Playbooks
Quick Reference
In 1 playbook
Breakdown
Read Option out of Pistol Wing 12 personnel is a zone run play built around the quarterback's mesh read with the running back aligned behind him in pistol. The offensive line executes a zone blocking scheme that flows to the play side while the QB reads the edge defender to decide between handing off or pulling the ball and attacking the alignment. This is a run-heavy design with no route concept shown in the diagram, making it a pure gap and numbers exploit rather than a play-action or screen concept.
Defensive Reads
Watch the play side defensive end or outside linebacker at the snap, since his crash or contain decision determines whether the QB keeps or hands off. A hard crashing edge defender opens the keep lane, so a disciplined defender who stays home on the QB shuts this play down. User the play side linebacker to fill the mesh point immediately and take away both options at once. Stacked boxes with an extra run defender or a scraping linebacker who reads the mesh quickly kill this concept before it develops. Watch for defenders trained to spy the quarterback in known run situations, since that eliminates the keep option and forces a low value hand off into a loaded box.
Usage Tips
Check the defensive front pre-snap and identify whether the play side edge defender is crashing hard or sitting wide, since that dictates the keep versus hand off decision. Use this against light boxes with six or fewer defenders in the box to guarantee a numbers advantage for the zone scheme. Pair this with HB Slam or HB Counter to keep the defense honest on inside run fits before hitting them with the edge conflict this play creates. Great down and distance for this call is second or third and short, or first and ten when you want to establish tempo and force the defense to respect the QB run threat. If the defense keys the mesh point too fast with an aggressive scrape exchange, switch to Read Option Wk to attack the opposite edge.
