April 23, 2012 · 9:09 AM

The selling of play-action

I bet you never thought about the importance of the pulling guard before, but after reading this tour de force from Chris Brown, you will.  Awesome read.

13 Comments

Filed under Strategery And Mechanics

13 responses to “The selling of play-action”

  1. Scorpio Jones, III
    April 23, 2012 at 9:15 AM

    Bubbala…thought you had enough time in the arena to understand the “pulling guard” concept…it is the basis of most T formation and variant running games. These guys are probably the best athletes on most fields, but almost invisible to the average fan…and totally invisible to the TV fan.

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  2. rugbydawg79
    April 23, 2012 at 9:34 AM

    With all due respect Scorpio-I think it is the art of taking the deception to the next level–You gotta really sell it–Great stuff Senator !

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  3. 69dawg
    April 23, 2012 at 9:40 AM

    See the old Greenbay Packers if you want pulling guards. Best ever.

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  4. Hogbody Spradlin
    April 23, 2012 at 10:44 AM

    On the video clip at the link, I was surprised how little side way or slide movement is necessary from the O-linemen, to sell the run fake. But put it in conjunction with the fake handoff and it satisfies the defensive reads. David Greene was the master.

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  5. Mayor of Dawgtown
    April 23, 2012 at 11:22 AM

    What you gotta do to sell the run on play action is run the play exactly like when you really run the ball, only pass it instead. The idea in the linked article is a great way to do it. Calling running plays that have no pulling guards using the FB as lead blocker is another, as long as you give the D exactly the same look when you run play action. Also, and this point cannot be overemphasized, you have to run play action in a running situation. It does no good to run play-action on third and 25.

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    • AusDawg85
      April 23, 2012 at 11:47 AM

      You CAN set-up play action on 3rd & 25. Run Carlton Thomas up the middle a few times in these situations, and the D will never sniff the PA coming!

      /#IBB

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    • Dante
      April 23, 2012 at 4:52 PM

      Play action can still work in obvious pass situations. Defenders are conditioned to key in on certain things and react to it. Sometimes you can catch them off guard and get them react to a run even when it would be foolish to actually run the ball. Just ask Verron Haynes about that.

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  6. TomReagan
    April 23, 2012 at 11:26 AM

    Excellent article. Linebacker Rule #1 is read the guard. Nothing scarier for a linebacker, or a defense, than taking that read away.

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  7. Cojones
    April 23, 2012 at 12:23 PM

    Gee, since it’s also used in spread Os, wonder if we will see it vs Mizzou? And Tech? You would think that this will be Mizzou’s favorite philisophy.

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  8. MGW
    April 23, 2012 at 12:32 PM

    Second video makes me wish I watched more Baylor games this year. Griffin is a bad dude.

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  9. James Stephenson
    April 23, 2012 at 4:57 PM

    I think RGIII is going to be a good pro, but some of his throws looked sidearmed, when they did not need to be. He will have to get his throws up or his passes will get knocked down at the line against NFL linemen.

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