The newest fad in offensive football are run pass options (RPO's) or as Jon Gruden calls them "Ridiculous Protection Offense." RPO's are simply option football for spread offenses. When run correctly, RPO's can be very effective, but also very expensive for an offense because they require a lot of practice time to perfect. We design our offense from 2 perspectives:
1. How many skills does the QB have to be able to perform?
2. How many techniques do the lineman (LM) have to be able to perform?
The great thing about RPO's are they don't add anything new for the lineman to know. One could argue that RPO's make the job of the lineman easier because they don't have to block the "read" guy. From the QB standpoint, it adds one more thing for the QB to practice and perfect. Practice time is at a premium so we as coaches need to make sure we can practice the new technique effectively and our QB's can perfect the skill.
We like to utilize run pass options that complement our inside single back power run game with a back side bubble, arc or juke screen. We like to utilize RPO's when we pull a guard. They are fairly easy to install and truth be told, you can run them as true RPO's or as called plays. Either way, the defense has to honor the run play and pass play if you run it often and effectively. If you have a QB that can read effectively, then read it. If you as a coach want to remain in control, just call the play you want and combine the RPO actions. For example, if you call right power, just have the backside receivers run screen action instead of stalk blocking. If you call a bubble or juke screen, just have the LM and running back run power action. This is probably the best way to install the play until you can trust your QB to read the play and make the right decision. Here are a few from early in the season (There is sound on these clips):
Are we reading it? This early in the season(it was a scrimmage so we probably weren't), but we are now into week 6 and we are fully reading them. As our QB became more comfortable with the read and we coaches became more comfortable with his decision making, we let out the reigns a bit with some steadfast rules that force an automatic give to the RB. As you can see, the defense fully reacts to the run action and gives us a one on one on the edge with our athletes. We like to say, "one on one is one on none".
In the end, we like RPO's because we are often not as big as the teams we play and they give us one less defensive player to block.. This really helps out with numbers at the point of attack.
Thanks for reading and best of luck the rest of the season.
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