re: Does anyone know specifics on signal calling using placards?

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Tbh most teams would use them as decoys.

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Unlikely. If they were always decoys opponents would know that, which makes the decoys useless.

They mean something but there are additional indicators that tell the players whether the sign is currently active, or which placard to read, or the pictures mean something different when combined with a certain down or distance. That way the code is too hard to crack. There are numbers written on the back of those (at least in Temple's case).

Here's an example of how they work:



In this example, each picture represents one word of a play call. This play is 32 Scotland 5 Hook Right A Mustang.

The guy in the red warm up shirt is giving a hand signal that could mean one of several things: the placard is the primary playcall; that play is the audible if you don't like what the defense is showing; run that play 2 or 3 or however many plays from now; or ignore the placard and look at the coach off camera to the right or left.