Attacking with Hammer and Tongs

Coach and Athletic Director, Sept, 2001 by Mark W. Malcolm

IN THIS ERA OF aggressive, attacking defense, the better the recognition of offensive sets and tendencies, the more aggressive and effective the defense can be.

The offense must respond by breaking down the defense's ability to read the attack and thus put doubt into their heads.

One of the ways we have been doing this is by running several exotic sets for which there are no standard defensive alignments. We call them "Hammer" and "Tongs" and they fit very nicely into our no-huddle, multiple, spread offense.

Blessed with some very good athletes, we have amassed a 48-11-1 record over the past six years, while constantly looking for new ways of enhancing our competitive edge.

Last August, I spent a transcendent morning with Scott Sellers, the head coach at Richardson Jr. H.S., and Dennis Dunn's staff at Evangel Christian Academy in Shreveport.

Evangel Christian's offensive coordinator, Denny Durin, was especially generous in sharing his considerable knowledge with us, and we wound up borrowing two of his spread sets. Since the sets complemented what we were already doing, we could apply our own rules to them and we used them with great success throughout the season.

We teach the linemen and receivers to adjust their spacing according to the location of the ball.

If the ball is in the middle of the field, X and Z will align nine yards from the sideline.

Whenever the ball is on a hash mark, the players will logically adjust to spread the defense as much as possible. The H back will set up at a depth of five yards, the QB at six yards, and F and Z at two yards.

The hitch/fade reads for the X and Z receivers are based first on alignment. If the defensive back is aligned at five yards or deeper, we will run a five-step hitch route. If the defender is inside five yards, we will run a fade.

At the snap, we will also read the feet of the defender. If he aligns deeper than five yards, but rolls up inside the five-yard distance, we will run a fade.

The screen portion of the play is made up of elements we have already taught as part of our offense. The guards and tackles are taught to align shoulder-to-shoulder and to keep their feet moving and eyes up field.

On the back's command of "Go," the linemen will drive off the line, maintaining shoulder-to-shoulder attitude. The H back will run a bubble route -- a short, three-step, half-circle route will put his body in motion without changing his distance from the LOS.

This is the same route taught to our uncovered slot receivers. We teach the route by having our backs and receivers run it around a hulahoop. If the defense does anything short of putting six men over the alignment of our guards and tackles, we will throw the screen.

The F back makes a pre-snap read to determine whether any defender is playing at linebacker depth over the ball. If there is, the FB blocks for the bubble screen. If not, he runs a shallow crossing route over the ball.

The Center shotgun-snaps the bail, then drops back to pass-protect. Y, again, makes a pre-snap read. If the defense aligns more than two men to pass rush, he will also pass-protect. If the defense aligns two or fewer men to pass-rush, the Y will run a quick out.

The QB looks to throw the bubble screen, unless the defense outnumbers us (six or more defenders). His next option is for one of our automatics (F shallow or Y out). Finally, he looks for an advantage to throwing one of the hitch/fades versus a defender who is too deep to cover the hitch or one who is too shallow to cover the fade.

All the spacing, rules, and reads from Hammer have application for Tongs. H and Z are both aligned five yards deep. The F back's read changes slightly. He now reads the defense over the ball at the safety level. If there are two or fewer pass rushers and no defender at safety depth over the ball, he runs a seam route straight down the field.

Even though we seldom feel the need to deviate from our regular progression, several adjustments can be easily made. To further complicate the defense's recognition, we can shift to Tongs from our Doubles set by calling "Jayhawk."

We are also able to tag specific routes, guaranteeing that we will run an automatic route (Y out from Hammer is a good play for us), or running one of the wide outs into a vacant free safety.

All this being said, I feel that we have only scratched the surface of these sets' potential.

Everything we install offensively must be held up to this standard: How long does it take us to teach it vs. how long does it take for our opponent to prepare for it?

Since almost all of the elements of Hammer and Tongs (hitch/fade read, bubble screen, route adjustment, and empty sets) were already part of our offensive teaching, the packaging of these elements in a new way did not add very much to our teaching time while greatly multiplying our opponent's preparation problems.

Coaches typically have asked me two questions about Hammer and Tongs: How did defenses play you and didn't you unnecessarily expose your quarterback?

First, we saw every different type of coverage you can imagine. Some people covered over everyone, while other opponents misaligned and left receivers completely uncovered. Still others loaded up the center and tried to rush the quarterback. Our QB had little difficulty going through his progression and finding open receivers.