Stretch/Outside Zone

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Tackling

This is not a new football scheme, but I think it is an issue which should be addressed:

I recently read an American Football Monthly article which addressed the issue of poor tackling in football today. Many coaches (myself included) get real excited learning about the newest offenses, blocking schemes, and blitz packages. We will spend time teaching our athletes their assignments for the many plays we run, but spend very little time at practice practicing tackling. We are too afraid of the risk of injury. We don't want one of our players to be injured before game day. In a traditional Power I type offense, a player is able to run through a running back because there is no where else for him to go and he is basically served on a platter to an unblocked linebacker. However, with more and more teams moving to a spread offense, this is no longer the case. Now players get the ball in space and it becomes a one on one for the ball carrier and the defender. This is where a lack of practice really hurts. The result has been a lot of missed tackles, a lot of yards after contact, and a lot of offensive dominance. You will hear coaches after a game say that we lost because of poor tackling, but when was the last time you heard a coach say we lost because of a bad scheme? Tackling is one of the basic fundamentals of football and it needs to practiced and practiced no matter what skill level you are at.

I encourage all coaches to continue to study the latest schemes but do not neglect the basics.

Spin Offense

The Spin Offense is best described as a Double Wing offense from shotgun. It is called the Spin because the Quarterback will pivot (spin) on every play. One of the wings will go in an arc motion on almost every play. When the Quarterback catches the snap, he turns to face his own end zone and either hands off or fakes to the motion man who will hit full running speed when he reaches the quarterback. Everything else is the same as any Wing T type offense. The advantage that this offense gives is that there is a lot of crossing between the two wings in the backfield and the quarterback ends up spinning around making it difficult to decipher who had the football. Also, because the Quarterback turns his back to the defense so that they cannot see what is going on. I can see this offense being an effective weapon. It was born from a traditional offensive attack and has the capabilities of using tried and proven plays. The one thing I don't like about the offense is that because the QB turns his back to the defense, he is unable to read the coverage for a play-action pass or read a defensive end for a Quarterback option.

Shotgun Zone Fly

The Shotgun Zone Fly Offense is a type of spread offense. It was invented by Coach Byron Hamilton at Foothill High School in California. The offense features a single running back in the backfield who lines up behind the quarterback who is in shotgun. One of the receivers is designated as the motion man, the 'fly guy'. He will be a speed threat for sweep plays. The quarterback is expected to be a running threat in this offense. This means that there are three players who may take a hand off on any given play, which seems odd coming from a spread based offense. Coach Hamilton says that he likes to use more athletic offensive lineman for this offense to help make reach blocks on sweeps. Most of the inside plays are traps or a zone scheme play. It is a natural fit for smaller lineman on trap plays, and by using zone blocking, double teams are used making it manageable for a small line. I really like what I have heard and seen so far from this offense. I really like the idea of spreading the field, and then having three different run attacks on any given play. I think this offense has a good chance of catching on. More and more teams have started using spread formations, and I think that other coaches will like being able to have a threatening run game out of a spread formation.

Wing T Vs. Double Wing

The Wing T and Double Wing offenses are often times confused with one another. Most people see a Double Wing and call it a Wing T. The offenses are very similar, however it is important to understand that they come from two separate base formations. The best way to explain the difference between the two is to take a traditional T formation and move one of the backs into a wing position. That is a Wing T. A double wing will feature two wing backs and one full back behind the quarterback. Many of the plays end up being the same because of the use of motion out of the double wing which puts a wing back in the position of the second running back in a Wing T. A Wing T is able to be adjusted to fit a more traditional type of tailback by using it similar to the way that a split back formation can be used. In a Double Wing you would optimally have 2 similar style backs to play the wings so that your threats would be the same going in both directions. Also, out of a Double Wing you would have the advantage of having motion on nearly every play which can be used to give backs a running start on sweep and option plays.

A-11 Offense

The A-11 would have to be one of the craziest offensive schemes I have ever come across. The offense is characterized by having only 3 down lineman, and a quarterback lined up in a deep shotgun (around 7 yards behind los). This puts all of the remaining players in a position in which they all seem to be eligible recievers. Two of the recievers are actually ineligilble recievers, however they are still able to take handoffs on reverse plays and catch backward passes. The formation is illegal in the NCAA becuase it is "obvious that a kick may be attempted". In the NFL becuase of jersey number regulations it would be difficult to keep legal players on the field. The Formation is still legal in High School, although six state associations have banned it. This is a very interesting form of offense, and I'm not sure how effective it can be. It breaks all of the conventional rules of football, and I would not know how to use this offense effectively although it would be interesting to see this used for trick plays.

Pistol Offense

The Pistol offense came into being a few years ago. This is a very non-traditional offense. The Pistol is defined by having a running back line up behind the quarterback who is in a shotgun type snap. The plays that can be run out of this offense would be the same as any you would run out of a single back formation. The quarterback is usually lined up a little closer than you would see for a shotgun snap. The advantage that this offense brings is that you have your quarterback away from the center giving you an advantage on passing plays. Having the running back lined up behind the quarterback allows you to have normal hand offs and not having to adjust your under center plays to fit a shotgun snap. The disadvantage to this offense is that if you ran it with two backs, your full back would be mispositioned. I think that this can be an effective long term offense because it still utilizes tried and proven plays.

Wildcat Offense

A lot of attention has been payed this past season to the Miami Dolphins unconventional offense. Coined as the "wildcat", this offense utilizes a direct snap to a running back and eliminates the quarterback position. This is not a new concept. The offense has been used in the past as a trick or gimick play. This is the first time that I know of that a team has utilized it as a primary offense. I do not feel that this offense will last long. I have always believed that an offense needs to have both a passing and running threat in order to be successful, and defenses will be able to adapt and develop to this offense. This is not an offense that should be used as a primary offense, but maybe effective in use on trick plays.