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The Tunnel Screen Play is one of my favorite offensive weapons. Check out this podcast to learn everything you need to know about coaching the tunnel screen, and how to defend against it. This episode is part of the deep dive series in season 8. We take one play and dissect it from every angle including origin of the play, how to run it, and how to beat it.

Protect your passing game using slide protection. Get the details of how to coach slide protection in the quick game and drop back pass to give your quarterback time to throw the ball.

This episode of The Football Coaching Podcast takes a deep dive look at the Buck Sweep play. It is the key play in the Buck Series, the most common series seen from Wing-T attacks at the high school level.

Deep Dive on the Counter Trey run play made famous in the NFL by the early 1980's Washington run game! This play is a feature of the One Back Offense. Learn the origins of the play, how to execute it, and how to stop the Counter Trey.

It's been around forever. The 4 verticals passing concept is probably the most commonly called passing concept in football today. But there's a lot more to it than just running 4 guys down the field.

Part 1: Origins of the Call Where did the Double A Gap Blitz come from? Blood, Sweat and Chalk credits Jim Johnson as DC under Andy Reid’s Eagles teams in the early 2000s. Credit to Cincinnati Enquirer article, Mike Zimmer as Defensive Coordinator in Cincinnati really popularized it (with Paul Guenther?). Teams have been attacking the A Gaps since the start of football. Johnson developed the double A gap scheme to force the Offensive Line to adjust protections by putting immediate pressure up the middle. Zimmer article mentions using the blitzes to disguise coverage. I guess?    Part 2: Execution of the Call   How do you run a Double A Gap Blitz? Blitzing two linebackers (or a linebacker and a safety) in the A Gaps. The Defensive Tackles have to get out of the A gaps, so you’re probably lining up in a 40 front with either 2’s, 3’s or 2i’s that will stunt out.  Walking the linebackers up on the line forces the Offensive Line to either check protection to a slide or gap protection, or let the back handle one of the linebackers on an immediate rush with no help.   An adjustment I like is to stack the two rushers. This is because our guys are not NFL, and so the back guy has a better chance of dropping off for either zone or man blitzes. You can also drop both and play traditional cover 3 if they know how to zone drop. With both guys up, drop the man the center steps to, and blitz the other one. You end up with a 3 under/3 deep Crossfires are great for pass blitzing in High School.    Part 3: Attacking the Call What do you run to attack Double A Gap Blitzes? Teams are primarily running double A gap blitzes to attack a pocket passer. It’s a great blitz in the NFL, but you probably aren’t seeing drop back passers 8 games a season. You can also attack interior run plays like a midline or trap play. Run the ball off tackle. Just run an outside zone play, those backers are locked into the A gap and can’t scrape to build a wall against the edge runs. A toss play or jet sweep takes them completely out of the equation. Linebackers aren’t adept at keying down blocks the way a defensive lineman is. Try to trap one of them. If you can pop to the second level there’s no one there. One on one with the safety.  Slide protection is your best bet, but get the ball out quickly. If you’ve got a 3-step quick pass called, use a slide protection to get the ball out.  Screens!  Get the QB in shotgun (no matter what), and then get him on the move. Sprint out or roll out. Don’t bother with play action, the backers are already sucked up. Hit a quick drag route or TE pop pass, or any sort of moving route. 

It's a half-episode! Look for Season 8, Episode 2 of The Football Coaching Podcast with a deep dive on the Double A Gap Blitz on Monday at Noon Eastern!

Season 8 of The Football Coaching Podcast is focusing on deep dives on individual play calls, so what better play to start with than the Zone Read? In fact, we've come full circle - Zone Read Option was the topic on the very first episode of the podcast back in 2012! The deep dive series will take a look at play calls from every angle. We look at the origins of the play, the details of execution, how to attack or defend the play, and how to evaluate and evolve the play within your playbook.

The season kicks off and that call you’ve been working on for 6 months just is not working. Run plays, passing concepts, blitzes, stunts or coverages. Whatever it is… it’s not working. This is the 5 step process to evaluate that football play call before you just kick it to the curb. You’re always smarter in February than you are in September and October (or whenever your season happens this year!), so let’s figure out what the problem is!

There’s an old saying among option football coaches. OK, really it’s among all football coaches… mostly old football coaches. If you can’t block ’em, read ’em. Pretty simple. When you don’t have anybody that can take that guy 1 on 1, you always have another option. Just make him wrong, no matter what he does. That’s the premise behind option football. Make one guy wrong, no matter what he does. For coaches running a true option football system, this is a way of life. Let nothing get in the way of reading the guy that’s causing problems. Then there’s the rest of us. We run an offense that is not based solely on reading defenders. Are we left out of the option offense goodness? Nope. In this episode of The Football Coaching Podcast, I’ll show you how to expand your offensive playbook using option football principles. Without confusing your players and causing a total disaster in the backfield.

Any time you decide to install a new playbook for your football team, you could run into trouble. It takes time to teach the skills your players need. It takes time for the coaches to understand how to teach those skills, too. The knee jerk reaction when your team isn’t firing on all cylinders in the first few weeks of the season is to panic. Go back to what you were doing before. But that’s not the answer. This week’s Football Coaching Podcast looks at how to make in-season adjustments when your brand new plan of attack isn’t working like you expected. This is how to get your team back on track with the changes you need to make to reach a whole new level of success.

Football drills are a big favorite among coaches. It's our thing. Standing there holding a whistle, watching your guys run around hoops and over bags. That's what coaching football is all about. Except that most defensive drills are a waste of time for high school football players. They end up never translating the drills to the field. Today you'll find out the football drills that really matter at every defensive position to get your players ready to win on game day.

When they hit the football coaching scene a few years ago, defensive coordinators were scratching their heads defending RPOs. But while it's a great tool for offenses to attack, run pass options are not as mystical as they may seem. If you've got a good RPO team on your schedule this season, you don't need to panic and change your whole defense. Follow the 5 tips for defending RPO's in this podcast to shut 'em down.