Football 101: Running out of the spread

[TechDawgFan]

Folks,

This article is from last week, but it is a great analysis of the spread offense! This COULD stimulate a lot of discussion concerning Tech and our utilization/modification of these philosophies.

Take a read and then post your thought here.

TDF

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Tuesday, October 8
Updated: October 9, 11:12 AM ET

Football 101: Running out of the spread

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By Bob Davie
Special to ESPN.com


We've had a lot of questions regarding the spread offense and variations of it. The term spread offense can refer to a lot of offensive schemes that utilize multiple receivers with one or no backs aligning in the backfield. What we will do this week is explain the original spread offense that was introduced by Clemson, Northwestern, West Virginia, Kentucky, Texas Tech and Oklahoma.

These offenses begin with a no-huddle approach and have the quarterback in the shotgun a high percentage of the time. They also feature a one-back running game and depending on the personnel at quarterback, do a lot of predetermined quarterback runs. Obviously, they have the ability to throw the football as they are aligned in three- or four-man wide receiver sets.

Another aspect of the spread offense involves the coaches, not the quarterback, making the checks from the press box to the sidelines while the offense is at the line of scrimmage.

Why the no-huddle?
The no-huddle approach is used for several reasons by spread offense football teams.

1. It makes the defense align immediately without disguise. The offense at the line of scrimmage in a formation with the entire 25 seconds left on the 25-second clock. The defense must align because the offense could potentially snap the football at any time. This allows the offensive coaches to have basically the whole 25 seconds to diagnose and determine what the defense will do. It also allows them plenty of time to make the appropriate checks.

2. It takes the pressure off the quarterback because the offensive coaches have time and the mechanics to make the checks. The quarterback's responsibility is lessened. All he has to do is indicate to his team at the line of scrimmage what check the coaches have chosen and execute.

3. The no-huddle takes defenses out of their comfort zone. The no-huddle offense bothers defenses because they can't huddle to call the defensive play. This means every defensive player has to look to the sideline to get the defensive signal from a coach. Normally, when defensive team's can huddle only one player has to look over for the signal and he relays it verbally to the rest of the team in the huddle. There is a much greater chance for error when all 11 defenders have to get the call from the sideline. Another disadvantage is that it gives the offensive coaches a much easier chance to pick up and read defensive signals that are being communicated from the sideline.

4. The no-huddle can control the game tempo and substitutions. With the offense at the line of scrimmage, there is always the possibility that the offense will immediately snap the ball and go into a hurry-up mode. That makes it difficult for the defensive team to substitute personnel and also difficult to disguise their coverages.

How is the no-huddle communicated from the press box?
For most spread, no-huddle teams, the offensive coordinator will call a formation and play immediately at the start of the 25 second clock. The quarterback, after the offense has lined up, will look at his sideline where a coach will signal by hand whether he should run the play or check to a corresponding play. This is all based from what the coordinator sees from his perfect vantage point in the press box. The coordinator has a great view of the defensive plan and can easily communicate it to the coach on the sideline. The coach on the sideline then uses a variety of hand signals to communicate to the quarterback at the line of scrimmage.

Spread running game
Any time you spread the field, the defense must spread out to cover down on all the eligible receivers or the offense will just throw hot to them. (Hot meaning a sight adjustment of just throwing to the open or unguarded receiver.) When you spread out your defense this gives the offense a great opportunity to run the football. Even though you only have one back in the backfield, you still have the advantage of the defensive team spreading out and playing maximum zone coverage to defend the pass. In the example below, we show the defense playing a standard 2-deep zone. The offense can run the ball effectively because you have six blockers on the six defenders in the box. Any good tailback will find a crease if you have a blocker on every defensive player.


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The defense's answer
The defense can chose to outnumber the offense by playing a man-free or 3-deep zone, getting another man in the box. The example below shows the defensive team having seven defenders on six blockers. In this example, they play a man-free coverage. It is obvious that the defense will now will this matchup because they seven defenders on six blocker.


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What makes the spread offense different?
What really makes the spread offense dynamic is the evolution of the predetermined quarterback runs. Simply, what the offense does is take the tailback and make him the blocker. In essence, he becomes the fullback. The offense now has a way to block the defense's extra defender. You now, basically, turn your quarterback into the tailback. With seven blockers on seven defenders, the quarterback is the extra ball carrier. In the example below, you see a simple quarterback draw illustrating how the offense outnumbers the defense utilizing the quarterback as a tailback.


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There are many other predetermined quarterback runs. Another common one is called the quarterback wrap play. The quarterback fakes the sweep to the tailback and then counters back away from the tailback and the offensive team uses the tackle to wrap around and block the linebacker.


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Conclusion
Obviously, a big, big part of the spread offense is the fact that they have the entire passing game utilizing their three- or four-man wide receiver sets. But the things that make the true spread offense unique are the no-huddle and the evolution of the quarterback running game. As always, your personnel dictate things and there is a tradeoff to everything. It takes an awful lot of communication to do the no-huddle so communication is always a concern when you are making checks at the line of scrimmage. The quarterback running game makes this package complete, but you must be comfortable with your quarterback taking a hit because he is obviously a tailback when he carries the football.

[Tech77]

I haven't taken time to read it yet, but my first thought was: Bob Davie?????????????????????????

I wonder if Jerry Baldwin could get a gig like this?

[Gooddawg]

From what I can gather we don't run the ball enough against a 3 man front when the D is dropping 8. I hope we do run more the rest of WAC play (give the ball to Joe Smith and Ralph Davis 20 times in a row-I'd love to see that-talk about unexpected). Davie thinks you should run with 6 men in the box b/c of numbers. I like his ideals and write-up. I wonder why it failed so miserably at ND?

[DogsWin]

The first diagram is exactly what I want to see more of. With the defense spread out, if McCown pump-fakes a pass down field followed by a delayed-handoff to Smith this is usually a successful ~5 yard or more play.

With 4 senior linemen (Logan Hullet is now back for us the rest of the season) & TE blocking for Smith we should be converting many more 3rd downs, instead of throwing incompletions & interceptions. Running behind Damian Lavergne is the key though! No WAC defensive lineman can stop our running back at the line if they must face 6'-6" 330 Lavergne one-on-one without support from a LB or safety.

It all boils down to fundamental execution by the players. Our passing game isn't executing well and our running game is (in the few instances we've chosen to use it). If we'll run the ball in the 2nd half of games, Smith will post HUGE rushing totals (just like Fresno's 5'-8" 210 RB Rodney Davis who set his career rushing record vs. SMU last Saturday: 21 rushes for 201 yards). The majority of Davis' yardage was accomplished in the 2ND HALF- when the defense was tired!

And we won't have to watch interception after interception for 14-21 easy opponent's points (regardless of who's "fault" it was).
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BMW N54 HISTORY

[Junkyard Dawg]

Davie's articles are always insightful. If this one interested you, go back and look at the previous weeks, he addressess something new each article. Zone blocking, Screen passing, this guy knows his stuff. You really get a nice picture of how these things are meant to work, from his coaching standpoint anyway.