the 3-4 defense defending the Read Option
- Thread starter seccats04
- Start date
hit the QB every time, knocking him into next week. soon he will want to make sure he gets the ball out of his hands early, before he has a chance to get hit. end of read option.
^I agree 100%. Have often heard defending the option is a function of each player doing his job. DE should ALWAYS take the QB and keep him from breaking contain - period. Instead, for 3 years now, we've had DE after DE crash down on the dive play and the QB keep around the end for huge yardage. Can't happen. DE HAS to play the QB and make him get rid of the ball. If the dive play goes for 80, not his job, not his fault. If the pitch man goes for 80, not his job, not his fault. If the QB (like Prescott and Dobbs and UL's QB, et al) goes for 80, it's his butt on the bench until he can learn to play do his job and only his job.
Denzel Ware point blank basically failed on read option for day one vs. ULL and his last game vs UL was equally abysmal. Andy Buh really needs to obtain more accountability from his unit.
And I was screaming at the TV in the UL game for Ware to stay on the QB. No excuse to let the QB run the ball 17 times...14 in second half and not have the coaching staff take the ball out of the QB's hands. Just shouldn't be that difficult to have Ware or someone else in his spot play disciplined defense. That and the Vandy game were two of the most frustrating times in my life watching UK football.
When the DE continually refuses to stay home, there should be a place on the bench for him. He continually allowed the QB to get around him on the end for large gains. If most of us see it and know how to stop it, then Coach Buh should. I never understood why Coach stoops didn't call a TO, and talk to the ends. As long as it's successful, teams will continue to run it.
OLD STOLL FIELD GUY!
OLD STOLL FIELD GUY!
Defending the "read-option" requires a different approach than defending the old speed option or the triple option. Against these plays the defense can play "assignment defense" (i.e., FB, QB, RB) and have someone hit the QB every play. This is because the QB is operating along the LOS and the possible "point of attack" (i.e., dive, keep, pitch) progresses straight down one side of the LOS. One way to defend this play is for the DE to crash down on the QB and quickly "force" the pitch thus really taking the "option" out of the play and essentially turning it into a toss sweep. This does not work very well against the so called read option.
In the read option game it is much harder to get to the QB because he is operating 6 yards behind the LOS in a shotgun set. It really takes 2 men to effectively defend the QB keep especially if the QB is a dangerous runner. If the DE/OLB plays hard and crashes to the mesh point it is easy for the QB to pull the ball and loop him. If the DE/OLB plays soft and feathers the play there is usually a very wide B gap and the QB cuts inside the soft contain (Jackson broke Hatcher's ankles with an inside cut on his first TD run). The wide B gap is often set up by the 3 tech DT aligning to the opposite side of the RB. Remember the basic shotgun running play is the forward handoff to the RB crossing to the opposite side of which he is aligned.
Because the defense must contain the edge AND fill the B gap it takes 2 guys to really defend the QB. If the DE plays hard (forces QB keep to the outside), a LB or Safety must come up and actually have the contain responsibility. If the DE plays soft, a LB or Safety must fill the B gap.
This is a fundamental defensive tactic against the read option.
Peace
In the read option game it is much harder to get to the QB because he is operating 6 yards behind the LOS in a shotgun set. It really takes 2 men to effectively defend the QB keep especially if the QB is a dangerous runner. If the DE/OLB plays hard and crashes to the mesh point it is easy for the QB to pull the ball and loop him. If the DE/OLB plays soft and feathers the play there is usually a very wide B gap and the QB cuts inside the soft contain (Jackson broke Hatcher's ankles with an inside cut on his first TD run). The wide B gap is often set up by the 3 tech DT aligning to the opposite side of the RB. Remember the basic shotgun running play is the forward handoff to the RB crossing to the opposite side of which he is aligned.
Because the defense must contain the edge AND fill the B gap it takes 2 guys to really defend the QB. If the DE plays hard (forces QB keep to the outside), a LB or Safety must come up and actually have the contain responsibility. If the DE plays soft, a LB or Safety must fill the B gap.
This is a fundamental defensive tactic against the read option.
Peace
Last edited:
If the read player crashes to the give, the QB keeps. If the read player stays home, the QB gives. The defender being "read" is the contain defender. Often its the DE, but not always.
Was a total system failure against UL. Complete indictment of the defensive coaching staff and their inability to adjust to what they were seeing on the field. They HAD to know theyd see it. To look that woeful, was just embarrassing.
Was a total system failure against UL. Complete indictment of the defensive coaching staff and their inability to adjust to what they were seeing on the field. They HAD to know theyd see it. To look that woeful, was just embarrassing.
Not really. Still must commit 2 defenders to the edge and B gap. It can be a good play every now and then with a so-so QB but when the QB can run it can be a damn tricky thing to defend.
Peace
Last edited:
Right. Either way, the interior needs to focus on their gaps to defend the give and the contain players maintain contain to stop the keep.
Its a tough scheme to defend. Thats why it has so much success.
Its the same principle used against any type option. What it does is force the DE to play DE and not crash to the A or B gaps as the qb reads the DE, just like he does on any other option play, the qb isn't reading the DL at all. The DE isn't blocked, the qb reads his actions, he stays at home and sets edge he gives to RB, he crashes down he keeps and options off the first guy he sees. Defensively it's the same principle used to stop the wishbone, split back veer or any other option based attack. It gives the offense a numbers advantage on the dive, unless the end crashes and if he does it gives the offense a numbers advantage on the edge. Up until this year it was AU's base play, but they didn't have a qb who ran well enough for it to work this year. A good OL makes it tough to stop without S help because the outnumber the defense on the dive.
I presume you are calling the give to the RB the "dive"? I recall you have used this description before IRT AU's offense. I don't really think of that action as a "dive" but thats just me. If I understand you correctly you are describing the "triple option" variant of the basic zone read play. (FWIW, I really hate that term; zone has nothing to do with it and "read option" is redundant. Why it is not called something like "backside read" is beyond me.) I am making a distinction between basic zone read (give or keep) and triple option (give, keep or pitch).
FWIW, unless an offense is totally committed to zone read football I don't think they implement all the bells and whistles (e.g., triple variations, cutback plays, pass option, etc.). UofL for example, ran nothing but the basic read option and some inside zone run with the QB, about as plain as you can get. Can you do more? Hell yes, you can do a lot more. But I think the real value of the basic zone read is that it is much easier to read and execute of any option play and thus can be quickly inserted into basically any offense that has a QB with decent wheels.
If a team does run triple option action (give/keep/pitch) it would likely be defended differently than the basic zone read (give/keep). Against this action, I suppose the defender being optioned, e.g., the DE, would probably be schooled to stay at home (totally ignore the give action to the other side) and play the QB all the way when the QB and pitch back come his way. A LB or safety would have to "see" the same thing and be responsible for the pitch man. In that sense it would be just like defending the old speed option (i.e., keep or pitch). IOW, if you are defending give or keep, you defend the keep with 2 guys playing force and fill responsibilities. But if you are defending keep or pitch you "man up" on the QB and the pitch back.
I do think defending the zone read from shotgun spread sets is quite a bit different than defending the old Wishbone or Veer from tight sets. A big difference is that in the Bone and Veer, all three options come straight down the LOS hit the same side of the formation. Against the offenses you had to stop the dive play first and then you could attack the QB as he was operating right along the LOS. In the spread the "option side" defenders have no responsibility against the "dive" (i.e., forward handoff to the RB) but now must defend the keep/pitch option "in space" rather than right along the LOS. JMO.
Peace
The offense is different, but defending the zone read still requires the same basic defensive principles, yes I am calling the RB the dive back, I didn't watch UL enough to know what they do, but until this year, AU ran it much like the old wishbone except the dive back ran tighter with a true read on the DT. I understand your offense isn't based off the option like that and wouldn't put the time into the QB/RB mesh and feel for giving or taking, but regardless the edge setter is responsible for the qb on a true triple option like AU runs or a read option between the qb and rb. Its an easy read on the edge setter, but your defense is outnumbered when he stays home at the point of attack. unless you have very good LB and DL able to eat up OL blockers the S has to help with the dive, that AU ran until this year. The DEs get excited and don't carry out their responsiblities and the qb is on the edge, with a qb like UL has that is better for the offense than anyone else you have. It is the DE/OLB job to handle the qb on any type option unless you hve some more exotic coverage set up, like and ILB scraping or the S to the QB and the DE/OLB going pitch
I'm telling you, unless you were in the stadium watching West Virginia run it with Pat White at QB with Steve Slaton and Owen Schmidt behind Rick Trickett's offensive zone blocking scheme you haven't seen it run right. Just from a football purist standpoint watching the 2005-2007 offense under Rich Rodriguez with that personnel was like watching synchronized swimming at its height...the blocking would flow one way and before you knew it you had a 4.5 guy without a single defender between the hash and sideline to stop him and White was a pretty accurate thrower to long receivers. It looked like an optical illusion sometimes.
You are right, that was a frightening offense to stop, but I have to say this, the 4.5 guy must have been the water boy. White and Slayton had some jets
UofL was smart, and ran towards our "Jack" LB a lot. With us in our Stoops 3-4 - running to the strong side with the traditional DE gave us a fighting chance to contain if the DE can hold his ground. However, by running to the weak side, the DT has to honor his inside gap, so our LB (mainly Hatcher/Ware) are forced to make a choice. The choice should have been Jackson 100% of time but that is easier said than done when in space like that.
It would have been interesting if he would/could have hit Jackson a couple of times and forced the pitch or hand off (depending on which option was called) to see if our other LB's or secondary guys could have gotten to the UofL back before gaining much, because forcing the pitch gives the D that half second longer to make up ground to make the tackle.
It would have been interesting if he would/could have hit Jackson a couple of times and forced the pitch or hand off (depending on which option was called) to see if our other LB's or secondary guys could have gotten to the UofL back before gaining much, because forcing the pitch gives the D that half second longer to make up ground to make the tackle.
Similar threads
Latest posts
-
-
-
Question about Travis Perry and NIL money...- Latest: Blue_2_the_bone
