This archaic formation was popular for most of the first 50 years of modern American football, but it is rare today, except as a novelty. This will allow your players to adapt to and learn the system The Wishbone, or simply the "Bone," formation is shown below (thanks Wikipedia). With Markham's success came many converts to his offense and many variations of the offense over the years. The 52 defense consists of five defensive linemen, two linebackers, and four defensive backs (two corners, two safeties). The wishbone offense, . 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. 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 . Also called the "umbrella" defense or "3-deep". The quarterback in this formation (called at the time a "single-wing tailback"), like today's shotgun QB, received the snap on the fly. The Philosophy: The double tight wishbone's main concept is running the football every down to punish the defenders. With the Diamond (also called the Inverted Wishbone), the quarterback is in shotgun with a tailback . The pistol formation adds the dimension of a running game with the halfback being in a singleback position. 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). They are used primarily as running formations, often in goal line situations. This leaves the DE, and the next defender outside of the DE unblocked. 3 players in the secondary all cover deep thirds. This defense (combined with poor weather conditions) did slow the Patriot's passing game, but proved ineffective against the run, and the Patriots won the game. The A-11 offense combines the Emory and Henry with the wildcat, in that either of the two backs in the backfield can receive the snap and act as quarterback. 3 man roll if you have 2 corners 1 . Therefore, the deployment and tactics of defensive players are bound only by the imagination of the play designer and the line of scrimmage. Often, these ball transfers are in the form of a hand-off (also called a mesh), or a pitch/lateral. The second difference is the blocking technique. It was . Wishbone: Wide - Triple Option. This style was popularized by a coach named Tony Demeo when he coached at various sub-FBS/I-A programs. If the defender attacks one option, they choose the other option. It is because of this that the secondary safety in a football defense is called a free safety rather than a weak safety. When legendary coach George Halas' Chicago Bears used the T-formation to defeat the Washington Redskins by a score of 730 in the 1940 NFL championship game, it marked the end of the single wing at nearly all levels of play, as teams, over the course of the 1940s, moved to formations with the quarterback "under center" like the T.[1] George Halas is credited with perfecting the T formation. [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. If the defender stays wide or attacks the pitch back, the QB keeps and runs up-field. Joe Gibbs, twice head coach of the Washington Redskins, devised an ace variation that used a setback, or "flexed" tight end known as an H-back. 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 Chicago Bears of the mid-1980s famously used defensive tackle William "The Refrigerator" Perry as a fullback in this formation. The ball carrier makes this decision by reading a specific defender and the actions they make. This formation utilizes three running backs (a fullback and two halfbacks) and got its name from backfield alignment. It also means that there are more options for blockers as well as receivers . The power spread offense is designed to be very simple to run and install. There is also a difference in personnel . The shotgun can distribute its 3 other backs and 2 ends any number of ways, but most commonly employs one running back, lined up next to the QB, one tight end and three wide receivers. 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. Historically, this was the first major defense with 4 defensive backs, and was used to combat the passing attacks of the time. . The two backs line up either in a line (hence the name of the formation since it looks like a letter I) or with the fullback "offset" to either side. The "eagle" in the formation's name comes from the late 1940s-early 1950s Philadelphia Eagles coached by Greasy Neale. This also allows the smaller halfbacks to hide behind the offensive line, causing opposing linebackers and pass-rushing defensive linemen to play more conservatively. Hurricane Gun Option Offense on February 27, 2017. [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]. This link shows all sorts of schemes from Johnsons system. Paul Brown was such a meticulous coach that if you gave him something he'd never seen before, he became flustered. Nov. 7, 2012. Defense is based on two standard formations, the 6-2-3, and the 5-3-3. The Nickel defense originated as an innovation of Philadelphia Eagles defensive coach Jerry Williams in 1960 as a measure to defend star tight end Mike Ditka of the Chicago Bears. 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. Do they run triple option as an offense or a play? The modern descendant of the Single Wing. Along with zone read from spread sets, teams have also used power and veer schemes to run shovel options as well. Same rules as veer: block down inside the hole, leave the first defender on or outside the hole unblocked. It consists of three running backs: a fullback lined up directly behind the quarterback, and the two halfbacks split behind the fullback. Their materials may be seen on their respective websites. Even Front 14 23 ZONE from Multiple . Both ends are often split wide as wide receivers, though some variations include one or two tight ends. 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 are seeing is an application of option and triple option football to a more diverse running and passing game. 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. The read defender is now the first defender on or outside the play-side guard. At New Mexico with Bob Davie, and at Georgia Southern (After Paul Johnson went to Navy), they maintained the full house/four-back offensive style the flexbone and wishbone. 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. Most field goals feature nine offensive linemen (seven on the line, both ends in the tight end position, with two extra slightly off the line of scrimmage), a place holder who kneels 7 or 8 yards behind the line of scrimmage, and a kicker. We will use RIP and LIZ for slow motion or ROCKET And LASER for sprint motion. Or Georgia Southern in recent years? On zone, the back is reading the blocks, and is making a read as to which direction to take the ball. All players other than the kicker may now line up no more than 1 yard behind the restraining line. By having the mass of runners in the center it creates an unbalanced field of 8 verses 7 throughout the entire game. It was created by Los Angeles Rams defensive coordinator Fritz Shurmur, and evolved from Buddy Ryan's 46 defense. The core of his ski-gun is still there, and it has grown a small and committed cult following among some high school coaches. SPREAD. Seven-man line defenses use seven down linemen on the line of scrimmage. 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. It has a balance of passing, which is predominantly play-action in nature. The wishbone is a running formation. One is by removing a linebacker from the standard 43 to add the extra defensive back. Sometimes this is a defensive end. Now, what if you were told that many of the college offenses you see on TV today are also running the triple option? . The linemen on the play side are going to block down (to their left). This formation was invented by Buddy Ryan, defensive coordinator of the Chicago Bears during the 1980s. The play, triple option, can be run out of the spread option, the split back veer, the wishbone, the I formation and even today out of a shotgun spread. It has been used out of the I-formation (and its variants, including the Power-I and Maryland I) and the wishbone formation. If that defender attacks the QB, the QB throws the ball to that receiver, rather than pitching it. He brought the philosophy with him to the Buffalo Bills in 2010. 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. The offense is designed in complete backfield series, each of which presents multiple threats to the defense on each play. The extra corner is often called a nickelback. That said, it was regarded as a good formation for trap plays. The rest of the offense is far away near the sideline. His playbook will provide the following for coaches wishing to see how the offense works: Formations and tags. Minnesota and TCU are also starting to employ the spread offense. Youth Football Pistol Formation. Here is the offense that everyone in big time college football seems to be running right now. Many modern football offenses can be traced back to Yale's T Formation, especially after Halas' Chicago Bears along with . Designate a larger, more bruising back to execute all the dives to the left and right, while mirroring the two halfbacks, that way the defense could not determine which side of the formation the offense was more likely to run to. [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. 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. A triple option is any play that has a designed run called, but instead of two options being made by the player taking the snap, there are three. 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 was the primary defense in football, at all levels, during the single wing era (the 1930s), combining enough passing defense to handle the passing attacks of the day along with the ability to handle the power running games of the times. The formation is popular in high school football as well as smaller collegiate teams. [10], The double wing, as a formation, is widely acknowledged to have been invented by Glenn "Pop" Warner in 1912. It took the motion and run-strength of the single wing, and the QB-under-center from the T. In this variation, there is only one wing back, with the other back lined up next to the fullback on the opposite side from the wing back. (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.) Any defense consisting of six defensive backs. 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. Art Craig, Timberland (SC) High School Head Coach and over a 4-year span (2008-11), Craig's teams have averaged 40 points a game running the Pistol Flexbone.. double wing 38 sweep hb pass Some variations use an extra strong safety instead of an extra cornerback. The wishbone has very rarely been used in professional football, as it was developed after passing quarterbacks became the norm. It is generally a balanced formation, and there are backs on both sides of the tailback, offering better pass protection. These formations lack a flanker, and use the maximum 3 running backs rather than the standard 2. I do not consider my offense successful if I score a touchdown in one or two 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. Others attribute the origins to Hugh Wyatt, a Double Wing coach (See Double Wing discussion below). Today, you can run triple options with a dive, keep, and pitch phase, or a dive, keep and pass, or a dive, pass and pass, or any other combination of the three. Clark Shaughnessy designed the formation from the T Formation in 1949 after acquiring halfback Elroy "Crazy Legs" Hirsch. . 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. This formation is typically used for trick plays, though it is somewhat counterintuitively effective in short-yardage situations: a screen pass thrown to the strong side of the formation will have enough blockers to generate a push forward, and the mismatch can create enough of an advantage that the center and quarterback can provide enough blocking power to clear a path for the running back. The pitch back is the third read. In this formation, the normal tight-end is almost exclusively a blocker, while the H-back is primarily a pass receiver. Meanwhile, the center and the guards remain in the middle of the field along with the quarterback and a running back. [11] For example, Dutch Meyer at TCU, with quarterback Sammy Baugh, won a college national championship in 1935 with a largely double wing offense.[12]. The fourth back is most commonly employed as an extra wide receiver. The difference is that the two backs are split behind the quarterback instead of being lined up behind him. With run-pass options, you have an almost limitless combination of triple option read styles. Also known simply as "Five-wide", a reference to the five wide receivers. The Maryland I was developed by Maryland head coach Tom Nugent. Paul Johnsons flexbone evolved differently than DeBerrys at Air Force. In colleges, this defensive front has remained viable for a much longer period of time, because colleges, historically, have run a lot more than the NFL. Two "3" techniques (DT, lined up outside of the guards) and two "8" techniques (DE, lined up outside of end man on line of scrimmage). The WR1 lines up to the left and the WR2 lines up to the right. Double Wing Offense: uses two wingbacks to set up power runs and misdirection plays. We mostly know the term triple option as the famous inside veer play that dominated college football in the 70s and 80s, then today with the military academies. As time passed, Hawaiis Run n Shoot became less shoot, and more run (with the help of an excellent option quarterback named Ken Niumatalolo), eventually turning into the offense Paul Johnson brought with him to Georgia Southern, then Navy, then Georgia Tech. 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. Ken Hatfield ran it at Clemson and Rice after. It consists of three defensive linemen, four linebackers, and four defensive backs (two safeties, two corners). Now picture a zone read to the left. tight wishbone 18 sweep vs. 4-4 split 10 tight wishbone 34 cross lead vs. 6-2 11 tight wishbone fake 42 wedge y pop pass 12 playbook for coaches ^^^ yz[kv^uhww jvt ^pszvu. Developed at Hawaii in the early 1990s, Paul Johnsons flexbone option offense is what most fans today think of in terms of triple option teams. The second part of the play call is the motion, if any. RED FORMATION Although the modern Wing-T system is a multi-formation complex, I strongly recommend that youth coaches stick with one formation, known universally as Red (when the TE and WB are aligned to the Right) and Blue (when the TE and WB align Left). WhatIf's Dynasty College Football Sim - The Ultimate Fantasy Football Games - Coach your favorite college team - Recruit players, set game plans and dominate However, the flexbone is considered more "flex"-ible than the wishbone because, since the wingbacks line up on the line of scrimmage, more run / pass options and variations are possible. 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). The wishbone was developed in the 1960s by Emory Bellard, offensive coordinator at the University of Texas under head coach Darrell Royal. NFL quarterbacks are not necessarily good runners, and are in any case too valuable to the offense to risk injury by regularly running with the football. The Double Wing is combination of the I, which Markham initially ran the offense from in his earlier days, and the Wing-T 30 Series (Power Series). [33] As late as the early 1950s, the Cleveland Browns were using a 5-3 as their base defense.[34][35]. They were most common before the forward pass became prevalent, but were still common prior to the inception of the platoon system. Zone principles teach a more balanced stance, and using hands and leverage to steer defenders in a particular direction. Shotgun Formation In the shotgun formation the quarterback stands several .