Playbooks
Quick Reference
Breakdown
End Around out of I Form Pro (21 personnel) is a trick run play that hands the ball off to the WR coming across the formation on jet motion timing. The diagram shows the WR at the top running a deep vertical stem before the ball is even snapped, while the other receiver runs a shallow crossing route from right to left behind the line to simulate the end around action and sell misdirection to the front seven. The offensive line flows in the direction of the fake to hold linebackers, and the primary read is simply getting the ball to the end around runner and reading the edge defender's leverage as he presses the corner.
Defensive Reads
Key the backfield flow first, if the quarterback opens away from the play call and hands off across the formation that is your trigger to squeeze down and chase Contain defenders and edge rushers must stay disciplined and not crash upfield, since this play lives on defenders overrunning the initial zone or toss action Linebackers should read their run fit keys and avoid biting on the fake handoff flow, scraping laterally instead of flowing hard downhill Watch the receiver going in jet motion or across the formation before the snap, this is the strongest pre-snap indicator of end around action User a linebacker or slot defender to spy the reverse lane if you suspect the tendency, since AI pursuit can be late to react to the crossing runner
Usage Tips
Call this on early downs when the defense has shown aggressive run fits or fast flow linebackers on tape
Watch pre-snap for overplayed run alignments or a defensive end crashing hard down the line, since that opens the edge for the end around runner
Use the vertical route at the top of the diagram as a decoy to hold the deep safety and prevent quick secondary rotation to the perimeter
Pair this with HB Toss or HB Stretch earlier in a drive so the linebackers key outside zone flow, making the reverse action harder to diagnose
Avoid calling this against disciplined edge setting defenses or defenses that play strict assignment football on run fits, since a scraping end can blow it up for a loss
