How to Read a Football Playbook
It is fairly simple for a sports enthusiast to pick up a football playbook and decipher the plays. There usually are at least two playbooks for a competitive football team: one for the offense and one for the defense. The offense is usually depicted as O's and the defense as X's. Diagrams are filled out depicting the O's and the X's and a variety of plays for that team.
Other People Are Reading
Instructions
-
How to Read a Playbook
-
1
Identify how the player positions are depicted in the playbook. The defense is usually depicted in X symbols and the offense as O's. Sometimes the playbook will display the different positions of key players.
-
2
Learn the locations of the different symbols. If key player positions are displayed in the book, it's important to know what they mean. Most are quite obvious to those who follow the sport. For example, QB means quarterback, OT is an offensive tackle, CB is a defensive cornerback and DE is a defensive end.
-
-
3
Familiarize yourself with the format of the book. Some have a table of contents or index. Most are simple, with the plays illustrated on one side. Each play, whether defensive or offensive, is usually contained on one page. The O's are shown in position as well as the X's.
-
4
Concentrate on simple plays at first. After learning these basics, reading a playbook is simple. The play is diagrammed on the sheet. If it is the offense, the play will depict who and where the players will move with arrows and lines of movement. Blocking schemes will be shown as a dark line showing the block a certain O player will use against an X. The man with the football might be illustrated with a tiny football symbol. If it is a passing play a dotted line shows the arc of the football from the thrower to the receiver.
-
5
Understand the differences between the book for the defense and that for the offense. The defensive playbook is easier to read than the offense because there are usually fewer defensive plays. The defense will stick to schemes and sometimes trickery in an attempt to outwit the well-planned-out offense. It too will show positions with arrows depicting movement. The basic difference between offensive and defensive playbook is that the defense uses schemes or plays that are reactive.
-
1
