Taking the Read Out of the Jet Read
A guiding principle in coaching football is to do what your players are good at. If your players are not able to complete their assignments on each play, then the play will never work. While skill development does have a significant role in the improving these skills, it’s equally important to focus on the plays that your players are already good at. This is even more important when dealing with a Quarterback as they are the only player on the offense who will touch the ball and make a decision on almost every play.
Taking the Read Out of the Jet Read
Jet Read (reading C-gap defender)
One of the most difficult plays to defend in modern football is the Jet Sweep. The Jet Sweep puts one of your fastest players with the ball on the edge with a full head of steam. As a result, the defense must stop the player before he breaks contain or risk giving up a huge gain.
The major issue with running the Jet Sweep is how to block it. Many offenses block it using traditional Outside Zone blocking. Although this is a safe way of blocking, the major issue with this method is that it brings the linebackers and linemen towards the jet sweep. The other way of blocking the jet sweep is to have the line block away and read the C Gap Player that the jet man is running towards. If the C Gap player goes out to tackle the jet runner the Quarterback will keep the ball and run Power inside of him or Inside Zone away from him. If the defender cannot make the tackle the Quarterback will hand off the sweep and one of the fastest players on the offense is now on the edge of the field.
Related Content: Attacking the Defense with the Jet Sweep
The major issue with reading the C Gap Defender is that it can be a difficult read. This is a read that needs to be practiced daily to ensure that the Quarterback can rely on his instincts to make a snap judgement. If you have a Quarterback who is capable of making this read it makes it a great play. If your Quarterback struggles with this read it can sink the play, unless you find a way to clean up the read for the Quarterback. This is where we have used the H Back to guarantee the read for the Quarterback.
Jet Read/ Arch Tag
We use an H Back to create a simple series based on controlling the C Gap Player. Ideally, we want to run the Jet Sweep when the C Gap Player is pinching down and making it difficult for us to run Power. To ensure the C Gap Player is coming down we will have the H use an Arch technique on him.
The Arch technique is a simple technique that we use as a tag to give the C Gap Player issues on his reads. On this technique the H Back will arch through the outside shoulder of the C Gap Player. If the C Gap Player comes outside he will block his outside shoulder to ensure that he doesn’t make the play. If the C Gap Player comes inside of him then the defender does not have a chance to make the play and the H Back will continue upfield to block the next threat.
Related Content: Single Wing Jet Sweep Play
By using the Arch technique with the H Back the Quarterback is guaranteed a give read to the Jet Sweep. The effect is that the offense can get the ball to one of their most explosive players on the edge of the field while using the blocking scheme to keep the defensive linemen and linebacker inside.
Jet Zone Read (reading backside C-gap defender)
The Q is reading the backside defensive end. If the E squeezes or chases the jet sweep the Q will pull and keep the ball. If the defensive end sits and or takes the QB, the Q then hands the ball off to the jet sweep player.
Here’s a great video by Coach Ross on the Buck Sweep Zone Read. It’s a simulator concept, but the only difference is that it combines the Buck Sweep and Zone read, rather than combining the Jet Sweep and Zone read.