Spread Football Plays

A team that has a lot of talent and a good quarterback may want to run a lot of spread football plays. Spread football plays carry with them a very high risk and a very high reward. On any given play the offense could score a touchdown or they could turn the ball over.

Running a spread style offense is a good idea because it keeps the defense completely off balance. The defensive players are often left covering offensive players one-on-one. Often every defender that isn’t a defensive lineman is busy covering a receiver. Therefore, if a receiver is able to beat his defender, he could score a touchdown.

Of course, there are many different spread football plays that each player has to know. For this reason in order to effectively run an offense with the spread, the receivers have to understand the plays and what they are supposed to do after every snap. Also, the quarterback has to know what each receiver is doing on every play and he also needs to be able to read defenses quickly and effectively.

If the quarterback reads the defense wrong he could throw an interception. If he thinks a receiver is going to run a certain route and the receiver runs another route, the ball could be intercepted. Or if he doesn’t read the defense fast enough and hesitates then he could get sacked and even fumble the ball.

Most of the time spread football plays are passing plays. Therefore, the offense doesn’t usually have the ball very long. They may throw a lot of incompletions, which will stop the clock. Or they may score quickly. By having the ball a short amount of time, their defense is asked to be on the field for a long time each game. The defense could get tired and end-up giving-up a lot of points toward the end of the game.

But there are running plays that go along with the spread offense too. Offenses could line-up 4 receivers and then have one running back in the backfield. In this case, draw plays work very well. The quarterback would begin to drop back like he’s going to throw the ball. The receivers run down the field and drag the defensive backs with them. Then the ball is handed off to the running back. If the running back can get past the initial wave of defenders, usually just the defensive line, he will have a lot of running room in the open field.

Another one of the spread football plays that work well is the screen. Again, the receivers all run down field and drag the defenders with them. Then the running back runs out and catches a short pass – usually behind the line of scrimmage – and only needs to make a couple defenders miss in order to get a huge gain.

Offensive spread football plays can work very well for an offense or horribly for an offense. They work well because they often put defenders in a position where they don’t have any help in coverage or in making tackles. But the offensive line is also put into a one-on-one blocking situation too. So, they have to make sure they don’t give-up negative plays. And with so many players being involved in pass routes, everyone has to know what is happening. If someone does the wrong thing or the quarterback thinks the wrong thing, a turnover could easily occur.