Well, not really a playbook, it's more of a summary of things we should be comfortable with by the end of the season. NOTHING IN HERE IS NEW, so it's not like we have to learn all this. It's what we've been saying and playing all along.
Basic strategy is to take advantage of positioning, using lots of fronting (also called face-guarding) and limited INTELLIGENT switching. Of course, some players are so good and so dangerous that the men covering them must focus all their energy on trying to shut them down and can't really afford to look to poach or switch. In these cases, the other players have to look to help them out, especially if the receiver cuts long. The "Last Man Back" should always be aware of deep cutters.
Force forehand since breaking pass is more difficult than with force backhand. 0 forces forehand, 1 and 2 cover the first two in the stack, 3 is forehand side covering first cutter from the stack to his side, 4 is backhand side doing same thing, 5 covers up the middle, usually later in the stall count, and 6 has all deep responsibilities. The idea is to create confusion and get a first or second pass turnover and an easy goal. OCCASIONALLY THIS WILL BE BROKEN AND THEY WILL SCORE ON 2 OR 3 EASY PASSES. That's OK. It's an aggressive team defense, and you have to accept that sometimes it won't work.
Options:
Return to defense
Two points, three middles (middle middle and two side middles), and two deeps (short deep and long deep). It's almost a 3-2-2, where the middle middle is part of the cup. There's still some discrepancy on exact responsibilities. In general, the points play fm until the disc is within 2 yards of the sideline, then it's an aggressive double- or triple-team trap. Sometimes in a strong crosswind we'd try to force to one side, then trap. The middle middle and the short deep cover the two poppers, with the short deep talking extensively to the middle middle. Lots of talk is needed, especially from the sidelines.
One point playing straight up, three in the cup playing further off than in the 2-3-2, and the three deeps play a triangle with the center deep back. Details still to be worked out. This might be a better zone-to-man than the 2-3-2. This will see limited action because we don't know it too well. It is useful to learn because we likely will see it against Cojones and because it might be a better zone-to-man.
Usually after n passes, called before the point. At n-1, begin looking around to see who to pick up, then as the nth pass is being released, go to man.
Have something called, even if it's just a 2 man play. Sometimes, you might want to call the play based on their players (e.g., Danny Weis's man to Cork), especially if we're throwing junk and won't be guaranteed a specific matchup. The weave will often be effective, too.
In a man to man, the sideline should keep the field informed of who is last back. They should also be watching for deep cutters so they can tell the last back to switch deep, although that is also last back's responsibility. In a zone, they talk to side middles and the deep deep primarily, although again the on-the-field players have the responsibility to look around. Sidelines should concentrate on offensive players who are out of the field of vision of the particular defender ("Joe, he's coming in now"). In general, positive encouragement and commenting on good play are what we're looking for. For many people, screaming at them is an effective motivator, but for others, it's a spirit crusher. We should all have thicker skins, but that's not the way some people work. Just be a little thoughtful when you're calling one of your teammates an asshole.
Take easy passes, especially at high stall counts, until we can get a big strike. In past years, we would either try to force it in 20-30 yard passes or else force the long play. Now, our first look is usually long if it's open, but only if it's open. Often times a long pass is an easy one. In general, we don't want to throw to matchups, we want to throw to open receivers, especially on long throws. A good long throw is one where even if the receiver and defender were reversed, you'd still make the throw and it would never matter because he's that wide open. Less forcing, less heroic stuff. To sum it up, it's so easy.
We call one player (and a fill). This man sets up anywhere on the field, and he can cut anywhere on the field, including long, for the first pass. The fill cuts off the Man if he doesn't score. We can throw a hitch in as well.
We call "1 to 2 to 3, God takes the pull". God picks up the disc, throws immediately to 1, 1 throws to 2, 2 throws to 3. If we can handle the complexity, we also call short, middle, and deep fill. If 1 is shut down, short fill cuts, then throws to 2, 2 throws to 3. Similarly, if 2 is shut down, middle fill cuts. Deep fill finishes the play if 3 doesn't score. Any of the passes can go deep. Probably 2's first look is to cut deep, and if that isn't open, he should take the comeback pass up the line for good yardage (20-30 yards). If at any time, the fills are shut down or there is no cutter, God bails out the thrower.
Three players work the give and go up field a "substantial" distance. The Weave continues until one of the weavers catches a leading pass running downfield with his defender behind him. Then the next look is upfield to a specified fill. Before the play, call two fills, one for each side of the field. Which one gets the pass from the weaver depends on which side of the field the leading pass is. This is good for specific groups of players who work well together. This is also probably a good offense after a turnover. Potential problem here dealing with massive poaching.
An extra pass thrown in before the start of the play. Usually used if the pull is short or low and the called play doesn't have the time to set up, especially if we're going long. We also can use a hitch to get to our end zone offense.
Our offense has developed such that often at least one player is behind the disc. This player comes in at a late stall count for a (usually backwards) dump. The pass should almost always be a backhand, especially in windy conditions. Thrower makes eye contact with receiver, and usually as the thrower is releasing, the receiver is cutting to the open area. Receiver can also cut AFTER eye contact is made but before disc is thrown. Also, if the receiver is being face-guarded, the thrower can throw a floater before a cut is made, and the receiver can chase it down.
Still to be worked on, especially from flow. Basic strategy is to clear corners by stacking deep and in the middle of the endzone, allow our excellent cutters to cut to the corners, and be able to break the mark and throw it there. We have specific plays from a stack, which can also be implemented from the flow. Our first look is to score off the flow. If that doesn't happen, the player with the disc calls "ENDZONE". This will remind everyone that we are near the endzone and have to adjust the offensive strategy a little bit. The person with the disc will look to dump if the stall is high, then run our end zone offense. The plays we do are:
Person with the disc sets up facing downfield looking for the Man. Two handlers line up at 90 degrees. The Man has two options, either long down the line or cutting back, with everybody else clearing the side. At stall 5 or after the Man is nowhere, thrower turns his body 90 degrees so he is now facing straight across the field, looking at the handlers. First handler cuts, (80% of the time for the dump), if he's not open, second handler cuts any place he can get open. From either of these passes, the first look is to continue across the field.
Primarily we try to get it to one of the poppers, whose first look is to the other popper, and we try to move it upfield that way with a give and go and get the wings involved. Once the disc gets past the middle middle, numbers favor the offense and we must push it upfield. We also have the hammer from a handler to an upfield wing. Occasionally we have a wing hucking it to the other wing or deep if their deep deep cheats in too much. Look to avoid the trap on a windy day. Probably the way we score most consistently is to take 20-30 yard chunks either by several short passes or by a big hammer, then reset and try it again. When we have to dump, try to lose as little yardage as possible, with the dump receiver setting himself us in a triangle between the thrower and the wing on the wind side of the field. NOTE TO THE NET: This is different from what most teams do. Most teams teach dump and swing more, but ours seems to have evolved this way, and I think it's better.
As introdoced by Cojones last fall at Philly. Their cup was very loose, usually 10 yards from the marker. We beat it by making a lot of short passes in front of the cup, with an occasional hammer over the cup to the middle of the field. We turned it over by throwing longer hammers to Kenny playing side deep.