Question for the football X and O nerds ....

What's the purpose of covering a WR or TE with another guy further outside of him on the LOS? The first time I really noticed it was when Oregon came to town in 2015. They would have trips to one side and also attach a TE to that side. OSU and other spread teams have been doing it this year and I noticed Maryland doing it last week. Seems like you're just taking a guy out of the play. I'm trying to think of a reason to do this and all I can come up with is that it might throw the defense off a little bit or to create weird gaps that they have to cover. Idk.

Here's a pic for reference .. i'm talking about the WR-looking guy that's on the LOS. Basically what i'm asking is: what's the point?

In the future, just send Herbie a PM. Thanks.

I would answer but resent being called a nerd.

I don't know.

DWags wrote:Oh and it helps the QB call plays they aren’t expecting

A sure sign he's a branch on the Herbie coaching tree.

DWags wrote:Oh and it helps the QB call plays they aren’t expecting

Aw, hell, never mind. Goose beat me to it.

tGreenWay wrote:Goose beat me

Sounds hot

We do it. It allows us to motion our WR off the short-side for jet sweeps.

Sometimes, it helps the offense fool the defense. But not always. And it rarely is successful when the other team is well coached and has much better players.

Clarett's Folly wrote:We do it. It allows us to motion our WR off the short-side for jet sweeps.

This is also formation to run a bubble screen, inside zone read or RPO. If the LB crashes down they can swing it to the o/s or the QB can keep and run o/s. Basically they have an extra blocker in the slot (if they don't jet or shift).

Defensively, you're not going to cover him (Wisky is not), but you do have to account for the extra blocker. It looks Wisky is going counter by blitzing their o/s backer. He doesn't need to cover the slot WR so he is going to try and mess up the timing of the play. It also looks like the 2 safeties and feild corner are shifting over to the boundry side to cover against the screen.  

A little cat and mouse on both sides going on in that pic. The O is trying to create an unbalance and maybe the D doesn't pick up on the fact that he is covered by the split end (we are still dealing with college kids). Wisky has picked it up and said "oh yeah... how about a LB in your backfeild".

Another popular variation I've seen a lot this year is trips to feild side with 2 on the LOS. Only 2 of the 3 are eligible receivers, but the D has to account for the extra blocker on the bubble.

No idea what dwags is saying. I think he is double high.

Good stuff dudes. I found a good article on 11 Warriors (OSU site) about this too. These coaches are pretty creative

https://www.elevenwarriors.com/ohio-state-football/film-study/2017/11/87844/film-study-putting-the-same-faces-in-new-places-reignited-the-buckeye-running-game-against-the-spartans