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Breakdown
Strong Power is a downhill gap run out of the Pistol Deuce 12 personnel look, with the HB taking a lead step and following the play side guard and lead blocker through the strong side hole. The diagram shows the offensive line blocking down at the point of attack with a puller kicking out the edge defender, creating a power gap for the HB to break through between the tackle and tight end. This is a pure run play with no route concept attached, designed to move the pile with numbers and double teams at the point of attack rather than beat man or zone coverage.
Defensive Reads
Watch the strong side defensive end and Sam linebacker pre-snap, if they are lined up tight to the line with no outside leverage the kick out block should seal the edge cleanly. Identify whether the defense is in a run blitz look with linebackers creeping to the line, since a hard crashing front can beat the puller before he reaches the point of attack. On the user side, take control of the strong side linebacker or Sam to fill the power gap and force the HB to bounce outside into unblocked defenders. Look for safeties cheating down into the box pre-snap, an eight man front with both safeties near the line is the biggest counter to this play and should trigger an audible to a pass concept. Post-snap, key on whether the play side defensive tackle two gaps or gets doubled, if he is being pushed off the ball the cutback lane behind the center opens up as a secondary rushing lane.
Usage Tips
Run this out of Pistol Deuce when you have a numbers advantage in the box, ideally six or fewer defenders showing pre-snap.
Check the strong side defensive end and outside linebacker alignment before the snap, if they are crashing hard down inside the puller will have a clean kick out angle.
Use this on early downs to establish tempo and set up HB Dive and HB Counter out of the same formation, since all three hit different gaps but look identical pre-snap.
Pair Strong Power with PA TE Wheel or RPO Alert TE Flat later in a drive once the defense starts loading the box, forcing them to respect the play action or bootleg threat.
Avoid calling this into stacked eight man fronts or heavy blitz packages that overload the strong side edge, since the lead blocker will struggle to sustain a block against a numbers disadvantage.
