Stop the Triple

Coach P, your right in my opinion. The aiming point for the outside veer is the brown spot of your offensive tackle. A rule of thumb is if the outside linebacker is outside of the DE, then he has pressure(pitch back). In special defensive alignments, where the OLB is inside of the DE, the assignments will change up and the DE will go to pitch and the OLB will take QB. I don't believe that there is a single more important factor in defending any option, than discipline!!! If you are assigned pressure, then the pitch back is your total focal point. If you got QB, the same applies. If you have the Dive back, the same applies. Total discipline is the key to success. You have to coach to perfection in this area, when defending the option. Be sure and preach this to the backside defenders especially hard! If they run a counter option to the backside and they have left their areas of responsibilities, your a dead duck on that play! If their TE blocks down on your guy, that DE of yours should come with his ears laid back to their QB. If he is aligned in a 6 or 9 as he should be if your facing an option team that runs the outside veer, he has got to get his butt into their backfield before the QB makes that decision to "Keep or Pitch". As a QB Coach and a Head Coach, I have always found that your DE's are the key to screwing up the outside veer and your tackles that know how to Shiver, stand a guy straight up while grabbing cloth with his thumbs up and visible(holding without getting called) and giving that fuzzy read to their QB can mess up the inside. There is no law that I ever heard that says the DE has to attack through the c gap. I have always coached the "fastest way to the QB" and usually that is through the c. However, in the option game a defensive end has to really have a "Feel" of what is going on. Get with your QB coach and have him give you a run down on how the QB's are taught to read the option. Once you know that, you will be way ahead of the game. I hope this is not taken by others making comments as offensive in any way, just trying to help. Just make sure they know to play THEIR positon, and nobody elses
when the option comes to town. The strong Safety who thinks he is close enough to the QB to tackle him, leaves his pitch man responsibility and tries to make the tackle. The experienced QB knows instantly that the defender has made a really bad mistake as he lowers his hips and steps toward the pitch man with a perfectly timed late pitch. The SS has left his responsibility (or LB) and now looks like a fool as the RB races down field. He was not expected to make the tackle, his job was something else, and he let the team down by trying to do other than he had been coached to do.