Football play calling game

This website, Advanced Football Analytics, is incredibly intriguing and robust, as it has several articles analyzing topics such as player transactions, game theory in football decision making like this article , and statistics on plays such as kicking a field goal, throwing a Hail Mary, and returning a kick off. This article provides a hypothetical payoff chart that shows the potential payoff for the offenses given the choices of running and passing for the offense and the choices of pass defense, run defense, and blitz for the defense.

The hypothetical values are represented in the following chart:. Thus, we look to see if there exists a Nash equilibrium, which can come in the form of a dominant strategy. Burke summarizes the information in the graph and discusses the dilemmas the coaches face when making the decision of what play to call. For example, running could be considered safer for the offensive play caller because two of the results have positive utility, but passing has positive utility when against run defense, and in fact passing has the highest possible payoff of 9.

The most interesting section of the article follows, where Burke transfers this information from the table onto a graph in an attempt to find what the optimal course of action is for the teams. The graph has Run and Pass on sides of the horizontal axis, and then Run Defense, Pass Defense, and Blitz as 3 different lines with the values of utility on the vertical axis.

Hearing an NFL play call may put your brain in a confused state. Just ask any quarterback that has played for Jon Gruden. West Coast play calls are designed to detail what every player on the field is doing.

Here is an example of a play call from Jon Gruden. These complex systems, however, were used to beat certain pass defenses from different coverage looks. Each offense has verbiage that is specific for that team. It will differ from team to team, based on what the coach thinks the team can handle. Looking for an easier breakdown? Our Complete Football Guide will help make things easier. It gives the play-caller flexibility to adjust routes on the fly.

Our full West Coast Offense breakdown can be found here. The Play call can be complex. This style focuses on short-to-intermediate, precise routes run by receivers. However, this is an efficient offense that has proven to be more than capable of winning championships.

This includes swing passes to the Running Backs and hitches to the Tight End with a regular route tree for receivers. Again, running that much isn't necessarily bad, but some of the situations in which Louisville is consistently running aren't exactly ideal. For example, in their home opener this past Saturday vs. At face value, you question why Louisville is opting to the run that much in a situation where many would think they should favor the pass.

But, in his weekly press conference ahead of their upcoming matchup with UCF, Satterfield defended the approach. That's not what we do, and I've never have done it that way. Expanding on his rationale, Satterfield added that if "sometimes if they're thinking pass, then you can get a good run", and that in the instance of the EKU game plan, they wanted to "work on some things" as it pertained to the run game.

Not only did Louisville not convert on any of the four times they ran on third down against EKU, but they averaged just 1. A lot of this is not necessarily on the shoulders of the ball carriers. Satterfield has acknowledged that blocking needs to improve across the board, from the offense line to the wide receivers and tight ends.