6 Reasons Why Offenses Fail

Avoid These Traps if You Want to Score More Points

May 08, 2025

I’ve failed enough as a play caller to write a book on it, and I probably should.

Once we stopped collecting plays and started building a true offensive system, everything changed. Systems win. Scattered playbooks don’t.

I’m a film junkie. I don’t watch much TV, and most of my nights and weekends are spent breaking down film, studying how coordinators at every level build their offense.

And after years of doing this, one thing becomes clear:
You can spot a system builder in minutes.
You can also spot a play collector just as fast.

Here are the 6 biggest mistakes offensive coordinators make and how to avoid falling into the same traps.

Reason 1: No Foundation

I may sound like a broken record, but I’ll die on this hill: your offense must start from one play.

You need a foundation. A base. A clear identity.

What do you lean on when the game’s on the line or nothing else is working? You don't have a system if you don’t have an answer.

This is the biggest mistake I see across all levels. And it’s what separates the great ones from everyone else.

The best offenses are easy to figure out, but brutal to stop.

If I can watch a quarter of your film and still don’t know what your core play is, then you’re not running a system. You’re just calling plays to see what sticks.

Reason 2: Too Many Overlapping Answers

Once you have a foundation, you don’t need five answers for every situation. You need the right one.

Mesh and Smash are both great against man, but you don’t need both. Most coaches keep piling on concepts, hoping more options will fix the offense. It won’t.

Kids don’t need volume. They need repetition and mastery. The fewer answers you run, the more confidently your players execute them. And over time, they start to anticipate what’s coming, because they’ve repped it a hundred times.

If your players know that inside the 10 you’re calling Snag, they’ll get better at it. Way better than if they’re juggling Snag, Mesh, and Slant-Flat depending on your mood. All of those are good plays, but systems are built on clarity, not variety.

Reason 3: Not Thinking Players

You know what the best play call is? The one where your best player touches the ball.

It’s wild how often I see a poorly blocked play turn into a 30-yard gain, just because your dude made two guys miss.

A few years back, we played a Wing-T team in the playoffs (not knocking the system, I think it’s great). But they had a D1 receiver who was the best player on the field. We bracketed him as best as we could.

He touched the ball three times the whole game.

All three touches went for 15+ yards. Now imagine if he’d touched it 15 times.

The Wing-T wasn’t the problem. The positioning and design of how they ran it was.

Too many OCs get lost in their script or let the defense dictate who gets the ball.

A system builder doesn’t let their best guy disappear. They design around him. They move him, motion him, tag him, and feed him all within the system.

Don’t overthink it. Get your best player the ball.

Reason 4: Trying to Run Everything from Every Formation

Not every play fits every look, and that’s okay.

Some concepts thrive in 2x2. Others work best in 3x1.

Some routes need four wideouts to space the field, while others hit harder with heavier personnel.

The point is simple: you don’t need to run your entire offense from every formation.

System builders use formations with a purpose. They know what each look gives them and what it’s there to set up.

The key is intentionality.

Pick the best formations for your core plays. Build your constraints off of them. But don’t waste time trying to make everything work from everywhere.

Reason 5: No Built-In Constraints or Complements

If your offense doesn’t punish the defense for overcommitting, you don’t have a system.

Every good system is built on cause and effect.

If they chase Wide Zone, you boot out the back door. If they load the box, you throw the RPO screen. If they play tight man, you take a shot with a screen and go.

Every movement by the defense creates an answer within the system.

Bad offenses hope their base play hits.
Good offenses have automatic counters.

It’s not about adding more plays. It’s about stacking the right ones in the right order, so every time the defense adjusts, they’re wrong.

Reason 6: Reactive Play Calling Over Offensive Identity

Without a system, every game plan feels like starting from scratch.

One week they’re spread tempo, the next they’re in heavy personnel and huddling. On film, you can’t tell who they are, because they don’t know either.

They’re reacting to what they see, not dictating how the game unfolds.

System builders don’t guess. They don’t throw darts and hope something sticks. They call plays with purpose, each one tied to an identity that never wavers, even as the opponent changes.

It’s not about running the same script every week, it’s about knowing who you are and building game plans that stay rooted in your core philosophy.

Conclusion: Build Systems, Not Playlists

It’s easy to fall into these traps, especially after a couple of tough games or back-to-back losses. You feel like you need more. You feel like you need something different. So you start chasing new plays, new tags, new formations.

But more isn’t always the answer.
Better structure is.

Yes, sometimes you need a tweak.

A new wrinkle.

A mid-season adjustment.

But the key is staying rooted in your system, not grasping at straws.

System builders always have a Plan B. But it fits seamlessly into what they already do. It’s not a detour, it’s a branch off the same tree.

The coaches who win consistently? They’re not the ones with the longest call sheet.
They’re the ones who built a system, stuck to it, and mastered it.