We're not giving away any secrets. A play similar to this can be found in the playbook of every team in the PAC-12, and if you reviewed the tape of Oregon games last year, you'd see the Ducks run something similar multiple times for big gains. The diagram comes from the website SpreadOffense.com, on Twitter.
It's a play-action pass with Bo Nix rolling right. Bucky Irving runs a wheel route down the left sideline. The Y receiver, usually Kris Hutson, Tez Johnson or Gary Bryant, runs a corner route. The Z receiver Troy Franklin breaks in at first down yardage while the X receiver, Traeshon Holden draws the safeties with a deep drag over the middle.
What makes this and most other plays successful is not that it's tricky or complicated or revolutionary, but rather it's the players that Oregon puts on the field.
Irving is a fast running back with great hands. He's a great runner who is tough to bring down, so the fake at the beginning holds the safeties for a moment. The guys the Ducks use at the Y are all fast and sharp out of their breaks, so the corner route stretches the defense. Franklin has good hands and terrific body control, able to use his long frame to shield the ball from defenders, while his speed drives his man off the ball and creates separation. At X, Traeshon Holden is 6-3, 214, tough to guard over the middle and able to use leverage on a 50/50 ball.
With the receivers spreading out the field and Nix rolling right, it puts a lot of pressure on the defense. Bo can take off and run or use his athletic ability to buy time and allow his receivers extra time to make a double move to get open.
It's a simple play that gets Oregon's great athletes in space. That's how it challenges the defense.
A few years ago Nick Saban told a story on ESPN. It might be the most important ever told about calling plays.
The exact moment when Nick Saban first thought like a coach…. pic.twitter.com/yrtcuhDVDd
— E60 (@E60) December 1, 2018
Players, not plays. Fortunately it's something that Will Stein understands very well.
No comments:
Post a Comment