Playbooks
Franchise Playsheet
4th Sunday of October
PlaysheetOffenseOverview
4th Sunday of October is a 41 play situational playsheet built around heavy personnel and a compact formation tree. Three formations and five sets is a tight menu by franchise standards, and that is the point: this is a playbook you memorize in an afternoon and then run without hesitation. Shotgun carries the load at 20 plays (49%) across two sets, Singleback adds 15 plays (37%) across two more, and Near rounds it out with 6 plays (15%) from a single set. Every personnel grouping listed is heavy, 23 (2 RB, 3 TE, 0 WR), 12 (1 RB, 2 TE, 2 WR) and 13 (1 RB, 3 TE, 1 WR), so you are never lining up in empty spread looks and asking a slot receiver to win one on one.
The concept list tells you exactly what the game plan is. Dive, Inside Zone and Zone Run give you the downhill run game, with FB Dive out of Near as the short yardage hammer that a 23 personnel set is built to sell. From there the passing tree is intermediate and timing based: Corner, Hitch, Out, Curl, Flat and Spot, plus Play Action off the run looks. Corner Strike and Divide are the kind of calls this book leans on, high low and horizontal stretch route combos that beat both man and zone without asking your quarterback to hold the ball five seconds or scramble outside the pocket.
Choosing 4th Sunday of October over a spread or balanced franchise book means committing to formation ambiguity instead of formation variety. Near appears in only 9 of the game's 236 playbooks, so most opponents have never repped defending it and will not recognize the run pass split from your alignment. Because roughly half your plays live in Shotgun and another third in Singleback, you can run the same personnel through a gun run look, a Singleback play action shot and a Near power call while the defense keeps guessing. What you get is a compact, repeatable identity: run the ball, stay ahead of the sticks, and take intermediate throws off play action when the defense over commits.
Scheme Fit
4th Sunday of October wants a pocket quarterback with strong short and intermediate accuracy who can throw Hitch, Curl, Out and Corner on time, not a scrambler asked to improvise. The roster needs two quality tight ends minimum (ideally three for the 13 look), a fullback or second back with run blocking and impact blocking for Near's FB Dive, and an interior offensive line built for Inside Zone and Dive rather than pull heavy gap schemes. Pick this playbook if you want a run first, clock controlling franchise identity with a compact call sheet and are comfortable winning with formation deception instead of receiver talent.
Playsheet bonuses
- IUnlocks the playsheet
- II+3Pass Block, Pass Block Power, Pass Block FinesseTE
- III+3Run Block, Run Block Finesse, Run Block PowerTE
- IV+5Catching, Catch in TrafficTE
Every play in this playsheet (41 plays)
Near Jumbo6 plays
Shotgun Ace Offset8 plays
Shotgun U Off Trips Wk12 plays
Singleback Bunch Ace7 plays
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Strengths
- Near is rare enough (9 of 236 playbooks) that opponents rarely have pre-snap reads for it, and with 23 personnel on the field the FB Dive look forces a defense to commit bodies to the box before you have shown anything.
- Shotgun's 20 plays across two sets give you a real gun run game (Inside Zone, Zone Run) paired with Play Action, so the same Shotgun alignment threatens both and your audibles inside that formation never tip the call.
- Every personnel group listed is heavy (23, 12, 13), which means formation subs let you put your best blocking tight ends and second back on the field permanently instead of rotating packages and telegraphing intent.
- The intermediate route tree (Corner, Hitch, Out, Curl, Flat, Spot) gives you both man beaters and zone beaters out of the same Singleback and Shotgun sets, so a single hot route or motion adjustment flips a play from one to the other without a new call.
- Only five sets total means you can load your entire audible package from one formation group and sub in Near situationally, cutting pre-snap decision time in tight clock situations.
Weaknesses
- Zero 3 WR or 4 WR groupings means no true spread answer. Against heavy nickel and dime looks you have no way to create horizontal width with speed, and defenses can drop an extra man in the box at no cost.
- 41 plays across only three formations makes you predictable over a long series. Once an opponent has seen your two Shotgun sets and two Singleback sets, they have seen nearly 86% of your playbook.
- Near is 6 plays out of one set, so your heaviest short yardage look is also your thinnest. A user who blitzes the A gaps against 23 personnel is guessing between very few options.
- The concept list has no deep vertical family beyond Corner. No listed seam, post or crossing verticals means safeties can sit at intermediate depth and squeeze Hitch, Curl, Out and Flat windows.
- Play Action is listed but the run game is Dive and Inside Zone based, meaning your fakes come from the same downhill looks. A defense that fits the run with linebackers and plays coverage behind it negates the play action rollout threat.
Usage Tips
Build your primary audible set inside Shotgun since it holds 20 plays across two sets. Keep an Inside Zone run, a Play Action call and a Spot or Curl concept bound so first and second down never requires a full playcall scroll.
Use Singleback (15 plays, two sets) as your second and third down medium package. Corner Strike style route combos out of Singleback work best on third and 6 to third and 10 when the defense has to honor the run out of 12 personnel.
Save Near for third and 1, fourth and 1 and goal line. FB Dive out of 23 personnel is the call, but audible within the set rather than motioning out of it. Motioning a back or tight end wide out of Near gives away that you are not diving.
Hot route the flat and out concepts against man coverage and leave Curl and Hitch alone against zone. The route list covers both, so let the coverage read dictate your adjustment instead of calling a new play.
Alternate Shotgun and Singleback on consecutive downs with the same heavy personnel on the field. Because both lean on 12 and 13 groupings, you avoid substitution tells and force the defense to defend run and pass out of identical bodies.
Formations in this playbook
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