by Keith Grabowski
Our play of the day on Empty Smash/Switch received a lot of attention and debate on how to stop it. The consensus was that it certainly presents some issues for a defense. Some common answers were to play man and blitz, drop eight or play cover 2man. Those are definitely answers we have seen and prepare for. In addition, we like to use our empty stick package to compliment this play and provide some answers for different things the defense might try to do when they see empty.
Against an even front, we prefer to run our stick slant and allow our QB to read away from the drop of the mike linebacker. Of course we rely on great technique of our slant routes to win inside and provide a throw to the quarterback.
Against odd front teams that will play a nickel package we expect some kind of cover 2 man. Against this we will still look for the quick throws but now the quarterback knows he has an advantage in the box for the draw. He will take his quick drop, allow defenders to move while confirming cover 2 man then execute his draw.
Video of the stick/slant and the stick draw can be seen below.
https://youtu.be/efsDD1wtnn0