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What Gun-Double-Right-Close-Halfback-Right-200-Scat-Triple-Slant-Thunder-on-One Means
To anyone besides a football player, an NFL play call sounds like long-winded gibberish. Former NFL quarterback Chris Simms gives us his favorite play call -- and explains what it means.
By STU WOO
Jan. 25, 2015 7:05 p.m. ET
http://www.wsj.com/articles/super-bowl-xlix-how-to-comprehend-a-quarterbacks-play-call-1422230712
In terms of linguistics, Super Bowl XLIX on Sunday will be a battle between verbose and curt.
The long-winded team is the Seattle Seahawks. In the huddle before a play, quarterback Russell Wilson once said this: “Gun double right close halfback right 200 scat triple slant thunder on one.”
The terse team is the New England Patriots. As he is running to the line of scrimmage, quarterback Tom Brady might say only one word, like “Alabama!”
This is how quarterbacks tell their teammates what play they are going to run. In today’s copycat National Football League, every team runs pretty much the same plays, but—in part to mask what they are about to do—each of the 32 teams has its own language to communicate the calls.
No matter the team, every quarterback is doing the same thing when reciting a play call. He is relaying to his teammates four pieces of information:
• What formation the team will use.
• Whom the linemen will block.
• Where the receivers will run.
• When the center will snap the ball.
For example, when Chris Simms was a Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback from 2004 to 2006, he said one of his favorite plays was “west right slot 72 Z bingo U split on one.”
“West right slot” was the formation, Simms said. The number “72” indicated that the five linemen and one running back would block pass rushers. “Z bingo U split” told the receivers where to run—“bingo” being a route with a 90-degree right turn, “split” being a zig-zagging route downfield. And “on one” meant the center would snap the ball the first time that Simms yelled for it.
That language that Simms used is a descendant of the West Coast offense, which legendary former San Francisco 49ers coach Bill Walsh pioneered in the 1970s and 80s. It is the basis of the play-calling language that the Seahawks and many others use today. In this lingo, teams often use colors and directions to describe formations, numbers to describe blocking assignments and letters and words for pass routes.
The other popular play-calling language is a numbers-based system popularized by Don Coryell, the revolutionary former San Diego Chargers coach. Kurt Warner used the system when he was the St. Louis Rams’ quarterback. One of his favorite plays was “trips right scat right 525 F post swing.” Each of the numbers in “525” told a receiver what to do. In this case, two receivers would run the route that corresponded to “5,” while the other receiver would run the “2” route.
Former New York Jets and current Buffalo Bills coach Rex Ryan said he replaced numbers with words in his play calls because of his reading disorder. “I don’t want to hear the digits,” he said. “Being dyslexic, it screws up the order.”
This isn’t all as complicated as it sounds. The advantage of these languages is that only the quarterback needs to understand the entire play. A receiver, for example, needs only to hear the formation and his own route.
“When you have a lot of verbiage, you’re telling everybody what to do, and that’s great,” said Tennessee Titans coach Ken Whisenhunt.
The downside of such long play calls is obvious: They take a long time to say, and they can be misheard. Even brainy quarterbacks such as Andrew Luck and Aaron Rodgers have been caught on tape struggling to remember play calls with 10 or more words.
The Patriots use a language that isn’t quite comparable to West Coast or Coryell-inspired lingo. They also have several plays that are just one or two words long, which is useful given their bent toward calling plays quickly without a huddle.
(not part of the original article)
“You memorize, ‘Hey, it’s play number 4,’ and everybody knows what to do and it’s quick in the huddle,” said Jacksonville Jaguars coach Gus Bradley.
The downside of the one-word play? It’s more difficult to memorize. It’s counterintuitive that simpler could be harder, but in this case it means the 11 offensive players have to remember the formation, blocking assignments and receiving routes assigned to that one word. “With the one word, it might take some learning right away,” Bradley said. But if the team has run play No. 4 a lot in practice, “you roll,” he added.
Every team has a scaled-back version of the Patriots’ one-word offensive play calls for no-huddle and two-minute drill situations, Whisenhunt said. But he doesn’t think that either the Patriots or Seahawks have an edge with their particular play-calling languages. “They’re both pretty effective,” he said.
What’s difficult is what happens when coaches and players switch teams. Whisenhunt was the Arizona Cardinals’ head coach from 2007 to 2012, and then in 2013 became the offensive coordinator in San Diego, which had assembled a staff with coaches from a variety of backgrounds.
“We took San Diego’s offense, we took Buffalo’s offense, we took Arizona’s offense and we took Denver’s offense and we put all those things together,” he said. The result was a new, hybrid play-calling language.
Rex Ryan, who became the Buffalo Bills’ coach this month after the New York Jets fired him in December, said he and his new assistants would create a new language in Buffalo. He said his play calls would contain as few numbers as possible because of his reading disorder. “I don’t want to hear the digits,” he said. “Being dyslexic, it screws up the order.”
This can be tough on quarterbacks who switch teams. Warner, who played for the Rams, New York Giants and Cardinals, said that a blocking scheme called “ace” on one team was called “76” on another. Warner said that upon hearing the new lingo, he would try to translate it in his head into a more familiar language.
“It’s a two-step process,” he said, “like going ‘Hola’ means ‘Hello.’ ”
Write to Stu Woo at Stu.Woo@wsj.com
To anyone besides a football player, an NFL play call sounds like long-winded gibberish. Former NFL quarterback Chris Simms gives us his favorite play call -- and explains what it means.
By STU WOO
Jan. 25, 2015 7:05 p.m. ET
http://www.wsj.com/articles/super-bowl-xlix-how-to-comprehend-a-quarterbacks-play-call-1422230712
In terms of linguistics, Super Bowl XLIX on Sunday will be a battle between verbose and curt.
The long-winded team is the Seattle Seahawks. In the huddle before a play, quarterback Russell Wilson once said this: “Gun double right close halfback right 200 scat triple slant thunder on one.”
The terse team is the New England Patriots. As he is running to the line of scrimmage, quarterback Tom Brady might say only one word, like “Alabama!”
This is how quarterbacks tell their teammates what play they are going to run. In today’s copycat National Football League, every team runs pretty much the same plays, but—in part to mask what they are about to do—each of the 32 teams has its own language to communicate the calls.
No matter the team, every quarterback is doing the same thing when reciting a play call. He is relaying to his teammates four pieces of information:
• What formation the team will use.
• Whom the linemen will block.
• Where the receivers will run.
• When the center will snap the ball.
For example, when Chris Simms was a Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback from 2004 to 2006, he said one of his favorite plays was “west right slot 72 Z bingo U split on one.”
“West right slot” was the formation, Simms said. The number “72” indicated that the five linemen and one running back would block pass rushers. “Z bingo U split” told the receivers where to run—“bingo” being a route with a 90-degree right turn, “split” being a zig-zagging route downfield. And “on one” meant the center would snap the ball the first time that Simms yelled for it.
That language that Simms used is a descendant of the West Coast offense, which legendary former San Francisco 49ers coach Bill Walsh pioneered in the 1970s and 80s. It is the basis of the play-calling language that the Seahawks and many others use today. In this lingo, teams often use colors and directions to describe formations, numbers to describe blocking assignments and letters and words for pass routes.
The other popular play-calling language is a numbers-based system popularized by Don Coryell, the revolutionary former San Diego Chargers coach. Kurt Warner used the system when he was the St. Louis Rams’ quarterback. One of his favorite plays was “trips right scat right 525 F post swing.” Each of the numbers in “525” told a receiver what to do. In this case, two receivers would run the route that corresponded to “5,” while the other receiver would run the “2” route.
Former New York Jets and current Buffalo Bills coach Rex Ryan said he replaced numbers with words in his play calls because of his reading disorder. “I don’t want to hear the digits,” he said. “Being dyslexic, it screws up the order.”
This isn’t all as complicated as it sounds. The advantage of these languages is that only the quarterback needs to understand the entire play. A receiver, for example, needs only to hear the formation and his own route.
“When you have a lot of verbiage, you’re telling everybody what to do, and that’s great,” said Tennessee Titans coach Ken Whisenhunt.
The downside of such long play calls is obvious: They take a long time to say, and they can be misheard. Even brainy quarterbacks such as Andrew Luck and Aaron Rodgers have been caught on tape struggling to remember play calls with 10 or more words.
The Patriots use a language that isn’t quite comparable to West Coast or Coryell-inspired lingo. They also have several plays that are just one or two words long, which is useful given their bent toward calling plays quickly without a huddle.
(not part of the original article)
“You memorize, ‘Hey, it’s play number 4,’ and everybody knows what to do and it’s quick in the huddle,” said Jacksonville Jaguars coach Gus Bradley.
The downside of the one-word play? It’s more difficult to memorize. It’s counterintuitive that simpler could be harder, but in this case it means the 11 offensive players have to remember the formation, blocking assignments and receiving routes assigned to that one word. “With the one word, it might take some learning right away,” Bradley said. But if the team has run play No. 4 a lot in practice, “you roll,” he added.
Every team has a scaled-back version of the Patriots’ one-word offensive play calls for no-huddle and two-minute drill situations, Whisenhunt said. But he doesn’t think that either the Patriots or Seahawks have an edge with their particular play-calling languages. “They’re both pretty effective,” he said.
What’s difficult is what happens when coaches and players switch teams. Whisenhunt was the Arizona Cardinals’ head coach from 2007 to 2012, and then in 2013 became the offensive coordinator in San Diego, which had assembled a staff with coaches from a variety of backgrounds.
“We took San Diego’s offense, we took Buffalo’s offense, we took Arizona’s offense and we took Denver’s offense and we put all those things together,” he said. The result was a new, hybrid play-calling language.
Rex Ryan, who became the Buffalo Bills’ coach this month after the New York Jets fired him in December, said he and his new assistants would create a new language in Buffalo. He said his play calls would contain as few numbers as possible because of his reading disorder. “I don’t want to hear the digits,” he said. “Being dyslexic, it screws up the order.”
This can be tough on quarterbacks who switch teams. Warner, who played for the Rams, New York Giants and Cardinals, said that a blocking scheme called “ace” on one team was called “76” on another. Warner said that upon hearing the new lingo, he would try to translate it in his head into a more familiar language.
“It’s a two-step process,” he said, “like going ‘Hola’ means ‘Hello.’ ”
Write to Stu Woo at Stu.Woo@wsj.com
