Coaches Notebook

The objective of your offense is to score points, well that is a fairly simple objective, right?

Well that depends on your offensive philosophy, your player personnel and your opponent as well.

At the youth level most successful teams will focus their offense around running plays, and quite simply unless you have a all-star quarterback and some talented wide receivers, so should you.

Does this mean you should never pass?  No.  It means you should build your offense to run the ball and establish a consistent method of moving the ball and controlling field possession.

Developing the running game

When developing your offensive rushing attack there are a few things to keep in mind:

• The defensive unit, from the start, is setup to defend the entire field, so the defensive unit is spread out across the field.
• The offensive unit however will be solely focused on penetrating one specific area or gap at a time.

Because of this timing and quickness are essential to the success of any running play.

Two basic offensive rushing philosophy

 When it comes down to running the ball there are two basic methods:

• Power Running
• Finesse Running

Power running involves overloading a specific gap, knocking the defenders off the gap and off the ball carrier.  It is normally a good plan to implement a power rushing gameplan if your players are physically superior both in size and strength than the opposing defense.

Finesse running has two separate trains of thought:

• The option theory
• The spread theory

The option theory is rather straightforward, it's goal is to isolate a single defender with two potential ball carriers.  This forces the defender to react quickly and to choose one of the ball carriers, while the other ball carrier is left free.

This is a very effective form of offense when mastered, however can be very counterproductive if not taught correctly and if poor decisions are made.

Potential problems of the option:

• Mishandling of the ball resulting in fumbles
• Miscommunication between ball carriers, resulting in blow plays for negative yardage.
• Often the quarterback will be exposed to an unblocked linemen and injury can occur.
• Can become predictable over time.
• Requires a lot of skill and practice to master.

The spread theory involves widening the gaps in the defense by angle blocking, wider offensive line splits and by delaying defensive pursuit by using some sort of decoy, or misdirection.

This is not as difficult as the option, but does require more for you and your players to learn and practice than the power game.

The finesse style of offensive running is best suited for a team that will be over matched in size and strength.  It provides a method of fooling the defense and out running them, rather than running over and thru them.

The power style of rushing is a good start for any team, however don't just stop there, over time add some finesse plays to your offense and by midseason your team could be a offensive nightmare for opposing defenses.

Stay tuned for our next article about offensive passing.  Feel free to leave any comments or suggestions you may have that could also help fellow coaches.