What Are They Doing At the Naval Academy?
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by Jdcane98
Overview: The offensive scheme that Navy employs is ages old and sees its roots in the earliest forms of football. However, only a handful of Division 1 aka FBS teams run this offense anymore. Most of the academies run it or have in the recent past, including Army, Navy, Air Force, and VMI. The Wing-T, which when ran by the academies is often known as the “Flex” or “Flexbone,” is one of the original offenses in football. The Flex uses different formations that consist of wingbacks, a fullback, and often only one wide receiver.
The Players: QB: Usually short, quick, and aren’t required to throw more than 5-6 times per game. They are required to make triple option reads frequently, and should be good at play-fakes and handoff fakes.
FB: Usually not required to do much lead blocking. The FB in this offense is more of a low to the ground runner. He’ll have to be able to take handoffs and options from the QB. Usually not required to be much of a receiver out of the backfield.
WB: Wings are usually dynamic players who can run with and catch the football, but should have more rushing yardage than receiving yardage. They’re usually a lot like tailbacks in a normal I-formation, but a little more shifty and versatile.
OL: This is a running offense and pass blocking usually isn’t much of an issue for them. The OT’s are usually bigger, with the OG’s being smaller, quicker, and more explosive. The center is usually somewhere in between the OT and OG size and quickness.
The formations: The Flex can be run out of a variety of formations, but these are the two I always think of:
Doubles
Overload Right
The Motions: The motion you’ll see in the play below “Fullback Trap” is often referred to as “high motion.” This motion is used in the flex for almost every play in the playbook.
Low motion, as it’s sometimes referred to, is when the wings come in motion right behind the QB, in between the QB and FB. This is often seen on jet sweeps.
The Plays:
The most common plays in the Flexbone offense are the option, the FB trap (as previously seen), power, and jetsweep.
The Veer
You can see the high motion as noted by the dash marks, and that is pre-snap. Once the ball is snapped, the QB will open up playside, and either give or fake to the FB going into the B gap. Usually this can be an audible from “midline” which you’ll see next, based on DL alignments. The backside WB comes around for the option, and the playside wing is blocking the linebacker.
Midline Option
Midline also features high motion from the backside WB, but this time the FB comes right through the center. Here the FB would read the weak A gap, and try to attack that gap. If the midline isn’t there, the QB can pullout and continue the option relationship with the WB.
Power
The last Flexbone play we’ll examine is Power. In Power, you see high motion from the backside WB, the FB is a lead blocker here, and the QB gives to the WB, whose path leads off tackle. This will look to attack the inside linebackers who are already over pursuing the dive play, and outside backers who are over pursuing the option.
Conclusion: Hopefully this was informative and entertaining. I appreciate any and all comments.
