Defending the Spread

This Thursday's game between Auburn and West Virginia will feature two teams that run the spread offense. West Virginia has employed the spread since 2002, and it shows. They have perhaps the best run-threat spread QB in the country, Pat White. West Virginia's spread offense is diverse, well-organized, and lethal. The Mountaineers have had several years to recruit players uniquely suited to the spread offense. Auburn, using the spread for the first time this year, is still learning the nuances and continuing the transition from a traditional power offense. Auburn's defense should be well prepared for this game because they get to see the spread offense every day at practice. This leads to an interesting question: How do you stop the spread? There are three areas you need to be good at on the defensive side of the ball:

Defensive Team Speed
Excellent Open Field Tacklers
Gap Responsibility and Pursuit Discipline

There are certainly more complex aspects of defensive gameplanning that teams employ to stop the spread offense, but it's really too much to get into whether an odd front is better than an even front, sliding to strength or away from strength, slanting, angling, cover-2, cover-3, combo coverage, etc., is the best approach. I'll leave that up to Paul Rhoads and his defensive assistants. Let's start with these three fundamentals that every team needs in order to stop a spread offense.

1) Defensive Team Speed
It's obvious when you look at the landscape of both the college or high school game that players like Patrick White (West Virginia), Noel Devine (West Virginia), Armanti Edwards (Appalachian State), Terrelle Pryor (Ohio State), and Percy Harvin (Florida) have required defenses to have fast, athletic players to match the speed of these great athletes. When I say "speed," I don't mean 100 meter dash speed per say, but football speed, which is usually an athlete that not only can run fast in a straight line, but can also run fast, stop, then re-start again at a rapid rate. Change of direction speed, the ability to accelerate, decelerate, then re-accelerate at a rapid pace. Is a player born with this? Some are for sure. Can a player work on this type of speed? Absolutely. It's called change of direction training, and such training facilities as The Parisi Speed School and Velocity Training teach it around the country. Parisi calls it "Deceleration Training."

Tommy Tuberville, I think, has been ahead of the curve in this respect for several years. Tuberville has long preferred smaller, faster, linebackers that can quickly cover ground from one sideline to the other. Auburn's linebackers are more the size of a what a traditional safety would be. This focus on speed and athleticism, rather than size and brute strength, has enabled Auburn's defense to match up well with an opposing offense's playmakers. The advantage was certainly obvious in upset wins over Florida in 2006 and 2007.

2) Excellent Open Field Tacklers

The one big thing a spread offense trys to exploit is the need for defenses to be in open space, often with even numbers of offensive and defensive players in a particular section of the field; this takes away the classic "gang tackling" concept that so many defenses preach. It's much harder to gang tackle when you're spread all across the field; isolating areas of the field is what spread offenses are looking for. Working on open field, individual tackling is of the utmost importance for defenses. The ability to break down in the open field, make good contact, and wrap-up as you bring down the offensive player is very important for a team's "2nd level" players (linebackers and lefensive backs).

One very simple part of being a good open field tackler is teaching the defender to have their head up, and eyes open right up to impact (Chris Spielman always refers to this as "see what you hit, and hit what you see"). This may sound simple, but you would be surprised how many players close their eyes right before contact. It's a natural human reaction to close your eyes before any contact, and football is no different, but you need to change that if you want players that are good open field tacklers.

Angles of pursuit are also critical. This is not just the game saving angles of pursuit; the intermediate angles of pursuit, and what to do when you get there (tackle and then strip), are also very important in stopping the spread offense. Players must always take a proper angle and be ready to deliver an open field blow.

3) Gap Responsibility and Pursuit Discipline
The great Denver Broncos teams of the late 90's gave defenses fits with their zone blocking scheme and the ability of Terrell Davis to cut back on over pursuing defenses. In 2008 you're seeing college and high school spread offense zone teams do the same thing to over-aggressive defenses who insist on flying over the top to get the zone hand-off, only to get burned by either the tailback cutting back against the pursuit, or the QB (who's now the best athlete on the team and one of the fastest) tucking it on the zone read and bootlegging the other way. The ability of a defense to be disciplined in gap responsibility and pursuit starts in practice. It needs to be worked on in individual, group, and team settings.

It all starts with confidence in the team that all 11 players believe in each other (i.e., if I do my job then the team will benefit). Don't confuse this with not being an aggressive defense; it just needs to be emphasized to defensive players that the pursuit angle (on any play run away from that player's position) should never pass the ball carriers "inside pocket" or armpit at that player's level. Once the play passes a player's level, they need to fly to the ball, because a cutback at that point is no longer a concern at that player's responsibility level. Now if the ball is coming "play side" (right at the defender), they still need to keep their outside arm free and never give away the corner, believing in teammates that pursue from the backside using the correct angles will be there soon to help out.

One of the best defenses that does all of the above has been South Florida, especially in their games against West Virginia the past two years. USF's defensive staff would be a great group to go visit and clinic with if you need to stop a West Virginia-style, run-dominant, spread offense. Hopefully Coach Tuberville has good contacts with Jim Leavitt in the wake of their 2007 game. Also, defensive coordinator Paul Rhoads, in his previous stint at Pitt, has a lot of experience with West Virginia's spread offense. Most notably, Rhoads' Panthers shut down the West Virginia offense in the regular season finale in 2007.

When watching the Auburn-West Virginia game on Thursday night, look to see if Auburn's defense is making open-field tackles and limiting the cutback plays from West Virginia's offense. These are two major keys if Auburn hopes to come away with a win.

The "Bubble Screen": The Spread's Outside Running Play

So, what is a bubble screen?

It's a pass thrown behind the line of scrimmage to a receiver or running back who's already in an extended formation. The term "bubble" refers to the pass catcher bubbling back away from the line of scrimmage to give the quarterback a better angle to throw to him. The goal is to have the receiver catch the ball in front of him, with his shoulders facing forward. At the same time, the receivers outside of him are blocking down the field.

Bubble screens are nothing new, even though it's become a fashionable buzz phrase. They're essentially glorified sweeps, so they're usually called in running situations. When are bubble screens most effective? They work best when the opposition is caught between sound run and pass schemes. When a defense puts eight players in the box against seven blockers -- five offensive linemen, a tight end and a fullback -- yet tries to keep two safeties back, it can be susceptible. The bubble screen is one of the components of the spread offense that really makes things hard on the defense, placing them between a rock and a hard place in trying to decide on perimeter support for the run (especially against the zone read or triple option), and how many players to commit to "the box," as outside linebackers and strong safeties need to cover receiver #2 (the inside twin receiver), taking them out of the box. A bubble screen is merely a passing play designed to act as an outside running play.

Another component of the bubble screen that has become even more interesting is when offenses fake or act out the bubble screen, making the perimeter defense freeze (if only for a split second), which may be the difference on an inside zone read run going to the house, or for a 6 yard gain as the box defenders are all covered by blockers and perimeter help cannot support the inside play.

Executing a successful bubble screen is easier said than done. Many coaches at clinics describe the bubble screen throw by the quarterback like turning a double play in baseball between the second basemen and shortstop. First, the quarterback has to catch the snap cleanly, then rotate his body correctly, whether to his throwing arm side or his backside. Usually some kind of zone fake hand-off precedes the throw, so a clean fake between the QB and running-back must occur (no dislodging the ball during the fake) if the case requires it.

The pitch and catch of the bubble screen requires a lot of work between the quarterback and receivers. The timing must be precise. The quarterback is usually throwing into a high traffic area. The receiver is also navigating through traffic which can cause a loss in concentration. The success of the bubble screen often depends on how much repetition can be done during the offseason.

Remember, a bubble screen (based on ball placement on the field, hash-marks, formation, etc..) could be thrown as short as 10 yards or as long as 25 yards. All of these distances need to practiced, over and over again.

Receivers need to be aware of the rules of a forward pass vs. a lateral on bubble screens. They should always assume the bubble screen is a lateral (thrown behind the line of scrimmage, this also allows for the release of O-linemen downfield, a big part of the bubble screen).

A well-executed bubble screen can pick up four or five yards, and sometimes much more.

The Zone Read - The Spread's "Bread and Butter"

This is part 1 of a series designed to help fans better understand the spread option offense.

The spread offense begins with a no-huddle approach with the quarterback in the shotgun formation much of the time. The fundamental nature of the spread offense involves spreading the field horizontally using 3, 4, and even 5-receiver sets (some implementations of the spread also feature wide splits between the offensive linemen). The object of the spread offense is to open up multiple vertical seams for both the running and passing game to exploit, as the defense is forced to spread itself thin across the field (a "horizontal stretch") to cover everyone.
There are many forms of the spread system. One of the extremes is the pass-oriented version typified by Texas Tech, North Texas, Missouri and New Mexico State. This version employs multiple spread sets and is heavily reliant on the quarterback and coaches being able to call the appropriate play at the line of scrimmage based on how the defense sets up.

The other extreme version is the Spread Option used by West Virginia and Michigan, Oregon, and Appalachian State. Despite the multi-receiver sets, the spread option is a run-first scheme which requires a quarterback that is comfortable carrying the ball, a mobile offensive line that can pull and trap effectively, and receivers that can hold their blocks. The essence of the spread option is misdirection. Effectively, this is the old triple option except that it utilizes spread sets. In particular, the quarterback must be able to read the defensive end and determine whether he is collapsing down the line or playing upfield contain.

A third, rare version of the spread offense is the Pistol Offense which is used by Nevada and some high schools across the nation. The Pistol Offense focuses on using the run with various offensive players, and calls for the quarterback to line up about three yards behind the center and take a short shotgun snap at the start of each play.

The first entry breaks down the "zone read," the most important running play in the spread option offense.

The zone read is considered by most spread offense coaches as the "bread and butter" run play of this offensive system. It's comparable to the buck sweep in the "Wing T"or the ISO in the "I formation."Lets breakdown two important areas of the zone read that make it so effective:

1) The Quarterback "cancelling out" the backside (DE or OLB) line of scrimmage threat
2) Counting the 'numbers' in the box and favoring blocking angles

1. A key component of the shot-gun spread offense is the ability of the quarterback to "cancel out" the backside Defensive End (DE) at the mesh point with the Running Back.

At the critical point where the quarterback has to decide whether to keep the ball or hand it off (the mesh point), the defensive end (or possibly an outside linebacker) responsible for backside contain has to make one of two decisions.

Decision #1 is to crash or knife down the line of scrimmage for the running back

Decision #2 is to "stay home" and box out the quarterback for a potential keep.

If the QB reads decision 1, he keeps it for a backside bootleg run or triple option pitch progression. If the QB reads decision 2, the QB hands it off to the running back (and fakes the bootleg run), thus "cancelling out" or blocking in effect the backside end.

2. One thing the zone read allows is the offense to dictate "numbers" and "angles" during the pre-snap period. This is why 90% of spread offense teams go with a no-huddle. It makes the defense show their hand in regards to alignment, allowing the offense to change the play based on "lucky or ringo," "rip or liz" . . . coaches and player lingo for go 'right or left' with the play.

If the defensive alignment shows more defender to the left (using the centers crotch as the mid-line) in the box, then the call at the line would be "ringo," meaning we're zoning right, thus the QB will be reading the left defensive end on the zone read.

This number is usually a 4 vs. 3 defenders scenario that determines the call. If the numbers are even (say 4 left and 4 right), a lot of coaches teach their quarterback to read the defensive front alignment, looking to run to the "1 technique" tackle side as opposed to the "3 technique" tackle side, looking for better zone blocking angles.

If you don't want to take that path with your quarterback, you can also pick the side in an even defensive alignment scenario based on your team's preference, wide side of the field, or player strength (or a defenders weak side), or audible to the bubble screen if appropriate.

Mastering these two areas of the shot-gun zone read can really go a long way in producing some serious offensive production.