Double Wing Teams everywhere are running up scores, racking up huge rushing gains and embarrassing many opponents who have no idea on how to stop this New potent offense. Here are some new ideas in scouting the Double Wing Team. Hopefully you will be able to take these new ideas and put them to work within your defensive package.
When scouting a Double Wing Team the first thing you have to take into account is, Who is the best running back? Even though the offense is design to be evenly spread between the three backs, most teams tend to have one featured back. The main priority in stopping the double wing is to stop the featured back. Identifying this back is usually easy as he comes into the game with some unheard yardage gained and Touchdowns scored. You have to turn the game into stopping him and worrying about covering the aspects of the double wing later. Its no different from an featured I back or Option QB. He has to be stopped and make the other guys beat you. If the team is pretty evenly spread you still have to play the game as if one of them is the featured back. After going through this scouting check list one of the backs will stand out more then the others.
The second most important thing in scouting a double wing team is what is their best play? Typically this is their Toss or Super Power play and is run with their best back. Your entire defense must positioned to stop that play. That play has to be taken away from their arsenal. You have to be sound in your total defensive package and not put eleven guys on one side but overload your defense with your best players and your best scheme to side where the best play goes. Typically the double wing team is really strong running the Toss or Super Power to one side and they run the Buck sweep or Reverse to the other. This allows you to put your strongest, biggest kids to one side and you’re faster, more pursuit type kids to the other.
Next you must determine, what is their best pass play? This pass tends to be a play action pass off their best play and usually has the Tight end or Wings running deep routes. Double wing teams usually don’t throw the pass unless they see you are committing most of your men to stopping the run. Whatever scheme you run you must keep at least two guys deep or their best pass play will be a huge gainer for them. Most Double Wing Quarterbacks have some of the highest pass completion ratio. This is from the fact it is easy to play catch with a wide receiver that is wide open. Even though the pass is not usually an effective weapon for the double wing team, it is an aspect that must be accounted for when preparing to defend the double wing.
Finally, what is the best counter play? Double Wing teams have a counter play to their best play. That is the play they will most likely go to when their best play is stopped. Typically it is the reverse play off the Toss or Super Power. The Reverse play is probably the most explosive play in the double wing arsenal. The defense has to have a sound package to hold off the Reverse until everyone can rally back to the ball.
Defenders on the reverse side have to string out the reverse play and make it go wide. With all this information, a picture should be developing about how the play calling philosophy of the double wing team. Basically, this should tell you who is getting the ball and where. This is just the beginning in formatting a sound defensive attack versus the double wing.
The traditional down and distance tendencies usually don’t work with a double wing team. The reason being, normal offenses work on a three down pattern to get a first. Most teams if you can get them in a fourth and two or more will opt to punt the ball. Most teams are not consistently going to go for it on 4 down. The double wing team differs because they play four downs to get a first. They will go for it on fourth down almost every time. They have the philosophy of they can get five yards on every play. A normal defensive situation of fourth and five, the double wing teams pounds out a first down because the defensive team was not prepared for this situation. The coach and players are mentally out of it because they feel like they have done their job (bring on the punt team) allowing the double wing team the mental edge. A few of the tendencies that I have seen from double wing teams are Running Back, Linemen, Right/Left, Field/Boundary, Sideline, and sequence.
The Running Back tendency I have picked up on is on 4th down or other crucial downs they run the toss or super power to the same back. If you can scout a opponent and get a percentage ration on how many times a back runs toss or super power to the right side on 4th or crucial downs this will help you in determining what front or blitz to call. One year a double wing team we played ran the toss right 22 out of 23 times for a 96% ratio. This was an easy call on defense.
The Linemen tendency is where they flop the line so one side is always blocking and the other is pulling. This tendency can be a huge advantage. The defense can stack their strongest, biggest guys on their blockers and put faster types on the pullers side. If you use automatic blitzes from the pullers side with your Corners you might even run the play down. Most double wing teams do not flop their lines but some do due to personnel problems. As a defensive coordinator you must look for this easy tendency.
The Right /Left tendency is another Personnel type of tendency. Like the flopping linemen tendency the right/left tendency works the same way. One side will block and the other will pull a majority of the time. We played a double wing team that ran almost 98% of their toss or super powers right. This allowed us to stack that side and put the faster guys on the other side. After charting the plays this tendency will become apparent.
The Feld/Boundary tendency is do they run the wide or short side of the field. Most double wing teams will fit into a field or boundary type team. This tendency is a little harder to see, but can be huge advantage for the defense. If the double wing team is a field team you can over shift your defense or slant to help with the wide side. There is no need to defend the boundary if they are more inclined to run to the field. There are many reasons a team runs to the field with a wider area for the defense to defend and more running room as the two biggest. The boundary double wing teams like to smash it and cut back to the wide side giving them more room on the cut back. This tendency helps with the overall tendencies that a double wing is giving away.
The Sideline tendency is a tendency that will not show up on any normal tendency charts. Do they run the ball to their sideline? A double wing team we played like to run the ball to their sideline especially on crucial downs. The coach liked to see the play develop. He thought if he could see the play it would have a better chance of success instead of the play away from him. This is a huge tendency for the defensive coordinator.
Another crucial part to scouting a double wing team is to scout the defense they are playing against. There are many crucial tendencies that can be derived from watching how another team defended the double wing. The first part of scouting a defense is to at the double wing-blocking scheme. Double wing teams have many different ways to block defensive fronts. On the scouting sheet I want to determine what defensive front the team is running. We can determine by this piece of information if the double wing team is running a certain play more then another, based on defensive fronts.
The biggest part of the defensive scouting section is where is the Point of Attack? The point of attack will usually determine what blocking scheme they are using no matter the play. The toss, spin, and reverse run at the off tackle position and have the same blocking scheme. If we can determine who is blocking whom we have a better shot at defending the double wing.
Other than trap or wedge most double wing teams have these three basic ingredients to most of their plays. There will be a Double Team, a Kick Out block and somebody (usually three) Pulling through the hole. These three techniques gives them an inside and outside wall with lead blockers coming through the hole.
The double team block is a two on one block with the inside blacker responsible for any blitz to the inside, this creates the inside wall. The kick out block is usually done by the full back or guard. This creates the outside wall. Usually the off side guard and tackle with the Quarter back lead the tail back through the hole.
As a defensive coordinator you must learn the basic blocking schemes to your defensive front. This will allow you to figure a way to beat it and give you adequate repetitions in practice. Most practice squads do not give you a game type look when you practice the double wing, so your defense never gets good quality practice versus the double wing offense.
The last aspect of the defensive scouting is Coverage’s. You need to see how the double wing team defeats that coverage's. This will allow you more freedom in secondary support. If the double wing team cannot pass there is no need to cover those areas. We usually do not cover the flats. We allow them the pass completion and rally to the ball to make the tackle. Most of the time the double wing team will not take advantage of this because it is not in the game plan.
(Diagram #1)
The last major idea of defending double wing teams understands their offense. You cannot defend an offense unless you have an idea of what it is attacking. Once you have a plan of what the double wing team is trying to attack you can make a sound judgement on how to defend that area of the defense they are attacking.
The Double Wing Formation is a compressed double tight end, double wing formation with tight splits usually foot to foot. This formation makes the defense cover ten running gaps with huge flank areas. The two tight ends and wings give them a four wide receiver passing game. The two wings, full back and quarter back give them four running backs to use in the run game
The Toss/Super Power is attacking the off tackle hole with ten players. Double teams at the point of attack a kick out block by the full back, and the guard, tackle and quarter back leading through the hole. The running back follows his lead blockers and is looking to cut back or kick it outside. The running back usually is hidden behind all the blockers.
The Trap is designed to give the impression of the toss and give the full back the ball up the middle behind the trapping guard. The line does not block down linemen but blocks the linebackers. This gives them two tackles, a guard, tight end and a wing to block the linebackers. The running back and quarter back fake the rest of the defense into thinking it is a toss play.
The Spin is a counter to the toss play. Like the reverse the running back fakes the toss play. The difference is the quarterback spins around like he is pitching the ball but gives an inside reverse to the other wing. This play is blocked the same way as the reverse play with a kick out by the guard and the full back and tackle pulling through
The Buck sweep is a sweep play that has the fullback going opposite the sweep. This dive away is supposed to keep the linebackers at home. The play has the quarterback faking a dive to the fullback and then handing the sweep to the wing back who follow both guards on the sweep. The tight and wing reach the contain defenders. This play is effective because most defenses stack the inside to stop the toss or super power. There is a bootleg off the buck sweep but it is not usually run unless no ones cover the quarterbacks fake off the buck sweep.
Many double wing teams have different pass schemes but they usually attack the same area.
The Streak is all four receivers running vertical. This is a hard play to defend. Defensive coordinators must be ready for this pass play when setting up their defensive structure to defend the double wing offense.
Conclusion
Hopefully with all these new ideas you might give your defense an advantage in stopping the Double Wing Offense.
Bruce Eien is Head
Coach at Brethren Christian High School in Huntington Beach California. He can
be reached for comments and information at [email protected].
Bruce also has a web site at http://members.xoom.com/bcwarrior/