Sprint Option – A short yardage pass scheme

By John Anderson

The “Sprint Option” is a play used in short yardage situations.

This play is best utilized when facing a cover three coverage, or
most man coverage schemes. The objective of this article is to
establish how this seemingly simplistic play can provide a great
short yardage scheme, and a punch to your passing game in certain
situations. Though, this route still depends on two wide receivers
to the play side of the formation, the variations can be as multiple
as your imagination. This is not an exhaustive look into this
concept, but this is the way we did it and were successful with it.

There are a number of benefits for moving the pocket:

1) Gets the quarterback away from pressure,

2) Changes the launching point for the pass in that it is a
unfamiliar angle for the defensive backs to defend,
3) Creating a soft edge in which the quarterback can get a better
look at the coverage, and to run if necessary.

Also, I wish to demonstrate how the blocking scheme is

flexible to multiple formations and personnel packages.
With the use of a few simple techniques and angles, we can
disguise our intentions successfully.

The pass progression is simple. This is the same read as the

“Denver” scheme, in that it checks the shoot route (flat) right
away. If the slot defender runs with the slot receiver to the flat,
the quarterback has the slant route quickly developing in the
vacated area. This is especially true in a “jam” technique. If the
slot defender is playing four or more yards off, and he still turns
his hips and runs with the slot receiver, then this is still a valid
open option for the quarterback. If the slot receiver is covered,
and the slant is also covered, this may force the quarterback to
scramble outside. The slot receiver should continue on to the
sideline and take his defender with him, while the outside
receiver running the slant, breaks off his pattern at six to eight
yards deep and breaks back to the outside to make an effort to get open.
Its that simple!

Of course, the quarterback has the option to throw it away if he doesn’t

get what he wants. There is the other option of using a more mobile
quarterback to try to run and break the containment of the defense. But,
we will not be discussing that option here.

When facing situations where you have two receivers matching up

against two defenders, this scheme should be a completion every single
time. With the exception of mental and technique errors, there is really
no reason why this scheme should not produce results. It is a short yard-
age solution in an offense where timing, repetition, and high percentage
passing culminate.

The “Sprint Shoot” has come along since the West Coast offense’s
early days, and developed into a slightly different scheme within a
scheme. It is now a scheme that can read and react to the different
types of defensive coverage’s you may see. (Discussed later in the
article). This is the type of Sprint Series you will want to use against
defensive backs who are playing off of the receivers. You will want
to take advantage of their depth.

Quarterback drop/roll – Five step drop, on a 45 degree angle,

putting the quarterback approximately 3-4 yards behind the
called side offensive tackle. Follow reading progression.
Primary – Slot Receiver, Secondary – Wide Receiver.

Split End route – Route called (Option-Slant and break back,

Shoot – Stalk CB or run Hook route, Y Corner – run the five
yard hitch route angled to the sideline).
 The split end is instructed on "Sprint Option" to run the slant route
until he reaches a depth of 9-10 yards. At this point, if the ball is
not there, he breaks off the route an runs directly back to the side-
line on a flat course. He must fight to get away from the coverage
along the back boundary. If he is running along the back boundary
of the end zone, he has to expect the ball high.

Flanker route – Route called (Option & Shoot route- run the shoot
Route, Y Corner – Run the 12-15 yard Corner route).

Tight End Blocking Assignments –

The blocking scheme is designed to create a soft edge to the call side.
We will hinge the back side and wall everything off. The blocking back on
backside of the play has to pick up any penetration from the "B" gap all the
way out to the perimeter. We want to have a plan to block the seven and
eight man fronts with our regular personnel.

With eligible receivers on the back side, this sets up the possibility of a
screen later to the backside.

We use two different personnel groups with this play:

1) Regular Personnel – With the two backs blocking the front side edge
and the back side containment, incorporating a two wide receiver
grouping in a slot to the play side,

2) Our "Posse" personnel grouping that carries our three wide receiver
package, with a tight end blocking the play side edge, and our running
back filling the back side.

Fullback technique – Seal backside. The fullback is responsible for

any penetration from the weak side "B" gap all the way to the
perimeter on the weak side. If there is no penetration, he scans
for the first man who appears outside the tight end. (This assumes
that the fullback is on the tight end side, away from the slot as there
would be with a "Change" call).

Halfback technique – Block the EMLOS (EMLOS – End Man

on the Line Of Scrimmage). (This assumes the halfback is on
the slot side). Pin the defender to the LOS and allow no penetration.
(This assumes that the halfback is on the slot side, away from the
tight end as there would be with a "Change" call).

Backside Tight End Technique – Step with your outside foot inside, Slide
with your inside foot, Protect the "C" gap and then turn back out hinging
the back edge of the protection.
Play Side Tight End techniques (Posse) – We use two techniques for the
edge blocking. We teach the “reach”, and we also teach the “long reach”.
They are actually the same technique, but exercised at different angles
on the snap of the ball. We also have an additional block installed
upon bringing the tight end in motion across the formation to seal
the containment player on the corner. We call this the “rolling chip”.

Sprint Option from our "Posse" personnel package

From our single back formation, we still use the same blocking
scheme , but we are disguising the play by bringing the tight end
in motion from the back side and giving him the half backs blocking
responsibility to give us a soft edge. The running back now has the
fullbacks responsibility of containing the back side. We have extended
the third wide receiver from a tight position to spread the secondary
coverage.

In our one back formations, we want the running back to assume the
fullbacks job on the back side to stop any penetration.

Just as we wanted to have a plan to block the seven and eight man
pressure packages with our regular personnel, we want to have a plan
to block the six and seven man pressure packages from our Posse
personnel.

We use the "rolling chip" technique when using a one back formation.
The “reach” and “long reach” are the techniques used when the tight end
is lined up on the play side. When the tight end is aligned on the back side,
and brought in motion is where you will use the “rolling chip”. He is instructed
to seal the EMLOS, just as the halfback would in our two back formation. If
he doubles down on a 5 technique with tackle help, the tackle has to watch for
any linebacker coming up in to the "B" gap. This two-on-one to the 5 technique
"Trey's" anything from the "B" gap out. The "trey" being a blocking term in our
zone blocking scheme for the tackle and tight end double teaming #3 into the
next level.
 If a blitzer shows up in the Wide 5 technique area, the tight end must pin
him to the line of scrimmage, and the tackle will pin anything from the 5 area
inside. The tight end will let him skate down the line of scrimmage, but never
allow him to get up field and get penetration.

Overall Blocking Responsibilities

Off Tight End "Hinge" Protection Rules – Back Side "C" Gap
Must set a tough edge & kick back

Off Tackle "Hinge" Protection Rules – Back Side "B" Gap

Off Guard "Hinge" Protection Rules – Back Side "A" Gap
Center "Hinge" Protection Rules – Front Side "A" Gap
Play Side Guard Block "2"/"1" Technique – Post
Play Side Tackle Block "5" Technique then fill "B" Gap – "4" If Chip is on

Play Side TE Stand up EMLOS (End Man on Line of Scrimmage) Allow

No Penetration!!

H-Back (FB/U) Stop any penetration from Off Side "B" Gap to the back side
perimeter.

Running Back Attack EMLOS (End Man on Line of Scrimmage) if on slot

side. Fill back side "B" gap if in I-back or back side of
the formation.

Quarterback Sprint Series Action

Split End (X) Pattern Called

Flanker (Z) Pattern Called

Notes:

- Play side tackle seals the inside gap versus any reduction.
- "Hog" any "2" technique to the open side. This is similar to
a "Gang" call we may use versus a stacked tilt set.
- "1" call any "1" technique look to the play side without a
tight end. May use "Gang" call versus the stacked tilt set
with the tight end on the play side.
- Backside uses "Hinge" protection principles.

Since this is a cutoff type of block, allowing our quarterback to

get to the perimeter, we have to stop and sustain the containment
player in this scheme. We don’t want this player gaining any pene-
tration at the edge. We will allow the tight end to ride him down
the line of scrimmage if need be, but we really like to have him
sealed if possible. Now, we use the “reach” and “long reach” when
the tight end aligns on the called side.

Reach – Reach hat to the outside number. Lead step with the near foot.
Engage- Square up and sustain. (Used if tight end is on the strong
side of the formation, as the EMLOS or “End Man on the Line of
Scrimmage”).

Long Reach – Reach hat through the outside number. Lead step with
the near foot to get outside position. Try to hook the defender and
sustain. (Used if tight end is on the strong side of the formation
as the EMLOS or “End Man on the Line of Scrimmage”).

Rolling Chip – This is a seal block on the end man on the line-of-
scrimmage. We call the rolling chip block to seal the man who
is aligned in front of the tackle, when he is the “end man”. The
tight end comes in motion and squares up as he approaches the
backside of the tackle. His purpose is to chip the end man and
maintain the edge, while he is scanning looking for blitzes from
defensive backs or linebackers aligned wide. He must also be
be wary of looping stunts coming from the inside-out. The
objective is to seal him into his tackle help inside. But, initially
we want him to look for the 7 technique who may be aligned
wide outside of the offensive tackle.

If the tight end aligns on the backside of the play, he may be

called upon to either hinge block, or run the shallow crossing
route coming across the formation into the eyes of the quarterback.
 Sprint Y Corner – This play is in the playbooks of many teams. This
play tries to make a play using the width of the field to force a single cover-
age situation on the wide receivers. The key is the play of the outside corner-
back as to whether he turns and runs with the corner route behind him, or
squats on the short hook route that is trying to widen. This is a simple front-
back read on the corner. A high arching pass to the cone is a must in this
pass pattern. I added this route into this article to demonstrate the multiplicity
of the pass protection.

Sprint Shoot – This is a multi-purpose type of play in the scheme.

The Sprint Shoot is designed to take advantage of any scheme that
tries to use multiple coverage’s against the slot formation. Different
defenses will try to confuse the receivers as to what coverage they
will see on a given down. Usually, the defenses will play inside or
a head up technique on the slot receiver. The outside receiver will
more than likely pick up a number of looks from the cornerback in
front of him, and probably a safety lurking in the area. You will want
to use this play against most zone coverage’s. But, you can use this play
to also screen out the outside defender in man coverage.

On the above play, the outside defender is playing as part of a Cover

Three zone. He gives too much ground to the split end, and is no threat
to the shoot route underneath. The split end will push outside for five-six
yards, then straighten his route. The split end will straighten his route up
and execute a hook route at 10-12 yards. For a defense, it is a futile
exercise to line up 8-12 yards off the line of scrimmage while trying to
defend this play in a shorter yardage situation. But, you can utilize this
play to pick up a easy gain if you have a speed mismatch versus the slot
defender on first down. But, you will normally see the outside corner up
much tighter than that on a shorter yardage situation.

The quarterback reads the second defender inside as to where to go

with the ball. In this case, he will get Cover Three. He looks at the reaction
of the second defender to the shoot route. What he looks for is to whether
the second short defender chases the shoot route, or drifts back into the hook
route that is developing behind him. This is a typical front-back option that
reads the second short defender. Since the outside corner is in the line of
sight area, we also want to make sure this defender turns his hips and runs
with our split end, and doesn’t squat on the slot receiver.

Beating Cover Two Corners

Versus two inside techniques by the cornerbacks give a good indication

of man coverage on the outside. In the case of man coverage, we teach the
split end to look for two different possibilities: either a fade route, or a stalk
technique to screen the first short defender from providing support for the
shoot route.

We try first to get the corner to turn his hips and run with our split end,
and run himself out of the play. If he tries to break it off and give support
to the second short defender, then the split end must break down and stalk
block the corner from getting to the sideline. The reason for this is to provide
a running lane for "run after catch" yardage or "RAC" yards.

The quarterbacks read in any man coverage is to go to the shoot route,

where the slot receiver is trying to run away from the defender in front
of him. He must believe that the split end will do his job.

When facing teams running two deep zone coverage, you can be
flexible enough to take advantage of the seam route open up behind
first short defender. Since we were a strong running team to the tight
end side from a slot formation, we could see the safeties begin to cheat
over to the tight end side of the formation. This created an opening for
us to hit a big play several times.

One of two things is going to happen if you try this against a cover
two defense. The defense will either check to a coverage that gives them
a better chance of success, or leave that seam area open down the sideline.
We saw many times, that a defense had an audible call to a cover three
coverage, in which as noted above we already have a plan for.

In conclusion, we have examined how to use a simplistic route combination,

while adding variations to disguise our intentions, and get the maximum results
from a short yardage scheme, We demonstrated the multiple variations of the
blocking scheme to show how flexible the scheme actually was, and still stay
fundamentally sound.

(Published February 2001, Re-Released March 2009)