Explaining the Single Wing and How It Can Work for Tim Tebow and the Broncos

I can only imagine how badly Tim Tebow wished that he could go back in time to the 1940s, when the Single Wing was the most popular offensive attack of them all.

Perhaps Tebow could call up Doc Brown to use the DeLorean and the flux capacitor, but that's unlikely. 

Tebow would without a doubt flourish in the offense at the fullback position—keep in mind, the fullback position then was much different than the traditional one today. In fact, fullback is ultimately where quarterbacks in the NFL today would have played in this offense. 

The Single Wing offense was one of the very first offensive systems to be used in football. The offense was invented by the great mind of Pop Warner and it is commonly accepted that it was the precursor of the spread offense that is widely used today. 

The ancient offense was last used at the professional level in 1947 by the Pittsburgh Steelers and has yet to be used at the pro level ever since.

The offense may be dead at the pro level, but influences have been seen throughout the years, with the obvious one being the spread shotgun offense as well as series like the Wildcat—which broke out in 2008 with Ronnie Brown and the Miami Dolphins and is still used today. 

The Single Wing may be dead in the NFL, but it is still seen at the college levels as well as being pretty common throughout high school teams. 

In fact, during my years at Londonderry High School in New Hampshire, the Single Wing was installed my sophomore year (2007) and has been used ever since. Now, after having a successful high school career playing in the offense, I coach it in Londonderry and truly believe that the offense is football's greatest. 

The traditional base formation tends to look like this: 

It's a direct-snap offense with no true quarterback, an unbalanced line with two tight ends as well as a wingback on the strong side. However, different variations of the offense obviously exist, such as a more spread look, a balanced line as well as differences in alignment with the running backs. 

The biggest advantage when using the Single Wing is that it is the fastest off-tackle play in all of football. Am I serious? You bet I am, and here's a diagram of a typical off-tackle play.

Let's think about it—there is no quarterback and no handoff. The ball is snapped directly to the tailback and has a plethora of blockers going to the point of attack. You cannot get much faster than that. 

Tebow and the Denver Broncos have already used formations that are based on the Single Wing, such as the Pistol formation: 

Tebow is lined up over center, with Willis McGahee to his right with Eddie Royal lining up right behind Tebow. Out of this formation, you can run just about anything.

For an example, you can run a lead option, speed option, running back iso, quarterback dive, quarterback off-tackle and even a direct snap to McGahee with Tebow lead-blocking off-tackle. Essentially, the possibilities are endless. 

An interesting formation that would have Single Wing ties in it that Tebow and the Broncos could use is this one:

Tebow and McGahee are the two backs behind center, with Scott Larsen as the blocking back, Eddie Royal as the wingback of the Z with Eric Decker and Demaryius Thomas split wide.

In this specific formation, you can run a simple dart right with Tebow handing the ball off to McGahee, a direct-snap to McGahee with Larsen and Tebow lead-blocking, a jet sweep with Royal coming in motion, a sweep or off-tackle left with Tebow and pretty much just any pass play that you can imagine.

Those are just a few plays—the possibilities are endless. 

I am not saying that Denver needs to only run the Single Wing, but it wouldn't be such a bad idea to install more series or plays with Single Wing influences. 

On certain series that teams in the NFL and college haven't used in quite some time is the spin series. You can run this series out of any formation, and it involves the ball being snapped to the fullback/quarterback (which would be Tebow), and he would then spin with his back to the linebackers and one or two running backs would be there to either take the ball or fake it.

It is ultimately a nightmare for opposing linebackers.

Here is a formation that I commonly used. It's known as "Yale" in my playbook, and the team pictured is Plymouth High School in Ohio:

The offensive line is still unbalanced, with the wingback now moved over to the left side of the line, and he comes in motion. 

At the snap of the ball, the ball is sent to the fullback (which would be Tebow), who then spins with the wingback and tailback reach-faking for the ball.

Then the backs do what I call "an exploding pineapple" and run as if they had the ball, which ultimately freezes all defensive ends and linebackers. 

You can watch more of the triple-spin series here: 

I would absolutely love to have the chance to coach Tim Tebow—he is made for the Single Wing offense. The offense is made for quarterbacks who can run and running backs who ran throw—Tebow ultimately fits both categories. 

If I were only able to be an offensive assistant on Denver's coaching staff, I would preach this idea non-stop. No team in the NFL runs any deceiving plays that are similar to the spin series. It will without a doubt throw a giant wrench in opposing defenses, and it'd be a real pain to prepare for.

Over the past two years of my coaching experience, by the end of each game when the coaches shake hands, the opposing coaches always say: "We have no idea what you're doing offensively, we never know where the ball is. During practice this week, we couldn't mimic you guys."

That's how unique this offense is. I think that it's safe to say that most defensive coordinators in the NFL would not have a clue where to stop this offense. However, I can go into further detail explaining the offense and what defenses could do against it—but why would I do that? That's giving away inside information!

The Single Wing is made for Tim Tebow, there is no question about it. I can only hope that Denver continues to build to Tebow's strengths and use more Single Wing-esque plays in order to beat opposing defenses. 

I have said time and time again, the Single Wing is the offense that never dies—and it could be coming even more back to life now with Tebow. Also, I will add one of the most commonly used expressions by historians: "History always tends to repeat itself."

Perhaps Tebow and the Single Wing will be revolutionary to the NFL today? 

Alas, allow me to leave you with a look back at what football looked many, many years ago: 

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