After completing season No. 5 of franchise mode in Madden 2006, calling a play in a real football game is easy, right?

Well for all the armchair quarterbacks out there, it’s not. On actual turf, more coordination and execution is involved than most people would think.

Breakdown

One of the NIU football team’s signature plays is the single running back stretch to the sideline.

The play begins with the play call from junior quarterback Phil Horvath, who scans the defensive line to pick up signals.

“We look for techniques on the line,” Horvath said. “My responsibility is to just get the team in the right play. Once I do that, I just hand it off and they get the job done.”

Out of the single back formation, senior running back A.J. Harris takes the ball and starts heading for the sidelines, looking for a route his blockers will provide for him.

“All that I really have to do is take my first step and start reading,” Harris said. “I’m just scanning. I got to read all the blocks and find a hole.”

The O-Line

The onus for the play’s success is on the offensive linemen. In a quickly coordinated movement, the center and right guard swing out to the right sideline to provide the lead blocks. The right tackle and tight end down-block toward the middle of the field to contain the interior defenders from giving pursuit.

But for junior left tackle Doug Free, shoving a defender to the ground is not a readily available option. A lot of coordination and technique is involved.

“If you don’t step with the right foot first, you’re beat already and the defender is in the backfield,” Free said. “You got to worry about hand placement. You got to get the inside shoulder down and get a good leverage on them. It’s a lot of smaller things that take time to learn to make a good block.”

By swinging out to the right sideline, the right guard and center pick up the linebackers and clear a track for the running back. The wide receiver also has to keep the cornerback contained, which totals six blocks just to find a seam for Harris.

Hitting the hole

Once all the blocks have been established, Harris finds the biggest hole to gain yardage through, which is usually along the sideline. Harris makes many calculations and reads before he even makes his move to the hole.

“Sometimes you can tell where it’s going to hit depending on how the blocks are going to go,” the senior said. “Other than that, I’m looking at the guys pulling around. It all depends on what they’re going to do.”

The play has paid definite dividends in terms of big gains this year. In the season-opener at Michigan, the stretch play sprung junior running back Garrett Wolfe for a 76-yard touchdown run. For offensive line coach Sam Pittman, the execution of the stretch play is vital for the offense’s success.

“If we can’t get the ball outside, we’re in trouble,” Pittman said. “When you look at a running play, it takes five linemen and one or two tight ends and they all have to be right. If one guy misses the block, you’ll probably lose yards on the play. We’re only as good as our worst link.”

Horvath said executing a play in a video game is a far cry from real life.

“I know in Madden, you just pick a play and run it,” Horvath said. “It doesn’t matter what the defense lines up in. It’s completely different out here. We try to run the perfect play. You can’t just go out there and guess and hope the play works.”