CHAPTER 1. BUILDING THE OFFENSIVE LINE: Biock By BLock The blocking rules for Power are very simple which allows the players to focus on their block as opposed to being worried about their assignment. In Power each lineman on the frontside is responsible for their backside gap. Ifthere is no one in their backside gap they will “help their buddy” by dou- bling up to the backside linebacker. While they are doubling they are still responsible for their gap. This means thatifany defender comes through the gap (either a stunt by the defen- sive line or a blitz bya linebacker) they must disengage from the double team to take the blitzing defender. i rege a, The backside linemen have specificroles that stay the same regardless of the front. The backside guard is pullingaround forthe playside linebacker. This pull is one of the key aspects that differentiates the A Gap Power from thetraditional Power play. The Guard will pull around and stay tight to thedown blocks from the frontside linemen. This willallow him toturn the linebacker outand open upa running lanebetween him and the wall for the ball carrier.The other backside lineman is the Tackle who is responsible for ensuring the ball carrier makes it back to the line of scrim- mage. He has whatis called a Crush Block. His assignment is. to first secure the B-Gap that the pulling Guard has vacated Once he has ensured that no one is coming through the B- Gap he will hinge out and make sure that there is no threat coming from the C-Gap. He will always take priority to any B- Gap threats because they have the potential toget to the Run- ning Back quicker. In reality most C-Gap players donot have the speed tobe able to run down a good Running Back from. thebackside, but it’s importanthe hinges out in case there is a blitzer or the C-Gap defender gets a jump on the play.Down Biocks The heart of Power is the downblocks by the frontsideline- men. They must get a horizontal and vertical push on the down linemen to open up space for the runner. While they do have the advantage of having leverage on their side, by being able to double team they are at a huge advantage. The rule for the frontside Guard and Tackleis that if thereis a defender in their backside gap they will block down on him. If they donot havea defender in their gap they will “help their buddy” by doubling down lineman in their frontside gap to thebackside linebacker. There area variety of different techniques to teach the double team block. Each of these techniques has both it’s strengths and weaknesses. In my experience one of the easiest ways to teach the block is the flipper technique that was made famous by Ray Crowther. In this technique the helpinglineman (the one who does not havea player in his gap) will step with the same footas theman who heis going to double team and de- liver his forearm into the defender’s chest at an upward angle. This has the effect ofhelping move the defender back, but also lifting his upper body which takes him out of the power position. This lets the helpee (the linemen whose gap the de- fender is in) get under the defender and get movement. There is much more available about this technique from both Ray Crowther and LeCharles Bentley and I wouldencourage you to go direct to the top sources for their coaching points.While they are helping their buddy they are still responsible for securing their gap. This means that if there is any blitz. or stunt to their gap they have to be ableto step off the double team and block the defender down. This is why it is so criti- cal that both linemen have their eyes up in thedouble team. Blockinga blitzing linebacker or stunting lineman normally does not require a massive hit to make theblock since they are focused on their speed instead of their stability. CENTER CUT (On Power the Center has a critical role. His job is to secure the backside A gap from any down lineman orblitzer. Because of the pulling guard this is a crucial role. The Guard pulling leaves a vacant gap that gives the defendera direct line to the backfield.The Center's primary responsibility is to secure this backside A gap. Whena defenderisin the gap it makes fora very simple assignment. He must wash that defender down while ensur- ing hedoesn’t penetrate the backfield. The Center's assignment gets a little more complex ifthe de- fense is running slanting 50 front or any defense where the nose guard is lined head up on the center. In this situation it’s critical that the Center steps assuming that the Nose Guard will be slanting into his gap. Ifthe Nose Guard slants away he is ina good position to adjust to his responsibility but ifthe nose does slant and the Center is not prepared for it he will have given a huge advantage to the defender and will have to work hard tostop the defender. When the interior defender is in the B gap instead of the A gap the job of the Center get’s a little more interesting. While the Backside Tackle will be stepping down to help on theblock with his crush block, the Center more leverage on the de- fender. The danger in the Center going out wide for the B gap defender is it opening up the possibility of anrun through de- fender in the A gap. aes fe = At>There are two primary options in how to deal with abackside B gap lineman. The first, and safest, is to havethe Center work his way to theB gap and rely on help from the Tackle. The strength of this methodis that any potential A Gap run through should being picked up by the Center. The downside is thatit is not as sound against a good defender in theB gap. While the Tackle can help on theblock, he does not have good. leverage and the Center will be late getting to the block In ad- dition to this if the Tackle is worried about the B gap defender hewon’tbe able to get out to block any C gap defender who might be blitzing or coming off theedge hard. The other option is to have the Center cutthe B gap defender. Thisis much more sound technique to help keep the defend- ers in the Band C gap from running down theplay butitis not very sound againstan A gap blitz. In addition it's critical that the C makes a call to the Tackle so they avoid chop blocking the defender. Inthe end each technique has value. It’s important as a coach tounderstand the strengths and weaknesses of both your players and the opponents and make a decision thatis the bestanswer for the defense that week.Guarp PULL The Backside Guard's path on the pull is one of the unique things about the A Gap Power. His goalis to pullas tight tothe wall formed by the playside linemen as possible. This allows him toblock the playside linebacker away from the wall. The runningback should fitinside this kickout block which will allow him to get to the next level. By blocking the playside linebacker out it breaks the defense’s run fit and makes them unsound. There are two main schools of thought when talking about pulling technique. These two schools are the skip pull, where the lineman keeps his shoulders square to the line of scrim- mage and crosses his feet over, or the more traditional pull, where the linemen takes a step sideways beforecoming downhill. For the A Gap Power! believe that thetraditional pullallows the linemen tostay tighter to the wall. There are many merits to theskip pull but, in my opinion, it brings the Guard too far sideways. Instead it is much more efficientifthe linemen takes one step at about 90 degrees and then gains ground on his remaining steps. Once the puller has executed his steps and gotten on the correct path he still needs to deliver the block to spring the runningback. The most important thing for the lineman to realizein this situation is thathe has the leverageon theline- backer. His goal is to block the inside shoulder and turn the linebacker out. Ifhe keeps his path tight to the double teamhe will have the leverage advantage so he can slow himself down as he works up to the linebacker. This isn’tto say that he should be passive, buthe has to understand that because hehas leverage he doesn’t need to go chasing the block. If the linebacker were to avoid the puller he wouldn't beable to make the tackle. This means that the linebacker has to make aplay and thepulling guard can wait for this moveand then respond to it instead of chasing the man and letting theline- backer dodge him.CrusH Block ‘The Crush Block is done by the backside Tackle with the goal of ensuring that no defensive player can chase down the runner from the backside of the play. The tough part about this block is that the Tackle actually has two gaps that heis responsible for. On one hand, because the Guardis pulling, he has to make surenoone comes through the B gap to his inside. Atthe same time he must protect the C gap from any defender coming off the edge. To execute and effective Crush Blockit’s key that the Tackle knows that he only needs to buy the Run- ning Back a second to get into his gap. The steps and thought processes of the Crush block areal based around theidea that the Tackle only needs to give the Running Back a second to get into thehole. His first priority is to ensurethat thereis no run through in theB gap because this is the mostdirect line to the Running Back. He does this by taking two pound steps directly down the line. These steps are the same steps he would takein his pass protection vs. an inside move. The goal of these steps is to deal with any stunt- ing defensive lineman (normally a Defensive End twisting inside) or any blitzing linebacker. After hehas ensured that there is no B Gap blitzer he will hinge out with his outside foot and push any C gap player wider than they want to go so they can't bend their path to get to the Running Back. The key to the hinge is that once the outside foot plants the lineman runs out of it. By attacking forward he forces the defender totakeawider path which will give enough time for the Running Back togetintothe hole. Soto Bock The Solo Block is a great tool thatis possible because of the path of therunner. The Solo Blockis a simple block where the linemen is looking to keep a defender who is aligned outside of him from getting inside.On the A Gap Power play this willonly be used by the Playside Tackle in the event that there are two defenders outside the Tackle. When there are two defenders outside the Tackle he will makea “Solo” call. This means thathe will be blocking theC gap defender out and the kick or read player will take the next man out. This call needs tobe communicated tothe back- side guard so he knows that hemay have to makea tighter pull depending on the defensive front, The mechanics of the block are straightforward and are based around the Tackle keeping his leverage on the C gap defender. Because of his alignmentthe Tackle has leverage he only needs to keep the defender on the outside to let the runner get through the gap. On this block the tackle's first step will bewith his playside inside foot. He will simply pick it up and put the foot back down. The goal of this is to maintain inside leverage on theC gap defender. This is moreimportant when the defender is tighter and hasa chance of stunting inside. After he takes this replacement step he goes into normal In- side Zone footwork and engages the man moving forward looking to keep outside leverage.CuapTER 2. THE BACKFIELD: LIMITED SKILL ComBINED INFINITE Ways One of the major advantages of the A Gap Power play is it’s versatility. The backfield responsibilities can be divided three possible roles. These roles are accounting for the C gap de- fender, running the Power track and serving as a perimeter threat. What makes this scheme so dynamic is thatevery player can be responsible for these three roles. This opens up the door to endless variations of the play while keeping the blocking rules very simple for the offensive line. ACCOUNTING FOR THE C Gap DEFENDER The different ways to account for theC gap player in the Power play puts the offense at a huge advantage. The offense has the option to either blockthe C gap defender orread him de- pending on the opponent and how heis playing. This puts the offensive play caller ata huge advantage to play to his team’s strengths. “Normal A Gap PowerOne way defenses are attempting to deal with the increase in passing offenses at all levels is by putting a dominant de- fenderas theC gap player (normally as a Defensive End or walked up Outside Linebacker). In the traditional powerplay offenses normally rely ona Fullbackor Tight End to block this player by kicking him out, which can bea difficultblock. By being able toread the defender theplay callercan now keep this defender guessing and slows him down both intherun and pass game. The old option ruleis ifhe's hard to block, he’s easy to read, and if he's hard to read hemust be easy to block By reading the defender a couple of times the offense can make the defender think about his responsibility which will cause him toslow down and be easier to block. “Inverted” A Gap PowerTheread on the defender will always be done by the Quarter- back but the people running the Power track and the perime- ter threat can be mixed up to keep the defense guessing. The most straightforward way to run the Power Read is by having the Running Back running the Power track and the QBact as. the perimeter threat. This can be reversed in a play thathas become known as Inverted Power because the Quarterback runs the Power track while the Running Backruns the Perime- ter path. Thereare countless options that will be detailed in the Variations section. A Gap Power with a Kick Out Whileitis nice tobe able to read the C Gap player, attimes it’s critical that the offense can block the defender to ensurethe ball gets through the A Gap. In thesetimes a member of the backfield will be responsible for blocking this defender. Thetraditional way of running Poweris to have a Fullback or H- Back make this block. Regardless of whois making the block thekey is that they block the defender's inside shoulder. If the defender is able to getinside he has a chance to make the play so it’s critical that the blocker does not miss and let the defender inside. If the blocker misses to the inside he will still force the defender to go outside ofhim andattempttorun down the ball carrier from behind which, hopefully, the back is fast enough toprevent.RUNNING THE Power PaTH The person running the Power path can vary but there the lane they run must remain the same. They must stay tightto thewall thatis formed from the playside linemen down block- ing. This is a tough concept for players to understand because itmeans they have to run through a crowded area and trust that the hole will open. Inexperienced backs will either cut theball backside to the hole that is created from the backside guard pulling or try to bounce the play. In either case they are running to where the rest of the offense is putting players. Staying tight to this wall can be especially difficult when the Quarterback is running the Power track off of an Inverted Power. The mesh of the play has a tendency to pull therunner out towards theC Gap sohe must work to get backagainst the wall. The other part of running the Power trackis that therunner mustbe patientand let the pulling Guard get around. It’s very tempting for the runner totry to hit thegapas fastas possi- ble. While he does want to hit the gap at full speedhe has to be sureto let the Guard get around so that he can getbetween the Guard’s inside hip and the wall. As hestays tight tothe wall the Guard will lead upon the linebacker. When the Guard blocks the linebacker out of the gap the runner will be free to the Safeties where he can prove why heshould be running the ball.PERIMETER THREAT In order to read the Power play there must be a dangerous perimeter threat. This can come from a variety of different ways. The most traditional way to dothisis by having the Quarterback running off theC Gap read butit could also bea jet sweep runner ora swing route from a player in the back- field. The way they getthere can vary but it must force the CGap defender, ifhe isn’t being blocked, to make a choice between tackling the Power runner or the perimeter threat. The num- ber one ruleis that if the C Gap defender goes to tackle one playerhe can’t beable to redirect and tackle the other player. There are countless ways to threaten the perimeter butit's im- portant to keep thatrulein mind.OursivE PLaYERs The number one job of the outside players in the Power play is tolimit thenumber of players in the box. If itis a one re- ceiver side that one receiver must be able to force a Corner- back to play over him and ideally forcea Safety or an Outside Linebacker to help the Comerback defend him. Ifitis a two receiver side the goal is to have 2'/z players defending them. This will mean there is a Cornerback, a Safety, and some sort of overhang player. If the defense is playing with an overhang player the goal of the two receivers is to force that overhang player wide enough that he can’t makea tackle forless than 6 yards on the Power track. From the one receiver side one of the simplest ways to force the defense to allocate two defenders is a simple hitch-fade read. This read is an automatic that the Receiver and Quarter- back checkevery play. The Receiver willrun a hitch every time unless the Cornerbackis behind 7 yards (this can vary from player to player) at the time of the snap. The Quarterback is always looking for this throw. Ifhe sees that thereceiver has single coverage he will make the read and attempt the throw. This can be frustrating for defensive coaches for two reasons. First whenevera receiver catches a hitch hehas an automatic 6 yards and is a missed tackle away from getting at least 10 yards. Alsomany defensive coaches are scared by the threat ofa 1 on 1 deep ball. Even ifit is not completed this will cause most defenses to adjust and add a second defender. The effectof this is oneless defender in the box which frees up the Power Play. On the two receiver side there are a variety of different ways to force the defense to defend the perimeter. These can either be pre-snap reads or post-snap reads for the Quarterback butre- gardless the role remains the same. The pre-snap read out of a Power based offense can bea deadly componentthat forces defenses to be soundin their alignment. The most basic way of keeping defenders out of the box is the pop pass. This is executed when the#? receiver doesn't have anyone over him. The Quarterback makes a sim- ple Orange call tolet the receiver know thathe wants to throw the pop to him. On the snap the receiver takes a step to widen with his outside foot then takes then gains ground while getting his chest facing tothe Quarterback. The Quarterback catches the snap and delivers thatball quickly to the receiver. In the event that the Quarterback sees this route is covered he tucks the ball and turns into the ball carrier and runs the Powertrack. Ifthe C Gap defender was going to beread now the Running Back mustkick him outbecause the QB will be the Power runner.A Gap Power wen Bubble The other way that thereceivers can be used is postsnap after the Quarterback makes a read on the C Gap player. Ifthe Quar- terback gets a keep read (meaningthe C Gap defender went to tackle the Powerrunner) the 2 receivers will take the role of giving the Quarterbacka chance to read the overhang player. The most popular way todo this by having the #2 receiver runa bubble and the#1 receiver block the most dangerous defender (normally the Cornerback). The effectis that the overhang player has tochoose between going to makea tackle on the Quarterback or covering the receiver running the bub- bleroute. When the Quarterback is making this read he is thinking I will keep the ball every timeunless theoverhang player can tackle me for less than 4 yards (the QBis the pri- mary player because ifhe already has the ball). A. Gam Power with JalAsimple change up to get the ball in the hands of the #1 receiver is torun a Jail route. In this route the #1 receiver will take three steps selling a fade. On the third step hewill plant and come back towards the QB. The #2 receiver is responsi- blefor blocking the Cornerback and mustblock his inside shoulder which will, at the very least, force the defender to gc around the black and chase the receiver from behind. Once thereceiver catches the ball hemust press back tothe outside and get downfield. The read for the QB is the exact same, he will keep the ball every time unless the overhang player can tackle him for less than 4 yards. While two receivers can be effective adding a third receiver toone side can create a full field attack for the defense. When the offense goes trips to one side it should always look to get at least three defenders covering the receivers. In the event that the defense puts two defenders out to cover the trips there are variety of ways to attack the defense. The options for an Orange, Bubble or Jail route are the quickest and most direct ways of attacking an unsound coverage. Ifthe Quarterback is experienced the play caller can alsogivehima limited amountof passing concepts that take advantage ofa one man advantage, Whatever the call the offense must make sure the defense pays for beinga man down tothe trips.A Gap Power wit Bubble The best part of the Power Read system is that the sameme- chanics and routes that were used with two receivers on a QB pull can apply from a Trips formation. The Quarterbackis still coming off of the mesh with the Running Back and reading the overhang player with the option to throw the Bubble or Jailroute but now there is one extra blocker for both the Quar- terback or the Wide Receiver. The key with the outside players is to keep the defense out of the box. Fast players who have the ball in space are scary for defensive coordinators becausethey can breaka tackle and tum a small gain intoa huge play. Asa result defensive coaches tend to be more scared of plays in spaceand give al- locate more defenders to stop them. By having a few plays in space the offense can keep the box clean so they can run the Power play when they have a numbers advantage.CHapTER 3. VARIATIONS- KEEP THE DEFENSE CoNFUSED AND Your Prayers Fast ‘There areendless ways to run the A Gap Power. By changing the responsibilities of the three base players teams are ableto make a play look completely different while still keeping the offensive line's blocking assignments the same. With that being said there are essentially two different categories that all A Gap Power plays fall into, Reading the C Gap Player or Blocking the C Gap Player.READING THE C Gap DEFENDER One of the reasons why team’s run the A Gap Power over the traditional form of Power is the ability to read the C Gap player. There are multiple ways to read them that we will look at but it's importantto keep in mind that there areendless waystoruntheplay. ‘When designing your offense and deciding how you will run the A Gap Power youneed to play to thestrengths of your players. The primary person you need to focus on is the Quarterback. Ifyou have more ofa passing Quarterback you would look to have Perimeter threats coming from bubble routes. Even with a running Quarterbackthere are different strengths in the running game that you can adapt the play to. Some Quarterbacks are more powerful inside runners (think Tim Tebow). These power running quarterbacks are best used. torun the Power path and other players likethe runningback or wide receivers can be used to threaten the perimeter. Other times the Quarterback is more of speed oriented runner. In these cases he will be better off running the perimeter route and leaving therunning back to run the Power path. Mesx Power Mesh A Gap Pawsr «aly ‘oly | BpThis is the mostbasic, and sometimes mosteffective way of running the A Gap Power. On this play the backfield will have therunning back running the Power Path while the Quarter- back reads the C Gap Defender (CGD). The Quarterbackand Running Backmesh can bea very difficult skill to coach. I will not go into too much detail in this back but forhelp you can read my book Coaching the Quarterback Mesh which breaks down coaching the mesh into basic steps and includes nu- merous drills and techniques. On this version of Power the Quarterback should be thinking he will hand the ball off every time unless the CGD can make thetacklefora loss. If the CGD can make the tackle fora loss he will pull the balland attack the D gap downhill. Thisisa great play to run from 10 personnel (1 running back, notight ends) formations. From these formations the receivers can run bub- bles or quick screens to keep overhang players from coming in to tackle the Quarterback.Motion Power ‘Motion Power plays off the same concepts as Mesh Power but adds motion that forces the defense to adjust to an extra threat on the perimeter. This play can be run from any person- nel set. Theconceptis that right before the snap an offensive player will go intomotion to the flat of the side the offense is running Power. If the defense does not adjust and the offense has an advantage the Quarterback can throw the ball to him. right away without worrying about the mesh. This can bea difficult play to prepare forbecause they defensehas toadjust toa quickmotion immediately and any hesitation can bein- stantly punished. In the event that the defense does adjust, the Quarterback will still read the CGD just like in Mesh Power. Ifhe gets a pull read he will still attack downhill butnow his perimeter threat will be the player who went into motion. The majority of times if the defense adjusted to themotion and the Quarterback gota pull read he willend up keeping the ball since the overhang player would have widened with the motion. This can lead to ahuge gain for the offense and can really frustrate defensive coaches and players. ‘Mation" 4 Gap Power 5“Maton! & Bap Foner The great thing about this play is that the player who goes in motion can come from anywhere on the field. Regardless of where the player comes from theplayer whois in motion should be one of your most dynamic players. The majority of teams have their motion come from arunning back out of the backfield. This can bea great way to geta dynamicrunning back the ball in space. Other teams will have the motion come from a receiver on the backside of the formation. These play- ers tend to be better at running these routes soitis less expen- sive to install. “Nation? & Gap Power with Wisut 8‘While this is in the Mesh section is can easily be run witha player blocking the CGD. This canbe difficult for defense to ac- count for ifit is coming froma heavy backfield set. Many times defenses aren't prepared for this type ofmotion forma 21 personnel set and can catch them off guard. In thiscase the H- Back will block the CGD so if the Quarterback does not throw the ball tothe motion man he will be running the power path and doesn’thave to worry about making arcad. INVERTED POWER inverted" A Gap Power 8 vy The Inverted Power Play might beone ofthe most popular plays when it came onto the scene, This is a greatplay when the offense has a bigger Quarterback who is capable of run- ning between the Tackles. It also makes a greatplay from a ‘Wildcat package or anytime you snap the ball directly toa Running Back, To add to the multiple ways to run the play many teams will usea receiver in motion running a Jet Sweep as the perimeter threat. This gives the offense an extra blocker because the running back can now release outside and block for the Jet.The basic idea behind Inverted Power is that the traditional path of the Quarterback and the Running Back is now switched, or inverted. The Running Back will be running the perimeter path while the Quarterback will berunningthe Power Path. There are a couple of things that change with this play. First the perimeter players now must block. Because the running backis attacking the perimeter, the receivers will need toblock instead of runninga bubble or quickscreen route to control the overhang players. With that being said ifthe player running the sweep is capable of throwing the ball this makes a greattrick play. The dynamic of the QuarterbackMesh changes slightly as well. In this case the Quarterback will be handing the ball off unless the CGD can make a tackle on the sweep player. The reasoning behind this is that the sweep player has themo- mentum andcan break any arm tackles that might come from the CGD trying toplay both threats. Pitcu Power The Pitch Power isa great changeup that relies on the basic idea of Inverted Power. On this play the Quarterback will still be running the Power Path but the Perimeter threat comes from the Running Back running a quick pitch route.There area few strengths to this change up. First itis much less expensive to install than the Inverted Power. On this ver- sion of Power the Quarterback will goto pitch the ball under- hand like the Running Back is running a Sweep. As he is doing this heis reading the intentions of the CGD. Ifthe CGD goes after the pitch man he keeps the ball, plants his foot and runs the Power. If the CGD comes directly at him he pitches the ball and the running backis attacking the perimeterimmediately. Because thereisn’ta mesh, ittakes significantly less reps fora player to master theconcept. This makes itideal as a way torun Power from a Wildcat package. The other major advantage is thatit can berun, and is most effective, with the running back on the samesideas the Power blocking. This messes with the defense’s option re- sponsibilities which can lead to confused players.SHovEL Power Shovel AsGap Power The Shovel Poweris a great play that teams haveused for years as a constraint play. On thetraditional Shovel play the Quarterback will threaten the perimeter while the Power runner (normally a running back or tight end) will come un- demeath the Quarterback. Ifthe CGD comes up field to tackle the Quarterback he will pitch the ball tothe under runner, If the CGD sees the Power comingand stays in to defend the under runnerthe Quarterback can attack the perimeter. This is traditionally a great way to punish a Defense whois notlet- ting the Quarterback roll out or get outside of the pocket. Shovel" A Gao PowterWhile this has been a great constraint play to allow the Quar- terback toroll out, in recent years it has been packaged with the Jet Sweep to attack defenses. In this version of theShovel the Jet player comes across the face of the Quarterback and attacks the perimeter whilethe QB is reading the CGD. Ifthe CGD can nottackle the Jet Sweep runner the Quarterback will handoff the ball and he will attack the perimeter. If the CGD comes up field to tacklethe Jet Sweep player the QB will pull the ball and pitch it tothe shovel runner ArcH-Bacx ‘The last major type of A Gap Power play where the QBis reading the CGD is the Arc play. This pairs up great with the versions of Power where a blocker will kick the CGD. With the Arc tag the player who is responsible for kicking outthe CGD will starthis path likehe is going to block the CGD, butat the last second he will step around him to the side away from the LOS and block the first threat to the QB run. The QB will still read this defender and will hand the ball off unless the de- fender can make thetackle behind the LOS. Ifthe QB does geta pull read he will attack the perimeter but will havea lead block from the Arc player.ACGnp Posor ree The Arc tagis based on oneof the main principles of option football: defender is hard to block than heis easy to read. This tag is great when the CGD is wrong arming the wham block and makingit a difficult block. When heis playing hard on the Power play it has become easy to read him and the offense can take advantage of his aggressive play. This nor mally has the effect of slowing the defender down which it an easier kick outblock.BLock THE C Gap DEFENDER In the second family of the A Gap Fower the offense will be blocking the C Gap players. It’s critical that an offense has the ability toblock the C Gap player on Power for several reasons. Firstin a hard yard situation, where there is no other option that torun the ball, being able toblock the CGP and run the ball straight up the gut is a statement play that all great teams must be able todo. In addition to this by blocking the CGP, the offensive play caller can dictate whois going to berunning the ball. One method of stopping option attacks is to pick a player and force him to carry the ball. Many times this willbe the less dangerous of the two runners. By blockingtheCGPthe offense can determine who will get the ball and takeit out of the hands of the defense. This also serves as a great solution for the defense runninga Gap Exchange blitz which is a com- mon defensive solution to stop any read games. Finally, by blocking the CGPit will make the Quarterback's reads easier and keep the defense on their heels. When a defender knows heis going tobe read hecan make the read cloudy and force the Quarterback to make a mistake. Whenever a defender is giving the Quarterback trouble the easiest solution is to senda blocker at the defender.Futt Back In the traditional Power play the Fullback is responsible for blocking the CGPand keeping him away from the A Gap. This same effective run can be used with the A Gap Power blocking scheme. Here the Fullback will take aJ path totheblock and maintain inside leverage. The key of the] path is to have the Fullbackmaintain inside leverage ofthe defender. By keeping this inside leverage he can force the defender out and open up a path for therunner. H-Bacx The use of the H-Back and the motion they allow can add some creative movement to the A Gap Power and force the defense to prepare for the play to hit on either side. In reality the H-Backis essentially a Fullback who is freeto motion and tends to be aligned a little closer to the line of scrimmage. Hest Yickal osmHis alignment really lets him maximize his leverage and lets the offensive play caller be creative. By introducingan H- Back into the formation the offense can obviously run any version of Power where they are blocking the CGD. In addition to this the H-Back lets the offense run Arcs, Shovels or Motion versions of Power. This ability to get to Power from somany different ways can keep a defense on the back foot as they try to prepare for what is coming.