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Written by Danny Knitzer wrote:Washington Redskins One Back Offense
Danny Knitzer
Assistant Orange County Bulldogs Semi-Pro
12/19/1999



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Many coaches are now incorporating the one-back set into parts of their offense. I feel strongly that it can be used as a legitimate full time offense. I believe it was developed early on by Don Coryell, but his protégé Joe Gibbs took it to the next level. His utilization of multiple formations, shifting, and motions baffled opponents. I believe in the year of their first championship (super bowl 17) the Redskins set a new NFL record for points in season.

Most standard offenses employ 2 wide receivers a tight end and 2 running backs. As football evolved and misdirection was being phased out, the I-formation was becoming the dominant set, and the fullback was carrying the ball less and less. The fullback was now a blocker first. But why have a back in the backfield that is doing nothing but blocking? What Joe Gibbs did was substitute that blocking fullback and put in a third wide receiver, a play maker. And when that third receiver lined up wide, the defense had to respect that and take a defender out of the box to line up on the wide receiver. Not only did this help the passing game but the more spread out formation stretched the defense horizontally and the passing threat stretched them vertically. The formation decreases the defense in the box by 18% which opens up a lot of natural space for the runningback. And when Gibbs wanted that blocking specialist in he employed another tight end (H-back) who was a bigger blocker than a fu llback and was lined up in a position to be more involved with the passing game.

I will explain a few principles of the shifts that my team employs.

Personnel: X: split end, Z: flanker, Y: tight end, H: second TE or third receiver

Formations: We have four base formations which can be altered into infinite variations

weak
strong
twins
flood

Shifts:
When we are going to shift we get set and shift on the first sound, the farthest man moves first as if he was going in motion, when he passes the QB the second man starts to move WEAK <--> TWINS STRONG <--> FLOOD (we also will do a shift where the Y shifts to the other side, this is called "FLIP")

An offensive system that is unique and an opposing team is not used to facing will cause pandemonium for their defense. Defensive players are trying to remember their assignments and keys according to strength of formation, etc. then along comes a shift, then a second shift, then a motion...Multiple formation looks and a shift package is a weapon in itself.

We have two main running plays, the power slant, and the counter-trey. Both plays have to be run in a corresponding manner, the slant is the staple and the counter keeps the defense honest.

POWER SLANT-
The power slant is an off-tackle run with zone blocking the last defender on the line of scrimmage is being kicked out by the TE the rest of the O-line is trying to seal their man in, if the defense over pursues they can push their defender out towards the original hole and the RB will find the cutback lane.

COUNTER TREY-
Lets say we're running the counter-trey to the right out of the WEAK formation (2 TE set)

H- Fill for LT (protect backside)
LT- Pull and seal
LG- Pull and kick out end man on line of scrimmage
C- Gap down
RG- Gap down
RT- Gap down
Y- Gap down
With all the shifts and motions, there 100 ways to block the frontside and there are 100 ways to protect the backside of the counter-trey.

STARBURST PASS-
3 receivers are clustered close together and then spread apart in different directions. can be run with motion or in the FLOOD formation in a "bunch" alignment

inside receiver (H) is running a 5 yard flat route
middle receiver (Z) is running a 10 yard flag route
outside receiver (X) is coming underneath the Z and picking H's defender
QB-5 step drop (man) progression from H-Z-X (zone) read flat defender if he drops off hit H, if he comes up or widens hit Z.
There are a few other 5 step plays we use out different formations with different positions interchanging roles on different plays (ex. In some case the RB will be running the flat in the starburst). Along with our 3-step passing attack (slants, quick-outs, 7 yd. bedrock) and the play-action series, it is quite a formidable passing game.

The main philosophy is to execute a few plays to perfection out of many looks. The pre-snap movement causes confusion on defense and creates match-up problems.

The main philosophy is to execute a few plays to perfection out of many looks. The pre-snap movement causes confusion on defense and creates match-up problems.

JansenFan wrote:Written by Danny Knitzer:
But why have a back in the backfield that is doing nothing but blocking? What Joe Gibbs did was substitute that blocking fullback and put in a third wide receiver, a play maker...And when Gibbs wanted that blocking specialist in he employed another tight end (H-back) who was a bigger blocker than a fullback and was lined up in a position to be more involved with the passing game.

Steve Spurrier III wrote:It's fascinating stuff. Thanks a lot for posting it JansenFan, it hasn't gone unnoticed...