As with any good play in football, there should be a compliment. Just like the old fashioned trap is to the buck sweep, there must be some compliment to go with a play or it's defense will become simplistic. Thereby I introduce to you the throwback concept and the sprint draw from the Flexbone offense! These two plays compliment the sprintout passing game nicely and take very little time to install. If you haven't read the first part of the article, please go here immediately!!!! Just kidding, but let's look closer at the two counterparts mentioned above and see what we can find out!
"And this is my counterpart...R2D2..."
The Throwback Concept This concept is one I've rarely seen, but is easily executed and can really get a defense on its heels. To simplify, as in the first article, the route concept was called, but then tagged with the term throwback. What this did was simply tell everyone to run the route concept called, except for the inside slot in our trips formation (we only ran it out of this set by the way). The line and fullback (FB) blocked identical to the play being a sprintout play (again you can read that in the previous article). The inside slot, would delay as usual, and then would run a shallow, lazy drag, back against the grain of the sprintout play. What we had him to was look for the open area in the defense, or basically where the "void" was presented and settle there. Sometimes this could be on the line of scrimmage (LOS) or as much as 5 yards down field. We tried not to have him cross the center if possible, but the coaching concept here was simple. "Get to the hole and sit down, look for the ball". The quarterback (QB) would take his normal steps, but upon clearing the tackle box, he would then set his feet and deliver the ball to the open slot. On the backside of the protection, the backside guard (BSG) and backside tackle (BST) would invite their defender's up field, and club them by as they released outside after a 2 count. They would then count 2 more times and turn upfield with the BST looking to wall the corner, who had hopefully chased the backside crossing route, and the BSG would wall any remaining second or third level defender to show. We told the slot to catch the football and work opposite of the direction of the sprintout play.
Sprintout was a top play for us, so when we ran this, the linebackers (LB's) and defensive backs (DB's) had all gotten in to drops and angles that took them in the direction of the sprintout, thereby voiding the backside hook to curl area. This is where we were able to exploit their over pursuit to the sprintout. Is it a difficult throw, yes, but the good thing is, the receiver is generally wide open. We even found that he would be open vs. man to man coverage because the man coverage defender would lose the slot when the slot did his delay block. A very effective weapon when utilizing the sprintout pass game!
Ahh...the throwback...
The Sprint Draw The Sprint Draw is nothing new in terms of football, and especially sprintout passing. Both Navy and Georgia Tech utilize the Sprint Draw in their arsenals as the bulk of their passing game lies in the sprintout concept. The concept is very simple, the offensive line (OL) would execute turn back protection as normal. The FB would arc block and either seal his defender down inside, or kick him out to the sideline, depending on the defender's angle of attack. The playside slot back (PSSB) would not delay block, however, he would simply block the C gap defender. What we told our guys was if you ended up engaging a man, then take him deep as you would on turn back or hinge protection. If you ended up free, then settle for a two-count, and then climb to LB level and start picking off defenders working second to third level. The receivers actually ran their normal route concepts. The QB would execute his sprintout technique, but once he cleared the tackle box, he tucked the football and was we simply put it..."run to daylight"! This play was very effective cutting back through the front side B gap and then hitting the defense in the back door where the flat/force player had vacated due to the play looking like sprintout.
So there you have it! Two very simple and easy plays that can keep a defense on it's heels, yet are not too overbearing to install.
For the Quarters coverage newbies out there, I thought I would share a little blurb about the back side safety in run support out of Quarters coverage. Now why on Earth would I have a post about that topic? Well, to be honest, both safeties in Quarters coverage schemes are equally important, however if I had to rate which one was more important, it would be the safety away from run action. I'll tell you why. Lateral plays that get outside can be trouble, and we all know (or should know) that to the run action side, the force player is the player that makes things go. However, the really troublesome, and demoralizing plays are inside runs that cut back against aggressive defenses and come out the back side for big, and often times huge gains. This is where that back side safety is so critical in the run support scheme for your defense. So let's take a look at correct and incorrect methods of this backside safety when involved in run support. I'm also going to describe how this player should react to bootleg passes off of playaction as well. I commonly refer to this player as the BRC player, or Boot, Reverse, Cutback player. Roll up those sleeves and warm up those grease pens boys...let's go to work!
Alignment I won't focus much on this topic other than to describe how I aligned my safeties so you can see where they were getting their reads from and how they fit when playing the run and playaction game. My safeties, if there was no detached #2 receiver aligned 8-12 yards off the line of scrimmage (LOS), and 2 yards outside the end man on the line of scrimmage (EMOL). If there was a detached #2 receiver, then we moved to the same depth, but played 2 to 4 yards inside leverage, depending on whether this #2 was set to the boundary or the field. Ok, enough on alignment, let's get to the meat-n-taters!
Assignment As with any Quarters scheme, the safety on the run action side will be the force player based on his keys. The safeties will key either the #2 receiver if it's a tight end (TE) or detached wide receiver (WR). If the #2 receiver is in the backfield, the safeties will key this receiver reading through the EMOL. The action by both safeties, irregardless of the play, at the beginning react the same. They are flat-footed and making their reads on their respective keys. I won't go into individual technique here as that is not what this post is about. Once a run play is read, both safeties reaction should be the same, they should attack the LOS attempting to get to linebacker (LB) depth as the play is developing. The BRC safety, once he's diagnosed the play is away from, will begin his thought process of boot, reverse, and finally cutback. This safety must be more patient than the force-side safety as he has more to account for. Let's break these assignments down individually by the reads and reactions and thought processes.
Boot The bootleg play is meant to make over aggressive attacking-style defenses pay for their aggressiveness. It can make even the fastest, defenses humble in their attack on an offense. Against teams with a good runner at QB, the boot play takes on even new dangers, that if not attacked properly, can lead to big gains against your defense. So what is the back side safety looking for on runs away from him? Well, his first thought is to check for the boot, how does he do this...by looking for any action opposite of the initial run read. As the BRC safety screws down to LB depth, he looks for any action coming back his way, such as a pulling guard, or a fullback (FB) sneaking out into the flats. These keys tell him, that a bootleg play is developing, and he should react accordingly. Once the boot has been read, this backside safety will "rob" any crossing routes coming back to his side. Now, if set to the TE side, this read is very simple, as the #2 receiver will have declared he's running a route, and the safety can use his Quarters coverage keys to react accordingly to this route. The problem area, is when the offense boots to the weak side of the offensive formation. The #2 receiver, for the weak safety (WS) is in the backfield. So once boot is read, this safety will settle his feet and get his eyes inside looking for any potential crossing route (usually a drag route by the inside receiver, but other routes can go with this bootleg concept). Once this crossing route has been spied, he will cover this receiver man to man.
Reverse Reverse plays are also play meant to hurt over aggressive, fast-pursuing defenses. These plays prey on the defenses willingness to run to the football. The BRC safety can be the single player that still allows the front seven to relentlessly pursue the football, even on plays that attempt to use this over aggressiveness against them. Again, with any run play, the BRC safety will screw down to LB depth, and will again look for action coming back his way. The reverse can be much more difficult to diagnose than the bootleg play mentioned above. The reason is, most teams run this play without a puller, or use a "circle" block by the tackle to the side the reverse is being run to. This block, and the fact the runner is usually coming from the complete opposite side of the formation from where the BRC player is aligned, can be very difficult. This is where coaches have to train patience. Over aggressive safeties are a Quarters coach's worst nightmare. A reverse that goes for a long gain, or even worse, a touchdown, can be extremely demoralizing to your defense. Again, you can see the purpose and importance of the back side safety in Quarters coverage.
Once the reverse is read, the safety should now take an angle that allows him to be the force player to his side of the defense. A key coaching point here, is that if the safety feels he has allowed himself to squeezed down to a point where he is in danger of being outflanked by the runner, he should run laterally and even slightly away from the ball carrier's path. This will allow him to make up some ground, while being in the runner's vision, and potentially allowing pursuit from the interior of the defense to redirect and pursue the football. A poor angle against a reverse play is no different than any other poor angle of attack. The BRC safety should be schooled on taking these proper angles to force the ballcarrier back into the pursuit of the defense.
Cutback Cutback is probably the most essential task the BRC safety has to do when attacking runs away from his side. This part of his job, allows the LB's in the defense to vacate back side gaps, and run to the football. It allows defensive ends (DE's), who have been taught the laws of the block-down, step-down (BDSD) turn loose and scream down the LOS chasing a potential ball carrier. The LB and DE's are player who need to be aggressive and attacking all the time. It is my philosophy to let these players run, don't give them rules or reads that slow them down, get them to the damn football! Sorry, and I digress. The BRC safety, once he's settled to LB level and sees no action coming back his way, can now get into the run fit of the defense. The illustrations shown here are from the Miami Over front, but can be utilized with any defense that employs a Quarters coverage scheme. The safety should attack his gap, keeping his outside arm free when encountering any blockers. This allows him to still play the spill on counter plays where the DE will spill (or as we call it "splatter") the pulling guard.
I have run the stats after a game and found that after our middle linebacker (MLB), or one of the DE's the BRC safety is usually second or third in tackles on the team. Again, this is usually against power running teams, but because I preach such an aggressive attacking style, this safety sees a lot of one-on-one action as the cutback player. This is also why it important to note, I tried to put 2 of my best tackling defensive backs (DB's) at these positions as they saw a lot of open-field, one-on-one tackling.
Now that we've seen the proper way to play the back side safety in a Quarters coverage scheme, let's see some of the common mistakes made by these players as well. Not to dwell on the bad, always remember, these things can be coached and worked in practice, so don't fret if your safeties don't get their run fits right away, keep repping them in practice and they'll get it!
Boot-Problems The problem area, when facing the bootleg play, was that the backside safety is over aggressive and gets into his cutback run fit far too early in the development of the play. This allows for the safety to be too far underneath the drag route coming across the formation. The safety should "ideally" be at the top of the curl when this route appears, however if he's over aggressive, he's usually already in what I term the five-yard no cover area (from the LOS to 5 yards depth, we DO NOT cover routes in this area) and cannot get back in time to defend, what is an easy throw for the QB.
The other problem some safeties have is they take too flat of an angle, or even take a steep angle when they see run action away. This poor angle, allows the crossing route to be open, as the safety is too far over the top of this route to be of any effect. Again, patience is the key here, the safety has to be patient when making his reads so he can be in good position to defend the crossing routes on the bootleg play.
Reverse-Problems The problems with the reverse are exactly the same as that of the bootleg, and it deals with over aggressiveness and improper angles. The fortunate thing about the bootleg, is your defense has a player dedicated to containing the bootleg, so that ample pressure can be applied to the QB, possibly forcing a bad throw. With the reverse, there is no extra "help" player, and a mistake or poor angle here, leads to big gains and possible touchdowns. The more critical error here is the safety being too far inside to help on the reverse, which puts him immediately out leveraged by the ball carrier. A flat angle, although bad, can still be something the safety can recover from.
Cutback-Problems The biggest problem safeties have on the cutback run is missed tackles. Once again, your safety is one-on-one with, often-times, one of your opponent's best ball players. This is why, when selecting safety personnel, it is critical to put some of your best athletes at this position. Another problem, is once again, a poor angle taken on the initial read by the safety. If the BRC safety takes too steep an angle, putting him on a course away from the LOS, or flat to the LOS, he cannot effectively become your ninth man in the box. This puts your run defense one man down, in a critical area and allows for some of the biggest, most deadly of plays in all of football...the cutback run. Lastly, safeties that get a slow, or unclear read, may not be at LB depth when the ball declares to their side. What this does, is gives the ball carrier a two-way go to make the safety miss. If the safety were at proper depth, he would have help from the back side DE screaming down the LOS. Being too deep, allows the ball carrier the use of angles to make the safety and the DE miss. The run play may not go out the gate, but will usually lend itself to being a play that gashes the defense, and records groans from your fans. This is why the BRC player, MUST attain LB depth on run plays, it allows him to reduce any cutback angles that may be present, and allows the DE to assist the safety in corralling the ball carrier.
These problems can all be fixed or alleviated by simply involving your safeties in your inside run drill. Safeties should always be involved in the inside run drill when facing two and three back run teams. Think of your safeties as extra outside linebackers (OLB's) when facing these types of teams and involve them in the drills you use to prepare your front to defend. It can be tough attempting to watch two different safeties on opposite sides of the ball, but when watching inside run drill, concentrate on that back side safety and how he reacts to runs away from him. The force player in inside run drill is obviously moot, but that BRC safety can get some good work in this drill.
Another drill, that can be used is a drill I simply call the "bags" drill. We set up 6 agility pads on the ground to represent the five offensive linemen (OL) and the TE. We then put 2 running backs (RB's) in the backfield and then we place our "rabbit" as I call it. This is a player aligned anywhere from in the backfield to along the offensive line. What we do is this, we have plays where all 3 players go in the same direction, indicating a run play to one side of the offense. This allows you to see your safeties reactions, and work on the BRC safeties run fit. After we rep this a few times, we then move into the part of the drill where only two of the defenders move in one direction with the other player moving in the opposite direction. You can either do this with direct action, or counter action, whatever you see fit to coach up in your defense. This teaches the BRC safety to see the action opposite of his initial read action, and then fit accordingly. What you are looking for here, is the safety being patient with his run read, and taking the proper steps and angles to maintain his leverage on his three back side threats (boot/reverse/cutback).
"Control...you must learn control..."
It is in my experience, after basing out of Quarters, or similar schemes that involve safety run support that the teaching of the force player is by far the simplest of skills the safety will master. Breakdowns on the force side occur much less, whereas the back side safety is critical to keeping the ball carrier "bottled up" within the confines of the front seven. Don't negate your back side safety and critique him often, letting him know just how important his role in the defense is.
Midline, is probably my favorite power play in all of football. It combines the power running game of the I formation and the option reads associated with triple option offenses. Midline can frustrate even the best defensive coaches and teams. Midline gives the option offense the "in your face" right at you power offense that some option offenses seem to lack. If you already run the triple option, then midline is a must in your offense.
The Basics
Midline has many variations (as we'll see) but in a nutshell, it is an option play that hits in either the A gap or the B gap of the defense. The quarterback (QB) will read the first down lineman from the A gap out as the handoff key (HOK). The QB will give the ball to the fullback (FB) every time unless the HOK comes down to take the FB. If the HOK does take the FB, then the QB will replace the HOK and run the ball into the B gap. The aiming point for the FB is the "brown spot" (use your imagination fellas) of the center. If he gets the football he should be taught to "bend" the ball back in behind the HOK. If the play results in a pull read, he is to absorb the HOK as he runs his dive course. The perimeter blocking is where the bulk of the variations lie with the Midline play, however Midline may be run as both a double and a triple option.
The blocking for the offensive line is very simple, and here is an excerpt from an option playbook on how the offensive line should block the play:
Playside Tackle (PST)- On to the outside (don't allow defender to cross face).
Playside Guard (PSG)- Inside gap, Ace to backside linebacker (LB).
Center- On, backside gap, Over.
Backside Guard (BSG)- Scoop (Inside gap to backside LB).
Backside Tackle (BST)- Hinge, protect B gap run-through.
The Many Faces of Midline
For me, midline was not just one play, but one play with tons of variations. I'm going to elaborate on the many variations to one of the greatest plays in all of football.
Midline Blast
The blast play is often times referred to as the midline lead play. This is option football and power football meshed into one. On the blast play, the reads for the QB and the path for the FB are unaltered. The perimeter blocking for this play is what is key. Both slots will insert themselves into the B gap. The backside slot back (BSSB) will go into "tail" motion and will lead through the B gap, and is taught to block the outside 1/2 of the B gap, or the B gap to the outside (however you prefer to teach it). The playside slot back (PSSB) will insert or fold into the B gap, and will block the inside 1/2 of the B gap. The blast play is a great short yardage play and is also very effective on the goalline. This is the first midline play I install in my Flexbone offense.
Midline Blast
Midline Seal
Many defenses have their LB's key the slot back's movements and react accordingly (you can go here and here to learn more about how the 4-3 defense does this very thing). This can really make running the blast play, mentioned above, very trying for the offense. So what is the offense to do? Give the LB's false keys! All the rules for blocking are the exact same except for the slot backs'. The BSSB, will still tail motion and insert into the B gap, however he has the entire B gap to himself. The PSSB will, instead of folding, load, or seal block the playside LB. This keeps the playside LB from being able to collapse down inside and clog up any inside running lanes. The Midline Seal is a very simple and easy addition to the Midline run game.
Midline Seal/Load
Midline Fold
The fold play is another variation of the Midline that plays on the keys and reads of the LB's and secondary. Some secondaries will have their safeties cross key the slots, and when they see a slot insert, the safety will also insert himself into the inside run gap. With the Fold play, the PSSB will fold or insert into the B gap, blocking the first threat to show in the B gap. The BSSB is simply a decoy, he will go into tail motion and on the snap will simply run the pitch course, thereby drawing the safety outside and away from where the ball is being run. This is a great compliment if you run a lot of midline triple option (or as some call it mid-veer). This is also a great play to run with "twirl" motion to counteract any defenses that like to jump the motion associated with the Flexbone offense. Again, as you can clearly see, the Fold play is an easy addition to your Midline arsenal, by simply changing a few rules, you can really distort a defense's reads and keys.
Midline Fold
Midline Triple
The Midline Triple Option, or mid-veer as some refer to it, is one of the hardest plays in all of football to defend. This is a great play against odd front defenses that choose to use the Double Eagle, or Double 4I look to take away the Inside Veer (ISV) play. Mid-veer is so quick, it's perimeter component resembles that of the Rocket Toss play. Here are the rules for the Mid-Veer:
PST: Playside LB to near safety (easiest release veer or loop).
PSG: Inside gap, playside LB, backside LB to safety.
C: On, backside gap, backside LB.
BSG: playside gap, on, over.
BST: "Smart scoop".
PSWR: Stalk block.
PSSB: Arc block #3 in the count.
BSWR: Cut-off block
BSSB: No motion, run pitch course be ready for quick pitch.
FB: Midline path, run through playside cheek of center. If the ball is given, get in behind the HOK. If there is an auto-disconnect, lead up and block the near LB.
QB: Step away at 1/11 o'clock with first step. Read the first down lineman from the A gap out for the
handoff key. Give the ball every time unless the HOK takes the B back. If you get a pull read read the
PK whether to keep or pitch it. More than likely this will be a pitch. If PK on the LOS read PK through HOK and be ready to disconnect and pitch immediately.
As a side note, the term "smart scoop" is a term used by some Flexbone teams which simply tells the backside tackle to protect the B gap with zone blocking instead of hinge blocking.
Mid-veer
My favorite part of Mid-veer is that there is no motion. This is an even better play when run with twirl motion, as you can catch the defense rotating in the opposite direction from where you plan on running a triple option play!
The drawbacks to the Mid-veer are that the pull-n-pitch by the QB can be instantaneous. This can be a quick, and very tough read. The Mid-veer is a high risk, high reward play, that if executed properly, can lead to some big gains for the offense.
So, there you have it! Midline is not only one of the best plays in all of football, with a few tweaks it can also be one of the most versatile plays in all of football. If you are only running one version of the midline, you are sorely missing out on some grand opportunities at one of the most versatile plays in all of football!
Sorry to jump topics so much, but it keeps you on your toes. I'm still working on the 2nd series in the Sprintout Passing from the Flexbone topic. I had a post I wrote a while back and I thought I'd share it. It's on the many faces of the midline. Sorry to jump around so much, hope it doesn't bother anyone too bad.
"We've got a sprinter...5'5..hair unkempt...portly..."
Most coaches know when they are defending a Flexbone offense they are going to have to stop the run. Most Flexbone coaches will tell you, their passing games are very simple due to the amount of time it takes to coach the inside veer (ISV), midline, and some of the various other double options that come with the offense. A good Flexbone passing game is one that is simple, utilizes quick routes, playaction, and my favorite, sprintout. Why should you as a Flexbone coach utilize the sprintout game? Well, let's take a look at that a little closer shall we?
The quarterback (QB) in the Flexbone is usually your best pure athlete on the field. He needs to be a great runner, and manager of the game. This offense relies heavily on the play of the QB. Since most Flexbone QB's are very good runners the sprintout game makes sense. The advantages are:
By moving the QB and the pocket, the blocking is less stressful on linemen who are used to run blocking.
By putting the QB, who is probably one of your best athletes on the field, on the run it allows him to attack the defense both through the air, and on the ground with the threat of the QB scrambling.
Most passing concepts into sprintout action are some type of flood concept. Since most defenses play zone coverage against the Flexbone, this provides for ways to attack the soft spots in zone coverages.
Moving the QB and reducing the amount of the field he has to see or read leads to easier throws for a QB who is probably not as prolific a passer as the pro or spread style of QB.
Obviously there are some drawbacks to sprinting out when passing, but to be honest, they are negligible. The sprintout passing game goes with the Flexbone offense like Buckwheat did with Alfalfa! Now, if you start looking and digging into old playbooks, you will find a myriad of sprintout concepts. What I wanted to do in this article was share with you the concepts that I utilized when coaching in this offense. My sprintout passing game is not complicated, but very effective.
Otay!!!
I sprinted into the Flexbone Trips formation over 85% of the time (data came from self-scouting). Now, this is not a problem as I ran the Trips formation over 37% of the time when on offense (go here to read about utilizing the Trips formation in the Flexbone offense). We would also motion into trips from either our base double slot formation, or from our Twins formation. We wanted 2 receivers over to the sprintout side at all times, however you CAN sprintout into 1 receiver sets as well and really fool the defense, but that's for another post all together.
Double Slot
Twins Formation
Trips
Let's talking about the blocking first. Since you build a house from the ground up, the foundation of any offensive scheme is the offensive line (OL). Our pass protection was simple, we called it "ass to the passer". Most coaches know it as turn back or hinge protection. Our offensive linemen, upon the snap, would take a zone step to the playside, punching and engaging any defender on their playside shoulder. They would then drop their backside foot (foot away from the play) and "hinge", completely facing away from the direction the QB was going. Each lineman was responsible for any defender in their backside gap. If no defender showed, they "floated" or "drifted" into the backfield looking for any backside leakage or blitzer. Simple, and very easy to coach, that was the game plan when it came to our pass protection scheme.
Hinge Protection
Continuing along the blocking topic, the edge of the offense is very important when sprinting out, and here is what we did to set the edge. The inside slot, would execute a technique exactly the same as the offensive linemen. He had the C gap defender. If no defender showed, after a 2 count, he released on a shallow flat route (beginning in the backfield and working to a depth of no greater than 3 yards). This allowed the QB to have a third option to throw to when sprinting out, and was a very easy throw. If a C gap defender showed, the slot stayed on the block the duration of the play and did not release into the route. The fullback (FB) would arc release flat and to the outside in the direction of the play and would attempt to hook any outside rusher. If he could not hook him, he simply widened this defender, or as some coaches term it, he "kicked him out". These two blocks are very critical in getting your QB to the "edge".
The QB would drop back from under center for a 3 step drop, opening to the side we were sprinting to. This did two things, it allowed the rushers to get upfield, instead of lateral cutting down on their pursuit angles and basically "baiting" them into getting blocked. Second it forced zone defenders into standard zone drop angles, again reducing their chance of flying over to the side being threatened by the sprintout. Once his third step was in the ground, the QB then began to roll out to the sideline by pushing off his upfield foot at an angle working him not only deeper into the backfield, but now lateral to the sideline. As the QB did this his eyes progressed down the field looking for his primary read. Once the QB had cleared the FB's block (if it was a hook block) he then progressed to working downhill back to the line of scrimmage (LOS). This allowed the QB to attack the LOS forcing underneath zone players to either abandon coverage and be at risk of having an open receiver, or sit back in coverage and be at risk of the QB running the football. I did not over coach this technique either, I let the QB "feel" out the defense. If he felt he could run, we simply told him "run to daylight". I've heard some coaches tell their QB to work to the sideline if they choose to run the ball, however some of our biggest gains on these plays were when the QB actually cut back into the middle of the defense.
The wide receivers (WR's) to the play side would simply run the called or tagged routes. The backside receiver always ran what we called a sail route working to a depth of 10 to 12 yards and coming flat across the field. Over the years I have utilized several route concepts, but there are three in particular that were very successful for me that I will share with you here.
Smash
Smash
The Smash concept is nothing new to football, the Flexbone, or any Run-and-Shoot style of offense. As a matter of fact, you can watch film of a lot high school football teams and see Smash game show it's ugly head on any give Friday night. Our concept was simple, the outside receiver to the sprintout side ran the deep hitch route. Now we didn't get complex with it, around 10 yards and sit down. If the defender is inside of you, work outside, and if he's outside work inside. I'm no Mike Leach, and I hope you weren't expecting that, especially from a guy who ran the Flexbone! The inside receiver pushed to a 10 yard depth and would break on a steep angle working over the top of the hitch route putting the corner to that side in a considerable bind. The QB read "high to low" for us. If the corner bailed out, we looked to the hitch, if the hitch was covered look to the delay route by the inside slot. If all three were covered, run the ball. That simple folks! Of my three favorite concepts, Smash was the least run of all 3.
Gambler
Gambler
I found this concept in Georgia Tech's playbook a few years back and was kicking myself for not running it more! In the Gambler route concept, the outside receiver will take the top off the coverage by running a takeoff route. The slot will run what some term a "Whip" route, or a "Pigtail" route. The Whip route is very critical in the Gambler concept. If the flat defender squeezes down inside, the receiver is to ride him down inside until the defender has opened his hips and is running with the receiver. Once this happens, the slot will plant and turn to face the QB, and then work to gain ground getting depth away from the LOS. It is very critical that this route not be run flat, as it will work too close to the delay route being run by the inside slot. If the flat defender does not bite, the slot will settle in the curl and then work lateral to the QB, maintaining inside leverage on the flat defender. This concept of "sitting down" in the void is two-fold. First, it keeps the slot in an open hole in the zone coverage, thereby making the throw by the QB easier. Second, if the QB decides to run the ball, the slot is in perfect position to not only block the flat defender, but LEVEL the flat defender! Gambler is a very good concept to run vs. Cover 2 teams and 2 read teams that key the #2 receiver with their corners. The corner will see the WR disappear inside and will think he has no immediate threat to the flat and will then run with #1's route. This creates a very large void into the flat zone. This is also a good concept against teams that send the playside LB to contain the QB (especially the 4-2/4-4 or 5-2 teams). These teams will ask the backside LB to roll over and work hook to curl, which is not a bad concept, but poorly timed zone drops can lead to the Whip route being open in the curl zone.
Comeback
The Comeback...my favorite!
The Comeback concept got so many first downs for me in my two-minute offense we termed it "money". This route concept is literally like stealing. The only teams I have seen defend this, currently have a safety playing for the University of Miami! Comeback is just like it says, one of the routes, either inside or outside is going to be a comeback route. We tagged which receiver would run the route, but an amazing 88% of the time it was the outside reciever. The outside receiver would push to a depth of 16 to 18 yards or until he felt he had the corner running with him at full speed. The WR would then drop his hips, plant on his inside foot, and work back to the LOS. Once he had worked back 5 yards from his break point the WR would then flatten out to the sidelines. We told our WR's, if it was third down, work back toward the first down marker and settle one yard beyond the marker. The slot receiver would run a takeoff route and would squeeze toward the sideline if we were facing a middle of the field open (MOFO) concept. This put the safety in a bind when facing Cover 2 teams that liked to have the corner trail the outside receiver and "sit" on the comeback route. If we were playing a middle of the field closed defense (MOFC) then the slot attempted to run his route directly down the seam or splitting the difference between the corner and the safety. Again, this put both the corner and the safety in a bind when trying to get to this route.
We did have the ability to mix some things in where we tagged the inside receiver to run the comeback route and the outside reciever would then run the takeoff. This combination can be very effective against quarters coverage schemes where the corner is man on the #1 reciever and gets run off, and the safety has all of #2 vertical. With a route pushing to 16 yards of depth that safety is going to lock on man to man, with inside leverage. The safety is out leveraged to defend the comeback route by the inside receiver. The fact that there were no other routes attacking the flats had the curl/flat defender held inside most of the time and created a huge void in the flat area.
Z comeback
All of these concepts are easily installed and repped. I did not get anywhere near as complicated as those guys with the first name "Mouse" or last name Mumme, however the concepts were effective enough to put the defense in a considerable bind when attempting to defend our offense.
Part I of this article focused on protection, routes and scheme. The second part is going to focus on the throwback screen and sprint draw concepts that will leave the defense defenseless!!! Keep tuned in for more!
