Re: Formations and Player Movement
Posted: Tue May 13, 2014 2:40 pm
I tried a few years ago to create a spatial notation; it was received with enough scorn to pretty much sour me on the human race, but over the years I've kept using it and it works alright. It's based on the relationship between players' TZs, with names for the most effective ones.
One thing that really really helps is to have a good pitch notation in your head. A-Z works well for the rows, with A being the offensive endzone and Z being the defensive endzone; for columns I strongly recommend a symmetrical notation, like (L/R)0-7, with 0 being in the middle, wide zone markers being between 3 and 4, and the sideline column being 7. The reason I recommend symmetry in the columns is that notation helps best with setup.
If you're asking about an overall drive plan, that's not so hard. Like, if I'm playing a grind team and aiming for an 8-turn drive, I might envision it like this.
Turn 1: Knock down 4 guys, establish a screen from the playside sideline out into the backside wide zone (how wide the screen has to be is a function of how fast the defense is), lock the defensive line for further punishment, get control of the ball.
Turns 2-3: Get the ball secure at the line, keep lateral control, try to force defense to overcommit, or if not at least maintain security and deal some damage.
Turn 4: If defense overcommits, redirect to the backside of the play and wrap around to corral defenders. If not, establish a beachhead on the playside.
Turns 5-7: Get the ball to a safe endzone camp and pound pound pound. Foulin' time.
Turn 8: Walk it in.
If you put together a good internal vocabulary for the kinds of plays you like to see (I have a whole series of terms, too long for a post) and a good spatial notation, and a good overall drive plan, you'll see they play on each other. Being able to say to yourself something like "I'm gonna put a square screen here in the S1-column, so when I redirect next turn…" is really helpful. And it only takes a few hundred games to get it down right.
One thing that really really helps is to have a good pitch notation in your head. A-Z works well for the rows, with A being the offensive endzone and Z being the defensive endzone; for columns I strongly recommend a symmetrical notation, like (L/R)0-7, with 0 being in the middle, wide zone markers being between 3 and 4, and the sideline column being 7. The reason I recommend symmetry in the columns is that notation helps best with setup.
If you're asking about an overall drive plan, that's not so hard. Like, if I'm playing a grind team and aiming for an 8-turn drive, I might envision it like this.
Turn 1: Knock down 4 guys, establish a screen from the playside sideline out into the backside wide zone (how wide the screen has to be is a function of how fast the defense is), lock the defensive line for further punishment, get control of the ball.
Turns 2-3: Get the ball secure at the line, keep lateral control, try to force defense to overcommit, or if not at least maintain security and deal some damage.
Turn 4: If defense overcommits, redirect to the backside of the play and wrap around to corral defenders. If not, establish a beachhead on the playside.
Turns 5-7: Get the ball to a safe endzone camp and pound pound pound. Foulin' time.
Turn 8: Walk it in.
If you put together a good internal vocabulary for the kinds of plays you like to see (I have a whole series of terms, too long for a post) and a good spatial notation, and a good overall drive plan, you'll see they play on each other. Being able to say to yourself something like "I'm gonna put a square screen here in the S1-column, so when I redirect next turn…" is really helpful. And it only takes a few hundred games to get it down right.