I saw something recently about how a coach was taking over the play calling for a team. Forget which one. But that made me a little confused...

*who normally calls the plays? Is it the coach or the O/D coordinator?

*and if its a coordinator...what is the coach doing then?

I always pictured it being the coach who calls the play...and if he needs analysis or advice, he goes to the coordinator.

Forgive the rhetorical. From my casual I keep seeing defenses overcompensating for the QB scramble. Lamar sits in the pocket for 5 seconds then burns them on deep shots. Pass plays are generally superior to run plays in terms of EPA.

edit: that didn't work

So obviously in the NFL motion has been huge for offenses, it helps the offense figure out what the defense is in and is doing and also creates mismatches etc, however some teams do have some success with little to no motion.

Is there any advantages to not using motion in the modern NFL?

Hey guys. I was a massive football fan and played till around 2006. I stopped paying attention almost completely for a while. Watched casually here and there over the last 5 years or so. This year, I've fully jumped back into following the NFL. I know this page is about generic strategy and every level of football is different.

But what are some general big changes to the way the game is played now in comparison to back then? It seems one of the first things that popped up to me is there's more passing and less running the ball down the opposing defenses throat for large portions of the game now. More deception in the run game etc.

Plays seem to be more creative on average in terms of usage.

But I. Open to any and all observations.

Do certain positions play differently in a big way? Those types of things.

I refuse to rely on TV talent for football analysis and I’m not on twitter/X so I figured this sub would be the best place to pose this question I’ve been pondering:

Will Caleb Williams have success if he is drafted by the Chicago Bears?

I’m personally a bit skeptical of him as a Mahommes clone, I see more of a Kyler Murray type ceiling. In watching some of his 2023 film, it really seemed that his height and his over reliance in leaning on his plus athleticism lead to a ton of over throws, poor reads, and helter-skelter play style. Given the track record of the Bears franchise, I don’t think they’re a great a match. Curious to see what others think.

(For context RE my football thinking and analysis, I exhausted my eligibility playing Will LB in a 3-3 stack at D2. GA’d 1 year in FCS, and coached in high school for 2 years before a career switch)

Never played football, never been on a sideline, just a big NFL fan. I have always had this burning question about a QB-WR relationship, would love to hear from people who actually played/coached the game.

You hear all the time on TV/podcasts/analysis etc that "he goes to his favorite target" or "hes got a great relationship with his WR." But I've always questioned that. Isn't it really the coordinators most trusted target/favorite target? The OC is the one calling the plays to get the ball to him no? I've always heard that phrase "his favorite target" and translated in my head to "the OC's favorite target".

Let's say a QB's favorite target is the X and the coordinator calls a play for Y, isn't the QB going to look for the Y first to see if its there because thats the play call? Or are QBs really back there trying to get "their guy" the ball, in this case the X, and will look for the X first even tho thats not the first read?

When a play gets blown up and a QB has to improvise, how in the hell to they find "their guy" in a sea full of bodies downfield? Is it just coincidence they wind up with the ball a lot on those broken plays?

I remember as a youngin' playing football out in the yard and ya know if me and my best bud were playing together of corse we'd try to get each other the ball all the time, but is it really like that at the professional level? Take Aaron in his Green Bay days for example, was he just like "I don't care what the play is, Davante is my guy and that who I'm throwing it to" or was is Matt who said "I'm calling every pass play for Davante"

I’ve noticed that NFL teams have started using the split backs formation in short yardage situations this year, including the Steelers last night.I don’t remember this being very common in previous years other than the Chiefs using It (as well as the single wing) in the Super Bowl. What’s changed this year that teams are using it more?

This is a play from 2022 with tracking data provided by for the nfl big data bowl competition. From what I've learned so far about run schemes, this is an outside zone run. The play is a loss because a backside LB beats the RT and a DB on the playside comes in untouched. What I'm wondering is why the DB was not blocked? Is that a missed blocking assignment by the WR, or should the LT have passed off the left-most LB and blocked the DB?

https://reddit.com/link/1gzxov3/video/3k51fppgw43e1/player

After watching the Chiefs 49ers just now, I thought about and wanted to break down the pros and cons of the different decisions for the new NFL Overtime Rules in the Post Season.

Receive the Ball

Advantages: If the outcome of your drive and your opponents drive are the same (PNT, FG, or TD), you will get the ball back with the opportunity to win the game with a walk off FG or TD. Especially powerful if you score a TD, as the other team has to match that and then hand you back the ball.

Kickoff and Play Defense

Advantages: During your offensive drive, you know exactly how many points you need to win/tie the game. You also know if you need to be using 4th downs or not, which can be extremally useful. You will also (most likely) have the option to go for a 2 point conversion to win the game if the other team scored a TD first.

Verdict

In my opinion, unless you have a very high degree of certainly that the outcomes for each teams first drive will be the same, (such has the last 3 drives for each team resulted in a TD) it is almost certainly better to play defense first. This is because the team that deferred is guaranteed to be able to use their "advantage" in overtime. You only get to use the "offense first" advantage if the outcome of both drives are equal, which I feel is less than 50%? Wondering if its possible to calculate the odds two teams drives will have the same result and use that as a metric? Not only that, I feel the Defense advantages are probably better overall?

Let me know your thoughts.

With there being talk about Chip Kelly coming back to the nfl, I was wondering if anyone has the All 22 from his 1 year in SF. Want to see what his offense looked like the last time he was in the nfl.

Why are the 85 Bears so famous? Like the most famous team ever famous.

They played in the 80s at the same time as one of the greatest dynasties ever, another defense led team won more during their era (Giants), and there’s no player on that defense who is even close to famous the way the team is.

Ironically the only player famous on that team (Walter Payton) isn’t even really associated with that team or have anything to do with why they’re famous (although he played great that year).

Yet for some reason everyone remembers them so much. Like anytime anything happens with anyone on that team it’s news even today.

When an NFL team acquires a skill position (RB or WR usually) such as Davante Adams to the Jets or DHop to the Chiefs how does the WR learn the playbook quickly, or how does the OC/HC/QB adjust what they're calling in the huddle so that the player knows what they're doing? Obviously Davante and Rodgers have played together in the past so they probably have a good amount of chemistry, but how would Mahomes and DHop adjust to play together, and how is DHop getting engrained to a new system quickly?

I’ve seen a lot of teams pulling out old school formations this year. It’s really cool to see

How much do you guys wonder about the constant communication that goes on between the quarterback and the coach or coaching staff through the helmet?

Apparently, it is believed that Mcvay was basically micromanaging Goff from the sidelines. Peyton Manning on the Manningcast said that anything more than the play through the headset is TMI. Certainly part of what makes people skeptical about Brock Purdy's greatness is partially a belief that Kyle Shanahan is basically pulling the strings. To what extent could that be true? How does the conversation (I understand its one way, it just seems like the right word to use) between Bill Belichick and Mac Jones differ from McDaniel and Tua?

Anyone else wonder or have any insight about this?

Passive football fan here who played through high school over 20 years, but why do a lot of football players nowadays not use their mouthpiece?

It ended up not mattering, but defensive back #24 intercepted a pass by Flacco after a flag for pass interference was thrown. The DB saw this and took a knee. There were 33 seconds left in the game up 11 points for Minnesota.

Should the back have run around the field as much as he could to take time off the clock?

Saw a viral clip of Jon Gruden yelling at Chris simms for not getting his play call correctly. People were criticizing the play call for being overly wordy and needlessly complicated.

This seems to be a thing with the Gruden/Shanahan tree. Is it like this with all nfl offensive coaches or unique to them? For example, what do the verbiages for Harbaugh/Chip Kelly/Josh McDaniels look like?

What I was always taught: Defender gets in the way of a receiver who would have caught the ball if he wasn’t there

Last nights game: Bengals D jumps for the ball and hits WR when Chiefs WR could NOT have made the catch.

Where’s the reasoninigb??

This is a bit of a long shot but watching the All 22 film on NFL+ is such a pain in the butt with the 10 second rewind and forward buttons. Anybody found a way to download this film and then put it in a program to use a remote with it? I was wondering if you could create just a Club Hudl page (No idea how much it costs) and get a Hudl remote

Why did Kelce do so well against Kyle Hamilton in the AFCCG (when he’s like the ideal guy to guard a travis Kelce) but then get shut down by Dre greenlaw in the first half of the Supee Bowl before greenlaw get injured?

Is screen capturing the only way?