Doubles Wide Ranger
When we face those defenses that place 8 or 9 people in the box and running becomes very dificult, we will spread them out and work on our Quick Pass Offense. Some years you have a very difficult time with the passing game. Sometimes you do not have a QB. Sometimes you do not have good receivers for the passing game.
We feel that receivers are more important than QBs. Over the years we have had QBs that could at least shot put the ball out there in the quick pass offense. If you have talented receivers, they would catch the ball - no matter how badly it was thrown. The mark of a great receiver is how well he adjusts to the ball while it is in the air. It is a skill and there are some guys who just do not adjust well. Then you have the question of hands. like it or not, stone fingers are a reality. I remember I coached a kid who really ran right at a 4.5. He was one of the fastest kids I have ever coached. But he could not catch the ball, and he was not big enough to run the ball consistently. Besides, he had the big tendancy to fumble.
So, when faced with a defense that will crowd the ball, and when the passing game is not working well, we will spread them out with the Doubles Wide formation. Now, as a simple rule, we will have the SE and the FL align to the wide sie of the field and the TB and the TE will align to the boundary. If the ball is in the middle of the field, we will have the SE go to he right side for a right handed QB or to the left for a left handed QB.
When we align in the doubles wide formation, the defense must respect the receivers to some degree. After all, no matter how bad our passing game is, you CAN complete 25% of your passes. You only have to complete one of four to keep the chains moving. So if you do not cover our receivers, we will be able to complete at least one of four passes. Of course, if you go out there and cover the receivers, it is infinitely more difficult to complete passes. So for the sake of argument, the defense aligns to cover the receivers. The look that we get most often is a one deep look as shown. They cover-up the receivers, have four linemen and two LB'ers.
The first play pictured is Doubles Wide Ranger 30. Assuming the wide side is to the right, the TB goes in motion on 'Go' to get himself into position to receive the pitch as the play develops. Everything else is the same as when we run Ranger 30 from a tight formation (except we do not have the back's block on the front side LB'er). This lost block is a concern for us, but we are going to 'read' the tackle and the LB'er is the POA for the SG. If the DT is aligned on an inside shade, the SG will release outside and block the LB'er to the inside which becomes an easy block with the fake to the FB up over the center.) The LB'er really bites on the FB - remember we are a FB oriented offense.
So, Lets look at what we are doing here. When you get into this Doubles Wide Formation there are 1,000s of things that you can do. We are not going to do them. What we are going to do must stay in line with our overall philosophy and attack. We want to be able to run these plays with a reasonable expectation of success with a minimum amount of extra paractice time. Practice time is precious and we want to maximize our time on the practice field. Therefore what this wrinkle accomplishes for us is:
1. It fits with our philosophy. We are a dive, option, veer, FB Blast team. It is what we do best. The foot patterns for these plays are the same and so are the blocking assignments. What happens is that they cannot get as many people to the POA as quickly as before.
2. These plays are merely an extension of what we do . . . Best.
3. The defense must break from what they really want to do to stop out running/option game and go to something that puts more pressure on the LOS.
4. This wrinkle fits exactly with out quick pass attack.
The second play pictured is Double Wide Ranger 34. On this play the FB takes a path that is the same for him as in a blast 34. The QB reverses out and rides the FB into the line. The SG does not block A gap to LB'er as on Ranger 30, he single blocks the DT over him. Now in reality, most of the time we are not going to read the hole here. The FB is going to wind up blocking the LB'er most of the time. What we are after here is to spring the QB. That makes the block of the ST very important. If that DE is playing on the ST, with the fake to the FB inside will usually bring him down and the ST just continues to take him to the inside and the QB runs outside the block of the ST. If the DE is playing clearly to the outside of the ST and the fake to the FB does not bring the DE down inside, the DE is usually then working his way upfield or to the outside. Remember, the hardest read for a QB is the DE who just sits there and does nothing. In this case teh ST drives the DE farther outside or upfield and the QB runs inside the block of the ST (keep in mind that this is the IOT; the OOT aligns in a normal left tackle position).
We can run these plays from the regular doubles formation and not have the pitch back go in motion. But the Doubles formation does not spread out the defense as much as Doubles Wide.
We actually run this play much the same way as Nebraska (that sounds rather bold of me doesn't it) does. We can run this play without motion and just not have anyone to pitch the ball to. We call this play Doubles Wide, Ranger 14 Loaded. The 'loaded' call tells the FB that he 'Must Block' the defender in the 4 hole (usually a LB'er) and the play becomes a QB ISO at the 4 hole. the play works because in a doubles wide formation (usually a passing formaiton) the DEs are concerned with a pass rush and usually align and rush wider than they would say in a right or power right formation. That gives us somewhat of a natural hole here at the 4 hole. If we could just screen the LB'er off the play while the DE works upfield and we can just screen the DE with the IOT, we have a football play.
Another reason we like these plays is that we are runnning an option attack here and we can get everyone blocked at the POA. The receivers are to block the man that is covering them, On Ranger 34 action everyone gets blocked and the QB and Pitch back are at the edge of the formation running loose in the seconday.
We can run these plays to either side of the formation. Everyone's blocking rules are the same as they are in our base offense. One of the things that works for us is to take this attack from the doubles formation and put it into the Power Right Formation.
On Blast 34 you remember, all the linemen block to their inside gap. If we align is a Power right formation and run a Ranger 34, the IOT and the OOT would block out according to rule, the SG would block the DT over him, the TB would lead through the hole on the LB'er, the SE would move to level 3 and block and once again we have the QB running free in the secondary. The blocks of the IOT and OOT are called Fan blocks where they block the first man to their outside on or off the ball. It just gives those defenders in that area another look and has proven to be very effective. The play pictured then is: Power Right, Ranger 34 Option.
These running plays along with our Quick Pass Offense are what we will go to when the defense crowds the LOS and we are experiencing difficulty advancing the ball. They have been effective for us and it fits with our overall philosophy and attack. These adjustments involve a very few number of players on our side of the ball having to make adjustments, while there are as many as seven (or more) defenders who have to make adjustments. Our footpaths are the same. Our blocking assignments are the same. Advantage here goes to the offense.
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