Category Archives: Offensive Football

Football Passing Play Series: The Smash Route or Smash Concept

The smash route in football, better known as the smash concept or smash pattern in football, is pass pattern designed to attack the defense vertically. When used as a full field concept, rather than a two man half field concept, it becomes both a horizontal and vertical pass pattern. The smash route or smash pattern is one of the most utilized football passing plays.

Defining The Smash Route or Smash Concept

We say the smash route pattern is a vertical pass pattern because it stretches the defense between the corner and safety mainly. When a single route (like a drag, in or dig) stretches from the backside or the backfield,…

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Lean Football Play Calling

Build. Measure. Learn. In football, we often talk about being data driven. For the most part, we’re not. We’re driven by instincts. Calls on a sheet that may have some data behind it, but aren’t really driven by measures. Football play calling should be something we constantly build and measure.

Eric Ries, author of The Lean Startup and leader of the series which includes Lean Analytics by Ben Yoskovitz and Alistair Croll, discusses the use of “lean” as the foundation for startups, product management in business, marketing, and analytics.

The term “KPI” should sound familiar to many, especially in the business world. KPI stands for…

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101+ Pro Style Pistol Offense Plays Review

This is a 101+ Pro Style Pistol Offense Plays review, detailing what author Keith Grabowski, offensive coordinator at Baldwin Wallace, has developed as part of his offense. I will start off by saying, and this is important, you can only buy this from the iBookstore, and it can only be used on the iPad (not the iPhone). That being said, this is the e-book that all football coaches have been waiting for. It changes the dynamics of what can be done for coaching books, no matter what the sport really.

101+ Pro Style Pistol Offense Plays Review: Content

101+ Pro Style Pistol Offense Plays itself, I doubt, actually really covers…

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Handling 2 Read Quarters Coverage With the 21 Personnel Jailbreak Screen

2 read quarters coverage versus Jailbreak Screen

Edit on 2/13/13: I added video from Oklahoma State to the bottom of this post which shows it in action from spread sets, both in the gun and under center. Check out the video.

I’ve noticed more and more defenses utilizing 2 read, a quarters coverage variation, especially against 2×1 sets. I’m not shocked by this, because it provides a major advantage. The ability to handle slot sets and defend the vertical passing game along with the bubble/quick flat passes while maintaining your box against 2×1 sets is a great advantage.

There are some disadvantages overall, but it’s a strong solution that can cause 21 personnel 2×1 offensive…

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Offensive Game Plan: You Be You

Recently I read an article posted by What’s Best Next and came across this gem on being and effective executive that I think is appropriate for writing about coaching football:

Effective executives focus on outward contribution. They gear their efforts to results rather than to work. They start with the question, “What results are expected of me?” rather than with the work to be done, let alone with its techniques and tools.

From “5 Characteristics of the effective executive—and why this matters for everyone, including people in ministry”

What does this have to do with being a football coach? Everything.

When I got out…

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