bunch help

Toby: I think you need to ask yourself why you are running from a Bunch formation -- what are you trying to achieve?

To my way of thinking, the Bunch uses severely tightened receiver splits to:

Create space for outside routes;
attack the backside of the formation quickly versus defensive overloads toward the Bunch;
create separation vs. man defenders through natural rubs; and
attack zones by flood and trail mechanisms, while also foiling pattern reads through the close proximity of Bunched receivers

From a sprint passing game, your goal is probably creating space for outside routes, right? As a first priority, at least -- you can attack defensive over-adjustments to the out-breaking sprint routes later. So the nature of the routes you are looking at running from Bunch should start to suggest itself to you.

You Bunch or compress your receivers to one side of your formation in order to force pass defenders to compress with them; then you take advantage of their compression by running to 1/2 or 2/3 of the field with out-breaking route packages that include both horizontal and vertical components. I don't know if you have Coverdale and Robinson's Bunch Attack book (if you are running Bunch, you definitely should), but I highly recommend their Fade, Flood and Hinge route packages to you. I think all three would be a good fit with your sprint passing game.

Please drop me an e-mail if you want to discuss any of these concepts further, or feel free to check out my Wild Bunch offense at the link below for some more ideas.

Regards,

Ted Seay
Suva, Fiji Islands
Wild Bunch/2LD Football Forum