The triple option is one of the most difficult offenses to defend, but what happens when you face a disciplined defense who is determined to keep the ball from getting to the edge?
That's when you have to go to your Plan B on offense, and for Dordt University, one of their favorite adjustment play calls is the Gun Midline Pitch, and that's what we're talking about in this article.
This is taken directly from our video release: The Dordt Gun Triple Option Offense: The Complete Series
Watch the video below or keep reading to learn more.
Table of Contents
- Understanding the Midline Pitch
- Blocking Scheme
- Pitching Off the Edge
- Defensive Structures and Adjustments
- Explosive Plays from the Midline Pitch
- Conclusion
Understanding the Midline Pitch
The midline pitch is designed to pitch the ball off of the C gap defender, allowing for a dynamic offensive play that involves multiple players. The key to executing this play successfully lies in the responsibilities assigned to the offensive linemen and the quarterback's decision-making process.
Key Responsibilities
- Tackle Responsibilities: The tackle has an arc responsibility, which means he must block the safety. This is crucial for creating space on the perimeter. The "arc block" does not necessarily mean an outside release off the line of scrimmage. Instead they allow him to release inside or outside off the line, as long as he's able to get to where he needs to get to.
- Dive Player: Often the pistol back, this player will hold the middle linebacker (Mike) in place, creating an opportunity for the pitch play. As you can probably see in this diagram, they're not actually blocking the Mike linebacker with anyone, but they're entirely relying on the dive fake to hold him in place. In case of any contact on the mesh by a defender, the Dive player must run down the midline so that the QB doesn't have to run around him to get to the pitch.
- Quarterback's Role: The quarterback must read the defense effectively. He will not necessarily always read the same defender, but as Coach Penner says, he will need to get to "the edge of the box" before deciding whether to keep or pitch it, and make that decision based on the last defender on the line. He will NOT read anything related to the Dive, it is strictly there to hold the Mike linebacker inside.
Blocking Scheme
Effective blocking is essential for the midline pitch to succeed. The offensive linemen need to zone block effectively while the tackle focuses on getting to the safety.
You may ask why not just go full midline and release the guard onto the Mike linebacker instead. The answer is that they will do that sometimes, but this play serves a different purpose for a specific situation.
In this blocking scheme, they'll often find themselves in a situation where we have three blockers against three defenders. This creates a favorable matchup, allowing Dordt to focus on winning blocks at the point of attack.
Tackle vs Safety in Space
It's true that the tackle on the arc block has his choice of releases, but when the safety is deeper than 10 yards like you see in the diagram above, he is told to go inside because those extra couple of steps inside shouldn't affect his ability to get to the safety.
The thing about asking a huge offensive lineman to block a defensive back in space is that you can't have unrealistic expectations. It won't be a great block every time, but the tackle can still get in the way of the safety and prevent him from taking a proper angle to the pitch, and sometimes that's all you need.
Two Defenders in the Same Gap
The reason why the play works so well is because of the threat of the dive, which holds the Mike linebacker just long enough and in many cases, results in the kind of situation you see below, where the quarterback ends up pitching off of two players in the same gap.
This obviously can result in some explosive runs, because having two defenders trapped in the same gap is a nightmare for defensive coordinators.
As Coach Penner says, this play is not a "silver bullet" and it doesn't always work out this way, but against defensive ends who want to keep the ball out of the quarterback's hands and sit against what looks like a mesh, this is a good way to get the ball to the perimeter.
Once the quarterback pulls it in this situation, it looks like a mis-read, since the DE did not aggressively attack the dive, but in fact the DE is not the dive read, but the pitch read.
This is why the offense likes to run variations like the midline pitch, because it gives you answers once the defense adjusts to the traditional double and triple option.
Midline Pitch vs the Odd Stack Defense
Because the odd stack look can cause so much havoc and create so many confusing looks for an offensive line, it's important for the quarterback to understand that he is not pitching off of a specific defender based on his presnap alignment, but whichever defender ends up being the pitch player.
For example, on this play the tackle will arc release and the defensive end closes hard inside and attacks the mesh point between the QB and the dive back. Just like the dive holds the Mike linebacker in the previous example we talked about, the DE now becomes the dive player and the QB cannot make a decision to keep or pitch based on him.
His eyes need to go to the next unblocked defender outside of him, who is that linebacker switching gaps with the DE. He now becomes the pitch defender and the QB can make a decision to either pitch it or keep it.
Of course, who ends up being read is entirely based on how the defense plays it, because if the DE played soft and the linebacker attacked the dive, then their responsibilities would have switched and the QB would have read the DE to make his decision on the pitch.
As Coach Penner says, the QB has to get to "the edge of the box" before he makes his decision, and the true pitch player will show up.
Conclusion
Like any other option play, success with the Midline Pitch relies on repetition, understanding of assignment football, and the ability of the quarterback to understand all the different ways the defense will try to confuse the read.
For more from this series, including more free videos, check out The Dordt Gun Triple Option: The Complete Series.