Defending the Air Forces play action passes, no simple task.

Photo by Kevin Kreck

After a defense has successfully defended the veer option and kept their feet against a cut block. The defense next has to respect the Falcons ability when running play action passes. Air Force’s play action is unique because everything looks the same, except for the uncovered linemen.

The running back’s action, the quarterback’s action and the cover lineman’s movements -linemen with a defender in front of them- all do what they would normally do on a run play. The uncovered linemen have to shoot outward in order to get to the second level of the defense and cut off linebackers and safeties, so on pass plays they aren’t as aggressive. They have to stand up or they run sideways and for the Falcon offense that is the key.

Now there are occasions where the motion might be different or the personal might be different so a DB needs to be paying attention to everything that goes on before snap. What type of motion, arch, fly, slow, fast? What formation did they start out in? How many running backs are in the game? Where are they aligned and what kind of spacing do they have?

All of these questions if answered before the snap can give little clues as to what type of play it might be. For instance in the home game last year I noticed that during pass plays the arch motion would slow down just before the ball was snapped which allow the running back to help block the defensive ends. It wasn’t much but it gave me a split second to get myself in better position against the pass.

Air Force doesn’t have a lot of route combinations but when they run them in combination with play action it leaves no margin for error by the defense. If a defensive back hesitates or is slow in making their decisions the ball will be flying over their heads to open cadets all over the field.

Once our team gets the feel for what the play action looks like all the motion and deception is a non-issue. The problem arises when you aren’t confident in how you’ve prepared during the week in recognizing the blocks and schemes. But, that’s why the week of practice is so demanding. That’s why there hasn’t been a playing in the history of BYU football that looked forward to the AFA week of practice. Everyday is physically and mentally challenging and if you left you concentration at home that day, you could find yourself on the sideline during the game.

At 2:00 Monday-Friday class is in session and you better be at the front of the classroom.