RANGER FREEZE: What Ifs?

RANGER FREEZE: What Ifs?

So, what if? There are always what ifs; aren’t there. One of the things we have in the scheme of things is the ‘Gap Call.’ The Gap Call is an offensive line call that alerts the offensive line to “Gap Down” to the center.

Once again, the easiest block in football to execute is to block down and ‘bulldoze’ everything to the middle. The Denver Broncos call this tactic “washing down” the defense to the center of the formation.

If the defense is about to do something ‘different’ – some kind of stunt or twist or whatever they might be up to, the inside tackle first or anyone else on the line for that matter has the ability to call for a Gap Call. It means that everyone on the LOS will drive the inside gap down to the shoulder of the center creating a wall of blockers that the defense will not be able to get through but have to run around giving the runner a chance to gain some yards.

Nothing in football will blow up an offensive play faster than an inside penetrator. It is hard for me to understand, sitting and watching TV on SAT, and see college players not block the inside, especially on a punt. I remember early this fall watching VA TECH of all people screw up and block out on the LOS rather than down which invites an inside penetrator to blow in there and sure enough, block the punt. VT is widely known for its special teams play and blocking punts, right? You just absolutely know that those blockers have been told a hundred thousand million times to block down on a punt, but they needed to be told a hundred thousand million times plus one.

Why would they block out? Why would they go against what they have been told to do? The answer lies in the fact that the defense is doing something they have not seen or prepared for, leading to confusion, resulting in a blown assignment and a blocked punt.

Now our blocking rules are not hard to understand: IN-ON-OUT-OVER; the line is to block the man that’s in the inside gap first; the man on second; the man in the outside gap third and only then proceed to the LB’er closest to you. That’s easy to understand, right? Especially after thousands of repetitions and directions over the years in practice and Frosh, SOPH & JV games.

But you know what? When the defense does something unexpected, the kids will panic and do something off the wall and screw it up. So we had to institute an additional rule: The down defender on the LOS must be blocked first . . . (before you leave and go block a LB’er or Secondary defender).

Our “panic button” is the Gap Call. Everyone blocks down. Creates what I like to call a covey of defenders. We just try and sort of herd them all into a pack at the inside of the formation, and then run on the edge. Block everyone down to the inside and run on the edge. When you herd the defense to the inside like that, one of your linemen can block two or three defenders, i.e., by blocking one defender to the inside, you can create an obstacle that another defender farther away will trip over trying to pursue to the play. He might even fall down, creating another obstacle for another defender who might possibly trip as well or at least have to run around on his pursuit path. Meanwhile, our runner is gain yards out there on the edge.

There are those that say one never really pitches the ball when running the midline-freeze. That would be a BIG mistake. What if, what if the defense packs and stunts the middle from tackle to tackle? The FB and QB will not make any yards on the play. However, if you, the line, or the QB calls out GAP! Then line can wash all that down to the middle at which point the QB is to go to the C-Gap or wider (after the fake to the FB to FREEZE the defense on him) and run or pitch from there. That’s why it is called, triple option. First option is taken away by the blitzers and the defensive alignment. That does not mean we cannot adjust and go to the edge of the formation and option from there. Right?

This is not a common occurrence. But it does happen during the course of the game or season. When it does, we are ready for it; do not have to waste a play and winds up being a big gainer for us because we have practiced for it and we have the adjustment available for us.

Another What If deals with an odd alignment. If the center is covered in some kind of odd alignment with LB’ers over the guards or gaps, our rule is to “veer scheme” block it. That would mean that the called side guard would double team with the C on the NT and drive him back into the feet of the off LB’er. The playside T blocks on the other LB’er and we read the DT.

This is something we do not see very often. When running unbalanced formations, the defense slides over a half to full man. That would mean a gap player or LB’er that the C would deal with. When running the FREEZE from a doubles set or some other spread set, the defense shifts into some kind of 40 look which is covered by the regular blocking rules for the FREEZE. If they stay odd and run a 53 or something like that, They are in trouble with other facets of the offense, like the quick passing game. There is no way they can adequately cover 4 receivers across the field out of a 52-3-or4 look. I have fought that battle and lost. They must adjust – or get stung big time.

We will talk about our quick pass offense and how it fits in with the RANGER FREEZE next time.

Be11

RF