After 5 years of following the sport, reading books on it, playing these games and watching 6 hours every weekend, Im after some advice re real life NFL tactics.

I know the basics eg I understand that on 3rd and 1 most offenses will line up to run a line plunge type play, or even qb sneak etc and in reverse the defense will most likely counter a run play. Likewise, when 3rd and 14 with minutes left and down by touchdown, the offense likely to pass towards flank and get the ball out of play to stop the clock; and the defense will counter this.

I understand offenses go with their strengths mostly? Hence bills, cardinals and Seahawks have qb run cos their qb is good at that. Saints play lots of short passes cos Brees is highly accurate at moving the chains. And my eagles Wentz will throw ints because he's good at that!!

I also understand a lot of play calling is situational: qb not on form, so they run more. Switch up fast rb plays with north and south running plays; defense main cb injured = play to the reserve cb position etc.

As I write this im thinking that im answering my initial queries, but I guess id like to know from people who have played or followed for many years, what the decision making is:

1 - what % of the offense play call is based on their strength and what on weakness of defense? Or combination 50/50?
2 - how on earth do offense coordinators choose which of the 100 passing plays to use? Do they simply pick a few and practice them each week?
3 - I try to follow what changes the defense make when they all lineup but within 10 seconds they've snapped and ive missed what actually happened. In an ideal world id love to have someone who really knows their stuff commenting on the decision making: "defense have spotted x so they've done y, but notice the offense have countered this by x, and will now probably do z".... bit like Tony romo sometimes does helpfully.

Ive followed some of the NFL game pass sessions with Brian balldinger and find them useful, but again id prefer to follow a whole game with each and every call named and explained.

Anyone know where I can find something like this?

I'd tried reading about formations and tactics which look fine in books, but then thre players never quite line up in those exact positions so pre snap im still wondering "is that an lb moving up or a safety?", "is that cover 2, cos it's nearly but not quite what I read".

Id pay handsomely for somewhere that shows each play call by offense (including formation, play type (slant etc), and who's who (I can't read their numbers so again can't distinguish between a te or a wr who's playing slot!).

I love watching football for its thrill, excitement and amazing plays, but I'd love to understand the decision making more and without asking one of you to talk me through every snap this Sunday (!!@), is there anything anyone could help me with?

And finally, is there any fairly simple strategy that I can follow like:
If offense playing formation x, pass play, then do this with the defense etc

Id appreciate any help here as I really wanna take it to the next level of understanding the sport.

Thanks in advance :)

A lot of it depends on the coach. Some coaches will stick with their game plan no matter what, but a coach like Andy Reid can be run heavy like vs the Bills or pass happy or anywhere in between.

It may seem like they have 100's of passing plays but I doubt it's that many, as a lot of routes are option routes and/or read routes. Those may be considered the same thing in some offenses, but basically those routes require the QB and WR to see the same thing. Like if a DB is shading inside, the receiver will take the route outside, or vice versa.

You will hear "KILL" a lot at the line of scrimmage. The QB is killing the play and audibling to something else.

Sometimes the play will be a run/pass option, where the play is determined by how many men are "in the box". 8 men in the box, the offense will pass, 7 or less, run.

The Steelers defense is effective because they are good at disguising coverages/blitzers. They crowd the line of scrimmage with 9, 10, sometimes all 11 then some back off into coverage while others blitz. It's designed to keep the offense off balance.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FhjRRtGnNcI

I found a video on youtube that might help.

Thanks raider Greg!
I hear about option and read routes but don't really understand them.
I sort of becoming familiar with things like slant, posts, bootleg but not much more.

Thanks this is really useful. Im onto the second episode already.

An extra question:
Where do your eyes watch during a play? I always get transfixed watching the qb, then the ball in the air etc. Should I be watching elsewhere? Whenever I look elsewhere, the ***** goes thre other way and ive missed it all!!
I might try watching a full game slowed down using coach film on game pass. Watching red zone is sp fun but probably hasn't helped me understand development of a game as much.

The more I think about it, so much comes down to preparation of watching your opponents previous few games and predicting what they do. Once you know their strengths, tendencies and your own strengths, I guess you can begin to plan.

It's truly the most fascinating and exciting chess match in sport!

The importance of a solid o line is closely underrated the more I think about it. Every cog has to work smoothly.

Im gonna get home and watch a game in whole new light now. Really focus on what is going on.

The only thing missing when watching is me not knowing their positions - most like cbs, wrs, o line, qb, hb, are obvious - I find the lbs who mix in with d line and thre safeties that push up in the box really tricky therefore have no idea what's going on there!!

Look at the uniform numbers. Defensive backs have numbers in the 20's, 30's and 40's. LB have numbers in the 50's or 90's while DL usually have 70's or 90's, sometimes 60's.

Yeah I knew that but can rarely see the numbers at the camera angle. Also, with all DBs it's hard to distinguish whether it's a 3rd cb or safety. And yes there seems a crossover between wlb and de sometimes. Hey ho. Thanks anyhow

Some players do play both, like Khalil Mack did in Oakland, idk if he still does.

Exact positions can often flex depending on the team or strengths of a star player. Position coaches and coordinators make names for themselves by coming up with tweaks to the basic schemes that confuse opponents as much as those of us watching it.

Also certain players extend their careers by being versatile enough to handle multiple positions. Hard hitting corners often switch to safety as they age. Same with guys who start out as safeties and convert to “nickelbackers” as we all naturally tend to gain bulk and strength but lose quickness. Not everybody of a certain size has the same skill set, but athletic ability can make up the difference. Think of other sports like basketball, in theory there are 5 different positions on that court, but often a teams best 5 players are all “mid sized” swing forwards and they prefer to spread the court and rotate everyone to find mismatches.