Football call sheet template

A call sheet is sorted by situation

A playbook is sorted by formation, because that is how you teach it. A call sheet is sorted by the moment you are in, because that is how you use it. On 3rd and 2 nobody on the sideline has time to flip through formations; they look at the 3rd and short box and pick from three plays they already chose on Thursday night.

That is all this template is: the situations a game actually throws at you, in the order they tend to come up, each with numbered rows to write your plays in. One page, so nothing is on the back.

The tackle sheet

The tackle sheet has eighteen situations: the opening script, first down, getting back on track after a loss, third down split into short, medium, long and longer, fourth down, backed up deep in your own end, shot plays and screens, three zones of red zone down to the goal line, the two-point try, the four-minute drill for running out the clock, and the two-minute drill. The section list follows the call sheets professional staffs use, cut down to what a high school or youth staff can actually fill.

The flag sheet

The flag sheet is not the tackle one with boxes removed, and that is where most templates go wrong. Flag has no line to gain that moves: you cross midfield, then you score. So the flag sheet is built around openers, first and second down, third and fourth down to cross half, the no-run zones near midfield and the goal line, the red zone, plays to beat man, zone and the blitz, and room for deep shots, sweeps and trick plays. The headings come from the NFL FLAG and USA Football rulebooks.

Typing it instead

The edit button opens the football wristband maker, which prints this same sheet from a typed list, with the biggest type that fits on one page. It prints the players' wristband inserts from the same list, so the number you shout and the number on their wrist cannot disagree. For other sports, the match-day sheet does the same for set pieces in soccer, basketball, rugby, hockey and netball.