Tools of the Trade: Six-Man Slide Pass Protection (Half and Full Slide Protections)

I figured I  would stay on the OL kick I am on and talk about the next progression in pass protection, the 6-man protection. This is typically the protection you will see for the majority of pass plays in a game. The nice thing about a 6-man protection is it is good for multiple types of passing and gives you a sound way to protect your QB.

Slide protection works in the same light as zone blocking, where you are responsible for a gap or zone, not a man. The zone/gap responsibility helps pick up stunts or blitzes that the defense will try to throw at your pass protection. The key is to keep the shoulders square, take your steps, and take what comes into your gap.

The technique that you use on Slide protection depends on what position you play. If you are a Tackle to the call side, you will usually kick one step wide and start to vertical set. You do not want to get too wide and leave a lane for a blitzer to run through. The Guard and Center will kick one step to the call side, but will limit their vertical set due to them being right in front of QB. If the back side Guard is uncovered, he will post set and become part of the slide. He wants to post set because if a defender slants/blitzes his way, his backside foot is back and ready to wall off to the backside of the formation. Again, do not want to vertical set too much with that post set because you are right in front of the QB. We are vertical setting on the slide because of all the possible stunts/blitzes that side may have to pick up, so we want space and time to see the defense play out its scheme and react to it.

So what about the back side of a Half Slide protection? It is Man protection with the RB filling the open gaps, inside out. If the backside Guard is covered, he will be man on with whatever defender is covering him. He will either post/vert set a defender head up or inside, or kick and vert set an outside shade. The backside Tackle is always be man on and will block the defender covering him. He will post/vert set an inside shade defender on him, head up defender on him, or if a 2 tech /3 tech defender is on the Guard. He will post/vert on a 2tech /3 tech side because of stunts/blitz pick up and passing off of defenders. If he has an outside shade and no 2 tech / 3 tech, he will just kick set to take the End. The RB will fill in the gaps backside, looking up any LBs looking to blitz. If no blitz, the RB will help the BSG or BST with their blocks.

If you are doing a full slide, the call side does what I discussed above, but now the backside Guard and Tackle are both post setting with minimal vertical setting. The RB will now come off of the BST's butt and take whatever shows on the edge (an End or LB). A full slide is great against heavy stunt/blitzing teams, but you need to trust your RB blocking anyone on the defense and sometimes the blocking can not hold up long as long as Half-Slide (more quick game, then 5-7 step drop back passing).

I am going to follow a similar format like the Empty Pass Protection article, with showing the protection against a 3-man front, 4-man front, then finally a 5-man front.

Also, I am going to explain everything first as a Half-Slide protection (Slide call side, Man backside), but show at the end how the Full-Slide protection fits in against each front.

3-Man Fronts

The first thing that with an odd man front, the BSG will be become part of the slide since he will be uncovered. You will have 4 guys making a wall with the slide. The BSG will help seal the nose with the Center and the Tackle will be making sure the OLB or Safety isn't coming on a blitz off the edge. The RB back is stepping up checking ILB to OLB to any Safety.

With the 3-4, you should be pick up any stunt/blitz to the slide side, but the issue is on the backside. Because you only have a Tackle and a RB versus an End and 2 LBs, they could send 1 extra defender that we cannot block. That is where built in hot routes and game planning comes into play.

With a 3-3, you will be able to block the box defenders no problem. The CST and CSG have the stack to the call side, the C and BSG have the stack in the middle, and the BST and RB has the back side stack. The problem is that there is no one to take the safeties off the edge if they blitz as well. If they blitz, but the OLB doesn't, we are fine. If that happens to the call side, the Guard takes the End and the Tackle takes the Safety. If it happens backside, the Tackle will stay with his man (the End) and the RB will work himself out to get the safety. It is when the interior 6 blitz and they bring a safety as a 7th blitzer. Again, hot routes and game planning is vital for a team that shows that willingness to bring 7 on a play.

If you want a full slide for the quick game passing or you want a "gap" call if the blitzing gets heavy, this is what you will end up with. There is really nothing wrong with running full slide for any pass play, but the key question you have to ask yourself is "Do I trust my RB blocking a DL?" I have had RBs in the past that could do that, so I ran full slide protection a lot because our guys had trouble with Man protection. It really comes down to personnel.

4-Man Fronts

This is where your backside man protection is going to be critical. Most times with a 4 man front, your BSG and BST will have to man protection. You get all kinds of stunts and blitzes to that side to try to confuse the protection. If you have not figured it out, most defenses are going to try to overload the man side of the Half-Slide protection or away from the slide on a Full-Slide protection.

With the 4-3 defense, the OLBs will be wide against a spread formation like a 2x2 set. You get a 5 man box with potentially 2 edge blitzers. Other formations will allow an OLB to come back into the box, so one LB is responsible for A gap and the other is responsible for the B gap on the other side.

The problem area with this defense is if they send the OLB to the 3 tech side and the Mike. It doesn't matter if the slide is sent to that side or not, that OLB will be an overload to that side, so a hot route needs to be built in or other game planning must be done to minimize his ability to blitz.

Another issue to address is the 3/5 tech side of the 4-3 because of their ability to stunt so easily. If the slide is sent to them, then its not as much of an issue because the slide does a good job of picking up stunts. It is a problem when its to the man protection side because the Guard and Tackle have to vert set to get on the same level to work the twist stunts and pass off their guys.

When going against a 4-2/4-4 defense, the same issues the 4-3 presented are present with this style of 4-man front. You will get either a 3/1(2i) tech with the DTs or stacked DTs/LBs in 2 techs. You will have OLBs/Safeties on either edge of the front. We have enough people to block the box defenders, but if either OLB or Safety blitzes, we are outnumbered. Once again, a hot route or game plan must be in place to take care of this situation.

With the T-E stunt, the Guard and Tackle must post/vert set to get in position to take on the stunt. Once the Tackle realizes the End is twisting, he must find the DT and smash into him. That should bump the Guard off of the DT and into the path of twisting DE. I tell my guys who has a looper/twister to find the next DL and smash into him and bump your man into the looper/twister. So that could be any OL that has to smash and bump, like Centers with Guards or Guards with Tackles.

You can also Full-Slide protect vs a 4-man front, but be aware of your RB probably having to block a DE on the edge. If the DE is a stud pass rusher, that is probably not a good choice.

5-Man Fronts

Really? A 5-man front? Yes, I will always cover this because I saw it in a game I coached in and the Ohio State Buckeyes got beat by it when Virginia Tech used it against them. We are looking at a Double Eagle/Bear front designed to take away the run game and pressure you. 

To block this with just 6 guys, you are going to have to Full-Slide the protection and hope you can take up 2 guys with one block because of how jammed in the DL is. If you want to make sure you go everyone covered, you have to bring in a TE or H-back to help block. That is something you could do with any of these defenses if the team is bringing 7 every play. Just have him in the backfield to fill with the RB or have him on the line and become part of a Full-Slide.

There is the basics of a 6-Man Slide Protection. There are definitely ways to beat this protection, but the key is to know what a defense has to do to beat it and game plan to punish them if they try to do that. This is a solid option for the bulk of your passing and gives you plenty of protection to get the passing game done.

Hope you enjoyed the read and the next OL topic will probably be Sprint Out protection.

Tools of the Trade: Empty Pass Protection

Empty Pass Protection...the easiest hard thing an OL will ever have to do (LOL!!!).

It is easy usually because the protection is run from an empty formation and the defense usually adjusts their alignment to cover the receivers versus bringing exotic blitzes. That makes the reads and rules for the OL easy and the execution of the protection usually has a high percentage of success, unless you are playing against a talented pass rusher.

So what is the hard part? It is when the DC decides to be a wise guy and bring a bunch of crazy blitzes where any one defender could be coming from any angle. It can also be difficult if you are playing a really talented team that decides to run man across the board and brings 6 pass rushers every play. So now the QB has to find a quick route that can get open against man and actually throw it in a tight window.

The difficulty can also come from your own team. Your wise guy OC may decide to run a empty pass concept from a normal formation. Just imagine a Pro formation and all 5 eligible receivers release on a route...do you think the defense is necessary anticipating such a play? Probably not, but that is probably when the wise guy DC decides to bring the house and your QB has to drop back and make a read with the entire front 7 blitzing.

Empty pass protection requires a lot of communication and all heads on a swivel. It really is the true test of an OL and their ability to work together, especially when the defense gets fancy with their blitz. The OL and QB need to understand the design of the formation/play so they know where they have advantages or disadvantages. There are going to be times where the OL will have to let someone go and so the OL needs to know who to let go and the QB needs to know who will be the free defender.

When start talking about Empty pass protection, I give my guys a little geometry/physics lesson first. What is the quickest route to a destination? A straight line. As you move outside, away from the football, the distance of the straight line gets longer (triangles) and thus takes more time to travel (time = distance/speed) Also, as you move back, away from the football, the distance of the straight line gets longer and requires more time.

So after that talk, usually the OL gets the idea of where the priorities are: inside out, with the guys on the line being the first priority and the second level defenders being second priority. The more time it takes to get the QB, the more time the QB has to throw the ball...so take away the quickest routes to QB.


So here is the steps an OL must take when empty pass protection is called:

1) Widen splits a little

2) Identify 3 WR side

3) Identify Down players

4) Identify MDM (Most Dangerous Men)

5) Draw conclusions and COMMUNICATE!!!


The widening of splits should make sense...the wider I can get the DL to align, the more time I create for QB.

The identification of the 3 WR side is because if you get an extra outside rush from that side, that should lead to an easy completion (so we have a low priority to block that rusher, QB will take care of him).

What is a Down player? Anyone that aligns on or near the LOS. So anyone with their hand in the dirt is a down player, but also a LB walked up on the LOS is a Down player. WE MUST BLOCK DOWN DEFENDERS FIRST!!! The priority with Down players is inside out, so sometimes an end can be left unblocked if there are 6 Down players ( the goal is to leave the end to the 3 WR side free due to our possible advantage to that side).

What if a Down player backs out into coverage? Who ever was in charge of blocking that Down player must now drop and scan inside out for MDM. If you do not have an immediate threat by a Down player, you will take a post step inside and vertical set, scanning inside out for the most dangerous threat to your side. It could be a MLB, OLB. or even a safety blitzing off the edge.

Finally, all the OL must decide who they must block or set to block and then communicate to one another who has who or signal a MDM that may come down to become a Down player. Everyone needs to be on the same page before the ball is snapped.

Obviously, the fundamentals of pass protection are in play with this protection and must be followed as far as Stance, Steps, and Strike. Here is my article on those 3 S's of Pass Protection.

I am going to give you some examples of where the 5 steps are used to identify the OL responsibilities and then are executed:

3-Man Fronts

With any 3-Man front, you are probably looking at BOB blocking by the Center and Tackles and the Guards will be post/vert setting, scanning inside out for any blitzers. If no blitz comes, then the Guards will find work and help one of the BOB blockers.

If a LB walks up to the line to blitz, then a couple of things can be called. If it is an ILB, then the Guard to that side should take him with BOB blocking. If it is an OLB that his outside of the OT, then the OT should call "Overhang". From there, either the T and G can slide protect if they feel no threat from the inside or the G can post/vert set to get the OLB. The post/vert set is overall safer, but if the OLB is fast and athletic, you better get a good set.

If 2 LBs walk up to the line to blitz on the same side, a gap call can be made. That will slide the OL to a side and the backside OT will post/vert set and take first threat. The slide can be called to a specific side or always away from trips side of formation. The slide/gap call can be game planned on where the slide goes.

If they are bringing the house and we are not sure who blitzing or where they are blitzing, we are all going to post/vert set and take the interior 5 defenders that come (a "Safe" call). Some of the line will end up BOB blocking, others will be vertical setting and picking up an outside rush.

4-Man Fronts

With any 4-Man front, you are probably looking at BOB blocking by the entire line, except for whoever is not covered by the Nose. Whoever is not covered, will be post/vert set to help with Nose, then look ILB(s) to OLBs.

If a LB walks up to blitz, then a couple of things can be called, depending on the defensive alignment. If it is a 5 man box, then the uncovered OL will help pick up the LB, either with BOB blocking or sliding to pick it up. If the LB is blitzing from outside, then a gap call can be made to pick it up.

If 2 LBs walk to the line to blitz, a gap call can be made. With the gap call, things are slightly different with a 4-Man front. If the slide is called to the 3 tech side, the BSG will slide and the BST will post/vert set to take 1st inside threat. If the slide is called to the shade/2i, the BSG has to now post/vert set to account for him being covered by a down defender. A general rule for a BSG with slide protection is that if you are covered you are either BOB or post/vert set; if you are uncovered, you become part of the slide. The BST will always be BOB or post/vert set on a slide protection.

Again, if all else fails and they look like they are bringing the house, call "Safe" and take the interior 5 defenders and work out.

5-Man Fronts

Well...not much you or the defense can do there! LOL, I am only putting this in because I have actually seen this is in a game before. We are talking about a double eagle look, sometimes with a single LB stacked over Nose. The only thing is to go BOB across the board or go "Safe" in case you think the LB might blitz with a stunt. Gap can be called but it will put BST in a tough spot.

You have some calls at your disposal, depending on the situation. If you are not sure exactly what the defense is doing, then just call "Safe" and everyone will work inside out.

Bottom line...you have to be able to communicate and work together to get the job done with Empty Pass Protection. The QB has to understand the limitations of the protection and who could possibly be left unblocked.

Next time, I will be looking at 6-Man protections and how they are used. Some basic fundamentals of Empty pass protection carries over to the 6-Man protection.

Tools of the Trade: The 3 S's of Pass Protection

Just like any other position on the field, an offensive lineman requires a certain set of skills. I have played the position and coached the position for 15+ years and I think the hardest skill for lineman to pick up is pass protection skills.

It's like when Woody Hayes explained passing the football as "3 things can happen when you pass, and 2 of them are bad"...the same holds true with pass protection. You are talking about being able to go 1 on 1 with a defender and prevent him from getting to a semi-stationary target, who may not be looking at the defender.

A lot can go bad there!!!

Step the wrong way, lunge for the defender, kick too far, or give up too much ground...those all lead to a really bad thing! Your QB getting whacked by the defender or by you being destroyed by the defender.

At least with the run game, if you get off the ball and are aggressive, you can squeak out success a little. Run blocking does have its technique, but it has much more flexibility just for the sheer fact that person you are blocking for is running and trying to look for the defense and get away. There is a lot more room for error in the run blocking department versus pass blocking.

I feel like it takes way more time to teach the techniques of pass protection and how to fine tune them, compared to the techniques of run blocking. The kid has to find the right balance of stance/posture, steps, and striking. You put too much weight on one leg or strike too soon, you may put yourself in a position to get beat and get your QB killed.

So where does this process start? The 3 S's of Pass Protection.

 STANCE

When you are looking at Stance, you have to decide if your OL will be in a 2 point stance or 3 point stance. The factors to determine that are talent level and offensive scheme, mostly. If a kid can run and pass block effectively out of a 2 point stance, then that's fine. My personal experience has shown me that not many HS OL can do that effectively and so I am really not a fan of the 2 point stance. Most HS OL cannot generate enough power out of a 2 point stance and false step a lot more when it comes to run blocking  (big no-no!). Some schemes dictate a 3 point stance due to nature of offense (Wing-T offense) and some coaches just prefer it in certain situations. Alex Gibbs was one that preferred that his guards were always in a 3 point and his tackles were in a 3 point if they had a TE next to them. No TE, they had the choice of 2 point if they could do it.


I am one of those coaches that does not like to mess a kid's stance too much if it is not needed. If the kid cannot get out of his stance properly to execute all the blocks, then I change some things. If he can do all that, then I leave it alone. So I do not get fancy with what hand is down in the stance or things like that. I want the kid to be comfortable and able to move effectively.


Once the player starts to step, his posture throughout his footwork is key. Especially, with drop back passing, you want your OL to "sit back in the chair". Knees bent with hips underneath him, his chest needs to be up and pointed at the defender, shoulders square and facing forward, and his back flat, like its resting against the back of a chair. His weight must be distributed evenly throughout the posture, so he is not knocked down forward (leaning forward too much) or backward (too much weight on heels).

STEPS

This is where things start to be real critical. These steps are going to be key to your OL being able to get off the ball quick enough and position himself into position to protect the QB.

The most fundamental idea an OL needs to understand about any pass protection is the half-a-man concept. You always want to attack one half of the defender, so  you do not give him a 2 way go around you. Usually, with drop back passing, you want to attack the inside half of the defender and step to stay on the inside half of the defender. This allows only an outside pathway for the defender to  travel on, which means further away from QB. The only time you would be working to the outside half of a defender is if you are blocking a sprint protection. If you are covered by a defender, you want to work to the outside half, while the uncovered OL is working to overtake the inside half if possible.

To get to the inside half of a defender, it may require different steps.

 If you have a wide technique defender on you or an outside shade, you will need to just kick your outside foot back and drag the inside foot. The wider the technique, the wider and more you have to kick back. If the shade is tight, you just have to kick once.

 If the defender is head up to inside shade, then you need to post step with your inside foot and then vertical set once you get inside. Again, the more inside they are, the more you will have to post step to get to them. For example, if the guy is head up on you, you need to post step to get inside, then vertically set to get into position to pass protect. To post step, you need to stomp your side foot hard horizontally while dragging your outside foot, similar to a basketball slide. Once in inside position, you can start kicking back vertically a little to give you time and space to work with.

If you are doing sprint protection, I teach it like outside zone blocking, minus the working to second level physically. I have never been a fan of losing ground like some coaches teach outside zone, so I teach a horizontal step, but instead of keeping your foot point perpendicular to the LOS, I have my guys step with their foot pointing at a 45 degree angle. That will open up the hips a little, which will allow them to get running to catch up with that outside shoulder  and pin it inside of them. The uncovered linemen are working to the next down lineman in case of stunts, with eyes on backs for any blitzing. If there is no work for them, they peel back and look for backside pursuers.

To work all these different steps, there are simple drills that can be run to rep the kick vs the post  and when to use each. I suggest that everyone purchase Steve Greatwood's 40 Drills for OL DVD. He does a great job of giving you great variety of drills and variations off each of those drills. A lot of them focus on pass protection. Some of the drill videos below have those same drills.

Here is some links to some drills by Steve's crew in Oregon and some cone drills for pass protection

Steve Greatwood's Pass Pro: Part 1  and  Part 2

Cone Drills for Pass Pro: Z-Drill and Christmas Tree Sets


STRIKE

This I think is the one that the players have the hardest time with due to the critical factor of timing when it comes to striking a pass rusher. They have a hard time gauging when to hold back and wait for the strike or when to bring it and sink the butt down. It takes time and practicing the reaction to the different techniques of pass rushers.

Depending on what position you play and what kind of pass rush you are getting, you will have different kind of strike techniques.

If you are a guard or center, you are going to have to sit down and stone the DL fast. You are the closest linemen to the QB, so you do not have the room to kick back a lot. You will have to sit your butt down low and be more forceful with your strikes. Guards and Centers are dealing with 3 techs and Noses, so you get a lot of bull rushing...which is stopped by sinking and stoning them. You are looking to get inside on the chest pads and lock on.

If you are a tackle, you will have to be able to sit it down and stone, especially if an end tries to bull rush. If you get an end that tries to speed rush and dip the shoulder, you are mirroring him with your kicks to stay inside half and you are jabbing him. So in this case, you are not sitting it down and stoning, you are kicking and jabbing until he is so up field that he is out of the play or he decides to go through you (then sit it down and stone).

There are 2 things that are a must when you are striking...You must keep your feet moving and you must get ready to hand fight.

Your feet have to keep moving so you can keep your inside leverage on the defender and work them outside. Also, if you have your feet still and they do a rip/swim technique and get their hips through, you are done for and so is your QB. Even if he is executing the rip/swim tech, if your feet move to never let his hips get by you, you will be okay.

Very rarely are you going to be able to get your hands inside and keep them there the entire time. The DL is trained to hand fight with you and try to get inside leverage on you, so you must fight back and work your hands back inside, no matter if you are stoning them or jabbing them. This is where the balance issue comes in because if you are not balanced posture wise, you are going to fall flat on your face when a DL swats your arms down. Keep a balance posture and work the hands inside and try to lock their shoulder pads, near the armpits.



Well, that is my two cents on pass protection. The 3 S's are vital fundamentals all pass protectors must have, including RBs and TEs. Next time, I'm going to talk about the 4th S with pass protection and that is SCHEMES. I am going to start breaking down different pass protection schemes and how they work.

Hope you enjoy and always appreciate the feedback!

R&D Labwork: "Crosser" Pass Concept out of the Wing-T

"Crosser"...what the heck is that?

It's a general term I have always used for a route concept that focuses on routes that cross over the offensive formations. The more famous route concepts that do that are Shallow, Drive, and Mesh. These are all staples of the Air Raid offense.

So...Yes, I am mixing the Air Raid offense with the Wing-T offense. Other coaches have done this before and have had success. I have already talked to a few coaches on Twitter that run similar concepts to the I am covering in this article. This concept is just my spin on it and what rules I would teach to players.

I think my concept is a little unique because I really have 4 route concepts integrated into the Crosser concept. What route concepts present themselves depends on the formation that the Crosser concept is run from. I will give you the rules and break down what you get out of each formation.


Rules for Crosser concept:

SE: Curl Route (depth can vary depending on personnel or philosophy)

TE: Dig Route (10 and sharp cut across)

Wingback/Slotback: Drag Route (Replacing the DL's feet; work upfield after you cross the field)

Halfback: If Split side, run Arrow route; If Tight side, run Wheel route



Let's look at the Crosser concept out of a traditional Right/Left (100/900) formation:

Right away, you should see 2 fundamental route concepts built into the Crosser concept out of Right/Left. To the split side, you have a Hi-Lo/Delta concept. To the Tight side, you have a Drive concept. You might be surprised by how nicely these 2 concepts work together.

 Since you are flooding the flat to the split side, it requires 2 defenders to run with the Arrow and Drag routes. If that actually happens, your Curl or Dig can be possibly open. If someone doesn't run with the Arrow or Drag, one of those should be open. The compression of the TE/WB also makes it very hard to defend the Drive concept part of the play because you can hardly run man coverage and the defenders do not have great angles to defend it with zone.

Let's look at Crosser concept out of Bunch, which is 100/900 with the HB strong:

With Bunch, you still have the Drive concept, but now you have created 2 isolation routes on either side of the formation. That will spread out the defense and give you the ability to take advantage of a possible mismatch. The big advantage I see is my HB running a wheel against a single defender, which can be a huge mismatch, depending on who takes him. Also, if a team is running Cover 3 to the split side, you can high-low the read on the flat defender, using the Curl and Drag as your options.

Let's look at Crosser concept out of Slot (Slot 100/900) formation:

You get the isolation routes again, but the crossing route concept has now changed to the Shallow concept. That now changes the dynamics of how the defense must defend the middle. We do not have the crossing routes going in the same direction anymore, but actually going in opposite directions. Again, mismatches are key out of this formation and the drag may pop open due to the wheel pulling people one way and the TE pulling people the other way. This formation also allows us to tag the Crosser concept with a "Mesh" tag, where both the SB and TE will run a drag and mesh them up.

Finally, lets look at the Trey formation, which is just the Slot formation with HB strong:

Just like the Right/Left formation, you got 2 concepts in one. You have the Delta concept to the split side and the Shallow concept to the Tight side. You have 2 concepts you can pick from depending on the coverage, with this look lending itself to open up the TE more or the Delta Concept.

Finally, here is the what it looks like out of a Red/Blue formation:

All the concepts wrapped up in one play! Love it!!!

The thing I love most about this concept is how the rules for the players never change, but depending on what formation I put them in, it gives you slightly different advantages. Even the QB reads are going to easy because he can rely on the players routes to be consistent, no matter what formation we are in. If I can simply the rules, the kids do not have to think...which equals execution.

This concept is a 5-step or, to fit the Wing-T philosophy, you can run it with play action in the backfield. My guess would be that it would be a good play action off of plays from the Belly series, due to the route the HB has to run.

Hope you enjoyed and there is more to come!

R&D Labwork: Flood concept out of Wing-T

We are now heading into the intermediate/deep routes that require a 5 step drop or sprint out. We can also start to incorporate play action into these route concepts because it takes longer for the routes to develop.

The first concept I'm going to cover is the Flood concept. The flood concept comes in all kinds of varieties and can include many different types of routes. The Waggle, when run in its' traditional sense, is a flood concept (SE deep, TE intermediate, FB short). Usually these days you see flood concepts coming from a trips look, out of a spread offense.

I am looking at running a drop back or sprint out flood concept that can be a 2-man or 3-man concept that involves a deep out route by Wingback or Slotback.

The dynamics of the deep route is dictated by the location of the end (Split vs Tight), but the end will always be responsible for the deep route to the play side. If Split, then he runs a Streak to stretch the defense vertically. If Tight, then he will run a deep Flag/Corner route. The backside end will always run a post, with the type of post dictated again by location (Split vs Tight).

The Halfback is doing one of two things, based on him being play side or back side. If he is play side of call, he will run an Arrow route to make it a 3-man route. If he is back side of call, he is sealing the back side pass protection (drop back or sprint out).

The Fullback is always blocking. This can be a drop back fill, a sprint out lead, or a play action of the Down/Belly pass concept. That is the other factor we can be using with this pass concept. If we play action, that will confuse the defense and give us time to get our routes to open up. So there is some flexibility there on how your run the concept, mostly based on philosophy and personnel.

Here is what the scheme looks like out of a couple of looks:

As for the Quarterback, the reads depend on how many people are on the route and if you are dropping back or sprinting out.

If it is a 2-man route, you want to look up the Corner to that side. He will tell you where to put the ball. The issue becomes the underneath coverage getting under the Out route, so you if you run it out of sprint action, the QB can run the ball if he has green grass. If dropping back, then the QB better have a solid arm and zip it in there when the window opens. This 2-man, especially with TE/WB works well to the wide side of the field. Even though the throw may be longer, you get more room that defenders have to cover. Also, since they start out compressed, it helps with the difficulty of the throw from drop back.

If it is a 3-man route, you are looking more at the Flat defender. He will try to sit under the Out or jump the Arrow. Especially with sprint out, take the easier throw. If he plays deep underneath the Out, hit the Arrow and make a play. The QB needs to peek at the Streak for possible home run, but then needs to check down to the flats to see the dynamics.


If I had my druthers, I would run this concept with sprint out or play action. It gets the QB on the edge and makes the throw easier. The problem is that defenses pick up on that stuff and sometimes drop back can be a better option to break tendencies.

R&D Labwork: My take on Oregon's Swinging Gate PAT

If you have ever watched an Oregon Ducks game, you have probably seen their "Swinging Gate" PAT formations. Usually after the first touchdown, the Ducks will get into a standard PAT formation and then suddenly motion into another formation. You see the holder looking around and then either runs a fake or has the PAT personnel go back into a standard PAT formation.

I have decided to take the idea and put my spin on it, specially adapted to high school level players.

First, you have to decide how you want to start the play. Oregon will align in standard PAT formation and then motion out, which I think could work for HS, but my concern is time. Can my HS players align in the PAT set, motion out to FAKE set, then back to PAT if the FAKE is a no go?

Another route is to huddle up, then fast break the huddle into the FAKE set, and finally get back into PAT set if the fake is a no go. I almost like this better because if the call comes in fast and the huddle is efficient, you can break that huddle as soon as the whistle blows to start the play clock. I also feel that you would be a little more deceptive on alignment of the FAKE set if you broke from a huddle instead of motioning from the PAT set.

This is an example of how I would huddle my PAT crew. It is the same alignment as my offensive huddle, just different personnel. Now, it's all about tempo. As soon as the call is made, the huddle we be broke at a neck-break fast speed and people will SPRINT to their alignments for the FAKE set. That is how we break the huddle with the current offense I work with and it is scary how fast we can get to the line and run a play. My hope of doing this with the FAKE set is to enhance the chance that someone on the defense aligns wrong and gives my guys the chance to run the FAKE set.

Ultimately, I think you can do it either way (Huddle or start in PAT set). I just think I can get my guys in position faster with the huddle and be slightly more deceptive with our alignment in the FAKE set.

Next, we have to look at the formations you can get into and run fakes from. Oregon has many formations that they will configure themselves into, but I have condense it down to 4 main formations that players can align in. I also tried to tie the name into the actually configuration of the formation. 

For example, "33" means that 3 players (on the line) will align wide to the left and 3 players will align wide to the right. "42" means that 4 players align wide to the left and 2 players align wide to the right. So this really affects only the RG, RT, and RE. The left side of the line will always be on the left side of these formations. You just keep adding a right side lineman every time you change your formation.

For each formation, the people who do not change are the wings, the snapper, the holder, and the kicker. The wings will always align wide to their side of the field, no matter how many people line up in front of them. The snapper obviously has to be over the ball, with the holder and kicker in the backfield, acting as QB and FB/TE respectfully.

Here is what the formations (33,42,51,60) would look like:

When looking at each one, there are subtle changes that affect the dynamics of the play, especially to the right side of the formation. As you lose people on the right side, you start to get a look that could lead to a dynamic fake, with having such things as stacked receivers that run routes or a single receiver isolated to a side. These are also dramatically different formations that the defense has to work on and get the numbers game right or else we can attack them with the FAKE set.

Finally, the fakes themselves....there are thousands of plays that can be run from these formations. The limit of plays is the imagination, but since I am talking about HS, I want my holder to look at the defense fast and make his decision fast. He is going to scan the defense and make a call. The call could be colors or whatever you want. I used colors in my scheme. Green means no fake and the PAT personnel goes into PAT formation. If he uses any other color, its a fake and he will say a rolling "Set, Go" to get the ball snapped. You can have specific colors mean specific fakes, but again imagination is the limit to how in depth this can be.

So we now have to look at the numbers game that you have to play to see if a fake is possible or not. 

First, the holder has to look in front of him. If there are 3 guys, that part of the field is locked. He cannot have the ball snapped and he run it in. If there was less than 3, he can call for the snap and run it in. This never changes for any of the formations.

Second, you want to look at the Right side of the formation. This is the side that will have the lesser amount of players in most of the formations. If there are more defenders than what is the name of the formation, that part of the formation is locked. For example, if you have "42" called, if there is more than 2 guys to the right, you cannot run the fake. If there are only 2 guys, then you can run the fake.

Finally, you want to focus on the left side. The cool thing is that you shouldn't have to count the left side. The middle and right side of the formation should give you the information you need. If the middle and right side was balanced, the left is balanced. If the middle or right have an extra defender, the left side should be open for a fake. Counting should be done every time, but the other sides should give you clues to what is available. Again, just like the right side, if there are more defenders than what  is the name of the formation. For example, if you have "33" called, if there is more than 3 guys to the left, you cannot run the fake. If there are only 3 guys, then you can run the fake.

It is because of the counting system that I feel you have to simplify your fakes for the high school level. Again, you can have called fakes out of these looks with a specific color representing that fake. There is a lot of flexibility within this system of fakes and parts can be modified/changed according to the personnel/talent of your team.

After the counting system have been implemented, if the FAKE set cannot be run, then the Green call is given, the players get into PAT alignment, and we kick the PAT. Some people, including Oregon, have fakes out of the PAT look. That maybe be something you would want to look into as well. Again, there is flexibility here.

The part of this I haven't talked about is how this affects the defense. This whole process is done because we want the defense to have to work on this throughout the week leading up to our game. The more they work on this, the less they work on our offense. If they don't work on this, we will score a 2 point conversion on them and possibly cost them the game. It puts a defensive coordinator in a bind of how to balance out working on the offense versus working on the PAT fakes.

So that is my take on Oregon's Swinging Gate PAT. My version may be simplified versus their version, but my goal is to run it with a HS team. Hope it spurs some thoughts for your program and to think differently about your PAT.

Here is a link to an article written about Oregon's Swinging Gate PAT:

http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaaf/2015/01/10/oregon-ducks-swinging-gate-extra-point-taylor-alie/21568959/

Side Note:

I have thought about trying a new technology to see if can be applied to coach collaboration. I want to see if Periscope can be used to hold a webinar and other coaches can follow the broadcast and asks questions through the talk. Then the video can be saved and posted to YouTube or something like that.

I thought I could possibly have a test run with talking about this Swinging Gate PAT topic and see if anyone would be interested in following the broadcast live. We could have a Q&A or just a discussion of how others run their PAT fakes.

Check out Periscope and send me a tweet or DM to give me feedback on if you are interested in testing this out with me!!!

R&D Labwork: Spacing concept out of the Wing-T

This is part 3 of my ongoing series of drop back passing concepts out of the Wing-T. Part 1 was the Stick Route concept and Part 2 was the Slant/Angle Route concept.

When I talk with Wing-T coaches, most of them pass very rarely (15-20% of a game) and use the pass as a home run shot or warning shot to back off the secondary. I feel that there is more that can be done is this facet of the Wing-T offense and can be installed without sacrificing time on the run game.

Part 3 is focusing on the Spacing concept out of Wing-T sets. This is more of a horizontal stretch of the defense and we are looking to quick strike in an open zone. I feel this is a solid option for an offense that is facing a 3rd and 5-6 yards because the defense maybe loading the box for the run, but being very aware of the play action passing due to the intermediate yardage the offense has to gain. This puts a Wing-T offense in a bind because you have a defense who is being alert to the pass just as much as the run. Also, many of the play action passes attack one side of the field, so defenses can prep themselves for any possible play action passes to their side.

With this 3-step drop concept and my other quick game concepts, you can drop back and hit the defense in underneath zones due to the horizontal stretch created by the concepts. Also, the concepts are active on both sides of the field and so the best situation can be attacked if available. So if a defense is aggressive and attacks, there should be an opening somewhere due to a defender being out of position for the pass coverage. If the defense drops due to the QB dropping, now the horizontal stretch of each concept attacks the open zones.

Now, back to the Spacing concept itself. We are looking to run an all stops/hitches concept out of the Wing-T sets. The key with this concept being run from such compressed formation is that you have to train the players to be aware of spacing of the defenders and how to manipulate that space. I have different responsibilities for different receivers based on how many linebackers are in the box. Those route responsibilities are Space and Hunt.

With Space, your responsibility is to attack the OLB's inside or outside shoulder, depending on his align. If he aligned inside of the receiver, the receiver attacks the inside shoulder of the LB and sit down in your route. If he is aligned outside of the receiver, the receiver attacks the outside shoulder of the LB and sit down in your route. The goal of the Space responsibility is to stretch the LB horizontally so it can help give room for another receiver's route. If the LB doesn't adjust to the Space, then the Space receiver should be open.


With Hunt, your responsibility is to find the open zone in the defense and get open. The Space receiver is trying to give you room, so you need to adjust your route off the secondary and the LBs. If the OLB is inside of you, you will be looking to run your stop route either vertically from your alignment or slightly inside of that. If the OLB is outside of you, you will take a slight outside release to set up your route and work back inside.

Here are the route rules for the different positions:

Split End: Stop Route

Tight End: Stop Route; vs 3 LB = Space, vs 2 LB = Hunt

Wingback: Stop Route; vs 3 LB = Hunt, vs 2 LB = Space

Slotback (Wing on SE side, Slot formation): Stop Route; Same rules as TE

Halfback: Stop Route; Same rules as WB except for Bunch formation = Bubble


Here are few variations of the play out of different formations and different defensive alignments:

Hope this has help spur some thought on how the passing game can be adapted to different offensive styles and that this concept could be something you could implement into an already dangerous offense like the Wing-T.

The next part of this passing series is going to start leading us towards the 5-step/sprint out intermediate and deep route concepts. More to come!!!