We began using the no huddle back in 2006. I liked not huddling for several reasons, but for this post, I will focus on three reasons:
First Reason: Not huddling gives the offensive coordinator the opportunity to see how the defense was aligned and call a play accordingly.
Not huddling on offense forces the defense to get lined up and show their hand. You can get lined up in your formation, take your time, and call a good play. Not huddling also made our “FREEZE” or “no play” more effective and we still had time to check into a good play if necessary. You can also simply check into new plays quickly if the defense adjusts in a manor you did not expect pre-snap.
Second Reason: Not huddling allowed our team to change the pace of play on a moment's notice so we could play fast or use the whole play clock.
We have a small team, so in general, our pace of play is pretty slow. We like to take our time and get a good play called, but we can very easily play really fast when needed. We have a few words that allow us to play fast and quickly get a play called. Some teams use “Nascar” and have a few plays they run while playing fast. We utilize wristbands so we can play fast with any play in our offense. We also found that our 2 minute offense has become much more efficient thanks to using our no huddle system.
Third Reason: Not huddling saved our player’s legs and kept us more fresh throughout the game.
Our team has a lot of players playing both ways so not huddling on offense has allowed us to stay more fresh during games. Rather than running to a huddle, breaking the hudl and then running to the line of scrimmage 40 to 50 times per game, we eliminated half of that running by going straight to our position alignments per formation and waiting there for a play. For our team, this has been a game changer.
A reason to huddle?
Of course, there is a time and a place for huddling. A few years ago, we found our players were making too many costly mistakes inside the 10 yard line and in the red zone. Our players were pressing too much as we got closer to the goal line and somebody would make a costly error. To fix this, we began huddling so we could get everyone to relax and get on the same page. This became very effective and our red zone scoring improved a lot.
Communications
Finally, we utilize the complete head coach wristband system which allows us to utilize numbers to call our plays. This really helps us not huddle and communicate plays to all of our players without miscues because each player has a position specific wrist card that tells them what to do. You can also create signals for your plays as a way to communicate to all of your players. Either way you communicate, utilizing a no huddle system can be very beneficial for having success on offense.
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