"Blade" concept

The "Blade" concept is another nice goal line situation concept to run. In the 2009 Humanitarian Bowl the University of Idaho Vandals ran this concept to score the winning 2-point conversion against Bowling Green. The play begins at 7:25.

Concept:

In this concept, the wing player "U", typically another tight end or fullback, motions across the formation to help read the coverage is zone or man, then runs a hitch route. The tight end "Y" runs a "Spot" route, running 5 yards deep and sitting down over the center. Receiver "Z" runs an dig/in route across the back of the end zone and  receiver "X" runs a fade route. The tailback "R" runs a flare route to pull a defender out to the flat to cover him. The QB has a 5-hitch dropback and the O-line uses a full slide protection.

Another way to run "Blade" is out of a "Bunch" formation. The QB still has a 5-step dropback, wide receiver/tight end "Y" still runs the spot route and receiver "Z" still runs the dig/in, but receiver/tight end/fullback "F" runs a flat-wheel route, and receiver "X" and the QB have the pre-snap option to choose whether "X" runs a hitch, slant, out, or fade route. Tailback "R" helps the O-line in half-slide protection.

Why it works:

"Blade" works because it is designed to give a similar look as the "Spacing" concept (which will be discussed later). By giving the appearance of the Spacing concept, it gives the offense an element of surprise, particularly late in games after "Spacing" has been used quite a bit.