. It's a combination of wishbone power, wing-t blocking, spread concepts, and pistol formations all in to one. The wildcat formation is similar to run-oriented formations used during the early days of football, but it had not been seen in the NFL for many years until the Miami Dolphins employed it during the 2008 season with running backs Ricky Williams and Ronnie Brown. Dec 9, 2019. All players other than the kicker may now line up no more than 1 yard behind the restraining line. Coach Bill Walsh used the wishbone because of his replacement quarterback's familiarity with a similar formation in college. With adjustments in blocking and running we can create situations that are unfavorable to the defense at all times. [36][32][37][38] As the T formation grew popular in the 1940s, this formation was replaced in the NFL with the 5-3 and the 5-2 defenses. 4-4 is another good one for wishbone. Teams would often adopt the Notre Dame Box if they lacked a true "triple threat" tailback, necessary for effective single-wing use. To summarize a triple option, it is any play that features a designed run, with the intention of making a post-snap decision as to who gets the ball between three players. Two other I formation variations include the Maryland I and the Power I. Many leagues require that at least four players be on each side of the kicker at the time of a kick; prior to this, an onside kick formation often had all ten of the other players on one side of the kicker. This site requires JavaScript to run correctly. Punting formations use a five-man offensive line, three "upbacks" (sometimes also referred to as "personal protectors") approximately 3 yards behind the line to act as an additional line of defense, two wide receivers known as "gunners" either to stop the punt returner or to down the ball, and the punter, 15 yards behind the line of scrimmage to receive the long snap. The sixth defensive back is known as the dimeback and this defense is also used in passing situations (particularly when the offense is using four wide receivers). This list is not exhaustive; there are hundreds of different ways to organize a team's players while still remaining within the "7 on the line 4 in the backfield" convention. Their materials may be seen on their respective websites. With the midline, the dive back now dives straight forward at the centersmidline. 3 man roll if you have 2 corners 1 . That way if they went in motion, defenses couldnt tell if they were going behind the QB to be a pitch back, or in front of the QB to run a jet sweep. Still, this list of formations covers enough of the basics that almost every formation can be considered a variant of the ones listed below. during the beginning of the shotgun boom and we installed the shotgun in order to give our team an opportunity to outnumber teams at the point of attack. WhatIf's Dynasty College Football Sim - The Ultimate Fantasy Football Games - Coach your favorite college team - Recruit players, set game plans and dominate The Wishbone, Wing-T and Veer offenses of yesteryear were the golden age of the fullback. With this series, you have the foundational movements of the classic triple option: A dive, a QB keep, and a pitch phase. Both guards, both tackles, a tight end, and a receiver line up on the line of scrimmage. It has a balance of passing, which is predominantly play-action in nature. In Neale's defense, as in Shurmur's variation, the nose tackle could also drop into pass coverage, thus Shurmur's use of the Eagle defense name. It is generally a balanced formation, and there are backs on both sides of the tailback, offering better pass protection. Fielding Yost and Pop Warner referred to the old T Formation as the Regular Formation.. The Shotgun formation, originally called the Lonesome Quarterback, was an invention by Pop Ivy while coaching in the CFL, although Red Hickey, coach of the San Francisco 49ers is credited with bringing it to the NFL in 1960 and renaming it the Shotgun. Today, Tony Annesse is the head coach at Ferris State University (MI), and he has since adapted his offense to more modern concepts that are popular in college football, like RPOs, which this article will get to shortly. In order to create a triple option, the person making the decision must now read two defenders. The most extreme shotgun formation is the Shotgun Spread (D) formation in which the tight end is . The formation features several stop-gaps in the event the quarterback does lose the ball: a seven-man line, the quarterback, two upbacks (running backs) immediately behind him, one at each side in the event he fumbles, and a fast player (usually a wide receiver or cornerback) several yards back as a last resort in case the defense recovers and is able to advance the ball. Emerging during the late 1990s and 2000s the spread option is typically run from any variant of the shotgun formation such as the example above. Some attribute the modern origins of the "Wildcat" to Bill Snyder's Kansas State (whose sports teams are known as the "Wildcats") offense of the late 90s and early 2000s, which featured a lot of zone read runs by the quarterback. Most say option football began with the Split-T offense that was very popular in the 1940s and 50s. The wishbone was developed in the 1960s by Emory Bellard, offensive coordinator at the University of Texas under head coach Darrell Royal. The tackle spread or "Emory and Henry" formation is an unusual American football formation that dates to the early 1950s, when the Wasps of Emory & Henry College under head coach Conley Snidow used it as part of their base offense. Often, these ball transfers are in the form of a hand-off (also called a mesh), or a pitch/lateral. The player receiving the snap is usually not a good passer, so defenses can bring linebackers and defensive backs closer to the line of scrimmage to clog potential running lanes. This formation utilizes three running backs (a fullback and two halfbacks) and got its name from backfield alignment. Some systemic differences across teams. interior line and LBs for dive, DE for qb and OLB for pitch man or switch if its double dive. [30] It was called the "Umbrella" defense because of the four defensive backs, whose crescent alignment resembled an opened umbrella, and the tactic of allowing the defensive ends to fall back into pass coverage, converting the defense, in Owen's language, from a 614 into a 416. Prior to the snap, only the lone lineman assumed a three-point stance near the offensive center while the 6 linebackers "roved" up and down the line of scrimmage, attempting to confuse the quarterback as to whether they would rush the passer, drop into coverage, or play the run. The wishbone has very rarely been used in professional football, as it was developed after passing quarterbacks became the norm. . There are few stars in a wishbone offense. Spread Offense: spreads the defense horizontally, making it easier to isolate man coverage, as well as find and throw to the holes in the zone. Since the team had so many talented running backs, they decided to place three gifted rushers in the backfield. It is essentially a shotgun variation, with the quarterback lined up closer than in standard shotgun (normally 3 to 4 yards behind center), and a running back lined up behind, rather than next to, the QB (normally at 3 to 4 yards behind quarterback). Some variations use an extra strong safety instead of an extra cornerback. The San Francisco 49ers added the Pistol to their offense in 2012 after former Nevada quarterback Colin Kaepernick became the team's starter. If the DE sits or runs up-field or at the QB, the QB hands off. If that defender attacks the QB, the QB throws the ball to that receiver, rather than pitching it. The New Orleans Saints. Ken Hatfield ran it at Clemson and Rice after. The position was usually filled by a powerful runner who carried the "dive" element of a triple-option rushing attack and played a featured role in the way an offense attempted to move the chains. A perfectly symmetric formation, we bring our halfback up to play as the second wing back, with our full back lined up directly behind the quarterback. Veer schemes typically have linemen with their weight far forward, and lunging out, almost on all fours to block the defense, using mostly shoulders to block or pin defenders. The most common running play from this formation is a quarterback draw play up the middle since defensive players are spread out from sideline to sideline. What we do not talk about is any such thing called the "inverted Wishbone, triangles, Maryland Is, Power Is, and other bastardizations" of the most balanced . By the late 2010s, the pistol had become a favored formation of teams running the run-pass option (RPO) offense, such as the 2019 Baltimore Ravens with quarterback Lamar Jackson. This formation is intended for one purpose: to allow the quarterback to safely down the ball without losing control, preventing the defense from recovering and advancing the ball to the end zone. Often, a tight end or full back position is occupied by a player who normally plays offensive line or defensive line positions to act as an extra blocker. Just like the old days, the college football world was focusing all of its attention on an offensive system born way back when Army was the national power that Oklahoma is now. The Pistol can also feature the option play. There can be two tight ends as well, with no wide receivers. The shotgun formation is the most common offensive formation used in American football. It was designed at the time to be a mix between the single wing and T-formation. Darrell K. Royal's Wishbone offense relied on star fullback . This is the key to the offensive formation, as it means that there are technically three players in the backfield who can carry the ball on any given play. In its earliest incarnation, it also used a loophole in the high school rulebook that allowed players wearing any uniform number to play at either an ineligible or eligible position, further increasing defensive confusion and allowing for more flexibility among players changing positions between plays. It is because of this that the secondary safety in a football defense is called a free safety rather than a weak safety. This creates a line that is weighted toward the right of the center. An option play in most football terminology is a play designed to be a run, where whoever takes the snap is making a post-read decision on giving the ball to one of two players. If you can identify these two components, you have yourself a triple option play. The most common play out of the formation is a quick pass to a receiver on the outside which functions much like a wide receiver screen or, if defenders crowd the line of scrimmage, a quickly thrown streak route with the receiver attempting to run past them. This is almost exclusively a passing formation used to spread the field, often to open up short inside routes or screen routes. Now, leave the next defender outside the DE unblocked. The Chicago Bears of the mid-1980s famously used defensive tackle William "The Refrigerator" Perry as a fullback in this formation. 28 Sweep (Wishbone) Youth football defenses often times can get in the bad habit of getting sucked inside as you pound the ball up the middle. Now almost everyone has shotgun or pistol alignments. Lets say you call an inside veer to the right. The Eagles named their version the "Herman Edwards" play after their cornerback who scored the winning touchdown on the above fateful play. While the original Nickel defense utilized 5 defensive backs in conjunction with a 4-man rush, and 2 linebackers, modern definition calls any formation that utilizes 5 defensive backs (from nickel = 5 cent piece) a Nickel defense. Barry Switzer's wishbone offense, Bill McCartney's I-Bone, and Tom Osborne's I-Option are the types of offenses that made the option quarterbacks households names. The other 3 backs lined up on the same side of the QB in various arrangements. The QB and RB mesh, and the QB reads the backside defensive end for give or keep. It's similar to the triple option philosophy of the wishbone offense that dominated college football in 1970s and '80s with eight national championships combined by Texas, Oklahoma and Alabama. Because it is generally more difficult to establish a rushing attack using only the shotgun, most NFL teams save the shotgun for obvious passing situations such as 3rd and long or when they are losing and must try to score quickly. With the Diamond (also called the Inverted Wishbone), the quarterback is in shotgun with a tailback . It was also the favored formation of the pass-happy BYU Cougars under the tenure of legendary coach LaVell Edwards. [26], The Cincinnati Bengals under Marvin Lewis occasionally used a variant of the Emory and Henry formation, which they called the "Star Wars" formation; in their version, both offensive tackles line up on the same side of the quarterback, thus creating a hybrid between the Emory & Henry and the swinging gate.[27][28]. In Madden 22, the . One style is like the one just described: Read the DE, then the next defender out for hand off, QB run, or pass. [2] In this configuration the line of scrimmage has an end and tackle left of center, while to the right of the center are two guards, a tackle, and an end. Two unblocked defenders that are read by the QB, or a designated player, who will then determine if the ball will be handed off on the called run (option 1) or redistributed to one of two other players (options 2 and 3). Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy says he and his former offensive coordinator, Kellen Moore, don't always have the same vision for what an offense should do.McCarthy says Moore wants to score points . There is also a difference in personnel . Flexbone Offense Personnel. The Wishbone sought to find a more balanced approach. It saw use during the 1950s in Owen's hands, but never became a significant base defense. Youth Football Pistol Formation. The outside veer is pretty similar to the Split-T option play. One of those other players can be the person making the read (QB keep). The QBs first read was the DE. Here is the offense that everyone in big time college football seems to be running right now. Full Frame: Michael Phelps Goes Fishing. If you can make that quick read all five of these get to the 2nd level QUICK and rarely result in negative plays. Notice that the 4th back required by the rules is the set-back wide receiver at the right (called the flanker). Jerry Valloton also marketed the offense well when he wrote the first book on the offense. Do they run triple option as an offense or a play? This may tell the defense you are running the ball, but it also allows for a lot of blockers. The Double Wing is widely used at the youth level, becoming more popular at the high school level and has been used at the college level by The classic wishbone formation and the backfield set that gives it its name. Into the 80's, Air Force head coach Fisher DeBerry was looking for a way to make his Wishbone offense more "flexible." One of the major setbacks of the wishbone is that there are only two players, the two . Some teams have successfully used this formation for pass plays, most famously the New England Patriots, who used linebacker Mike Vrabel as a tight end to catch touchdown passes in both Super Bowl XXXVIII and Super Bowl XXXIX, two of ten completions all for touchdowns in fourteen such targets. The wishbone is a running formation. Also, the formation often featured an unbalanced line where the center (that is, the player who snapped the ball) was not strictly in the center of the line, but close to the weakside. This style was popularized by a coach named Tony Demeo when he coached at various sub-FBS/I-A programs. With run-pass options, you have an almost limitless combination of triple option read styles. Others attribute the origins to Hugh Wyatt, a Double Wing coach (See Double Wing discussion below). The other players that are not on the line of scrimmage can either act as tight ends or wide receivers. The quarter formations are run from a 317 or a 407 in most instances; the New England Patriots have used an 047 in some instances with no down linemen. Think of it as a marriage between the split-back veer and the zone read. Often times, the options are to give the ball to one player, keep it themselves, or get the ball to the third player. All that really changes on the O-line is that instead of leaving alone the first defender on or outside the play-side tackle, they now leave the first defender on or outside the tight-end unblocked. I do not consider my offense successful if I score a touchdown in one or two [4] More recently, Utah has utilized this formation with quarterback Brian Johnson.[5]. Two tight ends line up on the same side as the flanker. Here are three diagrams of I-Formation, strong side right (that is, with the tight end lining up to the right, typical for a right-handed quarterback). Diagram and description of the Maryland I at. On zone, the back is reading the blocks, and is making a read as to which direction to take the ball. The first is the dive-backs assignment. The "eagle" in the formation's name comes from the late 1940s-early 1950s Philadelphia Eagles coached by Greasy Neale. http://yout. This formation is often referred to as a "two tight end" set. It was the forerunner of the modern 43. The wishbone offense was created by University of Texas assistant Emory Bellard in an attempt to revive the troubled Longhorns' offense. By having the mass of runners in the center it creates an unbalanced field of 8 verses 7 throughout the entire game. Unlike other formations, the extra safety is not referred to as a quarterback or halfback (except in Canadian football), to avoid confusion with the offensive positions of the same names, but rather simply as a defensive back or a safety. It was subsequently adopted by many other college programs in the 1970s, including Alabama and Oklahoma, who also won national titles with variations of the offense. The pitch back is the third read. Half dollar defenses are almost always run from a 308 formation. New Mexico runs a Mesh from the shotgun or pistol formation where the back lines up either to the side of the QB or . When you hear the veer as an offense, it usually means the split-back veer, or Houston Veer. The Veer offense differs from the wishbone in that it operated from a split-back backfield, using more pro-style formations, featuring a tight-end, split-end, and flanker. 7) The key to this offense is to know what the defense is doing and then attack it with the understanding of what will work against it. This has disrupted the timing of some defenses with the way the quarterback hands the ball off to the halfback. More extreme defensive formations have been used when a coach feels that his team is at a particular disadvantage due to the opponent's offensive tactics or poor personnel match-ups. The T formation is the precursor to most modern formations in that it places the quarterback directly under center (in contrast to its main competitor of its day, the single wing, which had the quarterback receiving the ball on the fly). He is currently the offensive coordinator at Hillcrest High School in the state of Idaho. It consists of three running backs lined up abreast about five yards behind the quarterback, forming the shape of a T. It may feature two tight ends (known as the Power T) or one tight end and a wide receiver (in this case known as a split end). This is the base defense of some teams. (If the punting team is deep in its own territory, the 15-yard distance would have to be shortened by up to 5 yards to keep the punter in front of the end line.) However, as with any hugely successful formation or philosophy, as teams learned how to defend against it, it became much less successful. In the wishbone there are three running backs, two halfbacks and a fullback. If the defender attacks one option, they choose the other option. The Saints have always been at the top of the passing attack, but with Drew Brees' retirement, we'll have to see what becomes of the black and gold. One unique factor about this formation, depending on the exact alignment, is that the center can be an eligible receiver if he is the farthest outside on the line of scrimmage. [33] As late as the early 1950s, the Cleveland Browns were using a 5-3 as their base defense.[34][35]. Army and Navy both currently run Paul Johnsons system, and Johnson also ran it at Georgia Tech. The DC Wing T and Pistol Offense 1 Merging the DC Wing T and Pistol 2 Play Calling 3 The Split End 4 Blocking Rules 5 Blocking Cues 6 Blocking Cues cont. They may choose to attempt to block the punt, or drop back to block for the receiver. 7 DC Pistol Base Formation 8 DC Pistol Formations 9 Motion in the DC Pistol 10 QB and FB Footwork in the GUN 11 Zone Plays 12 23 ZONE 13 23 ZONE vs. Some teams (like the Indianapolis Colts under Tony Dungy) use this formation with both tight ends on the line and use two flankers. If we look at option plays with this kind of description, notice how there are no rules or limits as to how the ball is distributed. The slot backs would also be even in depth with the QB. #6. This formation was invented by Buddy Ryan, defensive coordinator of the Chicago Bears during the 1980s. While Army, Navy, Air . Developed at Muskegon High School (MI), pronounced Muh-ski-gun, head coach Tony Annesse made his own adaptations to Paul Johnsons offense, leading Muskegon to multiple state titles. Combining the wishbone and run-and-shoot offenses into one cohesive offensive front has expanded the options football coaches have when considering which offense their team will execute on game day. "This Army team is . The base backfield has two backs to either side of the QB. If offenses grew wise to the drop back, the ends could pass rush instead. [21] Historically, it was used to great success as a primary formation in the NFL by the Tom Landry-led Dallas Cowboys teams of the 1970s and the 1990s Buffalo Bills teams under Marv Levy, who used a variation known as the K-gun that relied on quarterback Jim Kelly. Since that time, Tim Murphy, Steve Calande, Jack Greggory, Robert McAdams, and several other coaches have further developed the offense and coaching materials thereof. The shotgun offense became a staple of many college football offenses beginning in the 1990s. In the NFL, this formation was the basis of the run and shoot offense that was popular in the 1980s with teams such as the Detroit Lions and the Houston Oilers but has since fallen out of favor as a primary offensive philosophy. The pistol can create advantages in the play-action game. It might look like a new-age offense, but its roots go back 40, 80, and even 100 years. The most recent use of this formation was in 2019, when the Miami Dolphins played the Philadelphia Eagles in the second quarter on 4th and goal when Matt Haack (normally used as a punter or a placekick holder) took the snap and flicked the ball to Jason Sanders (normally used as a placekicker) for a touchdown. As the extra defensive back in the nickel formation is called the nickel, two nickels gives you a dime, hence the name of the formation. shoot 18 keep vs. 5-2 13 shoot 34 lead vs. 4-4 14 shoot max deep pass 15 playbook for coaches ^^^ yz[kv^uhww jvt ^pszvu. [24] Instead of the conventional grouping of all five ineligible offensive linemen in the middle of the formation, the Emory and Henry spreads the tackles out to the edge of the field along with two receivers or slotbacks, creating two groupings of three players near each sideline. The "Ski-Gun" The Ski-gun is a lesser known version of the flexbone option offense, but still has the inside veer at its core. October 08, 2018. The offense is designed in complete backfield series, each of which presents multiple threats to the defense on each play. Seven-man line defenses use seven down linemen on the line of scrimmage. In 2011, the NFL instituted a rule requiring players other than the kicker to line up no more than 5 yards from the ball before the kick. If the DE attacks the dive, the QB pulls. Think of your typical zone read: The O-line blocks inside or outside zone. The third part of the play is a number. This formation, paired with the wishbone system, became known as the flexbone. Not surprisingly the T Formation was developed in the mid 1880s by the father of American football, Walter Camp at Yale. The Flexbone offense will utilize three running backs in the backfield at all times. What we are seeing is an application of option and triple option football to a more diverse running and passing game. The T formation, wishbone, and flexbone are the most popular football formations that use three . Be as simple or complex as you want with simple tags.Motions and shifts. One is by removing a linebacker from the standard 43 to add the extra defensive back. Bring a back or receiver into the backfield via formation call or motion, and have the QB read that second unblocked defender. The fourth back is most commonly employed as an extra wide receiver. You can turn this into a triple option by leaving the next defender outside that first one unblocked. The Ski-gun is a lesser known version of the flexbone option offense, but still has the inside veer at its core. Frankly, it is a misnomer to call the offense triple option as it is a play that is run out of his spread option offense. Arkansas last ran it in the late 80s under Ken Hatfield. The formation was originally designed as a brute-force running formation, since it had 7 players to one side of the center and only 2 on the other. The power spread offense is designed to be very simple to run and install. The QB backs up, out of the backs path to make the mesh/read. The Shotgun has become a popular option formation since Eric Crouch and the University of . If the opposite team is a good passing team, outside linebackers are usually called on to defend slotbacks. This leaves the DE, and the next defender outside of the DE unblocked. Power RPO with Ron McKie. This was probably the latest of the three veer-type plays to develop, and is definitely the most nuanced. [13][14] In times when punting on second and third down was fairly common, teams would line up in the short punt formation and offer the dual threat of punt or pass. . His Oklahoma City program presented the new offensive formation to great fanfare before losing to the Southwestern Moundbuilders by a score of 70.[22]. Either keep, or pitch to that extra receiver or back. The ball carrier makes this decision by reading a specific defender and the actions they make. Wishbone Option Offense. While most offensive playbooks I have looked at were bloated with plays, very few have ever had too many formations.