What Is A Silent Count In Football?

What Is a Silent Count in Football?

Sep 11, 2011 | By Steve Silverman

When a quarterback leads his team from the huddle to the line of scrimmage, his teammates line up and await his signals before the ball is snapped and put into play. The quarterback usually speaks in a loud voice and uses his inflection and words to tell his teammates what to do. However, in some cases, neither the quarterback nor his teammates say anything before the ball is snapped. This is called a silent count.

Silent Count

After calling the play in the huddle, an offensive team heads to the line of scrimmage and awaits the quarterback's cadence before the ball is snapped and the play begins. However, the quarterback may get behind center and not say anything. In a second or two, the center snaps the ball. This is called a silent count.

Circumstances

A team often uses a silent count when it is playing on the road in a loud stadium. When the home team's defense is on the field, a loud fan base tries to help the home team by making it difficult for the visitors to hear the signals. It can be especially difficult for the wide receivers stationed near the sidelines to hear the signals under those difficult circumstances. The silent count removes that issue from the equation. Players know to start the play after a preset number of seconds.

Technique

The quarterback and offensive coordinator talk about game circumstances on the sidelines. When they determine that a silent count will help them execute their offensive game plan, the silent count is given in the huddle along with the play call. If the silent count is four, the players silently count to four in their heads before the center snaps the ball and the play begins.

Problems With Silent Count

There can be problems employing a silent count if the defense is in an alignment that is difficult for the offense to play against. It is difficult to change the play at the line of scrimmage when a silent count is being used. The quarterback can use hand signals to change the play, but all players may not recognize the change and the offense may lack continuity.