In 2001 I wrote the first installment in an article that has returned to haunt me. That article is still here on Football for Youth!, and you can read it here.

While my basic beliefs about the passing game have not moved more than marginally, I have to admit that the ability to throw the ball opens up a new dimension in the game of football. The establishment of a vertical stretch, forcing the defense to defend downfield as well as each of the ten running gaps, opens up areas of the playbook heretofore uncharted.

I am not a passing coach. I have no intention of throwing the ball more than six to eight times per game. The difference in my philosophy is not how we use the pass, but rather, how to make our infrequent passing more successful.

In 2003 I was an assistant coach with the Tomales Braves junior varsity football team. In 2002 we had limited success with the passing game, so during the off-season I sat down and studied our two core plays: 24 and 45 toss pass. These plays are the fundament of everything we do in airborne football, just as their ground game counterparts, 24 and 45 toss, are the core of the ground game for us.

I'll detail the basic mechanics of these passing plays when I explain the stretch flood later in this article. I mention them here, however, because they served as a reminder to me that throwing the ball is a crucial aspect of offensive football, and the ability to consistently gain yardage through the air will make your football team better.

Through the 2003 and 2004 seasons we constantly refined our passing program, and in 2005, our junior varsity quarterback, Zack Wenrick, broke a Tomales High School JV record by throwing eleven touchdown passes in just eight games.

I’m going to give you just a couple of passing techniques here, and combine them into plays that can be used from a variety of formations. I still caution you to focus your efforts on the ground game, but passing is a weapon—use it.

Passer protection

The first thing you need to concentrate on when you set out to build a passing game is the protection of the guy throwing the football. Most coaches give little thought to this, especially at the youth level. Pass blocking is inherently difficult at the start because it is reactive; at the snap the defense takes the initiative to charge a gap or blitz, and the offense must read and respond to their actions appropriately. Secondarily, pass blocking is highly difficult because youth football coaches spend approximately 80% or more of their time teaching run blocking fundamentals and coaching the run. The result is that only 20% of their coaching is devoted to the pass, and that coaching must be divided between receiving fundamentals; passer mechanics; consistent and effective play-action; and finally, protecting the passer.

In studying film I have discovered that almost all of the sacks and pressure on our passers came from two specific sources: the defensive ends/outside linebackers. (Effectively the last man on the line of scrimmage that is not charged with pass-first coverage.)

Of these two defenders, the one most responsible for pressuring our passers, as well as most of the bone jarring, blindside hits that cause injuries, is the backside defensive end.

There are many ways to negate this defender, but the simplest and by far most effective that I have found is to simply run away from him wherever possible. Figure one demonstrates a play action method that not only allows a certain amount of misdirection to aid receivers in breaking coverage, but also gives the quarterback an angle to break for the sideline, running away from the pass rusher most likely to end the play, or get him hurt.

Figure 1: Quarterback roll negates backside rusher

Unfortunately, this leaves us running toward the second defender we’re worried about: the playside defensive end. You’ll note that in the above diagram the tailback is assigned to block this defender. This is by design. In most youth offenses the tailback is the best athlete. In some cases he may be the best athlete on the entire football team. Defensively, most youth football coaches assign their most effective athletes to the middle linebacker position, and defensive ends/outside linebackers are farther down on the selection roster. This should give us a good match in favor of the offense.

An additional benefit of this type of passer protection is that it allows the passer to provide a horizontal stretch to the defense by making him a perimeter running threat. This is highly significant, and in fact, before teaching the passing aspects of the play, I condition my quarterbacks to run by installing this play solely as a running play. My quarterback always has the option to keep the ball. In fact, if he can gain five or more yards on an early down, reach a first down and slide or get out of bounds, or score, he is taught from day one to keep the ball. During the roll out he should be approximately five yards deep, which allows him protection from the pass rush, while still giving him the option to attack the line of scrimmage with the run.

You still must be concerned about interior penetration from the defensive line. The Double Wing offense that I favor uses tight line splits, which virtually eliminates inside gap rushing. However, offenses that feature line splits must put some focus into defending the inside gap.

The easiest method of doing this is to have your offensive linemen take a short step to the inside with their inside foot, and then set their hips to a 30-degree angle facing away from the quarterback’s roll out with a larger second step along that track. They should drive along a path, without looking to engage a specific defender. Figure 2 shows the same play with the inside linemen using this technique.

Figure 2: Interior linemen pass blocking responsibilities.

This blocking scheme is called the “Severe Angle Block.” It is a highly effective run-blocking technique as well, that is remarkably similar to the zone schemes in use at the college and professional levels. For more information about this blocking method, see www.gregorydoublewing.com. Don't be overly concerned about the apparent missed blocks in the diagram. Remember that the offensive linemen are blocking along a track and they do not go after a particular defender on the play.

Receiver routes

There are literally thousands of potential routes that can be constructed into effective patterns. I’m going to detail just two patterns to you: the stretch flood and the smash.

The object of each passing play is to isolate a specific defender and place him into a conflict where no matter what he does, it’s wrong and we gain positive yardage. In order to eliminate offensive hesitation, our quarterback will look only at two specific pass routes in each pattern and will have a third option to run. The NFL-style five-receiver pattern is far too complex for the youth game.

Figure 3: The stretch flood.

The purpose of the stretch flood is to isolate the outside linebacker or strong safety. In a properly constructed offense the off-tackle is one of the most dangerous plays. The fullback usually kicks out the defensive end, and the outside linebacker must come down hard to the inside to defense the play. If this play is a staple of your offense, the stretch flood will be supremely useful because it forces the outside linebacker to honor the run, allowing the tight end and fullback to get to the outside edges of his zone.

At the snap the outermost receiver in the pattern will run a fly-corner (4 route, using the playcalling system described in another article, but fading to the corner.) This route is a decoy route used to force the safety and corner on that side to cover deep.

The next receiver to the inside will run what appears to be a standard out (6 route). There is a slight modification, however. After the receiver makes a sharp cut to the sideline he should angle his path to gradually gain downfield depth. The purpose to this angle is to put him at the deepest possible edge of the outside linebacker’s pass coverage zone.

The final receiver in the pattern is usually the fullback, who runs an arrow along the line of scrimmage. He should fake his kickout block on the defensive end, which will make the end come down to the inside to squeeze the play (if he is competently coached). This sets him up for the tailback’s block, and allows the quarterback to break contain with his rollout. The fullback should take one to three steps across the line of scrimmage before angling slightly back towards the quarterback.

Note the position of the outside linebacker/strong safety in the play. He has two receivers in his zone, each at the outermost area. He cannot cover both of them, so he needs to make a decision. Additionally, with the quarterback rolling out he also has to decide whether or not to attack the quarterback, all this while under pressure from his initial decision to play the run because of the play action.

The quarterback first looks to the tight end. If the outside linebacker stays back to cover the end, the fullback should be open. If the linebacker presses the line of scrimmage to cover the fullback or to attack the quarterback, the tight end should be open downfield. If the defense is in a man-to-man front and both the fullback and tight end are covered then the quarterback should be free to run.

The stretch flood was added to our offense in 2003. From 2003 to 2005 we have completed 82% of our pass attempts on this play, gained over a thousand yards through the air, and additionally picked up 453 more yards on the ground with the quarterback. It is a simple, and yet difficult-to-defend addition to any offensive scheme.

Figure 4: The smash.

The smash is probably one of the most common pass patters in use at any level. In any NFL game it is likely that you will see the pattern more than twenty times, from a variety of formations because it is highly difficult to defend, while at the same time being extremely easy for the quarterback to read and complete.

The most successful method for running the smash uses similar principles to the stretch flood. The outermost receiver is the vertical stretch. His responsibility is to attack the nearest safety’s inside hip. At the snap he should run a post route (3 route), and use his best judgment to come as close to the safety as possible, almost scraping his inside shoulder if the safety is playing deeper downfield. (A highly effective receiver trick is to look the safety in the eyes and nod to him just before the break across his field of vision. This will almost always make the safety drop his heels to the ground. He will then be more concerned with jumping the receiver’s route and getting back to trail or cutoff position than actually looking for the ball—which is going to another part of the field entirely.) If the safety plays tighter to the line of scrimmage the receiver may angle to take him deeper and try to get behind him.

The next receiver to the inside will run a sharp cutting hitch route (1 or 7, depending on your quarterback’s speed in the roll out. Faster quarterbacks will be farther outside the receiver, necessitating an outside break, so use the 7 route.)

The last receiver to the inside will run a deep corner (5 route). He is the primary receiver in the pattern.

Some formations may only feature two receivers to a side such as the Pro-I shown in figure 4. Note that the safety is still threatened by the post route, but it comes from the other side of the field. A good quarterback can be taught to add a third read to the play and look for the post receiver deep over the middle, but this is an advanced version of the pattern, so do not use it lightly.

The smash is designed to put the outermost pass defender, usually the corner, in conflict just as we did with the outside linebacker in the stretch flood. Corners are typically taught to stay deeper than the deepest man in their zone, so most of the time the hitch receiver will be open underneath. Against man-to-man coverage the outside linebacker may cover this receiver, but the receiver should have the angle on the linebacker and still be able to make a play on the ball. Additionally, if the receiver running the 5 route has a speed advantage on the corner there is a good chance that he will be open even if the corner jumps the route.

The smash is amazingly effective. During the season our junior varsity players typically run scout team offense, including 7-on-7, for the varsity. In 2005 our JV quarterback and JV players completed an incredible thirteen smashes in a row from various formations against our varsity during one defensive period. What makes this all the more impressive is that the smash was not in our playbook at the time, and that day was the first time our players had ever seen the pattern, much less run it in practice.

Coached properly from day one, the smash and the stretch flood have the potential to be consistent ground gainers for the offense. They are virtually impossible to stop without selling out for the pass—which allows you to go back to doing what you do best: running the ball.

Good luck;

~D.

For in depth discussion of this topic or anything else Double Wing related, please visit the Double Wing Football Coaches forum, a Delphi Forums community.