You have LaDainian Tomlinson? Why wouldn't you run the ball?
Football coaches aren't about to call a lot of pass plays with a weak quarterback and terrible receivers. Nor are they going to call for a lot of running plays with an ineffective tailback and offensive line.
It's all about playing to your strength, at least until the circumstances in a particular game dictate otherwise. It's no wonder that the top quarterbacks are called upon to throw the ball 30 or more times a game and premier running backs carry the heaviest burden in a team's offense.
The most successful teams boast talent at all positions, which allows coaches to mix up their play calling and keep opposing defenses off-balance - both mentally and physically. But coaches will prepare a gameplan based on the strengths of his team and the weaknesses of the opponent.
The play action pass will often confuse defenders who bite on the fake.
The basic idea in play calling is to call the opposite of what the defense is expecting. And that goes far beyond calling a running play when the defense is expecting a pass or vice versa. Quite often a particular running play can be quite effective against a defense expecting a run. The same holds true for passing plays.
Coaches call plays based not only on strengths and weaknesses, but deception. The play action pass - in which the quarterback draws defenders in by faking a handoff to a running back before throwing the ball - is one example. So is the halfback pass, in which the quarterback does hand the ball off, again drawing the defense in, but the halfback throws the ball instead of running it.
More typical are short screen passes and dump passes against defenses that are playing for deep throws, or flips to running backs who take the ball around the end when defenses are bunched toward the middle. Coaches understand that every play is not going to gain 20 yards. But if they can consistently gain five yards on running plays and 10 yards on passing plays, they know that they will be celebrating a victory when the final tick runs off the game clock.
