Spread ideas versus the blitz

Where is the blitz coming from? If it is edge blitz we like to run screens just as you mentioned. If we are getting inside blitz we run shallow cross, or mesh and with out QB this year we will be able to run some speed option.

JD

We'll check to the quick game and throw the slant where the OLB came from, or hit the TE on a hot pass. Don't forget to change up the count. We had a call a few years ago (with a senior QB) vs a team that blitzed alot and the QB would check the count at the LOS. It slowed them down.

1st check, throw a quick hitch or out at softest coverage and be ready to sight adjust vs. tight coverage...2nd check, if 0 coverage, sprint out toward best matchup...3rd check, option (minmizes blitzes)...convince your players that a blitzing defense is something they WANT to see...not something they should fear. Time to take advantage, not panic. pdow

Everything that has been said is excellent and effective, and I just have two cents to throw in here on this. I ran the spread as a player in its early days in the late 80s. The blitz package was the preferred means of attacking it - the 3-3 wasn't around then. The Def. Coordinators didn't know what else to do. The spread was most effective for me when we kept it simple, and with basic routes we killed people. The called routes in the huddle should always have a dragging or shallow receiver for the blitz, and the running game list TOG mentioned is excellent. Most Defenses will biltz someone over 70 percent of the time in spread until you show them you can hurt them.

I suggest you set your calls to include a retreating receiver in or out on a LB or inside defender to simplify the thought process for the QB. If you want higher than 60 percent completions, you need to take complicated adjustments out, and include whips, unders, shallow crossers, mesh, etc. in each of your calls and that will handle the blitz.

The primary reason I am adding this post is that I have one other thought on the spread questions I see. I have been considering all the questions being asked about UTAH and making the spread effective. I have watched the UTAH offense and the brilliance of it, is its simplicity and versatility.

The spread is essentially a "sandlot" offense, and IMO it should have a "sandlot" feel to it. The "sandlot" feel is when kids go play without coaches and noone feels pressure to make complicated things happen, because there is no one there to tell them to make it that way. Players make plays in the "sandlot." Now, I am a head coach and OC and I run the spread, and I am a firm believer in preparation - but I am guilty of not encouraging this "freedom" in my players enough at times, so I am talking to myself.

The plays made in the "sandlot" are made because they have to be to win the game, not because I tell them to make them. It is understood amongst the players. I am not suggesting no coaching. However, the less pressure a QB feels in reading, the more confident he will be in his decisions and throws. Receivers will make better catches too. I see QBs all the time who make the right read, and yet still throw a bad ball because they weren't "absolutely sure" that was the right decision, and they fear the coach's response. I have to continue to work on this all the time. Then I will see other QBs who don't read at all, and don't care what the coach says, because they are confused, while throwing the ball in traffic all day. The two extremes are mind numbing.

What's the key? Simplicity and structure. Set rules on each route to address the blitz before the ball is ever snapped, and give the QB a line of sight read that produces "real stretch" in the secondary. Keep the receiver stems shallow so the QB has more options faster in the event of a heavy rush, and teach receivers to "settle down" and get to space. Just like they would in the sandlot on their own.

You want to see them do it? Here is a test you can try: Come to practice, or even this summer in workouts, and tell the kids you are playing a pickup game where both teams have to call their own stuff and it has to be spread offense both ways. They call whatever routes they want, it just has to be 4-5 wide. Tell the QBs they will get more points for first downs than touchdowns - that is the only rule change. There will be no coaching and no evaluations critically, only officiating by the coaches on both sides of the ball. This is their chance to showoff. The score gets real high, but you watch them and you will see who your real instinctive spread players are, it might surprise you. The routes will get shallower and open quicker and the first downs will pour in.
We work so hard trying to scheme people, and I am all for that, but instinct is a weapon of the spread that is often overlooked for a called route combination or blitz pickup. I feel I am often in danger of overcoaching the spread myself, and I find that if I just return to the basic calls, we move the ball, blitz or not. Just my opinion for what it's worth.

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Originally posted by: TIGER ONE (humans don't have instincts)

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Tiger, what do you do when your hand gets too close to fire?

Run Tunnels and Bubble screens from the gun and vs the blitz. Coach CAmpbell