So, they took away counter and reverse, but power worked well?  How often were you countering?

I might just recommend that you keep things the same and throw in a fake reverse to keep them honest.  Then just run counter less.  If power and wedge are kicking butt, why change?

So, they took away counter and reverse, but power worked well?  How often were you countering?

I might just recommend that you keep things the same and throw in a fake reverse to keep them honest.  Then just run counter less.  If power and wedge are kicking butt, why change?

Your right it goes back to the saying just run power stupid.  I picked up on it around the 2nd quarter but I didn't pound power first. Regular power was being stopped so we went unbalanced with tags. They have a stud De that just crashes causing chaos and was trying to burn him and we did but the Olb and Cb were cross keying and on it quick.

I'm positive they will adjust so I wanna make sure I got my toolbox ready.

Counter cutback plays havoc with cross keying. Some variations have the non-carrying WB come across and lead block, but if they're cross-keying that wouldn't be the best option.  Have him just block power or seal the DE out of the play. 

Have your QB toss, stop and pick up/kick out that CB blitzing the backside (into the play), pulling G would kick first to show (DE or blitzing OLB), FB pulls through and picks up the other guy.  There's nobody left on the backside to make a tackle.

It is a MONEY play.

Counter cutback plays havoc with cross keying. Some variations have the non-carrying WB come across and lead block, but if they're cross-keying that wouldn't be the best option.  Have him just block power or seal the DE out of the play. 

Have your QB toss, stop and pick up/kick out that CB blitzing the backside (into the play), pulling G would kick first to show (DE or blitzing OLB), FB pulls through and picks up the other guy.  There's nobody left on the backside to make a tackle.

It is a MONEY play.

We run counter cutback out of Coach Cox i-pistol. But in a serious game I'm staying in DTDW.

Trying to get a idea of what some of the HS and MS coaches do to combat it. I don't think counter cutback really helps cause opposite wing stays on opposite side. If I had the time to get off a reverse pass it would kill them but there on it.

I'm thinking running Fb trap/counter outta offset with reverse action behind it. The Cb and Lb immediately look away from motion and hawk opposite wing if he moves toward counter or reverse there on him.

Any more idea's?

Not following you.

And just as a point of conversation, counter cutback is one of the tactics at the HS/MS level to defeat...cross keying.

If they cross key, the OLB is watching that opposite WB stay on the other side, and therefore he is completely unprepared for the ball to come back downhill to him.

Unless you mean something different when you say cross-keying.

Would nasty splits solve your DE problem? You would x block him with the wing, Double him with the wing xb and fb, or just give the FB more time to get there. I would like to see them adjust to that, since it is a low cost change 

Not following you.

And just as a point of conversation, counter cutback is one of the tactics at the HS/MS level to defeat...cross keying.

If they cross key, the OLB is watching that opposite WB stay on the other side, and therefore he is completely unprepared for the ball to come back downhill to him.

Unless you mean something different when you say cross-keying.

Your right might make him flat-footed for sure.

Would nasty splits solve your DE problem? You would x block him with the wing, Double him with the wing xb and fb, or just give the FB more time to get there. I would like to see them adjust to that, since it is a low cost change

We ran some nasty. The most success we had was wing on, offset Fb, guard over with Qb pitching and blocking backside crasher. And obviously wedge was working but they started cutting it late in game.

Cross Keying WBs is only something you see when you run a lot of Counter ... we almost never have that issue ... of course we only run CUT (out counter) maybe 2-5 times per game and often not until the second half ... when we do it is usually a FB CUT which wouldnt be affected by cross keying my WB ...

1. RUN POWER ... if teams are scheming to take away secondary plays but not the main play that is GOOD
2. Counter Less ... we only run CUT when they leave it open to attack our POWER play
3. FB Counter ... hits tighter and quicker and cant be cross keyed ... FB is hidden and very hard to spot coming back at you
4. Counter Cut Back ... JK was right that cross keying will leave the LB and CB flat footed against this play that is coming straight at them ...

How would you attack a team cross keying wings and blitzing olb and Cb at  into every counter or reverse you run?

I'm mad I didn't pickup on it sooner but I stuck with power with tags and wedge. But we will play them again and they will adjust to our tags and will be ready for wedge just like we will adjust. We won a one score game but there front is alittle better then ours.

I was thinking offset sniffer run counter with him and run XX action behind it.

counter trap, wedge xx....and its not the blitzing into a counter that matters, its HOW they blitz into a counter...ie, if we kick one out, we can probably kick both out with one man.  That's a win for us every time.

Depending on age group, if they are blitzing the CB by cross reading wings put in a simple one man route off counter action.  That will stop it pretty quick.  Also start working on trap with counter action.  Counter by nature can be slow developing play.  Frankly the last year I coached I only ran it against bad teams.  I installed a qb counter it hits much quicker and was a big play for us.  But I did have a qb that could run. 

I don't remember what I called it but I installed it specifically for teams cross reading wings.  Basically the "counter" wing (I had big strong wings) would take his counter step and head down the line but instead of running counter he would crack down on the tackle just like a trap.  the guard would go to the second level and depending on the alignment the tackle/TE would block out or second level.  This was a GREAT play against well coached teams because the tackle was expecting the trap block but he thought it was coming from the back side guard instead he got hammered from the wing-did I say I had big strong wings-.  Talk about being pancaked.  The QB would simply spin like leading on toss but run the ball through the hole.  The more you put the keys in doubt the slower they will react.  You don't have to fool them every time just make them doubt their keys.