What I Believe -- It's All About the Numbers

     Several years ago, University of Virginia Head Coach Mike London, a former college teammate, challenged me to produce some X's and O's videos which would represent my beliefs as a football coach and serve as a resume tape of sorts.  At the time, I had just finished my first year as an unpaid part-time assistant coach at Johnson C. Smith University.  
     The most important thing that I had learned up to that point was exactly what I didn't know.  A very humbling prospect for someone who had been around football his whole life but as coaches know there is a difference between being in the stands and in the coach's meeting room.
     What I believed, especially on the offensive side of the ball, was about to change thanks to the arrival of offensive coordinator Maurice Flowers in my second year.  The former JCSU quarterback and very successful high school head coach opened my eyes to the possibility that as an offense we would dictate to the defense the number of players in the "Box."
     One day in practice, the defense ran a blitz off the weak side edge and the running back ran right by him and went into the flats. I yelled at the running back to not bypass the blitzer. Coach Flowers interrupted at said, "Coach he is more useful to me in the pattern than staying in to block." I replied, "Who's going to block the blitzer?"  He answered, "Let them figure out who is going to cover the running back."
     As I look back that was a watershed moment in my development as a coach and later as a play caller.
     The funny thing is that in my years of covering the NFL as an analyst, something always bothered my about the "hat on a hat" rule.  The belief is that you keep in enough blockers to block the equal amount of potential blitzers.  How many times have you seen NFL teams take a running back and tight end and keep them in to block in maximum protection.
     The thing I learned from Flowers was that if your response to the threat of a blitz is to take receivers out of the pattern, you are only helping the defense by reducing the threat.
     When I took over a offensive coordinator at Phillip O. Berry High School in 2012, I became a creature of managing the box count -- always looking for ways to force defenders into coverage instead of lurking around the line of scrimmage.

     It's simple math: Let's say you line up with five offensive linemen and a tight end (11 personnel).  The defense will put seven in the box - four down linemen and three linebackers and some cases eight by walking down a safety.
     Now, if we were using the hat on a hat philosophy and brought a receiver into the box for added protection the defense would just add another defender to the box and still out number the offense. Eventually it would be nine on 11 (not counting the running back and quarterback).  I say that with tongue in cheek but the truth is using that rule the defense is always going to win the box count.
     Here's a very simple approach we used to force the defense's hand at Berry. If we lined up in spread formation and a defense did not cover the number two receiver (L) as in the example below. The quarterback was required to take the snap and throw him the ball.  As you can see in this example, the linebackers are inside to protect against the run.

     We forced defenses to honor the outside receiver and move a linebacker out of the box to protect against the short throw. In my second year, our quarterback really began to exploit the uncovered receiver rule even more and we averaged over 9.5 yards every time we made the quick throw.
     In my opinion, this just became and extension of the running game because if a team overloaded the box to stop the run, we were almost guaranteed a first down.  Look at it this way, if there were a run play that averaged almost 10 yards - how many times would you run it?
     Clemson offensive coordinator Chad Morris used this very play in their 2014 bowl game against Ohio State, throwing the ball to Sammy Watkins time after time when the Buckeyes left him uncovered or tried to cover him from depth with a safety.  When I asked Morris what his thoughts were on the play, he said with a smile, "That we didn't run it enough during the season."
      The only way defenses can stop the quick throw is to move a linebacker out of the box and cover the outside receivers. As a offensive line coach who calls plays that's exactly what I want.
      With the box count "lighter", we can be more successful in our run game.  Here's an example of our inside run play which uses zone-help rules to block the remaining defenders in the box. This play provides some nice lanes for our running back to be successful.      
     Eventually, this becomes a cat and mouse game with defensive coordinators who look for ways to cheat the box - having defenders play half way out on the slot or lining up on the slot and bringing the linebackers hot of the edge versus run and pass.  Then that question comes up again -- who is going to cover our receiver?

Coach Craft