FB Trap

Coach, we too have begun to run the trap in the way Coach Lochness described, and have had a great deal of success. One other type of action we (and a lot of other I teams) have used is the toss trap. Basically the FB's steps are exactly as Coach described in the above post. The only difference is the action, which is to have the TB and QB fake an outside toss play (with QB reverse pivot) away from the trap side, then the QB drops the ball off to the FB going to the PS. This will also get the LB's moving quickly away from the playside to assist your blockers, but I don't know if you run the toss play generally used to set up this trap. We have moved away from the I toss play to an outside zone play with an offset FB lead blocking. I don't know if you offset your FB at all in your I system, but we have had a lot of success offsetting the FB away from the side we want to trap and having the QB and TB fake the outside zone play away from the trap, with the QB pointing the ball toward the TB as he initially moves away from the LOS (to sell the outside zone play) but then dropping the ball off to the FB who has taken a counter step and is now heading toward the A-gap away from the outside zone fake. This also gets the LB's moving quickly away from the POA.

Also, you mentioned that you like the trap out of the I vs. an odd front. Just a thought, but we tend to run Coach Lochness's trap, with the FB directly behind the QB, against an even front because the FB directly behind the QB has a better angle to hit the bubble between the 2 DT's from that position. On the other hand, we tend to run the fake outside zone trap (which we call "Cut"), which I described above, against an odd front because we feel that when the FB is offset, he has a better angle to hit the bubble between the NG and the 4 tech. Just my 2 cents.

In that case, I'd be inclined to run more of my trapping game from offset I or near/far formations (in which case, the trap would go the HB), which gives a better angle to the B-gap, where the trap will actually hit. Additionally, if they put their DT's in the A-gaps in the 4-4, do they move the DE's to a 7 tech, inside shade of the TE. If they don't, and leave the DE's head up or outside the TE, I'd make my living running Isos, powers, and counters in the B-C gap.

The benefits we see to offsetting our FB in the I are that we are a little stronger for Power/Toss plays to the offset because the FB gets on his block sooner, and when we offset, the defense tends to focus in the direction of the offset which helps us set up traps and counters away from the offset FB. The zone blocking coaches on this board would likely offset the FB away from the direction they run their zone plays because it gets the FB closer to kicking out the DE, which creates a cutback lane for the RB on the zone play away. In the passing game, it aids in the FB's protection responsbility by moving him closer to the DE/OLB he will be responsible for, and if he is to run a pattern, it takes him less time to get out of the backfield.