Section 4 Playbook Files A playbook is a computer file that assigns playbook names to detailed calls (detailed calls are explained in Sections 5, Calling the Offense, and 6, Calling the Defense). By using the playbook, commonly used plays are given simple names, thereby making them easy to remember and to call. Further, if you use detailed calls and discover a detailed call that works well, you can add it to your playbook (while you are playing the game) with the dot command .PM. Adding to your playbook is covered in Section 7, Dot Commands, .PM command. Head Coach provides two playbooks for your use, the beginner playbook and the more sophisticated standard playbook. Each playbook comes in two versions. Both versions use the same offensive calls. Only the defense is different. Currently, professional football teams use a defensive alignment that is normally either a "43" (four linemen and three linebackers) or a "34" (three linemen and four linebackers). Both playbook versions provide the same offense, but one uses a "43" defense and the other uses a "34". The names of the playbooks and their versions are: beginner34.pb beginner43.pb standard34.pb standard43.pb Note: the ending ".pb" is a file type. The type of defense that the team normally uses is stored with each team file, described in section 10, Team Files. Storing the normal defense for the team enables Head Coach to select which standard playbook to use when starting a game, unless you select an alternate playbook. Play Calling Modes When Head Coach begins, both teams are in the playbook mode. In this mode, you call plays by entering the playbook name of the plays. To call an offense or a defense, enter the name of the play, as described in Section 3, Your First Game. As you gain more playing experience, either team may enter the detailed mode, which allows complete professional-styled play calling. While in the playbook mode, each playbook call is converted into a detailed call. If you would like to see the detailed call that is programmed, use the .DP command. See section 7, Dot Commands, for a description of the .DP command. The Beginner Playbook The beginner playbook contains basic plays for offensive and defensive calls. The beginning offenses are: SWEEPR - Running play wide to the right SWEEPL - Running play wide to the left DIVER - Running play inside to the right DIVEL - Running play inside to the left DRAW - Looks like a pass, but it is a run BOMB - The "BOMB" -- long pass FLOODR - "Flood" type pass to the right FLOODL - "Flood" type pass to the left POP - Quick pass which attempts to open a back "popping" out of the backfield SCREEN - Looks like a long pass, but is a short pass HBPASS - Looks like a SWEEPR, but the halfback throws a pass SNEAK - Quarterback carries ball over the offensive center OBPASS - Quarterback throws a pass out of bounds, to stop the game clock KNEE - Quarterback drops to a knee, to keep the clock running ROLLR - Roll-out pass to the right ROLLL - Roll-out pass to the left REVL - Reverse run to the left REVR - Reverse run to the right The beginning defenses are: ZONE - Zone passing defense B1 - Blitz one linebacker B2 - Blitz two linebackers B3 - Blitz three linebackers REGL - Regular (normal) defense DOUBLE - Double cover wide receivers GOAL - Goal line defense RUSH - Rushing defense PREVENT- Prevent the long pass The Standard Playbook Standard Offense The standard offense provides a complete offense with which you may attack any weakness in the defense. The offense provides a variety of formations, runs, passes, reverses, and even provides plays with a player in motion before the snap. When you have called an offense, the formation has already been chosen when the playbook was designed. For a description of the Head Coach offensive formations available, see Section 5, Calling the Offense. Runs Running plays are plays whose name begins with an "R". When you specify a run, at least two things must be provided: 1: Who is carrying the ball 2: Where to carry the ball The ball is carried by one of the following backs: HB - HalfBack FB - FullBack The place where the ball will be carried is called the point of attack, or hole. As shown in Figure 4-1, the holes are in the gaps between the offensive linemen. The holes are numbered with the even-numbered holes to the right of the offense, and odd-numbered holes to the left of the offense. Therefore, the holes to the right are the 2, 4, 6, and 8 holes. The holes to the left are the 1, 3, 5, and 7 holes. The zero (0) hole is directly over the offensive center. When you advance to detailed play-calling, you can specify the hole to be directly at an offensive lineman, or even outside the 7 or 8 holes; see section 5, Calling the Offense. The names for the standard playbook running offenses begins with an "R" for run, followed by the ball carrier of either "HB" or "FB", and specifies the hole by a digit from 0 to 8. For example: RHB8 - Run, HalfBack, 8 hole RFB3 - Run, FullBack, 3 hole RFB0 - Run, FullBack, 0 hole This provides 18 running plays: two backs, nine holes each. For each of the ball carrier-hole combinations, the standard playbook has selected a formation and type of blocking to use. In addition to the basic 18 running plays, you can place an "M" at the end of the name and the play will include a player in motion before the snap of the ball. For example: RHB8M - Run, Halfback, 8 hole, a player in motion RFB6M - Run, Fullback, 6 hole, a player in motion So far 36 basic running plays have been described. All of the 36 basic running plays use formations that have the quarterback immediately behind the center. For a running play executed from the "shotgun" formation, the play name begins with "GR" (gun run). Following the "GR" is the ball carrier -- either QB or FB. Following QB or FB is the hole, 0 through 8. For example: GRQB4 - Gun run, quarterback, 4 hole GRFB8 - Gun run, fullback, 8 hole GRFB7 - Gun run, fullback 7 hole There are no shotgun running plays with a player in motion. Therefore there are 18 shotgun running plays: two backs, nine holes each. The final type of running plays provided in the standard playbook is the reverse run. In a reverse, the QB hands the ball to a running back who then hands the ball to a second running back who "reverses" the flow of the play. The reverse run play names begin with "RR". Following the "RR" is the final ball carrier -- either "FL", "SE", or "HB". Last specified is the hole which is either a "7" or an "8". This provides a total of six reverse runs: RRFL7 - Reverse run, flanker, 7 hole RRFL8 - Reverse run, flanker, 8 hole RRSE7 - Reverse run, split end, 7 hole RRSE8 - Reverse run, split end, 8 hole RRHB7 - Reverse run, halfback, 7 hole RRHB8 - Reverse run, halfback, 8 hole One final run: "RQB0". The ball carrier on this run is the QB, carring the ball over the offensive center -- the famous "quarterback sneak". The above describes the running plays in the standard playbook. Note that the standard playbook includes 61 runs: 36 basic runs, 18 shotgun runs, 6 reverses, and the QB sneak. Passes Passing plays are plays whose name begins with an "P". Following the "P" is a basic pass type. Four of the basic pass types are designed to attack either the strong ("S") or weak ("W") side of the offensive formation. These four are: R - Rollout - Quarterback "rolls" out F - Flood - A number of receivers "flood" a side S - Screen - A pass compelted in the backfield, with a blocking "screen" in front U - Under - A number of receivers clear out an area, and another receiver attempts to become open "under". To specify one of these passes, the "P" is followed by either an "R", "F", "S", or "U". Next must be specified if the attack is toward the strong side ("S") or the weak ("W") side. Next is the side of the field, left ("L") or right ("R"). For example: PFWR - Pass, flood, weak, right PRSL - Pass, rollout, strong, left PUWL - Pass, under, weak, left PSSR - Pass, screen, strong, right This gives 16 basic passes. For passing deep, two pass types are provided. One places four receivers deep ("4D") and the other places three receivers deep ("3D"). Also, these passes can be thrown with a man in motion before the snap. The playbook names for the "3D" and "4D" passes are: P3D - Pass, 3 receivers deep P3DM - Pass, 3 receivers deep, man in motion P4D - Pass, 4 receivers deep P4DM - Pass, 4 receivers deep, man in motion The last pass type is executed from formations which place three offensive receivers on the same side of the formation. This type of formation is call a "triple" formation. The "triple" passes are specified either to the right ("R") or left ("L"), and with or without motion, as follows: PTR - Pass, triple, right PTRM - Pass, triple, right, man in motion PTL - Pass, triple, left PTLM - Pass, triple, left, man in motion The passes described so far (24 passes) are all run out of formations with the quarterback under the offensive center. The standard playbook also provides a set of passes from the shotgun formation. The passes run from a shotgun formation are called "gun passes". The gun pass names are the same as the previously described 24 passes except they begin with "GP" instead of simply "P". For example: GPFWR - Gun pass, flood, weak, right GPRSL - Gun pass, rollout, strong, left GPUWL - Gun pass, under, weak, left GPSSR - Gun pass, screen, strong, right GPTR - Gun pass, triple, right GPTRM - Gun pass, triple, right, man in motion GPTL - Gun pass, triple, left GPTLM - Gun pass, triple, left, man in motion This provides the same number of gun passes as there are non-shotgun passes - 24. There are also two halfback passes. PHBR and PHBL have the halfback running either right (R) or left (L) and then throwing a pass. This completes the description of the standard playbook passing offense. With the basic passes (16 passes), the deep passes (4 passes), and the triple passes (4 passes), and the same number of shotgun passes, plus two halfback passes, the standard playbook provides 50 passes. Controlling the Clock The standard playbook also includes two plays that allow the offense to manipulate the clock. To stop the clock, at the expense of a down, the OBPASS play throws an incomplete pass. To keep the clock running, the KNEE play is used. In the KNEE play, the QB takes the snap from the CR and drops to a knee. This stops the play, but keeps the clock running. This completes the description of the standard playbook offense. The standard playbook offense provides 61 runs, 50 passes, and 2 clock manipulation plays for a total of 113 offensive calls. Standard Defense The defenses provided in the standard playbook provide defensive calls to meet any situation. Before describing these defensive calls specifically, pass coverage, run coverage, and blitzing are described. Pass Coverage There are two ways to protect against a pass: Man coverages Zone coverages In man (also called man-to-man) coverages, defenders are assigned an offensive receiver. The defender follows the receiver, regardless of the path the receiver takes. Man coverages always have each receiver covered, except in cases of mistakes, but they are vulnerable wherever a defender is assigned to cover a receiver of better ability. These "mismatches" are particularly vulnerable deep (long pass). Zone defenses assign each defender a zone (area) to cover rather than a receiver. The defender covers any receiver that comes into the area. Zone defenses protect against the deep pass better than man coverages, but they become vulnerable when more than one receiver approaches an area. Placing multiple receivers in an area is known as flooding a zone. When a defender is assigned a zone, there are actually four types of zones that may be assigned: Pick Zone -- Area to cover is a circle around the defender. Side Zone -- Area to cover is a circle extended to the sideline. Deep Zone -- Area to cover is a circle extended down the field. Corner Zone -- Area to cover is the outside corner of the field. Often pass defenses are combination defenses, including both man and zone converages. Pass defenses are also improved when the defensive linemen ignore the possibility of a run and rush the passer. This pressure applied to the passer can do as much to stop a pass as superior pass defenders. Run Coverage Protecting against the run involves line play that ensures defensive presence at each hole and assigns defenders to each potential ball carrier. Added strength against the run is accomplished by assigning more than one defender to potential ball carriers. Blitzing "Blitzing" occurs when defenders that do not normally penetrate the offensive line or backfield attempt to do so. The defenders assigned to blitz will attempt to put additional pressure on the ball carrier or passer, at the expense of fewer defenders to protect against a pass. Blitzing is almost always done in a man pass coverage to ensure that all receivers are covered. The Defenses The defenses in the standard playbook begin with a letter that describes the basic nature of the defense, as follows: Z - Zone coverage defense M - Man coverage defense D - Double coverage defense R - Run defense B - Blitzing defense G - Goal line defense Zone Defenses The zone defenses begin with a "Z". Next is specified the number of "deep" zones that the defense uses. The number of deep zones is either 2, 3, 4, or 5. Therefore the basic zone defenses are: Z2 - Zone with 2 deep zones Z3 - Zone with 3 deep zones Z4 - Zone with 4 deep zones Z5 - Zone with 5 deep zones This provides four zone coverages. Additionally, you may follow the basic zone defense with one of the following: D - Defenders play deeper than normal S - Defenders pplay shorter than normal This allows a strengthening of the zone defense either deep ("D") or short ("S"). For example: Z3S - Zone, 3 deep zones, short Z5D - Zone, 5 deep zones, deep Z4S - Zone, 4 deep zones, short This makes a total of 12 zone defenses. Man Coverage Defenses The man coverage defenses assign man pass coverages. These coverages work well if the defensive player abilities match up well with the defenders. Also, the man coverages work better against runs than do the zone coverages. The man coverages begin with an "M". The next thing that must be specified is what defenders are going to cover the interior receivers (receivers that are not wide receivers). To have the linebackers cover the interior receivers, use an "L". To have defensive backs cover the interior receivers, us a "B". For example: MB - Man cover, defensive back interior ML - Man cover, linebacker interior Man coverage allows you to provide some additional calls for alignment of defensive linemen. To make the additional call, append an additional letter as follows: G - Defensive linemen play in gaps, rather than directly over the offensive linemen. O - Defensive linemen shift to the offensive strong side -- this is called an "Overshift". U - Defensive linemen shif the the offensive weak side -- this is called an "Undershift". For example: MBG - Man cover, defensive back interior, linemen gapped MLU - Man cover, linebacker interior, linemen undershifted MBO - Man cover, defensive back interior, linemen overshifted Man coverage also allows the use of the deep ("D") and short ("S") letter as was described for the zone coverage. The "D" and "S" move the defensive backs and linebacker alignment for more effective coverage deep and short, respectively. If you would like to specify both linemen assignments and deep or short assignment, use both letters with the linemen assignment first. For example: MLD - Man cover, linebacker interior, linebackers and backs deep MBUD - Man cover, defensive back interior, linemen undershifted, linebackers and backs deep MBS - Man cover, defensive back interior, linebackers and backs short MLGD - Man cover, linebacker interior, linemen gapped, linebackers and backs deep The above man coverage play calling results in a total of 24 man coverage defenses. Double Coverage Defenses When the defense is confronted with an offensive receiver of better ability than the defender covering the receiver, double coverage may be required. Double coverage means that more than one defender is assigned to cover a particular receiver. Double coverage play names begin with a "D". Following the "D" must be the type of defender that will be used to provide the extra defender. The "D" is followed by either: B - Double cover with a defensive back or L - Double cover with a linebacker Finally the play name must specify the offensive receiver that will be double covered, as follows: F - Flanker S - Split end T - Tight end H - Halfback For example: DLT - Double cover with linebacker, tight end DBF - Double cover with defensive back, flanker In order to double cover more than one receiver, one of the following must be used: FS -Flaner and split end TS - Tight end and split end TF - Tight end and flanker TFS- Tight end, flanker, and split end For example: DLFS - Double cover with linebacker, flanker and split end DBTF - Double cover with defensive back, tight end and flanker The standard playbook provides 16 double coverage defenses. Rush Defenses The following defenses are designed to be particularly effective against the rush, or run. All use man defenses with extra defenders covering potential ball carriers. The basic rush defenses are: R1 R2 R3 Each level provides additional keying to stop the run. The R3 defense is much stronger against the run the R1. As you would expect, however, as the defenses get stronger against the run from R1 to R2 to R3, the defenses get increasingly weaker against the pass. The rush defenses also support making special assignments for the defensive linemen, linebackers, and defensive backs. The use of "G", "O", "U", "D", and "S" have the same meaning as described above for the man defenses. A few examples: R1G - Rush 1, gapped linemen R2OS - Rush 2, linemen overshifted, linebackers and backs short R1UD - Rush 1, linemen undershifted, linebackers and backs deep R2U - Rush 2, linemen undershifted R3GS - Rush 3, gapped linemen, linebackers and backs short R1D - Rush 1, linebackers and backs deep This provides a total of 36 rushing defenses. Blitz Defenses As previously explained, blitzing is an attempt to put extra pressure on the offense by "blitzing", or rushing, players who do not normally do so. The standard playbook provides four blitzes: B1 - Blitz one linebacker B2 - Blitz two linebackers B3 - Blitz three linebackers BB - Blitz at least one linebacker and one defensive back Goal Line Defenses Goal line defenses begin with a "G". Following the "G" is an optional specifier for defensive linemen alignment as follows: G - Goal line, no defensive alignment adjustment GG - Goal line, linemen gapped GO - Goal line, linemen overshifted GU - Goal line, linemen undershifted The above four are the basic goal line defenses. You may choose to append an optional specifier for double coverage, as follows: DT - Goal line, double cover tight end DW - Goal line, double cover both wide receivers For example: GDT - Goal line, double cover tight ent GDW - Goal line, double cover both wide receivers GGDW - Goal line, linemen gapped, double cover both wide receivers GODT - Goal line, linemen overshifted, double cover tight end The standard defense provides a total of 12 goal line defenses. This completes the description of the standard playbook defenses. The standard playbook provides: 12 Zones 24 Man coverages 16 Double coverages 36 Rushing defenses 4 Blitzes 12 Goal lEine defenses This a total of 104 standard playbook defenses. Making Your Own Playbook There are several reasons why you might want to alter the standard playbook: You have started making your own detailed calls and want to include some favorite calls in your playbook. You have started making your own detailed calls and wish to use formations other than the ones in the standard playbook. You may wish to give another name to an existing playbook play. Having scouted an upcoming opponent, you may want to add special plays you feel will be effective against that opponent. The playbook is a text file that can be processed like any other text file within your Amiga system. Playbook File Names The playbook files provided with Head Coach are named "beginner34.pb", "beginner43.pb", "standard43.pb", and "standard34.pb". As you learned in section 3, Your First Game, Head Coach makes it easy to use these playbook names. However, you may use any file name you like when building your own playbook files. The ".pb" at the end of the name is used to specify the file type ("pb" means playbook), but it is optional. To use your own playbook file of any name, select "Other" as the playbook name on the Head Coach setup screen. When the requester appears, select the correct .pb file for the desired playbook by clicking on the file name or by clicking the "File" gadget and typing the in the file name. To specify a disk or disk name click in the "Drawer" gadget and type the disk drive or disk name. For example: df1: (reads from floppy drive #1) tony: (reads fro tjhe disk named "tony") dh1:headcoach2 (reads from the drawer named "headcoach2" on the hard disk partition named "dh1:") Head Coach assumes that playbook file names will end in ".pb". If you do not type a period in the file name, Head Coach assumes that ".pb" is part of the name. However, if you would like to use a period with something other than "pb", Head Coach will not assume the end ".pb". For example: whatever.something This example will cause Head Coach to retrieve a playbook file named "whatever.something". Because you provided a period and a file type, Head Coach does not assume an ending ".pb". Modifying Playbook Files There are two ways to alter your playbook. During a game, you may add or delete plays, and write the playbook back to the disk. Or you may select "Edit a playbook" from the Head Coach master screen. Additionally, you may use any text editor (ED, for example) to modify the playbook. See the PM command description in Section 7, Dot Commands, for instructions for modifying your playbook during a game. To use a text editor, you must first understand the format of a playbook file. The playbook file consists of a series of one-line entries, each of which defines a play. The play definition consists of two parts -- play name and play contents. Here is an entry from the standard playbook: "SWEEPR"OR.HB8PF.FBL The name of the play, SWEEPR, is enclosed in quotes ("). Following the play name are the play contents, which can be either a detailed play call (as above) or another play name. In the SWEEPR example above, the name (SWEEPR) has been followed by a detailed play call (OR.HB8PF.FBL), which defines the SWEEPR play. You might like to add the ability to call a play by another name. For example, some Head Coach players prefer to use numbers for play calls rather than letters. To assign another name to an existing play, follow this example: "1"'SWEEPR' This playbook entry defines a play named "1". Enclosing SWEEPR in apostrophes tells Head Coach that SWEEPR is the name of another play in the playbook. SWEEPR will be used to define the play named "1". During a game, the contents of the play will be acquired from the playbook play "SWEEPR" whenever the player enters "1" as a play call. In this manner you may assign multiple names to existing plays. DO NOT REMOVE the existing play from the file. It is used to provide the detailed call. To remove a play from your playbook using a text editor, delete the line that defines the play. Enter each playbook entry (play) on a separate line. The playbook files must never contain any blank lines.