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From 1996 issues:
ARTICLE #1 from JUNE 1996 issue
by Ben Lankford
Thanks to Ben Lankford (lankfordb@email.uah.edu): The basic run block is the drive block. The offensive lineman buries his head is the opponent's midsection or chest and pushes as hard as he can for as long as he can. The object, of course, is to DRIVE the defensive player as far off the line of scrimmage as possible. Depending on how the defense is taught to react to the offensive and what type of play is being run, the offensive lineman should put his helmet slightly to one side or another on the opponent. In the system I played in, our linemen hit slightly to the play side of the defense, thus placing their bodies between the defense and the ball carrier.
The cut block is used to take out a defensive player's legs so that he falls down immediately. This is illegal outside of the interior line of scrimmage due to the nature of the block. The offensive lineman fires out of his stance aiming at the opponent's shins. Since both players are fairly low to the ground and leaning over, the result is usually that the defensive player falls on top of the offensive lineman. The pull block is used to move a lineman from one position to another. It is used most commonly on traps and sweeps. The pulling lineman (usually the guard) turns and runs parallel to the line of scrimmage to the point where he is to block. He is usually assigned to block the nearest defender to him. This, however, leaves a "hole" where the lineman started out, so the play side linemen must "block down" one man to account for this gap. The double team block is simple. Two offensive players drive block one defender. This is used in situations where the defender is an outstanding player or when the defender absolutely MUST be driven out of the way.
Straight-up pass blocking (or pure pass blocking) means that the offensive lineman hits the defender just enough to stall him, and then backs up one step. The defender will charge again, and the process is repeated. So long as the defender never reaches the quarterback, the pass block wil be successful. Play-action pass blocking indicates that the offensive line should try to "sell" a particular play to the interior defense. For example, if the defense is playing a strong inside running team, they will expect the ball to come up the middle. When the offensive line fires out like they are about to drive block and the defense sees the QB motioning the ball to the running back, they believe they have a run play called and react accordingly. Then the offensive linemen break off into pure pass blocking, and the defense realizes that the QB only faked a handoff to the running back, who usually runs an interior pass pattern or helps in blocking. By this time, the linemen and linebackers don't have enough time to rush, and the defensive backs who were looking in to the play will have broken in to try to support the run defense. This usually leaves the receivers open. One interesting note about interior line blocking. It is legal to do many things on either the "initial contact" or when within 5 yards laterally or 2 yards forward or back of the spot of the ball. One may clip, block below the waist, push in the back, or do many other maneuvers too dangerous to perform in the open field. Also, since it is assumed that the offensive line will fire out to hit the defense, a lineman may actually go OVER the line of scrimmage when a pass is thrown. Many teams employ "quickie" patterns designed to catch a DB or LB off guard. These passes are usually three step drop patterns breaking inside or outside very quickly. In my old system, the quarterback would actually pick the receiver he was going to throw to before he even called out the snap count.
As soon as his third step hit the ground, the ball was in the air. This takes about one second to do, and that is nowhere near enough time for a lineman to block AND get behind the line of scrimmage. Therefore, on quick passes, a lineman may be up to one yard in front of the line of scrimmage. One more rule: when a screen pass is thrown, the linemen must usually be in front of the line of scrimmage. But in order for this to be legal, the receiver (usually a running back) must catch the ball BEHIND the line of scrimmage.
Article #2 from JUNE 1996 issue
(From rasputin@airmail.net) Here is a short description of the various ways running plays are designated... There are usually two numbers followed by a one word description. The first number is either the number of a particular back (eg 2 for halfback, 3 for fullback, etc.), or it is a series of running plays (30's for traps, 40's for power plays, 50's for counters, 60's for sweeps etc.). The second number designates the location of the play. Generally, the even numbers are to the right, odds to the left, and the higher the number the further outside it is. That is not to say that odds are always to the left or that outside plays could not use the lowest numbers. It depends on the coach. The play description is usually where the offensive linemen know their assignments. For example, on "68 sweep", the onside guard knows that he pulls and kicks out the first man outside of the end, the offside guard knows that he pulls and seals off anything trying to cross his face in pursuit of the play. This is one of the classic football plays- the Lombardi sweep. The numbering system can be modified to suit any coach, but it is the easiest thing to use and understand because of its uniformity and simplicity. (from rasputin@airmail.net Tue Nov 28 13:37:49 1995) It doesn't really matter what you call them, it's just a system (80's could be traps and 10's could be counters, and so on.). I've seen 10's as draw plays and 20's as base one-back runs. In the system that I use, 60's, 70's, 80's, and 90's are used for the passing game. 100's are also passes. Here's how I do it... Running Game: 10's- QB 20's- One back 30's-
Traps 40's- Power and Sweeps 50's- Counters Passing Game: 60's-
QB 5-7 step drop; RB and FB have routes. 70's- QB 5-7 step drop;
RB blocks, FB has route. 80's- QB 5-7 step drop; RB has route,
FB blocks. 90's- QB 5-7 step drop; RB and FB block. 100's- QB
3 step drop; RB and FB block. Whether it's a five or seven step
drop depends on the play and that's a coaching point with the
QB. Another coaching point is between the 90 series and the 100
series. In the 90's, the offensive line protects big on big (linemen
vs. linemen) and the backs pickup anyone else. In the 100's "fire"
protection is used; the OL blocks man on or over him, and the
backs block the anything coming from the end of the line. For
draw plays, I use the passing numbers because the play must look
like a pass. eg- an "80 draw" call would be a draw to
the RB with the FB lead blocking.
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