Spin Offense

Passing Game Adjustments
by: Dale Weiner
Head Coach, Catholic High School, Baton Rouge (LA)
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One of the great strengths of the Spin Offense is the excellent play action passing game that is available. Due to the fact that defenses must funnel quickly to the perimeter, they can be very vulnerable to a passing game that attacks the void left in the secondary by pursuing defenders.

The mainstay of this passing attack is the Spin Pass. The basics of the Spin Pass have been presented in previous articles. However, here is a quick review.

The Spin Pass is true play action. It comes off of our Spin Sweep. If the call is ‘Spin Pass Right,’ the left slot goes in fast motion toward the QB. He fakes taking the ball from the QB and then comes down hill quickly to protect the right edge. The QB pivots, as in the sweep, and then pulls up in the right B gap. The FB jab steps to the right and then comes across the formation to protect the left edge. The entire line slide protects to the right. It is a true seven-man protection scheme.

The generic route combinations on this play involve a crack and go by the play side wide out. The play side slot runs the wheel, while the backside wide out runs a dig over the middle. The QB’s read progression is: play side seam, wheel and dig (See Diagram 1).

Diagram 1

This is a really difficult assignment for aggressive defensive backs to cover. However, we have encountered disciplined defenses that have forced us to adjust the routes.

On the Spin Pass, we tell our play side slot to read the outside third as he comes out of his arc release for the wheel. If he sees no deep third defender waiting on him, he should continue on the route. If the slot sees that a corner is still deep, or a safety has cheated over the top and is taking the deep third, he is to cut the route off to the outside. This will generally be 12 to 15 yards up the field. The route has turned into a sideline come back pattern (See Diagram 2).

Diagram 2

There are times that the play side wide receiver will adjust his route on the Spin Pass. When we are facing the twin safety look, we will sometimes turn his route into a post corner or even a fade. This is determined by watching the reaction of the secondary. If the defense is in a true Cover 2, it takes a disciplined safety to remember not to funnel too quickly to the run. If he forgets that he has to protect the deep zone first, the corner can be wide open. In that instance, the slot will release into the flat (See Diagram 3).

Diagram 3

Sometimes we feel a fade by the wide out is the optimum route in our spin pass repertoire. This is the case when we feel the corner to his side is too slow coming out of his back pedal. It could be that we are facing a man-to-man coverage and we like the match up. Although our regular Spin Pass routes are effective against man-to-man coverage, isolating the wide receiver on a single man with a solid seven man protection is a pretty good proposition. The slot runs a skinny post or simply stays in and blocks (See Diagram 4).

Diagram 4

There are adjustments that we make for the backside wide receiver, as well. For teams that quickly roll or invert coverage to the flow side, we will isolate the backside receiver using hitches, deep comebacks or deep corner routes. Of course these routes also work well against man coverage (See Diagram 5).

Diagram 5

One other variation on the Spin Pass is a version of the ‘NCAA’ route. We will have the play side wide receiver run a post; the slot run a drag; and the backside wide out run his normal dig. This, of course, is very similar to the sprint draw play action that many I formation teams run. The QB checks over the top to see if the post is open. If not, he works the backside dig/drag combination (See Diagram 6).

Diagram 6

These route adjustments, as well as the other passes that are available with the Spin Offense, such as the Spin Screen and Spin Bootleg, provide a lot of headaches for defensive coordinators.

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WHAT IF?

Q1. What if there’s a backside blitz on your Spin Pass? How do you handle it?

We really feel that our protection scheme handles the edge blitz pretty well. Ours is a seven-man protection. The fullback is responsible for the backside. One coaching point is the quarterback must have that internal “clock” ticking in his head. He quickly makes his reads and gets the ball to the open man. I don’t think you can ask for more on any play action throw. Remember, if a team does give us a lot of heat from that backside, it will set up our spin screen.

Q2. Is there any way to blend the quick passing game with the Spin action?

Yes. We can throw a quick hitch, out, slant, or even fade to the backside receiver, using a half spin by the quarterback. This action really gets the QB in the same throwing position he would be in under normal circumstances. It still gives a flow read away from where the ball is going. Hit a few of these and backside pursuit will slow down.

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