Remember Your Counters

[Rich Erdelyi]

I always thought the greatest part of this offense was the use of counters and then bootlegs or passes off the counters. As I watch games I don't see enough use of the counter game to keep the D honest and off balance. Georgia Tech sure used QB Joker last night to keep Tennessee confused.

Even with so many teams in Shotgun I still see the good ones running QB counter, trap and Joker away from Jet. We ran Buck XX from Gun the old fashioned way with G/TE pulls. Why? Because we were good at Buck Sweep and you need to control the defense.

XX was a great staple of our offense for many years. I know some coaches are wary of the double hand-off but like anything else if practiced enough and correctly it becomes 2nd nature. Then we threw a Jet XX pass when the backside safety was sitting on the XX and our SE would read him. The Jet XX is a C gap counter and I also believe you need Jet Reverse(Truck) as a D gap counter. The beauty of the Jet package is that it is a quick hitting flank play that stretches the D but you can really keep them guessing with XX and Jet Reverse as well as trap. I see teams hitting the wheel route off of Jet Keep Pass almost every game.

If you are a great Belly team you'll be even better with Belly Counter and Counter Boot. There were many years where we didn't run much Belly Counter but Counter Boot has always been a staple from many formations particularly in the Red Zone. You get 4 backs going different ways in a small area and it's my belief the D gets mesmerized by the movement. If you are more of a 1 back Belly team run Joker(G/T or G/H back pull) as your counter.

I swear the only play that works in Pro Football consistently is Naked Boot. You can run it off Rocket, Belly and many plays if you are in Pistol. This is a great counter play. Analyze what you're doing and what worked well for you this 1st or 2nd weekend and stay ahead of your opponents.

As always if I can help just write or call.

Rich Erdelyi

[Harris90]

I always thought the greatest part of this offense was the use of counters and then bootlegs or passes off the counters. As I watch games I don't see enough use of the counter game to keep the D honest and off balance. Georgia Tech sure used QB Joker last night to keep Tennessee confused.

Even with so many teams in Shotgun I still see the good ones running QB counter, trap and Joker away from Jet. We ran Buck XX from Gun the old fashioned way with G/TE pulls. Why? Because we were good at Buck Sweep and you need to control the defense.

XX was a great staple of our offense for many years. I know some coaches are wary of the double hand-off but like anything else if practiced enough and correctly it becomes 2nd nature. Then we threw a Jet XX pass when the backside safety was sitting on the XX and our SE would read him. The Jet XX is a C gap counter and I also believe you need Jet Reverse(Truck) as a D gap counter. The beauty of the Jet package is that it is a quick hitting flank play that stretches the D but you can really keep them guessing with XX and Jet Reverse as well as trap. I see teams hitting the wheel route off of Jet Keep Pass almost every game.

If you are a great Belly team you'll be even better with Belly Counter and Counter Boot. There were many years where we didn't run much Belly Counter but Counter Boot has always been a staple from many formations particularly in the Red Zone. You get 4 backs going different ways in a small area and it's my belief the D gets mesmerized by the movement. If you are more of a 1 back Belly team run Joker(G/T or G/H back pull) as your counter.

I swear the only play that works in Pro Football consistently is Naked Boot. You can run it off Rocket, Belly and many plays if you are in Pistol. This is a great counter play. Analyze what you're doing and what worked well for you this 1st or 2nd weekend and stay ahead of your opponents.

As always if I can help just write or call.

Rich Erdelyi

Coach,

What is belly counter? Tackle trap?

Can you explain joker as well? I am new to the forum. Thanks

[Rich Erdelyi]

Belly Counter is Tackle Trap Counter.

Joker is Counter Trey popularized by the Redskins with John Riggins and is basically a G/T or G/slot(H back) pull with the play side blocking down. When I was with the Maulers in the USFL the scheme was termed Joker and I just kept it. It is basically a B gap counter which can be run from multiple formations off of multiple plays. I've run it to the FB as a counter off Belly, Sprint Out, Jet and Rocket. It can be run to the dive back as a counter off Belly in a 2 back set or Sprint Out in the Gun. The 49er's ran it fore a TD in the Super Bowl and if you have my video playbook it's there under "Friends Runs" with the play being Friends Left 34 Joker. We installed it in Spring Practice my last season but I don't think we ran it in a game.

Here are the rules from Red formation FB Joker right off Belly Slide.
TE- On-Backer-Influence Right
RT- Gap-Lead-Backer-Influence Right
RG- Gap-Down-Post
OC- On-Area-Away
LG- Pull flat. Kick-out 1st past RG
LT- Gap-On-Area
SE- Crossfield. Block back @hole
RH- Jet to Slide Motion. Fill B gap to D gap area.
LH- Pull inside. Wall-off B gap area
FB- Crossover/ Plant accept outside HO. Follow LH
QB- Reverse pivot as on Belly. @nd step a little flatter than Belly. Outside HO to FB on 3rd step. Look back 2 steps and continue boot.

If you wanted a G/T pull the LH assignment would be to Shutoff for the pulling tackle. If you're running it from slide motion it's OK because the slide back is there as well. If it's off sprint,jet or rocket action it's a tough block hence we started using the slot/H back as most of the Pro's are doing and kept the tackle blocking on. We got away from this scheme my last few years because of all the Gun and RPO stuff we were doing but I do love it because it is gap control. One coaching point vs. a Bears defense (3-0-3). The PST/PSG/OC all need to block DOWN. Whenever we have this type of situation with all covered we make a Help call to the next lineman out telling him to block down because I'm blocking down and you have all single blocks. The PST on the 3; the PSG on the 0; the OC away on the 3. The trap would occur on the 7/9 on the TE.

Georgia Tech had great success because Tenn was in double 2's and 5's so the PSG&PST both blocked inside, the OC blocked away, the FB dove away freezing the BSILB and filling for the tackle. The BSG pulled and kicked or logged the 5 who may have been assigned to the QB on trap or counter option and he was frozen in any case and the pulling tackle had the PSILB or sometimes the FS because the PSILB took a step towards the FB fake and the PST blocked him. It was beautiful because of the angles they had.

Hope this helps. As always write or call with specific questions. Glad to help if I can.

Rich Erdelyi