Playbooks
Quick Reference
Breakdown
Orbit Triple Option out of Pistol Weak Slot lines up with 21 personnel and motions the orbit back across the formation before the snap, setting up a true triple option look with the QB, dive back, and pitch man. The offensive line down blocks toward the play side while the QB reads the first unblocked defender to decide between the dive, keep, or pitch to the trailing back on the perimeter. This is a run play built to attack aggressive fronts and undisciplined edge defenders, and it lives or dies on the QB correctly reading the option key shown flowing outside.
Defensive Reads
Watch for an unblocked edge defender crashing hard down the line, which is the exact key the QB is reading to decide dive versus keep versus pitch. Stacked fronts with extra defenders in the box are the biggest threat to this play since it removes the numbers advantage the triple option depends on. Linebackers who flow hard with the orbit motion pre-snap are a sign the defense is playing assignment football and will struggle to fit all three phases of the option. Look for a scraping linebacker or slot defender staying home on the pitch man, since disciplined edge players who stay square and squeeze the option can blow this up before it develops. Man coverage on the perimeter with no extra run support in the box is where this play does the most damage, since it isolates the pitch phase against a defender not built to play the option.
Usage Tips
Use pre-snap motion to bait linebackers into flowing before the snap, then attack the gap that opens up once the defense declares its shift.
Check the alignment of the edge defender on the play side before the snap since he is the first read the QB has to option off of.
Save this play for run-heavy down and distance situations like second and short or first and ten when you need to establish tempo.
Pair this with Orbit HB Zone Wk and Read Option in the same set so the defense cannot key on the orbit motion as a tell.
Against teams that key on pre-snap motion, run this out of a no-huddle look to limit their ability to diagnose and adjust their front.
