3/19/07 Coaches' Corner
 

Today, we break with tradition. I'm not going to highlight a thread, but discuss a common sense strategy that I've noticed via experience and testing which can have a significant effect. Jim has mentioned this before which is what had me experimenting with it. Formations can have significant effects on rushing and passing. For example, I ran one test with the same team where I had only 5% of the I-Formation in situations where I expected to run and 20% pro form, and another where I had it at 20% for the I-Form and 5% for the pro form. This equated to over a yard per carry increase in average with the I-Form heavier offense. Also, my FB key blocks went up significantly. Formations clearly matter for more than just avoiding the dreaded defense is familiar with that play message.

The biggest thing I found in all my testing with formations is it will alter your playcalling. Yes, you may have run set to 80% of the time on certain situations and all that, but a QB with a diverse assortment of formations will run more pass plays than a guy calling fewer formations. I never noticed and qualitative changes though. The yards per play and completion percentages were pretty consistent.

Are you sure?

I'm fairly confident that isn't true. If I set it to run 60% in every situation over the course of a season, I get close to 60% runs. If I did that in multiple tests, I'm sure I'd get even closer. I've also seen significant differences in YPC depending upon what formations I use on those 60% run plays.