch verticals concept.
G Spread Left Utah Goalie/Peel/Whirl Flanker Right
There are a lot of elements to this design.
As you can see, the three receiver combination has three variations. Goalie is your basic switch verticals look, with the outside receiver running a go, the inside receiver running a wheel and the #3 receiver running a swing screen route. Peel has the outside receiver run a post, while the rest of the routes remain the same (a wheel route from Z and a swing route from H). Whirl has the outside receiver run a curl route, and again the other two routes (wheel/swing) remain the same. Backside the B has a deep dig/search route, as well as a shallow crosser.
The QB wants to hit the wheel route in an ideal world. But, he can work backside after that as well as peeking that swing route in a pinch. Against Cover 4 that wheel route is likely taken away, so the quarterback should be on alert to work backside to that dig/search route finding grass underneath the safeties.
G Spread Right 66 D-Sluggo Hoss Ringo
This is another design that I absolutely love.
First you have the Hoss element on the left side of the formation, with the hitch/seam combination. Both those routes will convert based on the coverage, with the hitch route converting to a go/fade against a press man look, and the seam actually sitting down here against a MOFO look. But what makes this play is the action on the right side. You show a simple slant/flat combination, but the slant is actually a slant-and-go, which will also convert to a slant-and-corner against a MOFO coverage, working away from the nearest safety. So with a single-high look you can bracket the safety in the middle of the field with the seam/sluggo, looking at one and throwing the other. But with two safeties you’ll the seam that converts to a deep curl checking up in front of one safety, and the slant-corner breaking away from the other safety.
Okay, now it’s time to work in some run game stuff, before we get back to the fun parts of the script.