Manipulating 1 and 2 High Defensive RPO Reactions

College football in 2019 saw a huge tilt in the epic eternal battle of Offense vs. Defense, and Defenses are now scrambling to catch up.  My last post, Defending Pistol Spread RPO from 2 High, detailed the steps that Defenses can take to help vs. Offenses running RPOs (Run-Pass Options).  I showed the problem of Defenses slinging their fits pre-snap based on the side of the Back and showed how Defenses can sling their fits post-snap by reading the eyes of the QB to take away the player the Offense wants to throw to and add a player into the box to the other side vs. the Run.  In the diagram below, the Will is playing the Pass to the side the QB is looking and the Strong Safety ($) is adding to the box away from the side the QB is looking.

Unfortunately, just as Defenses have seemingly caught up, I discovered that Offenses have already started to adjust and stay one step ahead.  Bryan Freeman was the first person to point me to the 2019 UCF film, and they are doing some pretty cool stuff in using the QB's eyes to manipulate defenders (there are some games in the Film (2019) Folder on the top left of the page).  Knox Robinson, a former player of mine is currently the Offensive Coordinator at Satellite HS (FL), and has already dabbled in Front-door RPOs vs. Defenses that key the side of the Back.    

A Front-Door RPO is to the side AWAY from the Back, whereas the traditional RPO is considered to be a Back-Door RPO where the QB reads the defender TO the side of the Back.  The Front-Door RPO is what LSU did this past season with great success.

Front-Door RPOs are nothing new, they are commonly referred to as "gift"  throws when the Defense is practically giving you space and begging you to take advantage of their misalignment.  Here are a couple of examples of "gifts" from 3x1.  To the left, the "gift" could be a Bubble Screen or Quick Hitch or the Stick combination.  To the right, you have  a "gift" with Free Access to the Hitch, which is a Premium side with no one in the Alley and 1 on 1 vs. a loose CB deeper than 6 yards (h/t Andrew Coverdale):

Manipulating the Defense
The past two years have shown that Offenses are able to manipulate Defenses that sling their fits based on the side of the Back by having their QBs turn their head away from the Back.  The Front-Door RPO now becomes a post-snap read instead of a pre-snap "gift" read.  But, now that Defenses are able to read the eyes of the QB and sling their fits to take away the RPO, Offenses have figured out how to manipulate this movement based on the post-snap reaction of the Defense.

Two defenders in a 2 High structure will have a Run-Pass conflict.  The QB will start with his eyes one way initially to get the defender away from him to commit to the box and then he will throw into the area vacated by that defender.  I will include two diagrams for each scenario, the first being the initial direction the QB is looking and the second being the final direction where the QB looks.  

2x2 Formations
The first scenario I want to look at is from 2x2 where the QB first looks to the Bdry and then looks to the Field.  The two conflict defenders are in red.  The QB reads the Will post-snap and sees him playing Pass, so the $ should be coming into the box to play the Run in Cover 4.  This is where film study comes into play and knowing your opponent's rules and using them against him.

Now, the QB takes advantage of the Defense and turns and throws the ball to where the $ vacated. 

It is important to note that this idea of a Front-Door RPO as a post-snap read is actually Play-Action, where you are faking a RPO and running a Play-Action Pass.  I apologize for blowing the minds of most NFL commentators who will now never know the difference.  The QB is making a fake to the Back but the only options are a Pass on both sides.  I initially thought this was a RPO when first seeing it on film, but it is not because if you try to read this as a Run-Pass Option, you can read the Will correctly but you will end up running the ball into Cover 0 looks.  The diagram below has the Will doing the opposite of what he did in the diagram above (which was a Pass), but you definitely would not want to run the football into this look below.

Here is the film, you can see this play is not a RPO because the OL is in Play-Action Pass Protection:



The clip shows how the QB is able to use his eyes to manipulate the movement of the $ and throw to the area he vacated.  

Now let's go the other way out of the same formation.  The QB will look first to the Field to get the Will LB to come into the box:

Then he will turn and throw the ball to the Bdry to where the Will LB vacated.

3x1 Formations

Manipulating the flat defender and throwing the 5 yard Out is nice, but 3x1 Formations allow the Offense to manipulate a Deep defender, the Weak Safety, instead of a Flat defender, allowing for explosive plays.  The QB looks first to the Field and sees the Will play the Pass and he knows vs. Cover 4 Solid that the WS from the other side will be coming down into the box to play the Run.

Then the QB turns the other way and throws the Glance Post over the Weak Safety's head.  I have not seen anybody do this on film yet as I have been in a chess match against myself from my previous post with these concepts in trying to predict how teams will try to evolve schematically this upcoming season (think positive!).

Concluding Thoughts and Some Advice for Defenses
The post-snap Front-Door RPO Play-Action (please somebody come up with a shorter and better name) is a great weapon for Offenses to utilize vs. well-coached teams who can sling their fits in 2 High based off of the initial eyes of the QB.  Offenses have enough of an advantage, so let me add some thoughts for helping the Dark Side.  Defenses will need to be careful vs. teams that have the ability to run these, especially vs. 3x1 sets.  The use of the Lock call to automatically sling the fits in one direction and eliminate the post-snap read on the part of the Defense will be an essential change-up vs. Offenses who have the ability to manipulate those reads.  If you have any questions, hit me up on Twitter, @BarryHoover.

RPO Play-Action from 2x1 Sniffer vs 1 High
I didn't include this originally but the previous section was light on video and I wanted you guys to get a better feel of what UCF was doing Offensively.  The first two videos show the QB faking the Front-Door RPO and throwing the Post or Go to the 1 WR side and Slot Fade or Dbl Slants to the 2 WR side.  The last video is a Play-Action Dbl Look-Off, which may be excessive but is interesting to look at nonetheless.

Defense 1