This article will cover how to correctly pick up defensive line stunts as well as shed light on what the defenders goals are, and why we do what we do to counter those goals specifically.
There are many ways to define the twisty turny shit that defensive linemen do upfront. Stunts, games, twists, whatever you may call them, they can be difficult for Offensive Lines to handle. This article will go in-depth about what the defense is doing, and how to deal with it.
DEFENDERS ROLES
Crasher
First off, in every stunt, there are at least two roles being fulfilled. These two roles are the crasher and the looper. The crasher is the defender that moves before his buddy and is trying to make space for the looper. This defender has one of two goals. Either to ear-hole an unaware offensive lineman (crashing into him) or influencing an offensive lineman out of position (crashing into a gap). The clip to the right shows the crasher.
Looper
The other defender in a stunt is referred to as the looper. This is because he is looping around the crasher. The crasher is making space between offensive linemen with one of the two aforementioned goals, and the looper is trying to exploit this space. The looper is circled in the video to the left. It's also worth mentioning that the looper can many times be a linebacker, especially in a 3-4 defense.
SO HOW DO WE STOP IT?
SITUATIONAL AWARENESS
Part of stopping games is being prepared for them, we can do this before the snap. Details like alignment, down and distance, and film study are important factors in knowing what to be ready for. A few examples of high risk scenarios are passing downs like third and long, a walked up linebacker (especially if he's off the edge with a safety behind him), or a three technique and a five technique to the same side. Understanding the situation as a player can make you more alert for games and also to tune into some possible tells of the defenders. Is the defensive end lined up tighter than normal? Is there there three techniques to both sides? Is that middle linebacker on his toes or in a staggered stance? As coaches, teaching these things and possibly even implementing calls to account for them can put our athletes ahead of the curve. Now that we know when to expect the defense to pull some bullshit, we compliment that with our film study. Throughout the week, coaches and players should take time to identify the defenses favorite blitzes based on the down. Do they like to run America's blitz on third and long? Who are their favorite linemen to twist? How involved are their linebackers in the pass rush?
DFYB
So now that we know what the defense is trying to do, how do we stop it? To begin, the most common mistake that I see is letting the crasher ear-hole a fellow Offensive Lineman. This brings up a principle known as DFYB (Don’t Fuck Your Buddy). The offensive lineman who is responsible for the crasher must get hands on him in order to alleviate pressure from your friend. Letting the crasher run loose gives the opening for one of the defenses two goals.
I coach this as a hard and fast rule, if you're the one with the crasher, you get hands on him and toss his ass across the formation. If we're taking our sets correct, we should be in a good position to redirect off of this crasher's movement. For coaches having trouble, sometimes the issue may not be with the stunt itself, but rather with your Offensive Line's relationship in their set.
Here is an example of Right Tackle Bobby Massie fucking his buddy, Right Guard Kyle Long.
This clip is an example of Center A.Q. Shipley doing a great job of helping his buddy Left Guard Justin Pugh.
BUMP CALLS
As the linemen with the looper, you too have a responsibility to protect yourself from the crasher. When you notice the defender is running a stunt (may include a stutter step with some dancing, a light rush, or even a strait drop and run around by the looper) you must give a loud and immediate BUMP BUMP BUMP call to your fellow Offensive Linemen, and snap your eyes to the oncoming crasher. The Bump call alerts the other offensive lineman that there is a looper coming over the top and not just an aggressive inside move.
The Bump call is what I have always used, however, I've also heard teams using Over or Move as well. Whatever term you choose, the goal and principles remains the same.
VERTICAL MOVEMENT (TACKLES)
Lastly, after you handle the crasher, the looper is coming. As previously mentioned, the defense is trying to widen the gaps and exploit that space. Therefore, the path you take to pick up the looper is important. Even if you save your buddy by engaging the crasher, you're reaction has now moved you inside. To set towards the looper, who has a running start and a plan, we want to use vertical space rather than horizontal. This gives us the optimal angle to cut off their path to the quarterback. As we set to the looper, we must remain in our typical pass protection relationship and not over-set it.
This rule is more applies to Tackles than anybody else because playing on the interior the defenders don't have as much horizontal space to work with. While the looper may arc his path out more to get around the Tackle, an interior looper has the risk of running his way right into another Offensive Lineman.
NO-NOs "STAYING ON THE SAME LEVEL"
Many coaches teach that the best way to handle stunts is by remaining on the same level with our Offensive Line. While in theory this sounds like it would work, it's not the most optimal way to handle all the possibilities we might get from the defense. If it were any old drop back protection, I wouldn't want to tell my Guards to set as deep as my Tackles, or my Tackles as shallow as the Center. Mostly, because I don't give a shit how deep you are, I care about your relationship to the defender. I don't ever want to lock any of my linemen into setting at a specific depth or level.
Next, if we "properly" got all of our Offensive Line at the same level, we're going to handle defensive line stunts better to a degree. However, our Tackles won't be in a great spot to handle a speed rush. While third and long is a situation where we see a lot of games, it's also a situation where the defensive line can ignore any sort of run fit and just go for the quarterback. Setting "at the same level" then gets our ass beat off the edge. Not to mention two off the edge, long sticks, and corner blitzes...
When I recently listened to Coach Mirabal from University of Oregon, a Joe Moore award finalist Offensive Line unit last season, he discussed their Alert call. Anytime there is a three and a five technique to one side of the LOS, that same side's Guard and Tackle will call Alert. The Guard will set his typical shallow set to his aiming point while the Tackle is focused on vertical movement and a strong drag hand. What this does is put the Tackle in a good position to pick up a speed rush from the end, since his vertical set will still maintain his typical pass rush relationship, while leaving him closer in towards the Guards. If the defensive end or EMOLS wants to crash on a stunt, that Tackle has less space to cover in order to save his buddy. This also eliminates any angle that the inside defender has to ear-hole the Tackle, while leaving said Tackle in a great position to Bump his guard to the looper.
The more I've looked at preventing games, the more I've noticed that the issue with setting everybody to the same level is that it doesn't account for as many possible scenarios. When you look at how a good stunt is passed off, the passing will take place at about the same level between offensive players. However, if we start them there they won't fair as well into other forms of pressure or rush. I mean, if you go against a team that is going to T/E stunt into your guys no matter what on third down then be my guest, but if the defensive coordinator has any brain cells available they will just torch you on the edge next time.
ADDITIONAL CLIPS
This clip shows Left Guard Andrus Peat handle his crasher with ease to take the heat off his Center Erik McCoy and then slow play for the looper. Settling down real close to his center ensures that the looper cannot take the A gap, and allows Peat to adjust into the B gap and pick him up.
On the left side of the line, we see the Left Guard kill the crasher, the Left Tackle step in to receive the hand-off, and the center slow play to wait for the looper.
Meanwhile, on the right side of the line, we see the Right Guard be influenced by the crasher and probably not receive a Bump call from the Right Tackle. Now oblivious to the looper, he struggles to get back into position for the him.
Head over to YouTube to watch videos of my content if you'd like. You can also subscribe and like it over there to help get my content in front of more coaches and players.
Also, give me a follow on Twitter where I post snippets from my videos, clips from film that I watch, opinions on topics of offensive football, and partake in discussions with members of the community.
Comentários