Coach ,

Today’s focus is on situational football. There will be situations that come up only occasionally throughout the season. Just because you might not see those each week doesn’t negate the need for a plan and practicing that plan.

The situations focused on are coming out and four-minute. Here are three tips on handling these situations.

1) Coming out of your own end zone must have specific objectives and plays and practiced weekly

Coming out of your own end zone requires specific strategy because if the situation is mishandled it could mean points on the board for your opponent.

The first and main objective is to get the ball to the 5-yard line so that you have the space to be at full depth for a punt if a first down is not secured.

The next objective is to start to dig out of this area by getting a first down. Looking at what plays and formations are used are important in removing some of the risks here, though a protected shot out of the end zone is warranted as well.

Jeff Mullen and I discussed this recently. He shared his thought process on game planning for what he terms “the black zone” here (click on image for video):

Video: Black Zone

In this video, I explain the thought process we developed after studying how several coaches handle this area of the field (click on image for video):

Video: Coming out/4-minute  

2) Have a plan for and Practice 4-minute offense. -It can win you a game

You will notice that we did carry over much of the strategy and play thoughts for 4-minute from what we developed for coming out. This is because the defense is taking risks for a big reward in both instances, and we need to put ball security at a premium.

I could write more about four-minute, or share the words at one of the best ever in game planning and situational football, Bill Walsh. Here’s what he wrote on four-minute offense (I have abridged this):

Four-minute offense does not mean you are trying to score. In the two-minute offense you want to score points. Four-minute offense, you want to use the clock and control the ball. 

We know this, we can use 35 seconds on the clock by simply not going out of bounds, not throwing an incompletion and not being penalized. But 35 seconds is 4 forward passes that your opponent can get if you don't use it up. 

In a four-minute offense, every play can use 35 seconds. All we really have to do is make a first down and we are going to win that thing. 

You must practice the four-minute offense. It has to be live, you don't tackle people necessarily because you can blow the whistle when you think the man would have been stopped. You have to talk to your team about it. 

If you practice it each week, four or five plays. You can say, here we are, on our 30-yard line, four minutes to go, let's see what we can do. Let's see if we can get a first down and how we will use the clock. 

Key Takeaways from Coach Walsh:

1. 35 seconds is 4 forward passes for the opponent if we don’t use them up.
2. You must practice 4-minute offense.
3. 4-5 plays each week in practice will instill how you will use the clock in these situations.

To add to this conversation, we certainly need the QB to understand the thought process for this point in the game. Larry Fedora, now the Head Coach and GM of the USFL New Orleans Breakers shares his thoughts on what the QB must know here (click on image for video):

Video: 4 Minute

3) The Sugar Huddle can help you in several ways and situations

Jeff Mullen and I also dug into the use of the sugar huddle for the purpose of changing personnel in a drive, and also in how it preserves the ability to make a defense scramble to line-up like uptempo does while still allowing the offense the ability to chew up the clock in a four-minute situation.  

You may want to include the sugar huddle as an adjustment to how you use procedures. You do not need to do it all of the time, but it can certainly provide advantages because of the effect that it has on the defense. Pleasant Grove High School Coach Josh Gibbons shares that here (click on image for video):

Video: Effect of the Sugar Huddle

In our busy week when we feel we need to get this or that practiced more, it is easy to neglect spending time on coming out or four-minute, but both of those are critical situations when it comes to winning a game. So it is best to develop a strategy that will work for your team and offense and be sure to practice it.

Always be growing!

Coach Grabowski

P.S. Any resources we share in this series have a temporary discount if you want to dig deeper into the concepts. Find these clinics here.