The idea of constructing an NFL passing attack seems simple enough.
Receivers run routes, offensive linemen block and the quarterback throws to the open receiver. There was a time when it was really that simple.
Developing a game plan or passing attack is still simple at the root. NFL play-callers are making decisions based on score, down, distance, time and sometimes weather. Most of all, they are trying to find voids in a defense and create matchups with personnel they feel are advantageous.
“The whole game is depending upon situations that come up and score and things of that nature,” former Chiefs head coach Todd Haley told GNN Sports in a phone interview. “Putting a plan together that marries some light-looking things, I would say, whatever personnel group. Whether it’s a run, a play-action or a drop-back pass, putting those together to create a conflict of assignment for the defense throughout the game.”
But simple doesn’t exist in the NFL anymore. Playbooks are deep and complex to the point where offenses can sometimes be more complicated than necessary. In many instances, the depth of a playbook comes from having a certain number of plays but being able to run them with different formations, motions and personnel.
To construct a passing play, a variety of actions are required and they all have to be in sync. The depth of a route must match a quarterback’s drop. And a quarterback might leave the huddle having called two plays, with the option to switch at the line of scrimmage based on what front or coverage the defense is showing before the snap.
It is all tied to protection. The quarterback might slide the protection in one direction based on what he sees from the defense or keep a running back or tight end in the formation to block if he feels the defense is going to send more rushers than the offensive line can block.
And quarterbacks aren’t the only players making reads. Rather than running one called route, receivers often have options based on the coverage.
Once the ball is snapped, they try to disguise their route in their first few steps and then try to create separation through speed, fluidity, slight body movements — anything to gain an advantage. And they have to do all of it in enough time to get to their spot on the field before the quarterback moves onto the next read in his progression.
“If you have a great understanding of what the defense is doing or what the defense is trying to do, then you can run your route in a certain way to get to that spot on the field or dictate the coverage to play a certain way,” Jaguars offensive coordinator Grant Udinski said in a press conference.
Good offensive coordinators are often labeled geniuses or innovative. Every once in a while someone comes up with a new concept, but most of the time they just put a new spin on something that’s been done for years.
The best offensive coordinators are always staying ahead of the curve or adding new wrinkles. Often, the new stuff isn’t actually new. It’s always been in the playbook, but went unused or sparingly used because other plays were working.
To stay ahead of the curve and keep defenses off-balance, play-callers switch secondary plays to primary ones to ensure the offense is consistently evolving while avoiding predictability.
“The more defenses get used to what you’re doing 90% of the time, they get better at it,” 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan said. “So, the plays you do 10% of the time are the ones you have more success on. So, the next year you go into training camp and you work more of those plays and then it just slowly evolves.”
Everything must align
Twenty-five years ago, offensive substitutions were limited. A fullback might be subbed out for a third wide receiver in two-minute drills or obvious passing situations or an extra tight end might enter the game in short yardage situations, but for the most part, the 11 who started were the 11 who played.
Now teams are heavy on packages, with a fullback or extra tight end necessitating defenses to play heavier personnel, which creates mismatches in the passing game. To simplify it: play-callers are constantly seeking to gain matchup advantages.
The most common personnel used in the NFL is the quarterback in the shotgun with 11 personnel, meaning one running back and one tight end.
And 11 personnel is used over 50% of the time by the majority of the league, with the Ravens being the only team in the league not to run 11 personnel over 50% on third- and fourth-downs.
They can also do it formationally, using bunches and stacks that make it hard to play man-to-man coverage or jam receivers at the line of scrimmage. Shotgun has become the most used way of snapping the ball in football over the last 15 years, with quarterbacks regularly entering the NFL without taking a snap under center.
League-wide shotgun usage this season is 57.5%. But there are challenges in having a successful NFL running game running solely out of the shotgun.
The running back lines up next to the quarterback, which means any handoff is going to the opposite side, aside from a seldom-used toss play. The pistol has proponents, with the quarterback still lining up in the gun, but the running back is behind him. The issue with the pistol is that the running back is a yard deeper in the backfield than normal.
Lining up under center keeps defenses off balance because of the multitude of running plays available — to the left, right or up the middle — while still maintaining a threat to throw the ball.
“Under center, with the back in the home position, it just gives your offensive line a chance to breathe because they can come off the football — at least in the run game,” said Haley, who spent 12 seasons as an NFL play-caller. “And even if it’s play-action, the defense is in a conflict of assignment. That’s much harder to defend when a quarterback’s under center.”
The Buffalo Bills have leaned heavily into playing under center this season. In quarterback Josh Allen’s first seven seasons, the Bills were in the shotgun 66.3% of the time. This season they are under center a league-most 51.9% of the time.
Some of that is due to running back James Cook’s super season, but it also helps in pass protection. Since 2023, Allen has only been sacked seven times on throws that began with a traditional under-center snap.
“When guys on defense get really fast and side-to-side speed, the offense typically get some bigger bodies and start going a little more downhill,” Allen said. “When defenses try to combat that and get bigger guys inside and you want to spread them out. It’s just figuring out ways to win football games. … They’re all old ways, but new ways for us to be a good offense.”
Package problems
Packages can also have a negative impact on skill players, despite the mismatches they generate. Many players need to play consistently to get into a rhythm during a game, especially running backs who specialize between the tackles.
It’s also the case for receivers, which is often a position over overwhelming confidence or none at all. A dropped pass in front of millions of people can linger, especially for a player who doesn’t get many opportunities to make up for it.
“I’ve been frustrated a little bit by a couple of these teams,” Haley said. “They have some good receivers, but they throw it to them four or five times the whole game. That’s a tough, tough position to play when you know the ball’s only coming a couple times, and you got to catch it.”
Most coordinators keep track of how many targets their top receivers have and if they don’t, they have an assistant tasked to do it. And all coordinators have a section on the call sheet for their most important players.
There are plays built into the game plan for those players, but if they haven’t come to the plays organically or they didn’t work, a coordinator will go to the section and find a play to dial up to get that player going.
“You got to force yourself to design plays that give you at least a chance,” Haley said. “You’re never guaranteed, unless it’s a screen, but where you’re trying to get that ball to go in that guy’s direction as much as you possibly can when you’re throwing it.”
But when so many moving parts are involved in an offense, not everyone can be a major part of the game plan. That’s especially true for the Bills, who join the Jets as the only NFL teams not to have a receiver who plays at least 60% of the snaps.
“As the game’s going, you’re trying to get certain people involved just to get a touch,” Brady said. “… Where’s that fine line between forcing plays and letting the game come to you? That’s a challenge and something that I always have to be mindful of.”
Purely progressing
Throwing the ball is most complex before the ball is snapped. For years, quarterbacks were tasked with deciphering coverages at the line of scrimmage through alignment presented or clues seen on tape.
As the game grew more sophisticated, defenses began disguising coverages. So quarterbacks not only had to read coverages pre-snap and again during their drop-back because the picture may have changed.
The field was often cut in half, with receivers on each half of the formation having different responsibilities based on what the coverage was post-snap.
In a recent breakdown of the Bills-Patriots game, ESPN analyst Dan Orlovsky, who played 12 NFL seasons as a quarterback, struggled to decipher for certain what coverage the Bills were using. If it’s hard to figure it out with a bird’s-eye view and slow motion, consider how much harder it is for a quarterback to do it with 2.5 seconds.
So play-callers started using pure progression passing, which diminishes the need to know for certain what the coverage is pre-snap. Instead, quarterbacks have set reads and progress through them until they find an open target.
“That’s a big part of kind of who we are,” Bills offensive coordinator Joe Brady said. “Where Josh can just kind of throw it to that person and just progress across the board. But I just think the defense is doing such a great job nowadays of so many things look like this presnap. And if you live in progression, where you can just whip through it and care about what it’s going to look like.”
Teams don’t use pure progression reads on every play and there are still reads involved. There are plays where the quarterback needs to read the coverage to know where his progressions begin.
And knowledge of the coverage, like anything, makes it easier to zip through progressions at a faster rate because the ball still has to come out quickly. Knowing what the coverage can affect ball placement and receiver placement.
“You read defenses, you read individual players within coverages, and you attack voids and vacancies based upon the way the play is set up,” Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell said. “… If the quarterback applies the knowledge of coverage to that said progression, you can progress quickly, you can process quickly and you could be accurate to throws with anticipation, knowing the voids and vacancies have been created by said concept.”