How to Draw a Football Game Plan Sheet

Studying your opponent during the week will help you compete on game day.

Game preparation involves many crucial decisions for football coaches. Deciding what offensive and defensive plays to use changes with every opponent you play. Coaches spend many hours leading up to the game studying opponents tendencies. Players spend the entire week preparing against these tendencies. Game plans need to be explained in simple terms to players during practice. This allows them to properly execute the game plans during the practice week.

Things You'll Need

• Game plan sheet
• Opponent game film

Instructions

1. Study your opponent's style of play through game film. Most coaches exchange game film of at least two previous games the week before they play each other. Studying these tapes will allow you to see what offensive and defensive formations your opponent uses.

2. Write down what offensive formations your opponent likes to pass and run from. Teams sometimes have a tendency to mostly pass or run in certain formations. Knowing what formations teams like to run or pass from will be very beneficial. Blitzing teams when they pass can disrupt their timing. Upsetting timing often results in incompletions, sacks or even interceptions.

3. Write down the types of blitzes your opponents use defensively. Teams might tip off their blitzes by the way certain players are aligned. Cornerbacks that play wide receivers straight up often means that defenses are in a man-to-man alignment. Most teams blitz when they are in man-to-man defenses. Short, quick passes are usually successful against blitzes.

4. Write down specific plays you think your team will execute properly against opponents tendencies. Practice these plays throughout the practice week. Some coaches only use a limited amount of plays during games if they're confident in how they'll be executed.

References

• Scribd: Football game planning sheet