Ride and Decide

First question: My son played for Clemson under HC Ken Hatfield, the coach who is responsible for the flex bone. They had Florida State beat with less than 3 minutes to go in the game when a turnover caused their downfall when Charlie Ward captialized on their mistake and brought them a win by 2 points! The reason I mention tis is because they were temendously successful the entire night by utiling big line splits all across the front. The reason anyone widens out is to create bigger running lanes for the RB and to put the defender in such a position to be more or less on an island with little or no help.

The answer to your second question: Yes, you were probably not doing the point technique correctly, as there should never be any problem with the dive back reaching the mesh point. Just have your Qb always release at 6 o clock with hs playside foot and in one rhythm movement gather, his opposite foot to his backfoot and attack his read in a down hill posture, with the ball fully extended toward his read man the instant he steps down hill. Now, on the OSV it will be necessary to make that extra step down hill because of the distance of your read to the QB. Thus, he brings the ball from his third hand, always with two pressure points on the ball, to a position that is directly in front of his numbers and just about 6 inches in front of them. He then continues his down field attack at his read (emlos in the OSV) and when he gets there he shoots the ball outward to a fully extended position just as on the ISV. If he wants the DB to have it, he merely leaves it in the extended position and the DB closes down on it in his cradle, without EVER REACHING FOR IT! HE WILL DELIVER THE BALL AT THE LIP OF THE HOLE OR ACTUALLY I PREFER THEM TO BE RIGHT UP IN THE HOLE. IN BOTH INSTANCES, IF IT IS A PULL HE PULLS IT AND THE DB JUST CARRIES OUT HIS FAKE WITHOUT EVER TOUCHING THE BALL AND BLOCKS, AS THE QB GETS UPFIELD TO HIS NEXT READ.

Hope this helps you.
Coach Easton