Getting WRs involved in the Run Game
WRs by nature are usually the guy(s) you want with the ball in their hands. Speed, moves, and the ability to break a long play any time they get their hands on the ball. The problem, is that it can be difficult to get them the ball consistently in the passing game. You see this even at the NFL and College level where a stud WR gets held to a rather pedestrian day. I am a big believer in using WRs in the run game for a few reasons
- It guarantees they are getting the ball in their hands, more touches = more chances to pop an explosive play
- Gives the ball to someone else so teams can’t just attack the tail back
- Adds a level of deception to our offense, which many coaches feel you lack being in the gun/pistol (we will run these WR plays as well as fake to them )
- Motion or a unique formation presents one more element for the defense to prepare for
The 2 concepts I will talk about today are
Jet Sweep
WR sweep
In the Jet sweep, we are bringing a WR in motion, timing the snap to hit him close to full speed and trying to get to the edge. We use OZ blocking with the OL, and we use the FB and RB to kick out force and lead up for the Jet WR.
The first 2 clips below show our regular motion jet sweep. The final clip shows a no motion jet sweep, where we experimented with a quick touch pass to the WR (no risk of fumble, technically a pass). Up front I am fine with a little bit of penetration as long as we can get our hips around to seal off the box. We need to improve how we coach our FB and RB to kick out force and lead through, but we felt we got a lot of bang for our buck, in terms of production vs practice time invested.
In the WR sweep, I wanted another way to get our WR the ball, that didn’t use motion. As we started having success using jet sweeps, defenses started attacking the motion hard. We used a Wing position to bring our WR closer to the ball. You could accomplish this by using a slow motion or orbit motion as well.
The WR sweep differs from the Jet in a few ways
- We block it using pin and pull
- We fake to our RB first and he blocks backside like traditional bucksweep
- Because of the blocking scheme, and the time it takes for the mesh, the play will typically get cut up into the alley, rather than attack the perimeter fast like jet
A great way to pair this if you wanted to keep the motion, would be to use a motion crack and run the ball, then motion, snap the ball with same timing, fake the run to the crack side, and have motion man bend around QB to get the WR sweep.
Using these WR sweeps is a great way to get your playmakers the ball.
