Play calling: I suck on 4th down

Tough luck coach. I would say dont stay too mad about it. Obviously if you called the play, then there was a reason for it and you thought something was there. You werent just calling it for no reason. Now, if thats what you did and it was just a pass you wanted to call, then thats totally different lol jk. But I would just say, keep scripting your plays if you do now and chalk these two times up to experience.

are you on the field or in the box?
how much 'simulating' had you done before game night?

the hard part is not thinking yourself out of solid calls because those solid calls make so much sense...(like talking yourself out of QB sneak on 4th and 1)

YES!!!!
DC OHIO. Critical call on 4th and 5 and I remembered this. I thought best player top 3 plays. Made it won the game. I will go down with my best player!

When in a situation as you describe, my thought process is as follows:
1.) I like to give our QB a run/pass option.
2.) I steer away from play action unless 3 or less to go because a. Anything "exotic" the defense does may put us in jeopardy, ie, play action, which takes time to develop, has greater chance to break down and b. Play action is predicated on biting, which they won't be as likely to do in that down and distance. BTW, the 3 yards or less rule of thumb is maybe a bit arbitrary, but we feel you will see more conventional stuff there than in longer down and distance and, thus, easier to find the guys you are blocking and execute your stuff.
3.) There must be some kind of route dragging from the backside; we think that is the most difficult to cover, whether they are in man or zone.

There are many opionions on this....just my two cents.

Don't beat yourself up about 4&8, that's a tough situation. What lead to the 4th & 8? That's the more important question. Could you have put your self in a better situation on 4th down? I've argued with many an OC about this. Four down territory is all about taking little bites, not big ones.

I like what Rutgers HC Greg Schiano said at a clinic a few years back: "In the most critical situation use your most basic call." I also agree with getting the ball in the hand of your best player. We tried to get cute Friday on a 2 point play by calling a play we had never practiced, and it failed even though it was there and should have worked.

#3 execution killed you bro- self-inflicted wound...may as well have been a penalty...

3 little miscues lead to 4&8...players have to play, I'm sure you don't run a play that you think will only gain a yd or lose 3...

It's been said already, but its true -

Don't think about their players, think about your players.

Run your Best Play for your Best Player.

Kylem,
It would be great to see a write up like that of some of the thought processes you go through to come to these conclusions. Sounds like some really good stuff.

My philosophy is, "There is no magic play that is going to win the game, players win games. If the offense coordinated for situations in practice anyone could call the offense on Friday night."

DC, just go down to the zoo and pick any one of those mother ----- out of the tree, bring them down to the game, put em in the press box and tell them to point at the plays on the paper.

"Look here Gerard The Trained Monkey, it is 3rd and ten on the left hash, the OC practiced these three plays for this situation, which one do you like"

THen the monkey will point to one of the three plays and say, "oooo, ooooo, eeeeee, ooooo." And whoever is sitting in the box will call down on the head set and say, "The monkey says Ace Tight Flood Right". And since the kids executed the play all week in practice for that situation will have a better than average chance of getting the first down.

O the defensive side of the ball, the teams that we have the most trouble with on 4th down are those that are going to give us something different every 4th down....And everyone we play tends to go for it on 4th down when they're on our side of the field...

Called a game a few weeks back and had a team call straight up IZ on 4th and 7, got the ball to their best athlete and he gashed us for 8. The next fourth down (4th and 5, same series) they hit is with a shovel pass draw, again to the best athlete. He went 5 yards and friggin millimeter...And I wasn't giving them a lot of tendencies in terms of playing calling.

What was the atmosphere during your time out? A lot of people getting excited and chirping suggestions?

I too "screwed up" a critical fourth down call this week, but it worked, so I was called a genius.

Down by 2 with a couple minutes left while staging a tremendous comeback (we were down 35-7 with 4 minutes left in 3rd), we get stuck in a 4th and 2 on the 25 going in. We have been killing them in the 4th Q with GT, sneak, iso, and bubble. So what do I call? Naturally, Power pass. A friggin Power Pass, where the primary receiver is a 5'10", 175 lb TE on a corner route, and when we hadn't run Power or Power Pass all game. After I said it and the HC called it into the QB, I immediately thought, what a dumba$$ call that was - I just blew the game. We had no TOs so I just acted like I was confident in the call - "This should be there" - yeah right.

Anyway, the CB jumped the FB in the flat, the FS stayed on the BS post, AND NO ONE COVERED THE TE IN THE CORNER. 25 YD TD pass with no one within 10 yds of him, and I am a genius for making the stupidist call I ever made.

To finish the story, we punched in an iso for the 2 pt conversion to tie it. Then see my recent post under the 2009 Stories section for the unbelievable finish.

What are your best pass plays? Do you have any pa pass plays that those first three plays you ran may set up? A coach I played for and later coached with had a bread and butter pa pass play off of toss. He ran it at least once every game in the red zone for the past twelve years I have know him and no one has stopped it yet. It is like Bosie St., those plays they run in games everyone else see as trick plays are just part of their offense and practice them every day. Like some of the coaches on here said before, it should all be in by thrusday night, you must practice any situation know what you are going to run...and like my old coach said the night before a game, "hays in the barn, boys!"

Prior to meeting the players, the HC and I met, exchange ideas, and agreed on the call. Met the players, got them some water, and said, "we're going to spread them out and go to the TE down the middle" my QB is a smart kid and he said "sounds good"...GOd Bless him, but, I don't think he agreed with the call, but would never say that to me.

So to answer, no...DC was with the D. SPC was working with the kicker I'm sure. Was just me and the HC....quick conversation, then on to the field.

No head sets. I hate 'em