The Plays: RB Stretch

The third play going inside to outside is the RB Stretch, which from its name is obviously an outside run designed to challenge the defense horizontally.   This is essentially the same thing as the Colts' Stretch Play run out of the I formation instead of a single back formation.  The stretch play is a valuable rushing play to have as a change up to keep the defense honest - it is a relatively risky play that has a higher chance of being blown up for a loss of yardage, but it can also break for lots of yards since it is designed to go to the outside.  You do not want to rely on it as a primary running play, but call it maybe once or twice per long drive.

The play itself is a specific variation on a common running concept seen all over the place: the Outside Zone run.  The blocking scheme used on the frontside tries to get zone block double teams in place to set up a cutback lane somewhere along the line of scrimmage.  The HB takes the ball and flows to the play side looking for an opportunity to cut it upfield through a lane behind one of these blocks.  As Colts President Bill Polian describes Joseph Addai in the Colts' scheme, the stretch run is a play that requires patience on the part of the runner:

He has to wait and be patient and wait for the hole to open up. At the professional level, especially with our offensive line, you don't just come off the ball and blast people back like you might do at the high school and college level. He's waiting for the hole to open up. . . most of the time when we're running a zone play, the hop that you see is absolutely part of the play because he has to give the puller a chance to come through or he's trying to read the double team or things of that nature.

How the Play Works

Rufio from Dawgs by Nature gives us the basic idea of what we are trying to do here - in his section on "One Cut Running," he shows how the zone blocking scheme looks for defenders who overrun the play and take themselves out of their lanes.

The offensive blockers, trying to keep everyone contained to the inside, see the guy run out of position to the outside and kick him further outside.  That's what creates the hole to run through: overpursuers pushed outside and everybody else pushed inside - gap in between. 


If more than one guy overpursues, they all get kicked out, and the back cuts back behind the last guy sealed off.  The hole can open anywhere - it just depends on which defenders overpursue the play and get punished for mistakes.

The runner has to be able to watch for the hole and hit it when the blockers create it for him off the overpursuit.  That's part of what Bill Polian is talking about when he says Addai is trying to read the double team.  The read is important - Rich Rodriguez's spread option attack features an Outside Zone play:

After the handoff, the running back takes two steps past the quarterback, rolling downhill, aiming at the BUTT. A measure of capacity, equal to one hundred and eight gallons. See Measure.
..... Click the link for more information. butt of the offensive tackle. The running back reads the first down defensive lineman to second down defensive lineman. The back has three options after his read of the down defensive linemen: bang, bend, or bounce.

That means the HB is reading the play from the inside out.  He looks at the inside-most cutback lane and takes it if it's open: bang the OG hole.  If that's closed, he proceeds to the next hole and takes it if it's open: bend it off-tackle.  Finally, if everyone on the offensive line has succeeded in containing the defenders inside, he can bounce the play to the outside.  Bang, bend, or bounce.

The Play Side Zone Blocks

If you get the matchups you want, you will see zone blocks develop on the side you are running to.  Here we have RB Stretch right against Georgia Tech.  The two front side zone combo blocks are boxed in yellow, and you see the desired inside blocks against the linebackers.  The FB is going to lead block on the SS, who is up in run support.

As the play develops, the inside cutback lanes are taken away by line defenders coming off their blocks.  The SS blitzes and gets deep behind the line of scrimmage.  He turns and tries to come back inside to make the play, but the FB is waiting for him.  Here is our overpursuing defender - we cut it upfield inside the FB blocking the SS.

The hole stays open long enough for the HB to sprint past and turn on the jets, looping around the WR's block all the way up in the secondary:



Note that you will not always see combo blocks develop on the front side of the play. If the defense has a lot of guys on that side, the blocking will change to one on one blocks right off the bat to make sure every defender is accounted for.  In this RB Stretch left play, the defense appears to be trying to take away the outside run by stacking the edge:

Let's see what happens when the play is run. The defender at the end of the line of scrimmage runs out to cover the flat because the CB is blitzing from the outside. That puts two defenders deep but way to the outside of the play - they get kicked out by the TE and FB. To the inside, the LT gets good control over the LB standing up to his left.  That's where the hole is: the last guy overran the play while the second guy stayed home and got blocked.  There is a wide space between them for the back to bend through.



When the inside LB comes crashing down the middle of the formation, he takes himself out of the play because the outside zone run is flowing away from him too quickly. Without any deep help, this turns into a huge play:



Bang: Inside Cutback

Here is an example running RB Stretch left against Florida State showing the extreme inside cutback on the first read.  The defensive alignment features a large gap in front of the LT-LG gap:

On the handoff, that inside hole is wide open, so the HB takes it.

This is the least frequent read you will get on this play, as the center of the defense is not usually this open.  But when this is the right read, the HB must jump on it.