One of the very best run plays in football is the isolation play. If you love power football, you love isolation because it is straight on, nothing to hide, knock people down and gain some yards in a physical manner.
In the age of single back spread offenses, true isolation has become tougher to run consistently with your running back unless you utilize an H-Back to lead the way onto the linebacker, but what if you don’t what to add an extra defensive guy to the box by using an H-Back. The purpose of the spreading to run the ball is to get defensive players out of the box by spreading the field, so we will focus other ways to run isolation type plays out of the spread offense with the same isolation blocking on the play side.
For this post, we will focus on a 4 man front with defensive lineman as a 3 technique and a 1 technique. Below is a diagram of 2-back split back isolation. This is not a spread set and the defense could easily sneak another defender into the box. As you can see, we read the backside defensive end for a give or pull read as discussed in this post: Reading the Backside DE. We do this on all plays so iso is no different for us.
When you run the Weak Side Iso out of 2 backs, you are outnumbered per the picture below.
Here it is against the 4-4. The Blue Square defender cannot be blocked.
You can flip the flanker (Right Flip)over out of 2 backs to occupy that that extra and still be able to run weak. See the diagram below:
Another answer in the spread is to run the QB and essentially give yourself a 2 back run play out of the spread.
#1 - QB Iso
The first way to run isolation out of the spread is to run it using the QB and leading with the back. Now I realize this is not always ideal to run your QB, but it definitely achieves the purpose of running isolation without bringing a Fullback or H-Back into the box. As you can see in the diagram below, moving the 2nd back out of thebackfield and into the weak side slot allows you to put a body on a body and not have to run over as many guys. If you tried to run isolation weak in the diagram above, you would be outnumbered at the point of attack with an unblocked linebacker. Moving to single back formation and running the QB allows you to put out number the defense at the point of attack.
Because nobody wants to get their QB or RB (Blocking) beat up by running QB ISO all the time, you can create isolation plays in the single back spread by pulling a backside guard or tackle, while nothing changes on the front side. The first example will be pulling the guard onto the linebacker.
#2 – Pull the Guard (Fan/Single back Power)
First things first, you need to have a tackle good enough to be able to seal off the 3 technique. Pulling the guard around for the weak side iso can be a very effective way to isolate a linebacker and have your best ball carrier running the football. If you add in the replace RPO as described here Replace RPO, you can maintain more double teams up front because you will be reading the backside ILB that is sometimes difficult to get to if he is reading the guard.
#3 – Pull the Tackle (Dart/Wrap)
This is my personal favorite for many reasons.
- Many defenses teach their LB’s to read guards. When pulling the tackle, flow may slow down.
- Timing! The timing seems to be better when pulling the tackle.
- No seal block needed! The backside guard has a very easy turn out block when running away from the 3 technique.
As you can see in the diagram below, you may have some difficulties blocking the backside LB when running strong. Because of this, we have the QB read the backside ILB. He will key the BSILB for a pull read and run inside the guard's out block or we will Replace RPO him with the inside slot receiver.
Some key points:
- You have to have some lineman that can run. In our system, our linemen can be smaller and quicker as we rely on angles and speed to block effectively.
- Some people think plays are slower out of the gun. This has not been the case for us. Timing has not been an issue and our lineman do not need to block longer.
- Don’t be afraid to run the QB. Your QB running can be a lethal weapon that will allow you to outnumber people at the point of attack. If you’re QB cannot run well, insert a “wildcat” qb and run it with him.
In closing, you can effectively run Isolation type of plays out of the gun, single back spread without much adaptations. Overall, our front side rules stay the same and all adaptations are made on the back side.
Feel free to comment below. Thanks for reading.
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