Packaging Plays: Stick & RB Screen

I love packaging plays together. It has become the option attack of the new millennium.

Previously, I wrote about packaging Inside Zone and Quick Screens, the Draw-Stick concept, and the Double Screen.

One other packaged concept that we started using was combining the Y-Stick concept with the RB Jailbreak Screen.

The play is very simple. Out of trips, we run Y-Stick to the trips side and the RB Jailbreak to the single receiver side. The QB counts numbers. If he sees 3-on-3 to the trips side, he will look off the stick, retreat and throw the RB screen. If he sees 3-on-2 to the trips side, he will throw the stick concept immediately.

Here is the play drawn up:

We love this play vs. man coverage, especially since Y-Stick is not very good vs. man.

Here is a cut-up of the play:



This has been a great concept for us. We are going to experiment with other quick game concepts out of this, as the possibilities are endless.

What other plays are you combining together?

Installing the R4 System

Coaches: This is the post that you will hope other coaches in your league DON'T read.

Almost four years ago, I came across the R4 Expert System. In short, it is an "operating system" for your offense; it helps guide your quarterback in his decision-making process before AND after the snap. 

The R4 system is a game-changer for the passing game. Once we implemented the system, we began to see immediate results. Our quarterbacks became more confident, which improved their accuracy and decision-making immensely. No matter what offensive system you run, the R4 system will instantly improve your offensive production.

Check out a great Q&A article with Coach Maddox about the R4 system here.

This spring, I put together an install cut-up that highlights the different types of throws in the R4 system: Rhythm, Read, Rush and Release. Check it out, and hope that your opponents don't:

Packaging plays: Inside Zone & Quick Screen

The current trend for offensive coaches is packaging multiple plays together so the quarterback has multiple options once the ball has been snapped.

In the "old days," I would call a play and we were basically locked into it unless the quarterback was savvy enough to audible us out of it. Today, we are working to package as many plays together so the quarterback can choose the best option he has based on what the defense gives us post-snap.

In previous posts, I wrote about combining Draw and Y-Stick, and our Double Screen. 

Last year, we packaged Inside Zone and Counter-Trey with a quick screen. It paid huge dividends. There were a couple of obvious benefits:

• It gave us an easy 5+ yards on the quick screen if there was a big cushion on the receiver.
• It forced our Wide Receivers to block on every run play. In the past, our receivers were very lazy blocking on plays that were designed to hit inside, like counter-trey and inside zone. With the quick screen tagged, they knew the ball could be coming their way every play. Incentive to block!

Rules:

For the offensive line and running back, it was inside zone. They honestly did not know where the ball was going.

We taught our inside receiver to run a "bench" or "flat" route, and then block the first threat. Ideally, we wanted him to hook the flat defender so the receiver catching the ball could get up the sideline. 

The receiver running the quick screen would take two-steps vertical, then then work back to behind the line of scrimmage. Once he caught the ball, he sprinted upfield. Ideally, we wanted him to get outside and away from the extra defenders in the middle of the field. 

Last year our quarterback was not a runner, so we did not want him to carry the football. We taught him to pre-snap read the cushion of the receiver and defensive back. If there was significant cushion there (+5 or more yards), he did a quick flash fake to the RB and threw the quick screen. If the cushion was not there, we handed off to the RB on the inside zone or counter-trey. If we had a QB who was a running threat, we would also give him the option to read the backside defensive end and keep the football like true Inside Zone Read Option.

Playbook:

Three ways to make practice more efficient

As coaches, unfortunately we are often solely judged on how our teams perform on game night. Few people get to see the inner-workings of the program on a day-to-day basis, particularly practices.

Below are three simple things you can implement to make your practices run smoother and more efficient:

1. Have a plan.

People thrive on consistency. When you have a consistent practice plan, then everyone will be on the same page every day. Drills will run smoother. Transitions will happen quicker. Less time will be wasted. Generally, everything will be more efficient.

We try to be consistent on a daily and weekly basis. In other words, all Monday practices are the same, all Tuesday practices follow a different format, and so on.

Here is an example of a practice schedule we used last year. Note: We were a two-platoon system, so there is an offensive plan and a defensive plan included on separate pages.

Notice a couple of things:

• Positions are grouped together. In other words, we find times for QBs to work with WRs, RBs to work with the OL, etc...
• We progress through practice from individual to group to team. Everything builds on itself and culminates with the team session at the end.
• 90% of our coaching happens during individual and group time. We coach on the fly during team time, and rarely stop to correct or redo a play during this part of practice. Pace is important to our offense, so we want to interrupt the pace of practice as much as possible. 

2. Go on the clock.

If you have a consistent practice plan, then everyone needs to be on the same page when it comes to time. Unless every coach syncs his watch at the start of practice, nobody will be consistent. 

Notice that our practice schedule is divided into five-minute segments. One drill might be five, 10, or 15 minutes long. We started using our scoreboard clock to help us keep pace during practice. Our managers keep track of the clock, blowing a horn every five minutes to help keep us on pace. 

The managers also advanced the home score by +1 for each period, so everyone knew what period we were in. For example, everyone would know that 7-on-7 starts with period 17. 

If practice is not going well, one effective strategy is to yell out, "Stop the clock!!" This will quickly get everyone's attention, and it is a signal that we are going to do things right, even if it means taking more time. Sometimes players think they just need to put in time and wait for the clock to run down. Stopping the clock is a good reminder of when practice will end IF things are done correctly. 

3. Create competition.

Practice can get monotonous and boring as the season goes on. There is only so much team time you can run against your scout team. Eventually, boredom will set in and bad habits will form.

We implemented a short, five-minute period called "Championship Period" where we went our #1 offense vs. our #1 defense in a game situation. This was full-speed with little to no coaching involved. 

Our championship periods included:

• Goal Line (1st and Goal from the +8)
• Read Zone (1st and 10 from the +20)
• 3rd and Long (+8) - Blitz pick-up
• 3rd and Short (+2) - Short yardage plays
• 2nd & Short
• Two-minute offense
• Four-minute offense
• 1st and 10

Each play there was a winner, so if the offense gained 10 yards on 3rd and 8, then the offense won. This created a spirited competition, with even the players on the sidelines getting excited. 

This period lasted no more than five minutes, which was about eight total plays. This competition prepared our players for the speed and intensity they would face on Friday nights.

Final thoughts...

I believe coaches are some of the best teachers in the school. The ironic thing is that these same principles apply to teaching the in classroom, although we often don't correlate the two. In an upcoming post, I will talk about how I apply these same ideas in my English classroom. There really aren't many differences.

What are other key strategies you use to help make sure your practices are efficient?

Packaging Plays: Draw + Y-Stick

Offensive football continues to evolve every year. Since I started coaching over a decade ago, the way plays are called has changed dramatically.

First, coaches called the play to a huddle that was locked in, no exceptions. Then, a "check with me" system was implemented where the QB would turn to the sideline to get a new play call. Next, plays were called so quickly that it didn't really matter what the play call was, speed was the main factor.

Today, the play call often doesn't occur until AFTER the ball is snapped. This is done through combining two-three plays into one, giving the QB an option on what play to run based on what happens with the defense POST-SNAP. Often the coach doesn't even know where the ball is going to go, putting the decision-making process into the hand and mind of the Quarterback to make a snap-second decision.

Teams have been doing this for years in the run game, particularly with option football. The new wrinkle is that option football has now moved to the passing game.

I've written about our double-screen concept that has been very good for us the last couple of years.

Chris Brown from Smartfootball.com has also written about this concept in greater depth.

This year, we combined one of our best passing concepts, Y-Stick, with a running back draw play. We averaged almost 9 yards a play on this concept, mostly because the defense really can't be right.

This is how we block the scheme vs. a 3-2 Front. Basically, we are reading the playside inside linebacker. If he sits, we throw the Stick. If he widens, we handoff on the draw. The  QB just stares down the linebacker and reads his drop. It is very simple.

We have had so much success throwing the Stick, we almost should have handed off every single time. 

Here are some cut-ups powered by Hudl:

Check out some other great cut-ups utilizing the QB draw, something we may toy with next year.

What other plays are you combining together to take advantage of what the defense does post-snap?

Need to move the chains? Call Y-Stick.

"3rd & Short? How about Y-Stick?"

What is your go-to play call in 3rd and short situations?

What play do you dial-up when your offense has gone stagnant and you need to build confidence in your players?

In both of these instances, we turn to one of the most basic plays in our arsenal: Y-Stick.

While this is not a huge TD-generating play for us, it is a play we can rely on when we need to move the chains. It is our old-reliable play; one that our players can execute even in their sleep. Over the past two seasons, we have completed Y-Stick 70% of the time, while averaging 10-yards per completion.

QB Reads: Our QB must count numbers to both sides and make a decision pre-snap which way he is going to work: either the hitch to the single receiver, or the Stick/Flat/Vertical concept to the trips side.

The QB will first look to the single receiver side. If he sees 1-on-1 coverage, then we tell him to take the easy money on the hitch with the single receiver. He must throw the receiver open away from the defense, usually to the sideline. This is simply our "Settle & Noose" drill in action.

If the QB sees 3-on-2 to to trips side, he knows that we have the defense outnumbered to the trips side. It then becomes a simple read of the overhang player. If he jumps the stick, throw the flat. If he runs with the flat, throw to the stick. Very simple.

The QB must also be alert for Cover 2. If the corner squats on the flat route, then the QB should be ready to throw over to top into the "hole" of Cover 2.

Throw me open!

Stick Route: We constantly preach to our players that our offense is simply playing basketball on grass. The stick route is a perfect example of that concept. Our Y-receiver will push vertical for five yards, and turn inside looking for the ball. He will the "post-up" like a center in basketball. The QB should look to throw him open, also just like our "Settle & Noose" drill. 

Here is a cut-up demonstrating each of the throws in our Y-Stick concept:

Missouri's 4-Verts Concept

The University of Missouri's Offensive Coordinator David Yost recently spoke at a coaching clinic about their 4-Vertical concept. Unfortunately, I was not able to attend the clinic, but our head coach got a copy of his presentation.

There is some good stuff below, especially some creative ways to run 4-Verts out of Empty sets (Essentially FIVE-Verts).

2x2 4-Verts:

3x1 4-Verts

2x2 "Swap":

3x1 "Cross":

Empty 5-Verts:

Going deep with the Shallow Cross

The Shallow Cross series has always been a staple of the Air Raid offense. When we first installed the series, it was basically a high-low concept on the linebackers. It was good for a 10-15 yard gain by either hitting the Dig or Shallow Cross. There was very little vertical threat, even though there are two vertical routes packaged in the play (Fade and a Post). I have heard the architects of the Air Raid say that the Fade or Post deserve little more than a "peek" from the QB, and the real focus was on the Shallow/Dig combination.

Last summer, I purchased From Headset to Helmet: Coaching the R4 Expert System from Coach Dub Maddox and Coach Darin Slack. Quite simply, this book made our offense exponentially more explosive, starting with the Shallow Cross Series.

No matter what offense you coach, I would highly recommend this book. It helped me see the passing game in an entirely different light, and gave my QBs a decision-making process to follow that is consistent and easy-to-understand. (Note: If you are an opponent of ours, don't waste your time... It really won't help you much.)

When I speak with other Air Raid coaches about the Shallow series, they struggle with how to coach or teach the deep throws to the fade or post. I was in the same boat until a year ago. I told my QB to "peek" at the fade, but warned him that "he better be open if he is going to throw it!" I had very little confidence in our QBs making that throw, which of course meant the QB was never going to go deep. The R4 system has simplified the decision-making process, and it allows us to take downfield shots when the defense is giving it to us.

Why we like the Shallow Cross:

• Vertical and horizontal stretch on the defense: We want to make the defense cover the entire field, and the Shallow forces the defense to defend sideline-to-sideline, and vertically downfield.
• Versatility: It is good play versus any coverage, man or zone. It is also good on virtually any down and distance. 
• Big play capabilities: A year ago before I read the R4 book, we had only five "explosive" plays of 30 yards or more. This year, after reading the book, we had 25. That is a huge improvement, and many of those explosive plays came on the Shallow Cross. 
• Easy throws to our playmakers in space: You don't have to have a huge arm to throw this concept if you know what the defense is doing and how to attack it. 

We always run Shallow out of 2x2, tagging either of our inside receivers (T or Y) on the Shallow. Here are the rules for the play:

To understand the big-play capabilities, you must understand the concept of "Cap" and "Uncapped" from the R4 book. I don't want to give away the secret sauce, so I would recommend getting the book to fully understand what those concepts mean. Simply put, it helps your QB quickly decide if he can make deep throws or not. Here is a presentation that explains each of the reads with the idea of "Cap":



Note about the film: We were fortunate to have a 6'10 receiver at Z that will play basketball at Kentucky next year. That helped. However, you can see that our QB was confident in taking deep shots because of the "Capped/Uncapped" principle. In fact, we only threw to the Shallow route once all year.

What other wrinkles do you have that help you make the Shallow a successful route? Feel free to ask any questions below.

Packaging Plays: The Double Screen

One trend that is beginning to take over football is packaging two plays together. Chris Brown analyzed this in his article "Combining quick passes and a shovel pass or shovel screen."

This year, our most effective screen play was a combination of a Crack Swing to our RB, and a Jailbreak Screen to a WR on the other side. We ran the jailbreak to every receiver out of Doubles and Trips. It is a simple read for the QB, and it is a very high percentage pass to either side.

The rules for our offensive line stayed exactly the same no matter which way we ran the jailbreak.

Here are the rules followed by cut-ups from this season:

Oklahoma State "Diamond" Plays

Last weekend, our staff visited Oklahoma State's coaches clinic and spring practice. Here are my observations from watching practice.

They worked on their "Diamond" formation that became popular last season. This is a great analysis of OU's package from the "Offensive Break Down" Blog.

Here are two new wrinkles that I saw Oklahoma State working on during practice: Power with the back kicking out instead of the backside guard pulling, and outside zone that looked more like inside zone.

Oklahoma State Practice Observations

I attended the Oklahoma State University Football Coaches Clinic last weekend. The clinic talks were good, but the best part of the day for me was watching OSU go through a spring practice at the end of the clinic. There were two reasons why I was looking forward to it:

1. I enjoy watching other teams practice. Our staff went to watch a couple of area teams practice after the season and you can pick up so many ways to organize and structure practice.
   
2. Okie State ran the Air Raid the last couple of years under Coach Holgerson, who is now the "Head Coach in Waiting" at West Virginia. I was very interested to see how much, if any, of the Air Raid principles were still intact this year.

Here are my observations from watching practice:

1. Here are the offensive and defensive practice schedules for the day.

2. Practice started with the offense going through a walk-through of their team script plays vs. offensive players as the scout defense. No helmets or shoulder pads. The coaches were coaching and correcting a ton during this time. One assistant told me that this takes some time away from their meeting time, but they do this so they don't have to stop and correct during team time at the end of practice.

3. The segments were controlled by a scoreboard timer in the corner of the endzone. The home team "score" showed what period they were in. The timer counted down. An air horn sounded to start the next period. The coaches were moving from drill to drill based on this timer, but they weren't married to it. At one point, Coach Gundy was personally running a 1-on-1 lineman drill and it ran a minute or two over the time for that segment. The manager waited to start the timer until he was finished running the drill.

3. After the walk-through, the entire team came together to do dynamic and static stretches. The QBs warmed up on the other field by just playing catch and basic warm-up throwing drills.

4. They did not do Settle and Noose drill. In fact, I did not see Mesh at all.

5. The QBs and RBs worked a good drill after individual where they just worked on the swing/check-down route. The RB lined up in the Pistol or offset, and ran his swing to the numbers where he settled. The QB went through his progression and threw the check-down to the RB. This was a huge emphasis all day.

6. Pat and Go was 10 minutes long. They threw for 5 minutes to the right, and 5 minutes to the left. They threw a quick slant, quick screen (foot fire) and fades. I didn't see a huge emphasis on the WR squeezing the numbers or working on the over-the-shoulder fade. The fades were at full-speed.

7. Routes on Air was very standard to all Air Raid teams. Five quarterbacks throwing to all receivers. One difference: They didn't use pop-up bags. Instead, the coaches/managers stood where the secondary would be and gave different looks/alignments.

8. The primary routes they worked on during this practice were: Snag, Shallow (Y & H), All-Curl, Quick Screen, and Jailbreak Screen.

9. At the end of 1-on-1 time with the receivers and DBs, the offense lined up in trips on the 5-yard line vs. two defenders (outside linebacker and corner). They threw their quick screen to #2, and #1 and #3 had to block the defenders. It was live to the ball and they got after it.

10. Everything was no huddle. I spent a great deal of time watching the communication system they had. The coach on the sideline signaled in the play. The QB was the only one really looking at the signals. He yelled out the play to the OL, and gave a quick signal to the receivers, and they ran the play. The signal from the QB to the receivers was very quick and simple. The QB said to the line "23.. 23.." and that was it. They were very sharp with their communication.

11. During team they were working situations. Since it was spring ball, the first offense was going vs. a scout defense while the #1 defense was on the sideline. After several plays, they switched and the #1 defense came on. They may have been doing that since high school coaches were there watching, but it didn't appear that they were game planning at all for opponents, just working on doing what they do.

12. "Game Time" at the end of practice was a 4-minute offense/defense situation where the #1 offense was against the #1 defense. They put 3:40 on the clock and the offense needed to get a first down to win. They got it to 2nd and short, and the defense called a timeout. On 3rd and 2 the offense converted, but Coach Gundy called holding on the offense, which put them in 3rd and 15 or so. They ran a jailbreak screen, but didn't get it. It was a highly competitive and spirited session.

13. From what I could tell, all of the numbered routes from the Air Raid were the same.

14. They ran their "Diamond" 3-back formation a little. Outside zone, inside zone and power.

One interesting play: They motioned the back who was lined up to the left of the QB over so he was directly behind the RB on the right. Then they ran Power with the entire line blocking down. The back to the right of the QB kicked out the end. The back who motioned over led through (instead of pulling a guard), and the QB handed off to the back lined up in the pistol. It was like an I-Formation lined up to the QB's right, but giving the ball to the back lined up behind him. It was a nice wrinkle, and a way of overloading that side of the defense.

If you have any specific questions, please post them in the comments below!

Speed up your quick game

For years I struggled with how to make our quick passing game... quicker. I constantly harped on my QBs to get rid of the ball faster. We talked about making pre-snap reads on the quick game, but I really didn't know how to coach them up on it other than to say, "Get rid of it faster!"

Two years ago, we took several QBs to Darrin Slack's Quarterback Academy Camp at Jenks High School in Tulsa, OK. In my opinion, Coach Slack is the premiere QB coach in the country, and his camps and products are all top-notch. From this camp I took away one small tip about the quick game that finally gave me a coaching point to make our quick game quicker:

The inside of his right foot sets the hallway

"Set the hallway"

Look down at the shoe on the dominant side of your body (righties look at your right shoe, lefties look at your left shoe). Most athletic shoes have a logo on the inside of it. Imagine that logo is a laser sight. To get rid of the ball faster and to be more accurate, you must "aim" that logo (and thus the laser) at your target. This is what Coach Slack refers to as "Setting the Hallway."

I have heard QB coaches talk about imagining you have cameras all over your body that you want to aim at the target, or simply telling QBs to "step at the target." I found that this simple coaching point of setting your hallway with the inside of your shoe is the best tip in order for the QB to get the ball out quickly and accurately.

The ball is going to go where that logo is pointed. 

This tip applies to the 5-step dropback game, as well as the quick 3-step game. The ball is going to go where that logo is pointed.

For the quick game, we want to immediately set the hallway by pointing that logo at the target. We should already have a presnap read based on cushion and alignment of the defense.

Throwing to the right

When throwing to the right, we immediately open our right foot and point the logo at the target. As we are throwing, we should push off of our right foot so that our momentum is going straight at the receiver. There shouldn't be any wasted motion stepping back, hitching up, or shuffling our feet. This is something we work on daily, even without throwing the ball.

Here are examples of throwing quick to the right. Notice the QB's footwork. There is little wasted movement, and his momentum is going straight at the target.



Throwing to the left

When throwing to the left, our footwork changes slightly. We are still setting our hallway and "aiming" at the target with the logo on our shoe. However, we must first take a crossover step with our throwing side leg. This crossover step will allow us to set the hallway, and carry our momentum at the target. Before I used this coaching point, our QBs struggled to accurately throw to the left. Again, it takes muscle memory of doing this every day in practice, even without throwing the football. Drill the crossover footwork so that it becomes second nature to them.

Here are some examples of throwing the quick game to the left:



Once your QBs begin to think about setting the hallway by pointing that logo on their shoe at the target, they will become more accurate and begin to deliver the ball on time.

What other coaching points have you used to coach up the quick game?

Mesh Concept: The Choice Route

The Mesh concept is one of the staple plays of the Air Raid, and probably one of my favorite plays to call for several reasons. It is a dynamic play that is a good call versus any defense. There are built in answers for any coverage the defense throws at you, and there are multiple tags you can add to "dress up" the play to make it look more complicated for the defense.

Here is the play diagram from the Chris Hatcher playbook:

Problem
However, there was one problem I had with the play that I could never figure out how to coach. As you can see above, Z has a Corner route, which is the first read for the corner route. We have had success throwing the corner route when run by the #2 receiver (Smash, Y-Corner). Throwing the corner route to the #1 receiver is a different proposition. It is a very long throw and takes a great deal of touch to make it work.

Solution
The more I watched Texas Tech and other Air Raid teams run that route, the more it looked like something I had seen before: The Run-and-Shoot Choice Route. Every time the corner was playing loose Cover-3, Z would break off the route at 8-10 yards. The more I watched, it was obvious that he knew to break it off if he knew he could not beat the corner deep.

At the high school level, we basically only see Cover 3, Cover 4, Man or Cover 2. Either the corner is playing loose (Cov 3/4) or pressed (Man/Cov. 2). I simplified the read for the QB and Z by giving Z a pre-snap "Choice".

If the corner is pressed down, then Z will run a fade. The QB should throw the ball on rhythm.

If the corner is playing loose (+5 yards), then Z will run an 8-yard out. He should press vertical at the corner's inside hip, make a stick move at 8-yards, and break out to the sideline. The QB should throw the ball on rhythm, and place to ball on the sideline where either the ball is caught or it is out of bounds.

With this change, the corner can really never be right. If he wants to play off (we throw a ton of hitches), then we will throw that out all day. If he is pressed, we use the principles of Pat & Go to throw the fade over the top. Since making this change, our QBs throw the Choice route about 75% of the time.

Tag: Flip Formation
When we move Z to the left slot in "Flip" formation (where he is now the #2 receiver), we give him the option of running the Corner or Post. He will base his decision off the leverage of the safety and the green grass he sees. It basically becomes another version of Smash where Z is the high read, and H on the flat or swing becomes the low read.

Here is video (powered by Hudl) of the Choice route:

Settle & Noose Drill

Scaffolding approach to practice

In a previous post, I wrote about the unique way Air Raid practices are set up. It is a scaffolding approach to practice, much like the way we teach our students. You begin slow, with just a few players involved in the drill. As practice goes along, the intensity and complexity of the drills begin to pick up. The key is that you do the same drills, the same way, every day.

One of the best drills for any offense is the Settle & Noose drill.

Purpose:

• QBs work on their drops, progressions, accuracy and throwing the receiver open.
• WRs work on releases, stick move, settling in open grass, catching and turning toward the throw.
• Centers work on snapping the football, and stepping towards their assignment.

Set-up:
Set-up two trash cans or pop-up dummies 10-yards apart on the sideline. The receivers form a line along the sideline. The receiver should work on release moves vs. the next receiver in line. The QBs should be set up with a center or snapper on the numbers.

Drill:
The QB snaps the ball and goes through his drop. Each day, we give him a different play to progress through. This is the first drill of the day, so he should not be at full speed. We are more interested in footwork and going through the progressions. The QB should be speaking the progressions as he hitches up. For the Shallow concept he would say, "Fade, Dig, Shallow." This trains the QBs brain on the progressions along with his footwork.

The WR works a release move on the defender. He should then attack the other trash can in a direct line, going about 50% of his normal speed. When he gets to the trash can, he should buzz his feet, and settle in the open grass. The trash can becomes a defender and he shows his hands to the QB, making a noose with his hands by having his thumbs and index fingers together. Something like this:

By this time, the QB has gone through his progression. He should be shuffling up and ready to throw to the receiver. Again, we are not emphasizing speed at this point. The QB should throw the WR "open" by throwing opposite of the trash can. We coach our WRs to "Post-Up" the linebacker, much like he would do in basketball. This will simulate a game when we can pick up extra yards after catch by throwing the receiver open AWAY from a defender.

The WR should look the ball in, over-emphasizing every move of the catch. Once he has caught the ball, he should turn towards the direction that the QB threw him open to, and score the football. We preach scoring every time we catch the ball.

Below is video of the Settle & Noose Drill.

Two notes:

1. All of the players are going much faster than they should be for this drill. You really have to stay on top of them about SLOWING DOWN. Emphasize the fundamentals, speed will come later.

2. We combined two lines together to get more people in a centralized location. It combines the mesh drill with settle and noose, and one coach can watch two receiver and two quarterbacks at the same time.



What are some other coaching points that you emphasize with this drill?

Five reasons to implement the Air Raid offense

This is the first in a series of posts about the Air Raid offense, made famous at the University of Kentucky and Texas Tech University. If you are not familiar with the Air Raid, you should check out Chris Brown's post on Smart Football to learn more.

Five reasons to implement the Air Raid Offense:

1. Practice smarter

The Air Raid offense isn't just about the X's and O's, it is also about how you practice every day.

It is important to practice the way you play, and the Air Raid has drills built for that purpose. It is a scaffolding approach where one drill builds on the other throughout practice. From the Settle and Noose Drill, Pat & Go, Routes on Air, 7-on-7 and Team period, the drills add complexity as you progress through practice, and they all directly translate to how you will play in a game. I will detail these drills in another post.

2. Game planning made easy













Game planning in the Air Raid is very minimal. The focus is not dissecting game film and worrying about what defenses do or COULD do. Instead, Air Raid teams focus on getting better at what they do every day. Each play has built-in answers for every defense. I have found that defenses like to play a junk "Defense of the Week" against this offense. Good! That means they are having to do something out of their comfort zone, while we keep doing what we do.

3. Simplicity

We are coaching football, not advanced physics. It should not take a rocket scientist to understand the offense.

In the Air Raid, what looks very complex for the defense, is actually very simple for the offense. There are only a few plays and you practice them over and over until you are bored. Then you practice them some more.

You can dress up the plays with motions or by running different formations, but it is very simple for the players.

For example, the rule for our receivers is: It isn't WHERE you are, but WHO you are. We used to have all kinds of rules for the receivers, like: "If you are the #2 receiver in this formation you run a post, but if you are #3 in trips you run a flat." There were no clearly defined rules for the players to memorize. They had to know where they were lined up, if they were on the back side, etc...

In the Air Raid, if you are the Y-receiver, you run the same route no matter what formation you are in. You could line up in any formation and the rule still applies. There are not a ton of "if-then" rules, which cuts down on the learning curve for everyone.

4. Basketball on grass

I don't know about you, but we always have these fantastic basketball players in our school who don't play football. One of the major selling points of this offensive system is to tell them we are just playing basketball on grass.

For example, teach the 6'5 post player that when he is running fades, it is no different than blocking out on rebounds. Coach your Y-Receiver that he is posting up on a linebacker when he runs Y-Stick.

We also talk about zone vs. man coverages and correlate that to basketball. Versus a zone defense, you find the open areas and settle down. Against a man-to-man defense, you keep moving until you are open. There are many other parallels that you can draw, and I have found that basketball terms help explain many of the concepts in terms that the athletes understand.


5. It is fun for the players AND coaches

Think back to when you were a growing up. When you took a football with your friends to the park, what did you do?

Did you run the Nebraska option until dark? Uh, no.

Did you get in the I-formation and work on running Iso and Trap until your mom called you home for dinner? I doubt it.

I can make a guess that you probably threw the football. Athletes love throwing and catching the football. The Air Raid is based around the Back Yard Football League principle, "Go run to that tree and turn around. I will throw you the ball."

Once you implement the Air Raid, you will get more kids excited about playing football and get more of those athletes out who aren't playing now because they "don't like to hit." It is what kids love to do, and I guarantee that you will have a blast coaching it.


Those are just a few of the reasons to implement the Air Raid offense at your school. What are other advantages of the offense that you have discovered?