What is the main key to football offense?
by John T. Reed 95% of the time, when an offensive play fails, it is because one or more players did not know their assignment. Coaches think plays fail because their guy got beat. Film study reveals that almost never happens. Let’s say you run an off-tackle play and it is stopped for no gain by an inside linebacker. The typical coach will conclude that his blocker tried to block the inside linebacker, but was not up to the task. In fact, study of the film will reveal that the guy who was supposed to block the linebacker never made the slightest effort to do so. Either he hopped around doing what I call “looking concerned,” or he blocked someone else. In many cases, the reason the player does not know whom to block is that his coach never told him. And the reason for that is generally that the coach never thought about it. If I came to one of your practices and put your offensive coordinator and offensive line coach into the line as players, then set up various defenses like the 5-3, 6
