tips 176-200

176. After you have used 88 Super Power several times and the defense starts to key on it, what do you use as a counter?

We don't get much "keying," because we don't show much motion - if any at all - which means that the defense doesn't have any idea that it's coming, or which way it's coming (we can run Super Power to either side without tipping out hand. But depending on what we see, we might next (1) run outside - if they're pinching (2) run 6-G if they're over running (3) trap if the backers have backed off and are really flying to the play (4) counter/bootleg/throwback screen if they're leaving the backside or overly aggressive in chasing the power (5) pass (red-Red or 58-Black Max Throwback) if they are supporting aggressively with the corners.

2) What are the depths of the A in the LION formation and C in the RAM formation?

3) Finally, the depth of the A in the Strong formation and C in the Weak formation?

178. I coach 7th grade football. I have finished watching your "Fine Line" video and started watching your "Dynamics I" tape. My question is "Is it worth it to properly teach the DW to my kids for one year only to have them learn a different offense in 8th grade?" Your offense calls for a different snap, a different stance, a different offensive numbering system, and a different way to pull. I don't doubt my coach's and my ability to teach your system, and I'm not shy about running something different than the 8th grade or our high school. I really want what is best for our kids.

It is a good question, one I get asked all the time, and one I can handle easily. It is the classic "prepare them for the next level" garbage.

I think that the best situation is when there is cooperation among all parties, and it is great when a successful high school program is able to offer its services to its youth coaches and they all run the same thing, but that is the exception.

Many people hear of those exceptional situations, though, and seem to think that the ideal situation in a school system or a community is for youth coaches and middle school coaches to be robots, controlled by the coaches above them. I disagree. I subscribe to the old football philosophy that you can only coach one team at a time.

In high school, of course, all levels of the program should - and normally do - play basically the same offense and defense.

But in most cases, youth coaches and middle school coach are free to coach their own kids as they see fit, without any input from high school coaches. (After all, it is not unusual for several different middle schools to feed one high school, or for kids from one middle school to wind up going to several different high schools.)

Obviously, there are dangers if youth or middle school coaches don't know what they're doing, and high school coaches can be of great help in many areas. But the high school coach who complains that the youth coaches don't run his system is often guilty of not really providing them with proper support and direction, or with a system that they can use. A good example of the latter would be the high school coach who runs an offense that requires skills not yet found in little guys.

(All too often, the high school coach has enough problems of his own without getting involved in other programs.)

Your obligation as a coach of younger kids is to your kids. Period. It is first and foremost to treat them right and to help them to be as successful as they can be - this year. It is a matter of your professional judgment to decide what offense and defense are best suited to your kids to enable them to be successful. (Naturally, you need to do your homework.)

It would be ideal if you and the next guy up the food chain were to run the same system, but if you are not doing so and you can't reach agreement, then assuming that you are doing what is best for your kids, is NOT your obligation to make it easier for him when he gets the kids next year by teaching your kids techniques, terminology, snap count, formations, etc. specific to his system. If he is any coach at all, he can make the necessary changes the first morning of the first practice next year.

It IS your obligation to him - and to everybody else who will ever coach your kids - to teach them teamwork, coachability, good work habits and sound fundamentals (blocking, tackling, block protection, hit position, how to fall and get back up, etc.).

It IS your obligation to him to try to put your kids in a position where they have the best possible chance to win, so they will develop confidence. And it IS your obligation to him to leave your kids liking football and wanting more, so they will turn out for football next year.

As to any arguments that you might be stifling the kids' advancement, that is pure horse manure. In fact, if you are successful and the guy above you is not, isn't it every bit as reasonable for you to insist that the he adopt your system so that your kids will continue to be successful?

Suggestion - if this proves to be a hangup, why not propose staying with the kids for two years - 7th and 8th grade - and then starting over again?

179. Coach, what do you think about going with no motion? The distance is about the same that our wing back is with the half back in the wing-t so I was thinking no motion so as not to tip my hand at all and go on first sound a lot to keep the defense off balance. What do you think?

People who have attended one of my clinics over the last couple of years know that for some time now I have been advocating running the Super Power with no motion or - since a little motion does help set up misdirection plays - "sudden motion." That would be motion that is very short and very shallow, with the motion man moving quickly.

I would urge anybody who's teaching the Super-Power to do so, at least initially, without any motion.

When we do use motion on super power, the QB says "readyhut" as one short word, and freeze-frame indicates that when the ball is snapped, the runner hasn't even taken two full steps.

We are on the dead run, too - no more side-stepping in slow motion. And we are shallow - our aiming point is the heels of the B-Back - no deeper.

Either way - no motion or sudden, shallow motion - deprives defenses of any key they might think they have - or the time to act on it - it all but eliminates defenses' stemming (jumping around at the line), and it keeps your running back from getting too deep and getting chased down from behind or tackled by a blitzing playside corner.

A coaching point for the running back after he catches the ball is to push on a blocker (don't bother specifying which one) with his inside hand.

Elimination of motion has proved to be a real blessing for youth coaches, whose running backs, at least in the early stages, have a tendency to take everything outside, and whose quarterbacks tend not to understand the timing involved.

I assume you're talking offense - first of all, the last thing I want from someone who doesn't know the offense inside-and-out, doesn't understand defenses, and doesn't know me, is suggestions.

If they don't know a whole lot, they can still be helpful if they have a good pair of eyes. Just ask them to tell you who made the tackle. They'll need a depth chart in front of them like the one below, with the defenders' numbers written in at each position, and they'll need to know the names of the defensive positions so they can tell you where the tackler came from. ("It was 44, the backside linebacker." "It was 40, the playside corner.") That can be very helpful. That can help you at least make an educated guess as to what went wrong or whether the defense is taking chances. At a minimum, you should be able to get this from a spotter. Otherwise, leave his seat in the press box empty and keep him down on the sidelines, because he's just one of these guys who wants to be seen going up to the press box with a clipboard in his hand.

If they understand the offense some, then you should be able to ask them specific questions or ask them to look for certain things and trust them to give you the right answer.

And if they really know the offense - and if they know you and the way you think - you might even occasionally ask for a suggestion.

We normally use the banana. (See Below) When he is running the banana, he is running toward the spot where we want the ball thrown. The fade might work as well except that we want to lead the C-Back to the sideline, and he would have a little more trouble adjusting if he were running a fade and he didn't run it wide enough and the ball was thrown to his outside.

No- this is not a 3-step set-up - this is one of those plays in which he throws on the run - as soon as he rounds the corner, we want him to get his eyes around and locate the C-Back and let it go, leading him toward the sideline. This is one reason why it's important that the c-back get plenty of width initially - we want him to be in the QB's field of vision as soon as the QB makes his turn.

182. More on RED-RED- Q. What do you do to crashing defensive ends on the back side that run down the QB before he passes? Do you run "Rip-stop" and have the A-back block him or do you hinge your backside tight end?

I've never had a roll-out QB run down from the backside and it won't happen to you if

(2) you make sure that DE has to take the long way around to get to the QB. To make that happen, your backside linemen must hinge. (Assuming a QB rolling right) Your guard takes a very short step toward the center with his right foot, and swings his left foot back so now he is facing outside at a 45-degree angle and his tail is aimed at where the QB's going. His right foot will be slightly deeper than the center's left foot (no problem there if he aligns as you should, since that way it's already deeper when he lines up). Your tackle gives ground so that his right foot is slightly deeper than the guard's left foot, and his tail is also turned to face the QB. You really have to stay on your tackles about setting up deeply enough. They have a tendency to want to fight this battle at the line of scirmmage, but it's very important that they become good at backing out of there and setting up deep before there's any contact. (Just another reason why it's useful to us to line up as far off the ball as possible.)

The backside TE does the same as the tackle, so that his right foot is slightly deeper than the tackle's left foot. If your backside linemen - guard, tackle, tight end) have all "hinged" correctly, it will be as if they were a swinging gate, hinging at the A-gap, between the center and guard). They should be a solid, impenetrable wall..

(Instead of - or in addition to - the TE hinging, you can call "Rip-Stop Red-Red" and have the motioning A-Back stop and block back, which allows the TE to run a drag (shown below) Note the dotted line of the DE's route. If your A-back didn't even block him, he would still have a long way to go to get to the QB.

183. With my 6th / 7th grade traveling team we dabbled in the Double-Wing last season. I didn't run the entire offense last year since I joined the team 3 weeks into the preseason with 2 weeks until the first game and didn't feel I could teach enough to get it all in. This year I'm with the team from day-one and ready to go. I was about to send you a note with a check for the Troubleshooting tape and one of the Dynamics tapes but I was hoping for some advice. From a coaching standpoint, I am not as confident in my feel for the flow of the offense and the strategy used in setting up certain plays at certain times. I was thinking that one of your highlight tapes may help me get a better feel for that. Can you recommend a tape, a book or even something that you have written about the offense and the philosophy and/or strategy behind your play calling?

I'm not sure that there is anything that can teach you about play-calling better than experience, because it is as much an art as it is an exact science.

The basic rule is to use common sense and not do anything stupid. You would be surprised at the number of coaches who never get past this point.

("Anything stupid" would include running plays that your kids have demonstrated time and again that they simply can't run, or running a play with the wrong people in the game, or running a play which has at least as good a chance of destroying you as it has of succeeding spectacularly. And, of course, it would include breaking up the rhythm of a nice drive by running something right off the wall - simply because you have it on your list and you wonder what might happen if you call it.)

The Double-Wing can provide some play-calling guidance for you because, like other offensive systems such as the Wing-T, the Veer, and the Wishbone, it is series football, meaning that several different plays start out looking the same - together, they make up a series - and you assume that the defense's reaction to one of the plays in the series might make it vulnerable to one or more of the others.

First, though, you have to establish a reputation for having a base play - one that you are prepared to run at any time, against any defense you might see. Ideally, opponents will do something special and unsound in their desire to stop it. In our case, that play might be Super Power, or even the Wedge. In the case of the Wishbone, it might be the fullback dive; in the Veer it might be inside or outside veer; in the I-formation, it might be the isolation or blast. Or the tailback off-tackle.)

Whatever the play, though, opponents must learn to respect it to the point where they will gear up specifically to stop it.

From the first, you should try to determine how the defense is set up to stop your play. I always focus on what is happening right at the corner. What, in the case of Super Power, does it look like around tghe playside Tight End and Wingback?

RULE NUMBER ONE: Don't stop yourself. Make them stop you. If they are unable to stop it, keep running it.

If it has been stopped, it is helpful if you can find out why as quickly as you can. (Remember, though, you don't have a lot of time - you have to make another call right now.)

If it's because of something you're doing wrong, and you can fix it, you're okay. If it's something you're doing wrong and it can't be fixed, you need to go elsewhere.

If they're doing something unusual that weakens them someplace else and invites an attack at another spot, you need to recognize what they've done and attack them there.

So let's say you take aim at the off-tackle spot, and run Super-Power. If you are successful, why not continue to hit them there? After all, why stop yourself?

But if you're unsuccessful, and you can't seem to figure out why - and you don't have a lot of time between plays to get overly analytical - you may try running the same play in the opposite direction or from another formation (maybe unbalanced)... or maybe you run outside... or inside (trap/wedge/G) ... or maybe you run a misdirection type of play (counter/bootleg/screen)... or maybe you throw over the top (Red-Red or 6-G pass).

Every play you run has at least one variation - a pass, or a bootleg, or a counter, or a trap, or a screen that can come off the same action. Whenever you run a play, always look for signs that the defense might be ignoring the variation. (This, incidentally, is why it is crucial that players carry out their fakes at all times.)

Obviously, the more experienced you are with any offense and the more help you have, the easier it is to troubleshoot, and the faster you can make adjustments.

At the very worst, in the belief that opponents can't be stronger than you at every point - that a chain is only as strong as its weakest link - you continue to probe for a defensive weakness. When you find one, hit it until they adjust.

Without getting any more precise, that is the general idea. Hope that helps some.

184. Do you practice all your plays on a daily basis or do you set aside specific days for powers, counters, traps etc...?

Seeing is believing. I need to see every play every day. Every play that we're going to be running in a game, that is.

My idea of offensive practice is making the best possible use of the time available by looking at my projected game plan and (1) getting better at the plays we can run and (2) weeding out those plays that aren't "game-ready" - yet. We may look at them again next week or we may wind up discarding them altogether.

At some point you have to be willing to give up on a play, at least temporarily, on the grounds that it is taking away valuable time from repetitions of plays you can run.

I want to get as many successful reps of those plays as possible, which means running them every day. I don't want to go into any game with plays on the list that I'm not confident in. If a play is going to be on it I need to be confident that kids are ready to run it at any time, which for me means seeing it every day.

185. We had a scrimmage last night and my attempts to run the 88 super power resulted in mixed results. My plays up the gut (mainly 2 wedge) worked very well. At the time, during the scrimmage, I was trying to establish the sweep as the play to beat. Now looking back at it, I realize that the defense was giving me the middle of the field, and that I should have established a power game up the middle (2 Wedge, 3 Base, 3 trap at 2, etc), and only start the sweep once they stop me up the middle.

Is my reasoning correct? I've tried to read everything you've written (all your tips, for example), and you make the point about the DW being a power offense and a misdirection offense. Please let me know.

You are correct. Find where they are vulnerable and hit them there. And then, as an old boxing acquaintance from Baltimore named Al Flora used to say, "Keep Punchin'."

In concept, it is that simple. "Establishing a play" is a desirable goal, but it's not always reasonable. There is such a thing as a brick wall. or a locked door. What we have to do is find the open door.

Run at them with the play you hope to "establish" (88 Super Power, for example), but should you meet unusual resistance, either run to the outside (38 G-O Reach) or to the inside (6-G, 2W, 3 Trap 2) or throw over the top of them (Red Red) or run back against the grain (47-C, Criss-Cross).

But when you do "establish" the play, don't stop yourself. Don't assume that it won't work twice in a row. Stay with it and force them to stop you. ("Keep punchin'!")

186. I coach a 7th and 8th grade team (several with no previous experience). We played our first game utilizing the Double Wing. The first half we moved the ball very effectively against a 4-4 defense. The second half the opposition changed to a 5-4 with their down line men over the center, guards and tackles. The OLB's were lining up over the TE's outside shoulder (giving the appearance of a seven man front). We could not move the ball at all, the defense penetrated into the back field and stopped most plays before they started. I was not sure how to adjust the blocking to account for all the defenders on the line or what plays to run. Any suggestions?

From the way you describe it, that sounds like what we'd call an "Eagle", so named because it was first run by Greasy Neale, head coach of the NFL champion Philadelphia Eagles, in the late 1940's.

(1) with your three interior linemen covered, that is what we call a "T-N-T" (Tackle-Nose-Tackle) look. Check it out in the playbook (page 16). Block it correctly (I would suggest blocking "down" along the front) and Super Power will go. I would advise "down" blocking on counters, too.

(2) With a man on the outside shoulder of your TE (in an Eagle, that's a DE, not an OLB), 6-G/7-G come immediately to mind. Even with our narrow splits, there is quite a "bubble" between the DE and the next lineman to his inside. You can get both your TE and your wingback on the Inside LBer.

(3) After your playside tackle has hammered the man over the guard a few times on 6-G/7-G, try trapping that guard. With those linebackers set wide, you can get your playside tackle onto the backside backer, and with the playside backer conscious of 6-G, you have a very good chance of your TE tying him up. Without the support of the LBers, you could break one.

(4) With a 2-deep secondary and 9 men up to stop the run, you simply have to be able to pass. They are almost taunting you, daring you to throw. No running offense can be totally effective if you lack the ability to hurt the defense with a pass.

187. My guards and tackles are not getting around the ends fast enough on the super powers; The guards and tackles are not hitting the correct guys on counters; I'm having a heck of a time getting them to ignore the guys that go deep and hit the guys on the line or slightly upfield; same problem occurs on traps; Actually, it's pulling in general, and getting my backs into the holes; because the linemen are slow and ineffective, the backs have been bumping outside and have been getting strung out by the faster defenses of our opponents;

Coach- It does sound as though it may just be a matter of how the offensive linemen are being instructed. Not incorrectly, you understand - it's just that there are some fine points that can make a difference. I think that the "A Fine Line" tape would be highly beneficial.

One thing that you might look at right now is your linemen's tendency on the power to keep running to the outside once they get to the corner, rather than "wrapping around" the TE as we want them to. If they don't do that correctly, they almost certainly will fail to seal off the inside, as we want them to, and instead will wind up clogging up the hole and getting in the way of the runners, leading to the conclusion that the problem is the lack of speed of the linemen, when in actuality it is a lack of technique - the result of which is that they're where they're not supposed to be.

Work hard to keep them from turning their shoulders too much toward the opposite sideline; their technique should be more like what you teach a linebacker to do in meeting a play at the off-tackle hole, which is keeping the shoulders square.

This is a major point, and one that coaches must work hard at. I won't kid you - it is not easy to teach, and once taught, it does not become automatic. You have to stay with it, because if you don't, kids will revert to their old techniques. Left to their own devices, it is very easy for kids to do what seems natural - but is the wrong thing. My "Troubleshooting" tape addresses the issue, as does "A Fine Line."

188. When you work on offense in practice with your high school team, how much time do you spend in groups (OL, RB, etc) before you go to team?

There are many days when we go exclusively team. I think that the timing is that crucial. (In some cases, too, especially when you are introducing the offense, it may be a matter of assistants not yet being up to speed.)

But full-team is definitely the way it is in the early going, when we are concentrating more on teaching WHAT to do than on HOW to do it.

And as we get down toward the end of the season, we pretty much get back into full-team work.

In between, when we do break up, if we have a 60-minute offensive period, at most it's 20 minutes groups (ends & backs/o-line) and 40 minutes full team. That ratio may break down to as little as 10-50, and sometimes it's 0-60.

I do believe that group work is the best time to work on the passing game with our backs and ends.

189. Many people argue with me that the best athlete in the Double-Wing offense should be the QB. I believe that it should be the A-back. I look for my QB to be smart and also a good leader. I don't like the idea of my best athlete turning around and handing the ball off to someone with lesser talent. Am I right?

That is a good question. I have gone both ways on this, but with all things being equal, I'd put him at QB.

Of course I want an athletic kid at quarterback, but before anything else he has to be respected by the other kids, he has to understand the game, he has to be mentally and physically tough, he has to be a hard worker, he has to be totally dependable, and he and I have to be able to get along. And - most important of all - he has to want to be the quarterback. It's not a position for a guy who doesn't want the pressure of playing there. (Notice I didn't say anything about passing ability.)

Now - if he measures up to all that, he is my quarterback. If no one else measures up in those areas and this guy happens also to be my best athlete, he is still my quarterback.

If I have two kids who fit the overall description and they are equally athletic, I will probably toss a coin and put one at A back and the other at QB. I sure wouldn't want one of them sitting the bench as a backup.

In 1996 my quarterback was easily the best athlete on my team. Those of you who have seen "Dynamics II" will remember him. He was also my middle linebacker. Guaranteed he did more than "turn around and hand the ball off to someone of lesser talent." In one game, he ran for three touchdowns of more than 50 yards each on 88/99 Power Keep.

Many Double-Wing coaches have been able to find plenty of ways to use an athletic quarterback besides just "turning around and handing the ball off to someone with lesser talent", which I agree would be a waste.

He can run powers, traps, sweeps and counters - wedges, too. And of course he can pass. (I won't even get into option, because that's an offense in itself.)

And besides the things he can do from base tight Double-Wing, don't forget what he can do from Wildcat and from shotgun, and from tight punt formation (direct-snap Double-Wing, really) as well.

In other words, if he is athletic enough, we will find ways for him to do a lot more than just handing it off - not that that is a job to be lightly dismissed, because when you take footwork and secure ball-handling and faking into consideration, that's quite a lot in itself.

190. What drills, techniques do you use to emphasize to your O-lineman to stay low when firing off the ball?

We do our shield blocking. But the man who holds the shield is kneeling. The blocker starts in a 3-point stance, about a yard away, and on the signal drives the shield-holder until he is on his back.

FYI: Regarding your latest tip about getting linemen to fire out low. I think I'm missing something. It reminds me of the pancake drill, but I'm envisioning the kid kneeling down possibly getting hurt when the blocker hits him and knocks him back. I'd be afraid for the player's knees when the blocker lands on him. I know you don't do things to unncessarily risk your players health, so I'm certain that I don't understand the drill. NAME WITHHELD

Coach- We have never had anything approaching an injury, but that is just my experience. There is no warranty with this or any drill I suggest.

The shield-holder must kneel upright - not squatting with his cheeks on his heels. And the blocker needs to keep driving after contact. The contact lifts the shield holder as it puts him on his back.

The key is to keep the blocker close! You wouldn't want the players more than a yard apart, to avoid the chance that the blocker will come up out of his stance and then block downward on the shield holder. I'd suggest that you try it and make sure that you are okay with it.

191. Do you have any advice on getting our QB comfortable when we are required to throw?

To be truthful, a major aim of a ball-control team has to be avoiding those situations where we are "required" to throw - where penalties or losses put us in a hole - because for that sort of an offense, those are the situations that have the potential, when we get out of our element, to make things a lot worse, by throwing an interception or getting sacked.

Unless by some chance you have the talent and the coaching know-how (and the practice time) to have a respectable passing game to go with your running game - a lot rarer occurence than most people think - I believe it is wisest in a so-called "must pass" situation to run a counter, or a draw, or a trap, or a tackle trap. If I do pass, it will most likely be a roll out or sprint out, so it is relatively easy for the QB to get rid of it if there is no one to throw to. A screen, if you are reasonably certain what the defensive front will be doing, may be safe also.

Otherwise, if you are talking about making him comfortable on a play action pass, I think that is a matter of giving him a very limited number of plays that you know he can execute, giving him only one man to throw to (and making sure it is a man who can catch - this is not as obvious to some people as you might think), then making sure your quarterback knows where - and when - to throw it. And then, getting him plenty of reps at it.

In scrimmages, a good way to find out which pass(es) he is comfortable with is to tell him you want to pass - but it's his call. (Don't tell the other players, though, because then the QB's liable to have two or three kids lobbying him to throw the ball to them!)

192. Coach, How does the center in the Wildcat offensive set know who to snap the ball to? Say Wildcat Rip 88 Power. Do you have a key word or something that tells the center which side to snap the ball to? We will be running this in our youth program this year.

Coach, this may sound strange to you, but he doesn't know who to snap the ball to. All we want him to worry about is the snap count and his block. We don't want him to have a third thing to have to deal with.

We used to have the players tell the center which one to snap it to, but not any more. Not since I came across some old clinic notes from a now-retired single-wing coach named Jerry Carle, from Colorado College. He had a formation similar to my Wildcat, in which he had two single-wing tailbacks, side by side, directly back of center, except that his guys were a few yards deeper. He told his center to snap it straight back, between the two of them, and it was their responsibility to know who was getting the ball.

I figured that as close as our guys were and as short as our snap was, that would work just as well for us, and sure enough, it did. So that is what I teach now and it works great. As always, you have to constantly drill the idea of "soft and low" into the center's head, but you have to do that in any case if you are going to run the Wildcat.

193. What are your thoughts on running Super Power to the short side of unbalanced? For example Over Tight 99 Super Power Under Tight 88 Super Power

It is an excellent play to the short side - mainly when a defense adjusts to the unbalanced (which seldom happens, by the way)

The logic behind the “On/Off” call is the same, but we may have the wingback make it, rather than the tackle, because the wingback is more familiar with the whole thing. Unlike when a man has to be "ON" the TE for us to double-team him, in this case, unless the defender is clearly outside the tackle, we usually like to double-team him.

It is also a good play to run to either side from Spread (Double Split) formation, except that I without any tight ends to cut off chasers, I advise running Super "O" and pulling only the backside guard. I don't advise pulling the tackle as well as the guard, or you might have trouble being run down from the backside.

194. What do you think of the "Severe Angle Block" technique. Play side blocks at 30 degrees and takes the D lineman in their path. Sounds like it would be beneficial against those teams that are shifting, and bringing the LBs at the last second. Do you thing it is worth investigating? Seems like it would be easily taught to young kids...

Of course there is a place for this. It is essentially what we teach when we teach "down" blocking, which is very useful in certain situations.

As I understand it, it is being suggested as a do-all, all-purpose block, and perhaps it can be used that way at the youth level. But probably at the middle school level, and certainly at the high school level and above, we need a lot more.

I should mention here that while the concept is easy from the standpoint on remembering the assignment, there is a lot of work involved in being able to get kids to block down, much less to do it that sharply and that consistently.

Coming down that sharply as a steady diet means that while you will pick up linemen and probably blitzing linebackers, you will not pick up scraping linebackers. Against good defenses with fast-flowing linebackers, you would find those linebackers meeting you at the point of attack.

Finally, when the teammate to your inside is blocking down at a 30 degree angle, that eliminates any chance that you'll be double-teaming with him. And for us, unless a particular defensive front dictates blocking down, there is nothing like a Double-Team at the point of attack.

Again, nothing wrong with the idea of blocking down when the situation calls for it.

But if it is being advocated as a steady diet, it will not take long for defenses to figure out your intention- and they'll use it to their advantage. Yes, if done correctly it will seal off to the inside, and it is good against gap penetrators and certain blitzers. But it is not an aggressive form of blocking in terms of moving the defensive front backward. I would look for defenses to put their biggest, toughest kids right over the tight end, because a smaller wingback at the point of attack is not going to make much progress against a larger defensive end.

But I'm not saying it doesn't have its place. I'm just telling you why I wouldn't do it as a steady diet.

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