FLOOD the Defense with These Concepts

This week, I revealed that my favorite 3x1 concept is flood, here is why...

Flood is a fantastic concept to run out of 3x1 alignment. The objective of the flood concept is just as it sounds… to flood one side of the field. Flood has been a fantastic concept for our offense. It creates a simple read for the QB and could result in a huge play for the offense. A simple base way to run the flood concept as a sprint out concept is this…

The route by the X receiver is what really protects this play. If the FS wants to cheat to the flood side as is shown above, the QB can throw the glance behind the safety. If the safety does not cheat over, then the play is pretty indefensible in my opinion. The defender in the flat would have to get a perfect drop and make a fantastic play. The defense shown above is most likely a cover 3 look. Once our QB reads that, then they move their eyes to the flat defender. In order to get the ball away, we teach our QBs to start with the flat defender strictly because this gets the ball out of their hands faster. If the SS runs with the Z, then the H is wide open. Vice-versa. If they recognize the play and the FS wants to cheat, then the QB pulls up and fires it at the post, teaching the safety to think twice before cheating over. You can understand why this concept is a must if you run the spread offense.

Running Flood out of I-Form

The spread offense is not the only offense where the flood concept can be effective. With the successes of Melvin Gordon and Jonathan Taylor at the professional level, you could consider Wisconsin a Runningback University of sorts. Wisconsin’s offense is a prototypical Big Ten offense. Huge lineman, a fantastic running back, and a play-action game that would throw any great defense for a loop. This is the way Wisconsin works its flood concept…

With such a potent run offense, it is extremely easy for Wisconsin to get away with a simple play-action concept such as flood. The QB fakes the handoff to the tailback and the rest is history. One thing that makes this play so fantastic in my eyes is that the Y is called into the protection instead of being asked to run the flat route, furthering the illusion that this is a run play instead of a pass play. If you are a team that runs I-formation, consider throwing this cheap concept into your offense, You definitely will not regret it.

Play-action Flood in the Spread Offense

If you do not run I-formation in your offense and you are a true spread team, fear not, there is a great way to run the flood concept from play-action. There are a few adjustments to the play, but it is primarily the same exact concept. It looks a little something like this…

Taking a little something out of Wisconsin’s book, the H-back chipping the end and running a whip will create the illusion that this is a run play. The QB meets the tailback at the mesh point and goes through their progressions high to low. The Z receiver should understand that they have a little more time to run their route when it is a true play-action concept. They can take their stem a little more inside and really break the defender off. The H-back has to understand that they are “bumping” the end and not fully engaging them. The H-back has to have a pretty decent football IQ to understand this task. Other than that, this play-action concept can be a killer for the opposing defense.

That is it for this edition of Strategy Sunday! If you have any suggestions or concepts that you would like me to dig into, please let me know on Twitter @Sethyy_Shots. Furthermore, if you have any concepts that are in your offense that you think are really great wrinkles to anything we have covered so far, I would be happy to include them! Have a great week and keep getting better!

Best,

Coach Davis