Georgia Tech’s Option Play and Offense

Skeptic

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Northeast Stinger said:
So what I am hearing is that it is even more limited than I thought. I was thinking he had several check offs. The reason is that sometimes he is changing the play and CPJ calls time out because he doesn't seem to like what he is checking into. That led me to believe his options were more complicated. Otherwise, even changing the play is pretty much an automatic call and doesn't require a lot of thinking.

Related note. Is anyone good at reading the hand singles that the A-backs are giving to each other before the play? Is it as simple as they are just verifying which side the play is called to or is that more complicated?
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I believe a couple of years ago one of the backs said that they were acknowledging they had heard a play change. Since they don't do it every play it kind of makes sense.
 
Northeast Stinger

Northeast Stinger

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PBR549 said:
There are no secrets as far as schemes go so DCs know what we're doing. The problem is stopping it.
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Get that totally.

There was an implication, however, that certain signals could give away how the blocking scheme was being changed on a given play. Learning those signals might give a corner back and a safety an extra step or two. But now I have slipped into tin foil hat conspiracy theories so just ignore me.
 

Josh H

Jolly Good Fellow
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394
Northeast Stinger said:
There was an implication, however, that certain signals could give away how the blocking scheme was being changed on a given play. Learning those signals might give a corner back and a safety an extra step or two. But now I have slipped into tin foil hat conspiracy theories so just ignore me.
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When Paul Johnson was first hired, I read The Bird Dog Blog, a Navy site, for insight into Paul Johnson's offense. I thought I read something about this and was able to find his specific comment:

http://thebirddogblog.com/2007/10/05/reading-is-fundamental/

The play is called to go in a particular direction in the huddle. The quarterback will call an audible if he wants to change the direction. You know when it happens because you can see the slotbacks pat their heads to signal to the wide receivers. The defense doesn’t know if it’s going left or right, only that it isn’t going in the direction called in the huddle. But since they don’t know what direction that is, they can’t really get an advantage out of it.

I don’t know if you remember the first play of the UConn game last year, but PJ had the slots make that signal to the wide receivers as a decoy. That made UConn think it was going to be a run. PJ ran play action, and Reggie got behind everyone for a long TD pass.​

So yeah, the second a defense starts biting on that stuff is the second a dummy signal can beat them. Peyton Manning is especially known for this. I couldn't find the story, which was originally on Monday Morning QuarterBack, but I found the quote in another forum: http://www.huskerboard.com/index.php?/topic/58334-mmqb-matt-flynn-peyton-manning-qb-play/

When Manning gave Ismail a shoveling motion or said the words "Crane! Crane!" Ismail would run a dig route -- a curl in which the receiver goes downfield a certain distance, plants his foot suddenly and turns to face the quarterback. Having seen the signal a couple of times early in the game, Jacksonville corner Jason Craft then taunted Ismail. "I know what y'all are doing!" Craft hollered. "Every time he gives that [shoveling] signal, you run that little in route!" Ismail could have said, "Are you seriously challenging Peyton Manning?" Instead he told the cornerback he didn't know what he was talking about, then told Manning and offensive coordinator Tom Moore on the sideline, "He's bragging like he knows what we're doing. He's going to jump that route!"

Manning filed the information and talked with Moore about using it later in the game. Sure enough, with the ball at the Jaguars' 12 in the third quarter, Manning told Ismail that "Crane!" would be a dummy call, and instead of the dig he should run a hitch-and-go (basically a dig, stop and sprint back upfield into the end zone). "I made a living off double moves," says Ismail, "and that was the easiest one I ever ran. Peyton gave me the crane sign at the line. I pushed upfield five yards and stuck my foot in the ground as hard as I could. The DB made a beeline to that five-yard spot and looked for the ball, but I just ran into the end zone, all alone. What a simple TD."​
 
PBR549

PBR549

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Exactly how it works. If the QB calls "opposite" the defense doesn't know the opposite of what. As soon as they think they have it figured out whoops touchdown. It only takes one.
 

Skeptic

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Josh H said:
When Paul Johnson was first hired, I read The Bird Dog Blog, a Navy site, for insight into Paul Johnson's offense. I thought I read something about this and was able to find his specific comment:

http://thebirddogblog.com/2007/10/05/reading-is-fundamental/

The play is called to go in a particular direction in the huddle. The quarterback will call an audible if he wants to change the direction. You know when it happens because you can see the slotbacks pat their heads to signal to the wide receivers. The defense doesn’t know if it’s going left or right, only that it isn’t going in the direction called in the huddle. But since they don’t know what direction that is, they can’t really get an advantage out of it.

I don’t know if you remember the first play of the UConn game last year, but PJ had the slots make that signal to the wide receivers as a decoy. That made UConn think it was going to be a run. PJ ran play action, and Reggie got behind everyone for a long TD pass.​

So yeah, the second a defense starts biting on that stuff is the second a dummy signal can beat them. Peyton Manning is especially known for this. I couldn't find the story, which was originally on Monday Morning QuarterBack, but I found the quote in another forum: http://www.huskerboard.com/index.php?/topic/58334-mmqb-matt-flynn-peyton-manning-qb-play/

When Manning gave Ismail a shoveling motion or said the words "Crane! Crane!" Ismail would run a dig route -- a curl in which the receiver goes downfield a certain distance, plants his foot suddenly and turns to face the quarterback. Having seen the signal a couple of times early in the game, Jacksonville corner Jason Craft then taunted Ismail. "I know what y'all are doing!" Craft hollered. "Every time he gives that [shoveling] signal, you run that little in route!" Ismail could have said, "Are you seriously challenging Peyton Manning?" Instead he told the cornerback he didn't know what he was talking about, then told Manning and offensive coordinator Tom Moore on the sideline, "He's bragging like he knows what we're doing. He's going to jump that route!"

Manning filed the information and talked with Moore about using it later in the game. Sure enough, with the ball at the Jaguars' 12 in the third quarter, Manning told Ismail that "Crane!" would be a dummy call, and instead of the dig he should run a hitch-and-go (basically a dig, stop and sprint back upfield into the end zone). "I made a living off double moves," says Ismail, "and that was the easiest one I ever ran. Peyton gave me the crane sign at the line. I pushed upfield five yards and stuck my foot in the ground as hard as I could. The DB made a beeline to that five-yard spot and looked for the ball, but I just ran into the end zone, all alone. What a simple TD."​
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Great get and post. Enough to convince me that the play we used to call the option in HS was laughably primitive, and that I am not a Johnson QB.
 
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