The Only 8 Plays You Need On Offense
You need eight basic offensive plays. I have been coaching for a very long time and have picked the brains of many coaches in football. There are about eight “Must Have” plays that every team must be able to run and execute well. You can run them out of the same formation if you’d like (highly recommended). You can have endless variations of these, and they are run slightly differently against different defenses.
De La Salle High School in California’s bay area won 151 games in a row. The longest winning streak in all of sports. The next closest winning streak was 72 games. They ran the same 9 plays over and over again. But they ran them well and blocked them correctly against different fronts. These are the 8 plays that I believe every coach needs. I have interviewed hundreds of coaches from all across the country, and they generally agree on these eight plays.
Eight Magical Offensive Football Plays
- Wedge
- Sweep
- Off Tackle
- Reverse
- Fake Reverse
- Sprint Out Pass
- All Hooks Pass
- Pop Pass
When you go through the playbook section you will see these plays run out of various formations.
I recommend picking one formation and running everything out of that formation. Why? The opposing team won’t be able to detect any “formation tendencies”. Some teams always run Off Tackle out of the Wishbone formation and run a Sweep in the Wing T. When defenses see your formation, they will know what you like to run out of each formation. Don’t make it easier for them.
In our last game of the year in 2024, we were up by 6 points and the opponents had the ball on our 15 yard line. Due to penalties, they had 8 chances to try and score to win the game. Our defense prevented 8 attempts to score why? Because I could “formation them”. I knew exactly what play they were running and who was getting the ball based on how they lined up.
It was an amazing 8 play goal line stand and the parents and players celebrated. Little did the parents know that I watched film of the opposing offense all week. I watched every play 100 times. I knew exactly what they were going to do. I called it out and our players stepped up and did their job! They deserved the win!
How? They used different formations to run different plays. When they lined up in I formation, they were running up the middle. When they lined up in Split Backs, they passed to the wide receiver (we intercepted the ball on every attempt), when they lined up # 21 as the tight end, they threw a pop pass to him. It was easy.
Don’t use multiple formations to run different plays. If the opposing coach is smart, they will be able to “formation you”.
Try to use one formation if you can.
The simplest formation to use that gives you the most flexibility is the Wing T. It’s very hard to defend. This formation is not allowed in some of the leagues my teams play in, so we must adjust. But you can use any formation. I have used a different formation every year and have been very successful.
Some leagues don’t allow an “unbalanced line”. Meaning you must have the same number of players on each side of the center. Which is why my playbook section mostly contains plays that use double tight ends. You can’t use a tight end on one side and not the other. This makes it easier for the defense.
In some leagues, they also don’t want you to “stack the box”. So, they tell you that you can play either a 4-3 or 5-2. I know, there really isn’t such a thing as 5-2 in football. This gives you a maximum of “7 in the box”. Usually, eight players in the box is considered “stacked”.
Another quick tip: If the box is “stacked”, go wide. If there are 7 or less players in the box, go inside.
There are hundreds of other similar option plays and playbooks in our Dominating Youth Tackle Football Coaching Book!
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