Quick what thing do all these players have in common: Billy Johnson,Barry Sanders,Kimble Anders,Chuck Weatherspoon,Eric Wilkerson, Eric Dickerson,Mike Rozier, Lorenzo White and Craig "Ironhead" Heyward? All of them were Run and Shoot Running Backs at one time in their college or pro career. Obviously with great players like that its easy to see why the Run and Shooters began to call their RB's SUPERBACKS!!!

The Run and Shoot is NOT just a passing attack, like many of the modern spread teams you can have tremendous success rushing the football when you force the defense to spread the field.

Remember in Part 2 when I talked about the basic concepts of the run and shoot. Be prepared to take advantage of reading the box and running against defenses when the numbers are in your favor. In fact in 2k5 because of features like HFA and something I call "passing momentum" there are times no MATTER HOW GOOD your QB's and Receivers are, no MATTER HOW well the plays are designed, you are not going to be able to complete a pass in this game. These are the times when you have to RUN the ball.

Lets go over the 4 run plays that I like to use as a run and shoot team.

1. Draw
2. Speed Option
3. Slot Sweep and Lead
4. Triple Option

THE DRAW PLAY

The draw play is huge tool to run and shoot teams. The draw simulates passing and then hands of to the running back. The goal obviously is to get the LBS and DBs to drop with the recevivers and create lanes for the running back. Any of the draw plays will work from our double slot or trips formations.

There are no changing of assingments for running plays. So basically I
just want to talk about some ideas for when to use a play like the draw.

1. Don't be afraid to run this play on 3rd and Long or 4th and 5+.

2. In shotgun trips, don't be afraid to cut it to the backside especially when you see the lone db running with the X receiver

3. If you are in Shotgun and you get a high snap so the timing is messed up.. DON'T PANIC, try to following the back into the whole or cut outside if its possible, if you pick up 2-3 yards consider it a win!

THE SPEED OPTION

I talked about this as one of our automatic adjustments when the defense does not adjust to the strength of our formation as in the below example:


..............FS.........
................................SS
CB.......LB....LB......LB.............CB
..............LE.DT...DT..RE
X...........LT.LG.C.RG.RT...............Z
.............................W....Y
..................Q.S


Sometimes the CPU likes to cheat the RE a little outside, but if the qb and the back have decent speed they can usually beat this guy even if he comes in unblocked. On option I like to force people to go after my qb if they do then I pitch. If I have a situation where they charge after the SuperBack (RB), then I like to cut the qb up field and pick up as many easy yards as I can.

For whatever reason it seems like my QB's are always fumblers, so I try to have them dive or get out of bounds to avoid turning the ball over.


Another idea, don't be afraid to run this to the weakside if you call it from balance and then motion the receiver to trips:



.......FS...................SS
..........DB<<<<<<<<<<<<DB
CB.....DB.........LB.................CB
............ LE.DT.DT.RE
X...........LT.LG.C.RG.RT...............Z
.......W..Y<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<Y
..................Q.S

Again the number to z's side our in our favor, z should box the CB and then the SS if the only player to stop our QB and Superback.


THE SWEEP:

The Sweep for the Slotback has been around since Tiger Ellison. Modern Run and Shooters though combined the sweep with the "FLY" concept where the Slot RUNNING AT FULL SPEED MOTION would receive the handoff at the snap from the qb. While I was able to create this play with some success for the old PS1 versions, the lack of a play editor means we have to use the slot sweeps from the flexbone formations my personal favorites are Flexbone Slot/WB Sweep WB lead.  Sorry no hand off to the Slot at full speed motion


I sub the HB with the WR who would normally play the Y position. This gives us a little bit of a speed advantage but it also means we can still pass out of this formation. Flexbone Slot has some very nice route combinations.


Don't be afraid to motion the W and then run the play to the backside, if W's man follows him over we gain another numerical advantage and a great running lane!

THE TRIPLE OPTION:

Since we're using the flexbone formations triple options are a good running tool. The Triple Option was used by Ellison (he called it Gangster Run) and Franklin College legend Red Faught also used it. I found just using the dive part of the triple option is a nice mix up to our normal run plays.

These obviously aren't the only running plays from a spread formation in the game there are many more! Feel free to experiment with QB choice and the Weak Off tackle plays all of which have solid use in a run and shoot offense.

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