Football 101: Smart Football on Power Running

Submitted by JeepinBen on

What is says in the title. Many people here are beyond "101", but this is a nice supplement to the explanations we get from the front page, Space Coyote, Magnus, etc.

Seeing as Power is our base play, here's a good read.

 

http://grantland.com/the-triangle/2015-nfl-college-football-power-runni…

While many think the term “power football” describes an attitude or perhaps even a formation, coaches actually use it to refer to something more technical: the Power-O and Counter Trey1 run plays, which most coaches simply call Power and Counter, and which are foundational running plays in the NFL and college football. Power and Counter are so effective because their very designs are forged from aggression. They’re deliberate melees built on double-team blocks, kick-out blocks, lead blocks, and down blocks, and preferably finished off by a running back who drops his shoulder and levels a defender or two before going down.

klctlc

September 10th, 2015 at 11:36 AM ^

Interesting read and pretty straightforward. 

I am curious how the UFR will show the play where Kalis ran around the end and blocked no one?  

Was that power?  I don't have the video handy and have not looked in awhile, but it seems like the play was blown up by the inside backer crashing through?  

Was that on Kalis or the guard? Most of these plays in the grantland article show the guard outside the tacker and kicking out?

JeepinBen

September 10th, 2015 at 11:44 AM ^

Was that on Kalis or on Smith for not following Kalis? They weren't on the same page and weren't in the same hole, but unfortunately per Adam's presser with Jay Harbaugh we won't know the playcall and who made the error

Space Coyote

September 10th, 2015 at 1:14 PM ^

Part of my blog is dedicated to this very concept. I call them "Football Fundamentals". I try to break it down by position, plays and concepts, and formations (and the like).

For run plays on offense, I've broken down Power O, Counter F, Iso, Inside Zone, Outside Zone, Trap, Wham, Veer, Belly, Speed Option and Jet sweep. I've gone over various pass concepts from twins sets, TE/Flanker sets, switch concepts, 2x2 concepts, mirrored routes, NCAA route concept, mesh concept, weakside flood, and screen concepts.

I've done a bit less on defense, but have looked extensively at Cover 1 and Cover 4 so far, as well as a one-gap 3-4 defense.

Nomenclature got through about E before I got distracted, I really need to sit down and finish that.

Offense

Defense

Nomenclature

wahooverine

September 10th, 2015 at 12:04 PM ^

Whenever you see power run perfectly (and it's not RPSed) you see a big hole, a lead blocker (or two) and a running back behind them all with a full head of steam running upfield toward one or two would-be tacklers. It's a thing of beauty.  Watch Ty Wheatley's Michigan highlights. 

UMCoconut

September 10th, 2015 at 12:14 PM ^

Can someone explain to me the impact of the pulling guard and the FB switching roles between Power and Counter?  I guess I am unclear on the difference in roles of the wrapper and trapper and why it matters who gets to the hole first.  Whether it's the guard or FB, they are both trying to 'pry' open the hole and hit the first guy they see right?

somewittyname

September 10th, 2015 at 12:33 PM ^

My understanding is the first one there is the one trying to 'pry' open the hole as you said. The second person is acting as a lead blocker to simply pick up whoever is unaccounted for, likely a linebacker or safety. Ideally, the lead blocker is making it to the next level to pick someone off to open up a good gain.

MVictors97

September 10th, 2015 at 12:36 PM ^

The FB and BSG are not only switching roles but the FB alignment is changing. On Counter both "pullers" (BSG & FB) are coming from the backside. Its a longer developing play.  Power kind of spawned off of that to have one of the "pullers" playside, which is the FB. The play hits a bit quicker and is less prone to being blown up by penetration from the backside of the play.

Also the alignment of the FB can screw with defense. Out of the same look you can hit them with Power or Counter.  Michigan ran a lot of two tight end sets also with a FB. Now you offset the fullback and can run power at the fullback or counter away from the FB. Michigan didn't run any counter that I can recall but I'm sure its coming.  Also you can do the same thing in a one tight end set with the FB away from the TE. This becomes either a weakside power play or a strongside counter play. 

As far as wrapper vs. trapper.  The trapper is always going to want to kick out the end man on the line of scrimmage, whether its a DE or maybe a walked up OLB.  The wrapper is going to cut up right outside the double team from either the PSG/PST or PST/TE and look for the playside linebacker but really going to block the first player that shows in the gap.  On Power the FB is the trapper and BSG is the wrapper. On Counter the BSG is the trapper andFB wrapper.

ScruffyTheJanitor

September 10th, 2015 at 12:48 PM ^

But I had a friend who played on the D-Line (D-III)  who said that a team that can run "power" well (speaking generally) was psychologically draining because, once the o-line exectuted this well a couple of times, it started to feel like an "avalanche of robots" (his words) was crashing down on you.

Cranky Dave

September 10th, 2015 at 1:16 PM ^

but having played OL I look at it from the other side.  The blocking scheme is very simple and when you get this clicking it feels unstoppable.  As Chris Brown mentions though it takes a lot of reps to figure out things like which of the lineman leaves the double team and at what point; the pulling guard figuring out how to read either the DL (on the kickout) or first man in the hole (wrapper).  If you're able to get a steady 5ypc after a while the defense can really get worn out.