Untitled - Fast and Furious Football

62 IOOTBALL COACHING STRATEOIES
will come open from behind thc outside line-
The quarte$ack has the same stcps veftus 2-
deep. The thmw to the halfback roquires more
torch than the out cui. Thc ball must be deliv
er€d on the fifth step and over or between the
inside linebackers. If thDwn short, the ball is
picked; if throrvn long, the halfback is laid out.
The ball must be well thrown.
PIay Selection
It's been said that lamiliarity bree& contempt,
and it's been said ihat variety is th€ spice of life.
Both ofthese sayings hold lrue in play selection.
Wo {'ant to usc plays that are continuously good
for us, bu1 ar thc samc rime w€ don't want a defcnsc
tobe real familiar with our offense.Va ety
in s€lection h€lps us i,o keep a defense of,balance.
Duringthe season, we make a conscious effort
to keep up with our run/pass ration in several
ar€as. Some ofthose areas are fieldposition, down
and distance, game totals, and personnel. It is
impoftantthatwe have feeling for how a defense
Therefbre, we must often run when we should
pass andvice versa. The play-action pass and the
draw are nico complomanh l.o that thinkine. They
can b€ kind ofa "crossover" typ€ play.
Each year we "rediscover" that beti,er p€r3onnel
makes beli,er plays or belter defemes. Needless
to Fay, it's important to have the best posi'
tion playem, and it's also important to have the
playem in their best positions.
In mixing the run and pass, an ofiense must
use their bestplayers to execute orto decoy So, a
good mix would also include mixingpersonnel as
trnners, receivers, blockers, and decoys.
1990 Sunner Manual. Coach Rader is head cad.h at the UnircNit! of'lLlsa.
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Keeping the Defense Honest
GARYMOELLER
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In oder io have a Cood offense, you must make
the defense play hon€st- Take advantage of all
the oppoduniti€s that are given the offense. Use
the whole fleld; use every down as well as every
player in the formation. Set the t€mpo ofthe game
and play at your pace.
We always want to be able to run the football,
because tbe team who can rush the ball has a
gaeater chance of success. But, in order to run
the bau, we must make the defense play honest.
If they don't defend the whole lbrmation, than we
must use the pass to keep them honest b€cause
we no longer employ the option. We want lo control
the ball and the clock by using both tbe run
and the pass.
Ilike to attack and not allow the defenseto set
the tempo and dictate the natwe of the game.
We must stay away fmm the negottue play and
not turn the ball over because, as w€ all know,
the number one stat in predicting victory is the
turnovdmargin. The second most important stal
is rushing the football. I don't care how you approachthe
game, pass fiIst orrunfirst, you must
find a way to ru8h the football.
We employ thrce types ofrunning schemes and
three twes of passing schemes. We base block,
lead block, and sap block. In the passing same,
we like hard play-action wher€ we block the running
play, use turn-back pmtection with our fake
draw se es, and pocket pass. What I'd like to
show you is how we use thepassin order to make
our running game more productive.
Base Blocking Plays
In Figure 1, you'll see one of oul base otr-tackle
plays against an Easle defense. Althoush ihis is
a base-blocking scheme plat we use some lead
principles.
In this s€tup we, hopefully, have a mismatch
with our tackle blocking a smaller defender (i f he
can stay with him). The first tbing we'd like to do