Playbooks
Quick Reference
Breakdown
FB Dive out of the Near Close set (21 personnel) is a downhill run play that hands the ball to the fullback directly through the A-gap while the offensive line blocks straight ahead with double teams at the point of attack. The diagram shows the two outside receivers uninvolved in the run design, releasing vertically as decoys to hold the corners, while the interior of the formation compresses to create dive-block angles on the frontside. This is a pure gap-scheme run play with no play-action or RPO element, and the primary read progression is simple: identify the first crease off the double team at the nose, then bounce off the backside guard if the middle linebacker fills fast.
Defensive Reads
Pre-snap, count the box defenders and check linebacker depth since a stacked front with linebackers under five yards signals they are keying run and will fill the A-gap immediately. Watch for the Mike linebacker's alignment over the center, a shaded nose front tells you the interior double team will struggle to move him off the ball. This play gets stuffed by gap-sound fronts and defenses running a 4-3 Under with a run-fit linebacker scraping to the play side. It beats light boxes and defenses that show blitz but rotate safeties away from the run action pre-snap. Post-snap, key the backside linebacker's pursuit angle, if he flows too hard playside there is a cutback lane the fullback can find even though the design is a straight dive.
Usage Tips
Run this out of Near Close early in a drive to establish tendency data and force the defense to respect the interior run before you lean on play-action shots later in the set. Check the box count pre-snap: if the defense shows six or more in the box, this play loses value and you should audible to Spacing or Z Spot to attack light coverage. Use FB Dive on short yardage and 3rd and 1 or 4th and 1 situations since the fullback gets immediate downhill push and the play develops in under two seconds. Pair this with PA Strong Flow later in the series so the linebackers who bit on the dive get frozen by the play-action fake off the same look. Avoid calling this against defenses stacked with quick-trigger Mike linebackers who scrape hard since there is no cutback design built into the blocking scheme.
