If you do not think playing QB is
difficult, I challenge you. Stand behind
your QB in 7 on 7 and actively make decisions with him. Not only is it difficult to make good decisions,
but you then have to do all of the little things right to make an accurate
throw. Do yourself a favor and do that
with your QB. That’s not to mention the
role an active rush takes in speeding up those decisions. Do it with your QB in 11 on 11 and I know you
will have a different appreciation for the position. Now lots of you gurus out there played QB and
understand. I didn’t. I was a high school linebacker-defensive end-baseball-playin
rascal. However, you give me a marker
and a white board and I can draw any and every route combination known to man. Drawing
on a board and labeling progressions is something my wife can do (not really
but you get the point).
I have worked for three head
coaches at one high school in Texas. For
each head coach our emphasis on offense has been to run the football, and we
have done it very effectively. I did say
run the football didn’t I? In my 14
years at Denison High School we have never ever ever ever been close to
balanced (50/50). Most years we have been 75/25 run and even more drastic
situationally. One year we were 97% run
on 1st down, with the only 1st down passes coming in our
initial game script. Now the definition of balanced can be many different
things. My definition of being balanced
is being able to throw the football when we want to, not just on 3rd
and 8. There is nothing better than
being able to run the ball down your opponent’s throat knowing they have no
answer. If we can, we will. Balanced in my mind is being able to throw
the ball on 1st down, 2nd and 7, 3rd and 1 to
help you win games. To be able to do
that, you need options. Screens, play
actions, quick game, drop back are all things that offenses need to be balanced
but implementing them efficiently and effectively are often times difficult for
a ground-and-pound offense, particularly in training a QB. In Denison, for all 3 regimes, we have
majored in play action and screens. Of
course in clinic talk lingo we have dabbled in quick games and drop back
concepts, but the practice time we used developing those skills did not match
up to what we were doing on Friday nights.
And of course the limited amount of time delegated for protections
(where passing game should start)…..don’t get me started.
The meat-and-potatoes of this
article is about developing a consistent base passing game for the benefit of
the QB in a run-first offense, particularly a common drop back route concept
that ties in progressionally with the majority of your passing game. As I said before the base of our run-dominant
offense passing game has been play actions and screens. Screens are screens, 95% of the time the lone
target is designated pre-snap, with an occasional double-screen mixed in. There isn’t much for your QB to have to
decide here. He knows where the ball is going.
The more screens the better. Get
the ball to your playmakers in space and let them eat up yards on these 0 yard
throws and no progression decisions for your QB.
So back to playing QB…if you are a
ground-and-pound offense and your game preparation time (practice/meeting/game
plan/video) is focused on the run game, then philosophically make the decision
to make your passing game progressions as similar as possible for the QB. We already talked about the screens and its
lack of progression reads, and that leads to the other large chunk of your
passing game which should be play actions.
Most play actions are some type of flood/levels concept with eligible
receivers in short, medium, and deep passing zones. From year to year we have changed how we have
taught the QB how to read these, and largely those decisions were based on
protections. For instance on a bootleg,
if you are true naked protection then your QB has to be prepared to dump the
ball quick so his progression on the High-Low box should be short to deep. If you pull a guard or leave somebody else in
to help on the boot protection, this would give your QB a little more time so
you could have the option of reading deep to short on the High-Low box. The majority of the time we have read short
to deep, with the ability to change the progression to take a shot with a
tagged route if we felt we had it. The
same goes for any type of front side play action. We will have QB read short to deep, and always
have the ability to tag the backside post/shake/go. Here is a link to a short vid about boot and the backside shot with the same play action.
http://factorialof11.blogspot.com/2011/12/put-some-shine-on-your-boots-bootleg.html
http://factorialof11.blogspot.com/2011/12/put-some-shine-on-your-boots-bootleg.html
Like I said before, we can draw a
million route concepts but how can you effectively and efficiently teach it to
your kids with limited game prep time.
We are going to talk about the shallow cross route combination that so
many people have ran it gets called the NCAA or All American route. We have tweaked it to fit our kids to make it
as easy to learn as possible and to be able to use from various formations and personnel
groups. The NCAA concept is ran/taught
many different ways but to make it easier for our QB we teach the short to deep
progression. Just as in our play action
routes, if the flat route (shallow crosser) is open we are going to take it
100% of the time. We are not trying to
fool the defense with our eyes or front shoulder or any other guru talk. We have less time to teach so the less
clutter we can put in the QB’s mind the better.
We teach the crosser to look at the QB if you want the ball. If you see a cover 2 corner squatting in the
flat, it’s best to not look at the QB.
We tell the crosser his decision should be made by the time he gets to
the area vacated by the center. The
crossing route is taught as being ran through the feet of the defensive
linemen, underneath all linebackers. It
is the first read, but at the same time we want to create a window behind the
route to open up the dig route so the “feet of the DL” rule always applies. We teach the NCAA concept initially from any
and all 2 x 2 sets.
We have extremely
simple rules. The tagged receiver is the
shallow crosser. The most inside receiver
on the opposite side of the ball has the dig.
On the digs, we teach 12 yards depth but except 10. We talk about pressing the outside shoulder
of the slot-area-defender to create a larger window inside. If you are open at depth, sit. If you are covered at depth, keep working
flat across the field until you are open.
Simply put, do not get covered. The
other receivers are getting to landmarks on the field. This is where we differ from most others
running the NCAA concept. Most run a
post on the same side as the dig, with a go to the tagged shallow crosser side
on the outside. We are going to have 2 receivers get to what we call the “DIVIDE”
on their side of the field which is a landmark apexed or splitting the numbers
and hash on a NCAA regulation field. On
a federation rules field, you may want to use the hash or a certain number of
yards outside the hash as your landmark.
It does not matter the formation or personnel grouping, we will always
have a crosser, a dig, and two divides.
In the picture, the 2 outside guys are running glance posts to get to
the divide. If we had tagged an outside
guy as the crosser, then the inside guy aligned on his side would run a
seam/over to get to the divide. You do
not have to think about whether or not you are running the post or go, just get
to the divide. We want the divide
runners to draw deep players and keep them from getting involved with the
digs. The back is involved in
protection. He is going to work
linebackers, inside to outside opposite the shallow crossing route, if his LBs
do not come, then he releases to the flat on a shoot route.
The QB from the gun is going to
take a BIG 3 drop. He knows who the
tagged route is and his eyes, feet, front shoulder will follow that guy. If the tagged route gives the QB his eyes,
then give him the ball. If he doesn’t
then feet, eyes, shoulders progress to the dig.
If the QB does not like the dig then feet, eyes, shoulders progress to
the back. CROSS, DIG, SHOOT. CROSS, DIG, SHOOT. The CROSS-DIG is the High-Low box just like
the play action routes. So the
progression is the same for your QB. It’s
a great route versus multiple coverages and as mentioned before you can run it
out of any formation. If you get a safety
creeping down on the dig, then tag it someway to give your QB the option of
making a DIVIDE his first “glance.” Teaching
it this way has also helped our summer passing league offense which gives a ton
of active progression reading reps to your QB.
If you have any questions about how we teach it for 7 on 7 with empty
formations or any other questions shoot me an email or look me u on twitter..
@coach_means
