Give a little love to ISO

        In this "Zone Blocking" World there has to be a place for a good ole isolation running play.  The weak side run that pits the fullback in a one on one match up with the linebacker. I guess the first thing you have to do is bring back the fullback.  While many of today's offenses include three and four wide receiver sets, some like Auburn Head Coach Gus Malzahn have found creative ways to get a lead blocker in the formation allowing the offense to run more traditional 21 personnel formation based runs like power and iso.
       One of these formations I call "Tulsa" -- a reference to  Malzahn's time spent as

Tulsa Right Formation

offensive coordinator with the Hurricanes.  In this set the offense lines up with three receivers out wide and a hybrid fullback/tight end or "H" lined up offset with the tailback in the base formation.  The great thing about Tulsa is it's a flexible formation that poises the question to defenses  -- is it a run or pass formation?
       As we began to incorporate this formation into our offense at Johnson C. Smith University, it became obvious that we were only scratching the surface.  In Tulsa, the offense has a chance to; overload the strong side, balance or flip the field with motion and get to just about every run in the offensive play book.  Conversely, in a four receiver spread formation, you are virtually locked into running inside or outside zone without shifting or motioning to a different formation.
      Over the years, I found that ISO was a very productive play to run out of Tulsa formation.

Tulsa Right - ISO Weak (Bend)

     We also found a way to run it without tipping our hand quite by accident.  Normally, we would move the tailback and fullback to the side of the run.  One day during inside drill, we lined up in Tulsa with the slot to the right and the tail back and H lined up to the strength as well.

      Our offensive coordinator, Maurice Flowers, called ISO to the left and I started to move the backs to the play side when Coach Flowers said  "Leave them on that side and let's see how they adjust." The first time we ran the play from this alignment, it broke loose. From my vantage point behind the play, I could see that the "Will" linebacker never saw the H until it was too late and we had him out flanked.
     Later as a play caller iso became a bigger part of my run package. I developed and taught some rules that made this play even more effective.  The first rule I gave the lead back whether a true fullback or H was to get to the outside shoulder of the linebacker on the isolation block. This is in direct contrast to what defensive coaches tell their linebackers which is to never give up their outside shoulder. My reason for teaching this was if we got outside leverage on the linebacker, we could hit this play outside the lead block and just inside the block of the offensive tackle who was taught to take a short jab step to the outside. The tackle's step forces the defensive end to widen because his first instinct is to not get reached.
     When the tail back or in some cases the quarterback hits this crease it puts him in a one on one situation with the safety. One missed tackle and he is off to the races.

Panthers, Derek Anderson finds simple solutions to complex problems in opener

        The Carolina Panthers were expected to wilt under the Florida sun and the pressure of losing franchise quarterback Cam Newton against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Instead they went on the road and built a 17-0 lead before holding on for a 20-14 win. The first opening day victory for Carolina since the 2008 season.

        One of the keys to the win was the efficient way that back up quarterback Derek Anderson managed first and second downs which translated into manageable third downs especially in the first half. In the second quarter, Anderson lead a gut-busting 15 play, 69 yard drive that took the starch out of the talented Bucs defense.

        Here's an example of a play drawn up by Panthers Offensive Coordinator Mike Shula that lead to one of those big conversions:

       As you can see the Panthers are lined up in a spread formation. Tampa's defense has loaded the box with seven men at the line of scrimmage.  The Bucs have two high safeties and the corners are 7 to 8 yards off the line of scrimmage.      Basically, they are saying we will get to you before you can get the pass off.  I find it a little puzzling that while showing an all out blitz they would show this four deep look on third and only four yards to go.

        Anderson was quick to capitalize. It appeared that the veteran audibled into a play that included two quick hitting concepts on each side - one designed to beat cover two or four and one designed to beat cover-3.

       On the boundary side, the Panthers ran a concept I call "flash". In this combination,

Rookie wide receiver Kelvin Benjamin runs a square in or slant and tight end Greg Olsen runs an out route from the inside.  This is a good concept to  run versus a one high safety defense look with the corner walked off. In that case, the quarterback reads the alley defender. If the alley defender normally a safety or linebacker chases the flat route which should be his responsibility the quarterback would throw to the slant. If he drops into the slat window, then the quarterback throws to the flat.

      Because the Bucs are two hi defensive set up Anderson decided to work the the far

side of the play, where wide receivers Jason Avant and Jerricho Cotchery were running a concept I call "basic".  Basic includes a go route on the outside and an out route from the inside.  This quick game read is good against a two hi defensive set because it forces the corner to make a decision to drop with the vertical or release the vertical route and attack the flat. In this case, the corner dropped to protect against the vertical voiding the flat.  The safety who was covering the slot receiver from depth had no chance to stop the 5 yard gain that was good enough for a first down.

Give me a choke point!

      One of my least favorites sights is eleven defenders flowing over top of any run to the outside -- on pitch or outside zone.  I always complained that when the running back gets to the so-called edge the same 7 or 8 defensive players that were in front of him at the snap are still in front of him.
      Our answer to that was to provide one or more "choke" points along the line of scrimmage. This was accomplished by having at least one fold (blocker block back) or crack on the play allowing another lineman to wrap around and rise to the second level.
       At Johnson C. Smith,  I pestered OC Maurice Flowers so much for the "crack" that he named it after me.  
       The logic of the choke point is simple - to give atleast one lineman a gimme block that will stop the flow of one defender and possibly pick up some more defenders in the wash.  Here are a couple examples of how we establish that choke point:

1) Center/Guard fold on zone run to the strength - As you see in this example, we are
running zone stretch to the right. The play side guard and tackle take their zone step and work to the outside shoulder of the defensive tackle (T)  and end (A).  Most defensive linemen will do everything they can to prevent this and this will widen the play side naturally.  The center provides the choke point by blocking back on the nose tackle (N). This accomplishes a couple things: First it allows the left guard to pull around and rise up to the second level to block the linebacker (M). It also prevents the backside defensive end front flying down the line of scrimmage in pursuit without having to work around the center's block.  Because the mike is likely to flow with the run action there is very little chance that the guard will overtake him.  That's all right because the choke will create a natural crease in front seven and once the running back sticks his foot in the ground and attacks the crease  the guard should be in perfect position to kick the linebacker to the outside. 

2) The old "Green Bay Packer Sweep" - if it was good enough for Lombardi it is certainly good enough for me.  For years I kept hearing the voice of the all-time great coach in my head extolling - "We want a seal here, and a seal here, and we will run in the alley!"  My foundation for teaching this to today's players came from Coach Joey Sulkowski who was offensive coordinator my first year at JCSU. The simple rule he taught to the offensive line was -- if you're covered pull and if you are uncovered block down.  As you can see in this example in a Pro formation that provides two choke points and allows both guards to pull. On key to running in the alley is the seal provided by the tight ends down block. I instruct tight ends to make sure that they don't must protect the gap first and then prevent the end from escaping over the top.  I the right set (two high safeties with only seven in the box) the lead block by the fullback can really help set up a big play.  in this case, he must "scrape to safety picking up a linebacker that flows over the top.  If this is a constant problem, we would add a crack on the alley defender and allow the fullback to kick the corner.