shotgun spread vs. the 52

I screwed up the original post so I will try again. In the shotgun spread offense--What is the best way to attack a team that plays a 52 versus the spread offense. The coverage is man or cover 2. They leave 7 guys in the box and slow play ends ( they go sideline to sideline) instead of coming up field hard. They try to apply a ton of pressure up the middle. What are your thoughts??

coach,

so what you are saying is they are dropping the de's into coverage as opposed to bring them? if so then they only have a 5 defenders in the box and you should be able to run the ball effectively inside as you are plus 1 in the run game if your run the rb and plus 2 if you use your qb as a runner.

also, how tight are the coverdefenders? sounds like they could be giving you a cover 4 look with the de's becoming the flat defender.

as for protection if they are in a straight 5-2 there should be a nose and two tackle covering up your center and two tackles. your guards should be uncovered and able to take on any blitzing lber or dual read backer to outside pressure.

another thought vs inside pressure is to sprint you qb. I say this because if they are playing man coverage have your rec run vertical routes and watch the dbs run with them now you qb is on a sprintout and there is no one to tackle him. I would run it with the rb being the lead blocker for the qb.

when they are in cover 2 and leave 7 in the box they are leaving rec uncovered and you have to attack the uncovered rec with the bubble screen or other uncovered methods.

here is my email dcwagner23@yahoo.com

MG@CI,

They are daring you to throw the football. Chuck it!

How far off are the safeties? If they are deep enough, quick screens to the slots going outside will work. If they are tight, fake the quick screen and hit the wideout on a slant. If the corner is playing soft, run the inside bubble to the wideout.

The 7 guys in the box worries me a bit. It sounds like they want to bring it, because their zone out of that set is unsound. How would they adjust if you went 4 wide and motioned one of the slots into the backfield to go max pro? If they don't bring the 8th man, you should be in business.

If you have time to throw, you should be able to eat them up. A simple switch route should give them problems. A fade-out combo on the frontside and a post by #1 and drag by #2 on the backside should be open.

Hope this helps.

mc@ci

I can help you but I need more information. I have faced this defense before and beat it. now lets say you are in a 2x2 set(double slot)

so if I understand you correctly the dt are in 3techs and a 0 tech nose on the center. so this is the old bear look.

questions for you
1. where are the backers linedup and what depth are they at?
a. are the backers stacked on the 3 techs
b. are they lined up over the offesive tackles?
c . are they on the l.o.s.

2. where are the ends?
a. on the l.o.s
b in a walk off position so they can play both run and the pass what we call the apex or 50/50 position
3. coverage
a. are they playing straight man with no safety help over the top (cover 0)
b. if it is cover 2 where are the safeties lined up? are they on the hash or are they lined up over your slot rec at normal safety depth?
c. what is the corner tech inside or outside shade

first thing I teach the qb is

count number of deep safeties 3 choices 0,1 or 2
look to the left to the center to the right then back to the center -what the qb is looking for is cb tech over wr, if the slot rec is covered or uncovered and how man players are in the box.
youe coach up in the booth should be doing the same thing and telling you in the headset.


now football is a numbers game in the spread offense

now if the defense is in cover two that means they have to have 6 in coverage to be fundamentally sound. 2 deep safeties, 2 cbs over the 2 wr and 2 defenders over the inside slots. with that said, 6-11 leaves only 5 in the box vs your 5 linemen, 1back and 1, qb. you can run on this defense. you just have to be creative.
however I need to know how the lbers are linedup to make it most effective.

tell you how i would attack it generally
1. we are going to force the de or backers to cover down the slots we can attack is multiple ways
a. bubble screen
b. uncovered rules
c. fade/flat comb fade by the rec,speedout by the slot
d. hitch screen
2. run game we are going to gap block and pull the back side guard, or tackle or guard and tackle depending on how the defense is linedup. in the t-n-t look our playes on the gap blocks need to get their head across and limit penatration

3. pass protection we might cut our splits down to shoe to shoe for the centers and guards. If I am looking at it right your tackles are basically not covered like the guard and center are. in this case they would have a dual read inside to outside.

if you want to answer the questions and we can get you going in the right direction.

wow this guys is daring. playing cover 0 all the time that dc has courage. I say this because his dbs have no over the top help. his theory is to get to you before you get to him.

one play we really like and I think all teams who have a wr or more split out should run is what is called 1 step hitch. I got it from gary crowton when he was with the chicago bears.
wr takes 1 step forward and turns his number to the qb. the qb when under center takes 1 step and fires the ball to the wr. in shotgun he catches and throws.
the reason I like this play is 1. it is very high percentage. 2. now you just let the athlete work speed in space. 3. typically your dbs are not aggressive and poorer tackler.

second way, with noover the top help and since they are giving you the fade over the top and they have insideleverage on the slot have the slot run a speedout. so you have a fade/speedout combo in which you are going to highlow the corner over the wr. if the db turns and runs with the fade the slot rec should beable to beat a defender with inside leverage on the speed out.

another play I like is wr quick screen. with the cushions they are giving you the blocking angles are good. again this is a onestep undercenter or catch and throw from shogun. the ball gets their quickly. your lineman get down field on before the ball is thrown.

it is going to be very hard to run the ball vs 7 man in the box. the dc is telling you he does not respect your teams passing ability. I can tell you my philosophy, anytime we see cover 0 with 7 man box we go noback and we throw the ball vertically down field. nothing scares a dc more then open rec running vertically down the field. one of our favorite noback routes is switch route. you get a natural rub at the switch point.
a good video to have is dan robinsons noback package for h.s.

Thanks for your help. As long as I am picking your brain, last year they showed a look where they moved a LB out over one of our slots and dropped the FS to centerfield. Any suggestions?