The Art of the Opening Script
Written by: Kyle Stout
“The establishing of your openers, is the single most valuable thing that a coach can do as far as the game plan is concerned.” ~ Bill Walsh
This offseason for me as an offensive coordinator has led me down a deep dive into situational football. Like many coaches, once the dust settles from the previous season, I start to go back and reflect on the previous year. Evaluating our offense, the efficiency of our practice plans, our process of creating the game plan, and much more. I find every year I make small changes or do an overhaul somewhere in the constant pursuit of chasing excellence, keeping up with the trends in today’s game, and adapting to this generation of players. My journey led me to a book that kept coming up and being referenced by other great coaches in clinics I was watching.
“Developing an Offensive Game Plan” by Brian Billick. Naturally I purchased the book as fast as I could and dove in. Entering my 13th season in coaching, I found myself wishing that this was the one book I read sooner in my coaching career. I now find myself praising it to younger coaches, and coaches who I mentor desiring to become a Coordinator or Head Coach someday. The book contains 10 different chapters all related to the methodical approach to creating an offensive game plan and being prepared for all the different situations that will potentially come up in a game. One of the sections that really spoke to me was “Developing your openers.” Brian Billick tells the tale of how legendary coach Bill Walsh would carry 25 plays into his opening script. Some coaches prefer 10, 12, 14, 20, it all really is a matter of personal preference. But after reading this section what is apparent is that there is more to writing an effective opening script than meets the eye. Below are the nine purposes your opening game plan should look to accomplish with notes from Chapter Two of Coach Billick’s book. At the end I will also attach some other resources I have combed through this off season related to coordinating an offense and situational football. My hope is that other coaches may read this and lead to their development and making a positive impact on the young players we coach.
“…there’s an analytic out there that says, if you score a touchdown on the opening drive, you have a 70% win rate for that game. And if you do not score a touchdown at opening drive, or zero points in the opening drive, you only have a 44% win rate.” ~Dub Maddox on the Coach and Coordinator Podcast.
ONE: Allows you to make decisions in the cool and calm of your office during the week after a thorough analysis of your opponent.
Avoid letting your passion within a game take over your play calling.
Script the plays you know your players understand, are confident with, and have had enough reps in practice leading up to the game.
TWO: Allows you to determine a desirable pass/run ratio
Work very hard at maintaining an equal balance on first down between running and passing. This down is one of the key situations on which the defense has to guess somewhat in regards to what the run/pass ratio may be.
Too many coaches talk themselves out of running certain things just because they know the defense knows it is coming. Make your opponent prove they can stop a strength before you change what you do just to go against tendencies.
THREE: Allows you to make full usage of formations and personnel by making the run and pass interactive.
By controlling the sequencing of your openers, you can be much more detailed in creating legitimate play action and action passes from formations and personnel groups that will be used early in the game.
This also helps get those players who have a limited role on offense and opportunity to see exactly what and where they have a chance to contribute.
FOUR: Gives you a chance to challenge the defense and see what adjustments the defense may have incorporated into the defensive gameplan, based on your different formations & personnel.
Your opportunity to test the game plan and test what you have scouted from your opponent. What is holding true from what you scouted vs. what they are doing differently.
FIVE: Gives your assistant coaches a specific focus as to what is being run and what they should watch for.
Your assistants can key into specific parts of the how the defense is playing and suggest alternative plays if the defense is not giving you what you expect or want.
This can also be where you get into “if they do this, then we counter with this.” For example you might watch to see if the backside DE or LB’s are not honoring the mesh or accounting for the QB for a potential keep, reverse, or naked passing play.
SIX: Gives the players, especially the quarterback, an excellent chance to get into rhythm, since they are able to anticipate the next call.
If you can maintain a rhythm, it puts a great deal of pressure on the defensive coordinator to come up with something to stop your momentum. As a result he may be put in a situation where he makes a desperate call and puts his team in a position to give up an explosive play.
QB friendly concepts, or even scripted plays to playmakers can change the entire flow of the game for your offense. There were some years we had playmakers that if they got early touches they were locked in and a difference maker all game. OIn the flip side, if they didn’t they were inconsistent and never found that true playmaker rhythm that puts them a step above the competition to take over the game late when it mattered.
SEVEN: Allows you to script specific “special” plays and increases your chances of actually running them.
EIGHT: If your openers are successful, it will give your offense a tremendous amount of confidence.
In my experience I believe that when the offense does not score early, pressure starts to build and players start to tense up or become frustrated. An early score, or early success just moving the ball, can settle your players into the game.
NINE: Provides you with a great deal of versatility and enables your offense to look very multifaceted and diverse to a defense without having to run a large or unruly number of different plays.
Use your core concepts in the running game while incorporating unique formations or creative layers you have built on to those concepts.
Citation: Billick, B. (2001). Developing an Offensive Game Plan (2nd ed.). Coaches Choice.
If you like this check out 614 Headsets “Art of Openers” ft. Mike Bath of Indiana State University and enjoy the rest of the sources.
Coach Tube:
Developing an Offensive Game Plan: Andy Kotelnicki
Big O - Game Week to Game Plan: Jeff Mullen
Podcast:
The Art of Play Calling - Dub Maddox, Offensive Coordinator, Union High School (OK) (Coach and Coordinator Podcast)
Parker Resources Situational Series