Glossary of American Football

walk-on

In college, a non-scholarship player. I.e., a player who is not receiving a scholarship to play football.

weak I

A formation wherein the tailback is lined up deep directly behind the quarterback, and the fullback is lined up offset to the weak side of the formation.

weak side

When one tight end is used, the side of the field opposite the tight end. In other offensive packages, the side of the field with the fewest offensive players on or just behind the line of scrimmage.

West Coast offense

An offensive philosophy that uses short, high-percentage passes as the core of a ball-control offense. Was invented in Cincinnati under coach Paul Brown in the mid 1970s. Is now widely used in the NFL but originally made popular by San Francisco 49ers coach Bill Walsh. The original west coast offense may have been a term used by Don Coryell, as a Sports Illustrated article accidentally confused Coryell's title with the offense being used by Walsh, thus possibly coining the term. (Coryell's offense was known instead as "Air Coryell" through the 1980s.) The basis of Walsh's offense is to use short routes for receivers, delivering the ball on time and accurately and using short passes to replace runs. It relies heavily on yardage from running after the catch, using many eligible receivers on plays to maximize quarterback options, and spreading the ball to many targets to keep the defense confused.

wheel route

A pass route in which the receiver, often a running back, travels parallel along the line of scrimmage and then takes off up the field.

wide

Adjective meaning towards the sidelines. Example: A kick that is "wide right" has missed to the right side of the field from the perspective of the offense.

wide receiver (WR)

A player position on offense. He is split wide (usually about 10 yards) from the formation and plays on the line of scrimmage as a split end (X) or one yard off as a flanker (Z). The offensive-formation rules regarding the number of backs and linemen are still used.

wildcat offense

An offensive philosophy that dictates that either a quarterback or a running back can receive a direct snap from the snapper; it is often compared to the single wing. The Wildcat creation is attributed to Gus Malzahn (currently the head coach at Arkansas State University, formerly at Tulsa and Arkansas where he made the formation famous with star backs Felix Jones and Darren McFadden. Coincidentally running back Ronnie Brown of the Miami Dolphins is leading the nation with the Wildcat in 2009 and happens to be a former player at Auburn University).

Will

The weak side linebacker.

win-loss(-tie)

The ratio of wins to losses (and if necessary, ties), expressed as a pair or trio of numbers. For example, 6-1 means 6 wins and 1 loss and 5-3-1 means 5 wins, 3 losses and 1 tie.

wing back or wingback (WB)

A player position in some offensive formations (Flexbone). Lines up just outside the tight end and one yard off the line of scrimmage. A versatile position that can be used as a receiver, blocker, and/or runner of reverses.

winning percentage

A statistic used in league standings to compare and/or rank teams based on their win-loss (or win-loss-tie) records. Winning percentage is calculated by dividing the number of games won by the number of games played. A tie counts as one-half of a win and one-half of a loss. The winning percentage is not increased nor decreased by tied games. These values are expressed as a decimal (e.g.: .600 not 60.0%). See also: points percentage.

Mathematically: P_w where P_w is winning percentage, is number of wins, is number of ties, and is number of games played.

winning record

A regular season record when a team wins a number of games greater than it loses. A winning record corresponds to a winning percentage greater than .500 (P_w > .500). See also: losing record, non-winning record, and winning percentage.

winning season