What Do You Look For On Film?

Are you just asking about scouting the other team's defense?

Two random things I like to watch for:

1. P/10, coming out of timeouts or change of quarter, or any other time where you have an extended period of time to meet with your guys during the middle of a drive - What do teams like to do when they have time to talk through a long and possibly complicated play call on the sideline?

2. Balanced formations - What do offenses like to do out of them (check to one side or another) and how do defenses defend them (Do they keep a balanced look or are they favoring the side of one particular player?).

I guess I have kind of a mental checklist that I go through...I always find it beneficial to watch the whole game first, I like to get a feel for the situations the team was in then I try to get a feel for how they call offense...I mostly just focus on the running game, we have secondary guru's for the pass

1) which o-lineman sucks...there's always one.
2) then I pull up all of their runs that went for negative yardage or a very short gain, try to find a pattern for what they have a hard time dealing with
3) what do they run when they haven't been moving the ball in the last couple of series? what's the safety net stuff?
4) does the back alignment tip what they want to do?....you'd be amazed how often this is true for spread teams
I'm sure there's other stuff, can't think of it right now...everything else we get from the Hudl report

1. If possible, we want to know how they adjust to a TE/WB with their front/coverage. We generally don't get a good idea of what front we're going to see as the Wing-T is pretty rare in this state but they will almost always adjust to the TE/WB side the same way.

2. What do their DEs do? Do they spill, contain, or are they undisciplined and fly all over the place? This will determine a lot of our game planning.

3. Being Wing-T, we know that the LBs will be watching our guards, regardless of what their base philosophy is. So, it's good to know if their LBs key the OL well or not. We'll need to account for that if they do. We also want to know how hard they bite on PA.

4. Who are their studs? We want to know because we're going to run right at them to start off the game, somehow. Yeah, their Sam LB might be an all-state, college prospect but we're not going to shy away from attacking him early on. Maybe we win those battles, maybe we don't but we don't want DC's thinking they can take away an entire portion of the field with one guy when they game plan. This only get tricky if they have a quality 9 tech DE because we'll have to kick him out a few times before we can run our Buck sweep at him. A stud LB might shed a block quickly and limit us to a few yards but we're okay with that.

5. Who can we maul and how can we do so? This is generally a DL that comes up field too far and we kick him out or a LB that's overly aggressive and bites on fakes. We catch many LBs who over play our Buck trap and our Belly Dive so we take advantage of that. We also want to see how we'll coached their secondary is as we'll come after a chitty CB with PA all day long.

6. Overall, how do we match-up? There are certainly some teams that we will struggle to run our base offense against. We will need to run more PA, short passes, screens and option against them. We've come out and run Buck Waggle, Belly Waggle, Down Pass (etc..) continually in the first few series to open up our running game a bit.

Offensively I Coach my own QB's & this is what we look for:

FILM BREAKDOWN OF SECONDARY COVERAGES:



LOOK FROM LEFT CORNER, TO RIGHT CORNER, TO RIGHT SAFETY, TO LEFT SAFETY:



We break ALL coverage variations into 5 coverage concepts:
1) ZONE----------THIRDS-------------1 HIGH
2) ZONE----------HALVES-------------2 HIGH
3) ZONE----------QUARTERS--------2 HIGH
4) MAN-----------WITH HELP-------1 OR 2 HIGH
5) MAN-----------NO HELP-----------NO DEEP



A) FIND THE SAFETIES:

1. Safeties tell you everything.

2. They give away the coverages.

3. They give away blitzes.

4. Corners and Linebackers can disguise what they are doingh but Safeties are very limited in their ability to disguise.


B) QUESTIONS THE QB SHOULD ASK HIMSELF REGARDING THE SAFETIES:

1. Is the Middle of the Field Open or closed?

2. How MANY Safeties (0-1-2)?

3. What is their depth?

4. What is their alignment (in relation to receivers, hash, etc.)?

5. What is their stance?

6. Where are their eyes (helmet stripe can be a giveaway)?


C) SEE THE CORNERS:

1 What is their depth?

2. What is their alignment?

3. What is their stance?

4. Where is their leverage?

5. Where are their eyes?


D) SEE THE LINERBACKERS:

1. How do they affect the protection?

2. How many are in the box?

3. What is their alignment?

4. What is their leverage?

5. Where are their eyes?



E) SEE THE FRONT:

1. EVEN/OVER/ODD/UNDER/BEAR?

2. How does it affect protection?

3. Identify if front and coverage is coordinated:

A. WEAKSIDE ZONE COVERAGE - OVERSHIFTED FRONT
B. STRONGSIDE ZONE COVERAGE - UNDERSHIFTED FRONT
C. BALANCED FRONT - DROP OFF LBers DETERMINED BY COVERAGES


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A general list our position Coaches use is below:

ANYTIME we do film work on an opponent's defense - this is HOW MUCH we want to know about it before even THINKING about what formations, motions, runs & passes we will use:


1. 3 Major Fronts

2. 3 Short Yardage Fronts

3. Goal Line Fronts (no more than top 3)

4. Most Used Fronts On First Down (up to top 3) (you CAN do all D&D tendencies)

5. 3 Major Coverages

6. Short Yardage Coverages (no more than top 3)

7. Goal Line Coverages (no more than top 3)

8. 3rd. & Long Coverages (up to top 3)

9. Most Used 1st. down coverages (no more than top 3)

10. Tips on Coverages (Show or No-Show giveaways)

11. Favorite Blitzes (up to 3)

12. Favorite Blitz Situations

13. Tips on Blitzes

14. Favorite Pass Rush Stunts (up to top 3)

15. Adjustments to Motion

16. Types of Force

17. Do They Flip Flop?

A) Safeties?
B) Corners?
C) ILBers?
D) OLBers?
E) DT's?

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Then - you get into PERSONNEL QUESTIONS:

1. DL

Can our OL block their DL? Who can? Who can't?

Who must we Double Team? How?

Can our RB's handle edge rushers? Vs. Run? Vs. Pass?

What is their SPEED? Who pursues?

What about "Get Off"? Can we use CADENCE as a weapon?

What are our best matchups? What are our worst matchups?

Can we FORMATION any Mis-Matches? If so, when & how used?


2. LINEBACKERS

Can we get them out of the "box"?

How are LBers involved in Coverage schemes?

What are their depths on pass drops?

Who blitzes on alignments & covers?

Do OLBers ever have Force (Cov. 3 or 4)?


3. DEFENSIVE BACKS

Who will tackle from Secondary? Who will NOT tackle from Secondary?

Who can RUN? Who Can't RUN?

Can we beat them based on DEPTH (3 step, P.A.P., Run Game, etc.)?


4. TEAM

How GOOD are they?

Lead Formations, Lead Passes, Lead Runs, Lead P.A.P.'s?

What are their past adjustments to our formations, motions, etc.?

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QB & RECEIVER FILM EVALUATION (for 3 games):

1. What are their 3 top coverages?

2. Lead Coverage is: Vs. PRO________? Vs. SLOT_________? Vs. 2x2___________? Vs. 3x1___________?

3. Who is their best coverage man?

4. Who is their worse coverage man?

5. How do their Safeties play vs. run? Vs. Pass?

6. When do they blitz? D&D, Area of field, situations?

7. Can we get some mismatches in formations?

8. What are our tips on coverages?

9. What are our tips on run audibles?

10. What are our 3 top patterns?

11. Do you have a couple of thoughts in mind for matchups?

12. Red Zone - what do you want to throw? Run?

13. 3rd. & Long - what do you expect?

14. Summary of strengths? Weaknesses? Game Plan?


OFFENSIVE LINE EVALUATION:

1. Who do you matchup against?

2. What is his BASE alignment?

3. Does he flip-flop? If so, WHY?

4. How does he play the run?

5. Is he PHYSICAL?

6. What are his best pass rush moves? How often on each?

7. How is his get off?

8. What are his strengths? Weaknesses?

9. Do you need help?

10. What is your plan on run blocking? What calls?

11. What is your plan on pass protection?

12. For you to beat him, what must you do?

13. For your plan to be successful, what are the best runs? Passes?

14. Short Yardage, Goal Line plan?


PERSONNEL QUESTIONS - YOUR TEAM:

A) What should we run?

B) WHERE should we run?

C) Where should we NOT run?

D) What formations, shifts, motions, should we utilize?

E) What are our best runs per situation?

F) Run down runs?

G) Lead runs? Must runs?

H) What can we expect in critical situations?

I) How will we practice the run game?

J) How many times do we plan to feature a particular run?

K) How many times do we anticipate running the ball in the game?

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OPPONENT FRONT & COVERAGE "TIE-INS":

EXAMPLE:

1. 3-4 STRONG EAGLE = COVER 3 (PROBABLY "RED" STRONG & "WHITE" WEAK)

2. 3-4 WEAK EAGLE = COVER 2 (PROBABLY "WHITE" STRONG & "RED" WEAK).

3. BASE 4-3 = PROBABLY COVER 2 OR COVER 4.

I'm not a head coach or coordinator, I just break down film of the opposing team's offense for the defensive staff, so you can take what I say with a grain of salt.

Even though we run the HUDL reports as several previous posters mentioned, I look at the following stuff, in no particular order:

1) Field/Boundary Tendencies- do they FIB, or are they primarily a FIF?
2) Offensive Linemen "tipping"- from my perspective, it's amazing the number of teams whose linemen set back a lot further off the ball when they pull. If I can see it, you would think they see it and would correct it.
3) Alignment of backs- for Spread teams, is there a rhyme or reason to where the running back lines up? For Wing T teams,does the halfback cheat up/fullback a bit deeper when they run Belly?
4) Wide Receiver and Slot splits- we play a team that a few times a game will go with super wide splits (think Baylor under Art Briles) and every time is a run.The average HS QB isn't throwing to a kid lined up 2 yds from the sideline from the opposite hash.
5) Moving a Wide Receiver to Slot and vice versa
6) Personnel Packages- what do they do with certain kids on the field
7) Motion and Shifting
8) Strange or new formations and trick plays

I always try to look for 100%ers..... we faced a stud LT a few years ago, he'd always go to a 2-point on pass plays & counter if he had to pull, so we used that as one of the many examples

Side note: whatever I look for, I chart over an extended sequence of game(s). I used to work for an offensive coordinator whom would watch a series or two and automatically assume the defense would do everything just like they did in those few series when they came to play us. I can't tell you how many times that season we would put in a reverse or run trap, only to crap ourselves because players we were trying to mess with didn't do what those few series said they would do.

Looking at this from a defensive perspective, there is a lot of analytical data that can be taken from inputting data into Hudl and running reports.

Then, there is data that you must find by looking at the film. How fast are their skill players? Who is the biggest threat? How wide are their split? Do they give away tendencies by certain stances on the OL or at RB? Does the OL flip strong and weak? Does the QB give away the snap count based on pre-snap tells? I don't chart that type of stuff into Hudl, but I look for it when watching film.

things i look for breaks down to.. how do they align, what do they like to do, who do i need to watch out for:
1)
-- favorite 1st & 10 personnel, formation
-- favorite & long personnel, formation
-- favorite & short personnel, formation
-- favorite Sudden change personnel, formation
-- favorite goalline personnel, formation

that knowledge allows me to set up a gameplan from an alignment perspective, also tells me what coverage checks i need

2)
-- 1st & 10 run/pass ratio
-- & long run/pass ratio
-- & short run/pass ratio
-- Sudden change run/pass ratio
-- goalline run/pass ratio

that knowledge allows me to know how aggressive i can be in certain situations

3)
-- any run plays we haven't seen / dont have scout cards for?
-- any pass concepts we havnt seen / dont have scout carts for?
-- any gadgets or keybreakers we need to be concerned about?

that knowledge helps plan practice and what kind of time we need to spend on opponent specific stuff.

4)top 3 players

that knowledge allows me to know who to attack and who to be concerned about.

I agree!  It is similar to trying to match-up certain players defending certain players in basketball.

This can let you keep your "best" guys lined up against their "best" guys.  We have and will game-plan our strength calls based both on field and personnel.  If they clearly prefer to run to a certain lineman such as Power to the C-Gap because they have a very good looking OT & TE lined up on the "strong-side" which they ran to at 56% to 44% ratio we are definitely going to put our best 4/5 tech to that side and our best OLB as a 9/6 tech to that side.

In addition to everything already discussed, I look at two other things.

1) What do they WANT to do? I narrow it down to a couple things and game plan to take those things away, and try to make them do something else. If they beat us left handed (or right handed, for all you lefties out there), so be it.

2) How/what does the opponent do that works, doesn't work, etc...? For example, we had an opponent who carved up zone coverage via pass. No opponent attempted to play man / send pressure. We took the aggressive approach, played some man/press man, cover 1/0 and even though their WR's and QB were better than us, they had not seen any type of that coverage all season. They did not respond well and we had success.

Is there anyone on the opposition who would allow us to play a little "unsound" so to speak. For example, I have seen countless HS football games where the QB doesn't even look at certain receivers. If that is the case, maybe an OLB doesn't need to align as he usually does, and can instead cheat more to the box. Maybe we can play man free, but instead of traditionally keeping the free in the middle, he can play over the top of certain guys since we dont deem other guys a threat.

Things like that.

One of the things that i don't think i have seen posted yet is I look whether an offense likes to run to their bench. The wing t teams we play have coaches who dont wear headsets. They call it by themselves. So many times they want to SEE the play. Last 2 teams we played were like that.