Hanging Your Hat With The Power Play

Old School Power Play

 Today I would like to talk about making the power play the "go to" run in your offensive playbook.  Offenses have been running the power play as their bread and butter money run for decades now. Regardless of the trends that occur every couple of years on offense, you are always going to see the power play run by 90% of offenses at the High School, College, and Pro level.  The big buzz in the NFL right now is the "READ" game and adding option concepts to NFL schemes.  If you watch the Redskins with RG3 or the Niners with Kaepernick you start to get the feeling that some NFL franchises are welcoming more and more college schemes into their offensive arsenal. But what you will also notice is those teams still run the good old fashioned power play with gap down, kick out, and backside guard wrap.  I would like to discuss the power play in today's offense and how you can package it with Jet Sweep to make it a read theory.

Follow the Trend

Since it is the day after Round 1 of the 2013 NFL draft, I think we should take a look at the common pattern in today's game.  Regardless of whether you coach Pop Warner, Junior High, High School, College, or the NFL the game is becoming all about athletes in space and potential with upside.  Guys are being drafted on potential alone and their explosive athletic ability.  The Rams traded up to draft a 5'8" wide receiver? What happened to the long, lanky, rangy receivers? Well nothing really happened, it just so happens the 5'8" kid is the most explosive and dynamic player in space.  He creates problems for the defense because of his explosiveness and versatility.  The offense has an unlimited amount of ways to get this type of player the ball.  Look at some of the defensive players selected.  Production was nowhere near as big of a factor as athletic ability and potential.  The first and only QB selected was chosen based on upside, athletic ability, and potential. How does this tie into today's topic?  Well think about the potential to get Tavon Austin the ball on the perimeter built in with the potential of E.J. Manuel, or RG3, or Kaepernick running the power play!!! Now I realize that in the NFL you don't want your QB running between the tackles, i am merely making a case to illustrate how effective this scheme can be in Junior High or High School when you utilize your best players to put pressure on the defense. 

DA BEARS

Let's get back to the topic of running the power play.  The play in itself is so simplistic in its nature, but so effective in it's execution.  You have simple gap down theories play side, with a straight forward kick out block by a fullback, and a back side guard wrapping to give you an extra helmet play side.  It is a downhill run.  It creates a mind set for your offense. It toughens your defense by making them defend downhill, hardball runs.  It creates tremendous play action possibilities.  I really can not think of a reason any offense would have to not run the power play.  Now when you add the Jet Sweep package and make it a "READ SCHEME" you are adding versatility to the concept while still hanging your hat on base principles.  To me, that is the way to play fast and effective football.  We are creating problems for the defense while refining base skills for the offense.  I take it a step further with my offense and only run power to the strong side.  That gives me the ability to fine tune my offensive lineman and get them extremely efficient in the execution of the play because their assignments will not change.  It also helps me streamline my communication process which in turn leads to a faster tempo.

I will go more into depth on the power play and packaging it with the Jet Sweep in the Video portion of the blog.  I will cover it with base power blocking assignments and then the slight changes we make when running the "READ" portion of it.  As always I hope it helps, or at least gives you something to think about.

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Play Action Off Jet Sweep

Its All About Speed

 The Jet Sweep has become a staple running play for many offensive systems over the last 20 years.  Even though you are seeing it from shotgun spread teams now, it actually started as an under center play.  In fact I personally think it was harder to stop from under center wing looks because the motion was a lot shorter and harder to account for.  From the shotgun however the Jet is becoming a much more dynamic play because it is being packaged with other plays. It is also being packaged with read concepts which makes it even more potent.  Today I would like to discuss Play Action pass possibilities off the Jet and how to disrupt the run fits and rotations of the defense.

Attack More Than Just The Edge

The reason the Jet sweep is so important to some offensive schemes is its ability to attack the edge or perimeter of the defense.  Today's offensive mindset for a lot of teams is to put speed in space.  One of the reasons for that is the realization of how hard open field tackling really is on a defender.  The other reason is the horizontal pressure on a defense helps create vertical running lanes on the inside of the defense. When you are talking about high powered offenses they all usually have the same characteristics.  They have the ability to run the ball to the edge, they can run the ball inside, they slow you down with screens and draws, and they have the ability to play action pass with players that stretch the field.  Now, you still have teams like Alabama and Stanford who just wear you out all game but at the high school and junior high level you wont always have the lineman and backs to do that.  One of the ways you can create space in the run game is by attacking the perimeter, and play action passing to slow down support.

Adding To Your Package

In keeping with the theory of playing fast football, we need to look at how we can add play action passes into our offense while still staying simplistic enough to keep the learning curve to a minimum.  Again, all the greatest plays in the game are worthless if they are not executed at full speed with a clear mind.  All too often I see offensive guys who try to throw every new play they see or hear into their scheme.  I'm not saying you should not add things to your playbook, but when you add something you should think about the carryover from other concepts in your scheme.  As far as up tempo is concerned, you must always consider the verbiage and communication involved.  I've always been a huge fan of Jon Gruden, not only his offensive mind but his passion and intensity.  But let's be realistic here "Flip Right Double X Jet 36 Counter Naked Waggle at 7X Quarter" is probably not the best way to communicate to High School players in an up tempo offense.  What we want to do here is build play action passes into an already existing offensive package.  For us we like to use the Jet Sweep as a base play, as a read play, and as a play to run counters off.  So adding play action passes into our jet package helps us slow down run support and safety spin while still staying within the structure of our offense.  I will talk in the video segment about running base 5 step passing concepts and then adding a route concept to take advantage of secondary rotation.  I will also talk about protection and making sure you can marry your protection schemes to your play action so your lineman have the ability to play fast and be efficient protecting the QB.  I've said this in other posts but want to reinforce the notion of keeping the QB on his feet when throwing play action passes, especially if they are designed to take "SHOTS" down the field. It's very frustrating to see something in coverage you like, get a play called at the right time, only to have the QB get crushed.  When throwing play action passes do everything you can to protect the QB.  Again most of the concepts being covered will be discussed in the video chalk talk so please take the time to watch the video.  I hope these ideas help you build an explosive offense.

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