Some time ago, probably from learning football from NFL Blitz, I thought that the Head Coach called all the plays during a game. Then I learned that that’s mainly the OC/DC’s jobs. So what exactly does the Coach do during the games? Do the coordinators have autonomy or do they wait for the coach to say “Give me a run play”?
And I know there are some teams where the coach is also the OC or the DC. I’m more interested in where they are all separate.
Actually, I think every team has a designated offensive and defensive coordinator who are different from the coach. That said, there are likely plenty of teams where the head coach calls the offensive or defensive plays, and the coordinator is just an assistant. It all depends on the head coach and his level of expertise and/or coaching style. Some prefer to delegate, some like the control.
Then there are the rare situations like the Colts, where none of the coaches call any of the offensive plays (when healthy).
Besides giving input on play selection, non-coordinator coaches also manage the game clock (calling timeouts), make challenges, make punt/go-for-it/field goal decisions, and argue with officials, so they manage to keep pretty busy.
What input do they give on plays? A lot of criticism on Mike Martz early this season was way too many pass plays. Was Lovie just standing there going “Eh, do whatever?”
Not necessarily. A fair number of teams have the HC wear more than one hat. My team for example, the Buccaneers did not have a defensive coordinator in title or otherwise. Believe me, it showed.
Yeah, pretty much. Lovie and Martz and the rest of the staff collaborate on the gameplan over the course of the week, but when the whistle blows it’s pretty much Martz’s ship. Lovie is on the radio and if Martz is getting out of hand, he can instruct him to dial it back or keep it conservative or whatever but play-to-play it’s all Martz. That said, the Bears often had issues getting the play call in in time and I suspect that was the occasions when the play calling went to committee and Lovie/Tice got too involved and confused things.
I suspect almost all teams operate this way. The play caller is the play caller and they run the show on game day. Some Hcs probably guide the tempo, calling for runs and deep passes at opportune times and instructing the OC to milk the clock or speed it up etc. But it’s a recipe for disaster to to have multiple people in teh headset trying to direct things.
That said, don’t under-estimate how critical the game planning is during the week. Teams might have as many as 3,000 different plays in their playbook not accounting for personnel packages and defensive adjustments. The game-day play card probably has closer to 100. Those 100 plays are chosen based on video tape study and preparation, some are gadgets that are dreamt up for rare situations. Which plays get elevated to the game day sheet is more important than when they are called, and the HC plays a major role in that as do a lot of different assistants. It’s typically a committee approach. Couple this with the fact that as many as 20 plays at the top of the halves can be scripted, the OCs autonomy isn’t nearly what you might imagine it to be.
It must vary somewhat from team to team. With the Steelers, Mike Tomlin has acknowledged that the co-ordinations have free reign and that he often doesn’t know what the play call is going to be beyond the first series of offensive plays. He will make the call on whether to go for it on fourth and short or something but Arians makes the actual call. Some of the most important calls of the game don’t come from any coaches but from the Centers making the blocking calls on pass plays.
One thing to consider is that if the offensive coordinator is up in the booth (not on the sideline), then his playcalls have to relayed to the QB’s helmet via soembody actually on the sideline. Most teams will use an assistant for this, such as the QB coach. The 49ers have head coach Jim Harbaugh doing it. Harbuagh will consult with OC Greg Roman, but the plays officially come from Roman.
Generally, on game days, the head coach is responsible for clock management, and when to go for it on 4th/2-point-conversions, etc. But other than that, they are head cheerleader during games.
The Packers have an offensive and defensive coordinator though I’m not really sure what the OC does as you never hear much about him and McCarthy calls the plays.
Last week agains the Lions McCarthy let Rodgers call the plays in the first half.
Brian Billick talked about that on the NFL network a bit about the things the coaches do up in the booth to help the coach calling the plays. Things like checking to see if the Defensive End blocks down on a Tight End sealing the edge or if the DE takes a different gap, does the weakside LB drop into coverage or blitz against certain fronts? He said sometimes they have to run a play a few times to get an idea what the other side is doing or to set up a particular blocking scheme. It was interesting. I’d like to hear more about what goes into that type of decision making.
I was wondering about that. I thought I saw Rodgers with a headset and clipboard at one point, but it was a quick cut from the camera and I didn’t pay much attention to the announcers if they said it.
It will also often depend on whether the head coach’s background is on offense or defense. A head coach whose background is on offense (such as Mike McCarthy) will often give much of the control of the defense over to his DC, and will often hire a DC with an extensive background (such as Dom Capers, who’s been coaching in the NFL for 25 years, and was a head coach for 8 years).
I didn’t get to see the game (the Bears / Vikings game was on TV here), but I saw the highlights on ESPN on Sunday night, and the ESPN guys remarked on it.
This is somewhat off topic, but do all OC’s sit up in the booth, or do some stay on the sidelines. And if so which teams do and which don’t?
It varies. Not sure I can easily find a list of which do one versus the other.
Well I guess it doesn’t really matter which ones do I was just curious. Thanks