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Take What They Give You: The Veer Offense in Simplest Form

How Jeff Curtis creates an offensive advantage by using numbers, alignment and width
by: Mike Kuchar
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If it ain’t broke, why fix it? Though a little cliché, no truer words have been spoken about the football program J.T. Curtis established in River Ridge, Louisiana. Talk about tradition; since John Curtis Christian High School began playing football in 1975, the Patriots have won a total of 22 state championships in all three classifications in Louisiana with their last one coming in 2007. What’s more outstanding is that they have been crushing opponents running the same exact offense – the split back veer – year after year. With so many different programs buying into the ‘flavor of the month’ offensively, switching schemes like they switch socks, John Curtis has remained consistent and dominant with the scheme they run. In some ways it has become not just an offense but a disciplinary code that has been embedded in the school’s rich history.

“Aside from it being such a tremendous success for us, we believe running the veer scheme instills everything we try to do as a school,” says Jeff Curtis, the QB and running backs coach, who was able to spend some time detailing his option scheme for American Football Monthly. “We try to help kids become men and football has been a great avenue for that. It’s a microcosm. You have to be disciplined to run it. You don’t have to be the best athlete but you have to have maximum effort, you have to run the correct path, you have to rely on your mental skills to be able to make reads and adjustments on the run. You have to be able to think quickly. You have to be able to think in depth and understand what is going on. All those things tie into the reason we stick with what we do.”

Basics of the Inside/Outside Veer Scheme

When it comes to running the veer scheme, Curtis is as old school as it gets. They preach the idea of getting just 3 1/3 yards per play- nothing less, because three of those equate for a first down. Keeping the chains and the clock moving are key to this offense. The offensive line takes meticulous two-foot splits across the board and are in four-point stances before the snap. They don’t use much arc or twirl motion, synonymous with option teams. They just line up and play – and demand you try to stop them. The backfield formation is somewhat archaic, split backs with both backs lining up on the outside hip of the guard (Diagram 1). But unlike most option schemes, there is no fullback; both backs are legitimate halfbacks with tremendous speed. The one they had two years ago, Joe McKnight, is now a star for the USC Trojans. There is a method to Curtis’ madness. “When we run the outside veer we read the first guy head up to outside the tight end,” said Curtis. “Not a lot of teams run it that way – so we don’t think it’s good to do that in a typical ‘I’ formation with a fullback set because of the angle with the FB.”

Diagram 1: Split-Back Veer Formation

Although Curtis will run the occasional gap-blocking schemes such as power and counter, its bread and butter plays are the inside and outside veer. Though most opponents can’t tell the difference, there are a few subtle distinctions to each scheme. The inside veer scheme is a straight ahead play through the play side three hole with the dive read being exactly where a three-technique would be. In terms of blocking assignments, with the play always being run to the tight end side, he will arc outside to block the support player. The read is the first guy head up to outside the play side offensive tackle. According to Jeff Curtis, if he is inside the offensive tackle, the tackle will run his track by walling him down and the read will be the next guy outside.

On the outside veer scheme, the aiming point is now the outside hip of the play side tackle. This play can either be run successfully to the tight end (closed side) or the split end (open side) of the offensive formation. In this case, the path of the dive back is flexible depending on how much movement the tackle will get. “The dive back needs to hug the tackle’s hip as tightly as possible so that the DE can close hard and take away the dive,” said Curtis. “We’ve had a lot of people tell us that they can’t tell the difference between the inside and outside veer when they play us.”

In order to run the option scheme successfully, Curtis will give his QB a great deal of responsibility at the line of scrimmage to decide whether to run the inside or outside veer, and more importantly where to run it. While most teams have their QB make simple checks like running inside veer to the shade side, or outside veer to the three-technique side, Curtis goes a little further in providing total accountability for the signal caller. “He’s got the freedom to change any play at any time in any point of the game,” said Curtis. “We basically have three keys to look for – numbers, angles or width of field in that order. We coach him up to look for those three things. This way defenses can’t cheat by putting additional players on either side or rolling the coverage a certain way. We want to try and make them defend the entire field every time. If all else fails, we will run the play to grass or the width of the field. We do have tendencies if you break us down as an offense, but they are based on what you give us as a front and how we will attack it.”

Creating a Numbers Advantage

One of the first things that Curtis will teach his QBs to do is look for a numbers advantage to either side of the defense. Since Curtis does not incorporate motion in their offense, defenses cannot start to bump or move their LBs to the direction of flow. However, sometimes it is possible for a defense to take some sort of option scheme away just based on their alignment; one of these examples is a base 4-3 defense with a cover two shell behind it. By defensive structure, the defense has more people to the strong side, or tight end side, than the offense does. This would make it very difficult to run the inside veer because the tackle cannot veer block the Sam linebacker. “We have no angle,” said Curtis. “We got a big guy on an athlete. There are too many ways that he can go, and he’s in space.” But instead of aborting the call altogether, the QB will check, by using a live color in his cadence, to some sort of zone scheme instead.

The zone scheme against the 4-3 (Diagram 2) looks very similar to the outside veer in that the defensive end is still the dive read. The tight end will arc to block support while the play side guard and tackle will essentially block man on, taking care of the three technique and the Sam linebacker. The center will climb up to the Mike with the back side guard and tackle sealing off the back side of the play. Both backs will take their usual veer steps which would often result in an automatic give read to the dive back.

Diagram 2: Zone Scheme Against the 4-3

If the QB didn’t want to change the play, another solution is running the inside veer to the weak side of the defense (Diagram 3). In this situation, the offense has the number advantage. The play side tackle will ‘dip and rip’ by taking a good angle step and getting inside to block the Mike LB. The center and play side guard will combo the nose to the Mike in case he stays stagnant. The end is the dive key with the Will LB being the pitch read, but how the defense plays those two players is essential in how the inside veer scheme will be run. “If the end crashes hard to take the dive, there should be an alley in the B gap where the QB could take the ball up and follow,” said Curtis. “Traditionally, the Will LB will expand over the top to play the pitch, so he may be too wide to play the QB. It essentially becomes an area read, where our QB will read the B gap based on what the defense does on the snap. Some teams will spike or blitz the Will into the B gap and have the end play the QB. It doesn’t matter to us. We’ll just read whoever is in the B gap.”

Diagram 3: Inside Veer Weak vs. 4-3

Developing a Beneficial Angles Advantage

Like many other offensive schemes, producing positive angles also helps to stimulate the run game in the veer package. Angles are essential in the veer scheme at the point of attack, when linemen are trying to work to get to the next level of linebackers. A prime example of using a positive blocking angle is attacking the weak side of the 4-3 defense with the inside veer where the offensive tackle can get a great inside release and block the Mike. But what happens when the Mike sees the action of the veer immediately and starts to cheat to that side? In that case you use his momentum against him by creating a positive angle advantage by running what Curtis calls the cutback veer scheme (Diagram 4).

Diagram 4: Cutback Veer vs. 4-3

In the cutback veer scheme, the center and play side guard and tackle will all work to get movement on the three technique while eyeing the Mike. If the Mike starts to work hard over the top to defend the option, the center will climb to block him, basically taking him wherever he wants to go. The key read is made by the dive back who will take three steps forward, like he would in any option scheme, then slide back to the inside and read the head of the center. If the center has pushed him over the top, the RB will simply plant and cut the ball back inside toward the A gap. “If the Mike runs over the top for the veer, we use his speed against him,” said Curtis. “If he just sits there, we use his lack of speed against him by running our normal track. We’ll take what they give us and whatever they do is wrong.”

Running the Veer into the Field

When all playing fields are leveled and the QB sees no numbers or angles advantage, he will almost always check the play to the field side. “If all things are equal, we will just take things to the field because if we don’t have a mismatch anywhere we figure we’ll just attack the perimeter and get our speed out in space,” said Curtis. “A lot of people run their option scheme to the boundary but we don’t feel like we can get our best scheme to the boundary. If the defense is balanced, we would look at personnel. Let’s find out where our better match-up is. If they have a defensive end that is a stud, well let’s make him the option read so we don’t need to block him. It’s really a game plan decision.”

In this case, running the inside veer against a dominant defensive tackle in a 50 defense may cause the tackle to down block that player and the read becomes the next man out (Diagram 5). Many times in a 50 defense, that tackle will line up on the inside or a 4i on the offensive tackle, which means by the rules of the offense he will get washed down with the outside backer becoming the dive read. According to Curtis, the best part about running that type of scheme to the wide side of the field is that you get that linebacker to come down hard and play the dive right away, expanding the perimeter. “We try not to be too fancy. If that defender comes down hard we will pitch the ball right away so the RB has plenty of room to run,” said Curtis. “When the QB runs down the line we even tell him not to get off the ball, to run in a straight line. It shrinks the perimeter of the defense and we can use most of the 53 yard width of the field.”

Diagram 5: Inside Veer vs. 50 Defense


WHAT IF?

Q1. What if you are facing a team with a very extensive blitz package? Is the veer scheme still an effective scheme to run?
According to Curtis, the veer is actually a great scheme to run against a blitz. “We just get vanilla against a blitz team. We just tell our offensive line to stay on their tracks and block whoever shows. If we have an LB blitz the B gap, and the defensive tackle work outside of him to C gap, we can’t have our offensive tackles chase anybody. They can’t take care of the tackle and lose the blitzer. Our cardinal rule is if one guy comes out, another one must come in. Just stay on your track. You have outside help.”

Q2. What if teams play an odd stack? How would you attack the odd stack with the veer, being that they may have better speed and more perimeter players?
Curtis recommends using less speed and more power when attacking the odd stack. He’ll often come out in a two tight end set forcing the outside linebackers in an odd stack to become run players. “You’re taking a guy that is used to playing in space and making him become the dive player,” said Curtis. “You’re essentially making a cover guy be a dive player. We have out tight end just combo down on the defensive end and seal him off, getting a nice edge.”

Q3. What if teams start to cheat in a 4-3 defense by rolling the safety to play the pitch?
This may be an ideal situation to run the veer pass, which requires a quick fake to the dive back then hitting the TE down the seam on a play action route. “If the safety plays the pitch, he can no longer play that and the ride pass. We usually arc block the TE on a veer scheme anyway; to the safety who is reading him it looks like the same thing. But before he knows it, the TE is by him and up the field with the ball.”






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