Tutorials aren’t just limited to film study. Learning the plays is a 24-hour-a-day job.
Playbook 101
Learning the system is tougher than you think
Learn the plays ... or else
Two former Patriots backups, quarterback Michael Bishop and wideout Bethel Johnson, were notorious for their inability to grasp the playbook and were eventually shipped out of town. Earlier this week, the Patriots released Reche Caldwell, who has since been in talks with the Jets. When linebacker Mike Vrabel was asked if he were worried that Caldwell might tip off the Jets about the Pats’ defense, Vrabel quipped, “Reche barely knew our offense, so I know he doesn’t know our defense.”
NFL. The phrase, “Keep it simple, stupid,” doesn’t hold a lot of weight when it comes to NFL playbooks.
There are hundreds of pages littered with formations, blocking assignments, receiving routes,
coverage packages and blitz schemes. And that’s the basic part.
Move onto the color-coded play calls, pre-snap reads, audibles and silent cadences, and that’s enough to make a player insane.
Maybe wide receiver Donte Stallworth is supposed to run a fly pattern until he notices a safety cheating deep to provide double coverage, so Stallworth options to an out-route to beat the zone.
Such instincts require perfect harmony between re-ceiver and quarterback, and they’re the reason why Peyton Manning, Marvin Harrison and Reggie Wayne have had so much success with the Colts.
In the 2003 Patriots playbook — a portion of which was recently acquired by Metro Boston — there’s even a “look pass” that allows the quarterback to change any running play into a passing play simply by making eye contact with a receiver. Good luck to the other nine guys.
Of course, these complexities aren’t limited to the Patriots and aren’t exactly uncommon throughout the league, but a lot of players who have passed through New England during the Bill Belichick Era have deemed his playbook to be the hardest to learn.
“To me, the thing that differs, I think a lot of teams have a bunch of plays, but they may not call all of them,” said running back Sammy Morris, who is in his first year with the Patriots, his third team. “Here, we know that every play is a viable option, and it keeps the accountability on the players.”
When fullback Heath Evans signed with the Patriots in the middle of the 2005 season, he was simply given weekly game plans. Evans was handed the full playbook prior to the 2006 campaign, and he hinted at the reason why he has since become a “Belichick guy.”
“I can obviously only speak for a few teams, but going back into last year’s training camp when I did see the whole thing, I had the system ingrained in my head,” said Evans, who equated the difficulty of the Patriots’ system to that of the Seahawks. “So, I just had to start putting plays together, and it became pretty simple. This one is easy for me. It’s fixed. It makes sense.”
Then, there are the rookies. Someone like defensive lineman Kareem Brown is not only adjusting to his first pro playbook, but he is busy learning the differences between the University of Miami’s 4-3 scheme and New England’s 3-4 system. The line gaps are different, and so are the assignments of the linebackers, who can line up behind or alongside him.
“It’s different,” Brown said. “The plays and the coaching scheme are very good. Just coming from a different type of scheme, it took me a little bit to adjust to it. It was hard, actually, but it’s better now. You’ve got to be more patient here.”
