Playbooks
Quick Reference
Breakdown
FB Dive out of the Power I Strong formation with 31 personnel is a downhill run play that hands the ball off directly to the fullback for a quick hitting run through the A gap. The line fires off the ball with a straight ahead blocking scheme, with the center and guards climbing to the second level while the HB leads through the hole as an extra blocker. This is a pure run play designed to exploit gaps between the tackles before linebackers can fill, with the primary read being the A gap first and a quick bounce to either B gap if a defender flashes inside.
Defensive Reads
Watch for a stacked box with linebackers sitting tight behind the defensive line, since that alignment is built to blow up FB Dive before the fullback reaches the line of scrimmage. Key the defensive tackles pre-snap, if they are shaded into the A gaps this play will struggle to find room and you should check to an outside run instead. User controlled defenders flowing downhill immediately at the snap are the biggest threat to this play, so mirror their leverage with your fullback's vision rather than forcing it into the gap. Look at safety depth before the snap, a single high safety cheating down into the box signals run support and makes this a low value call, while two deep safeties with a light box favor the dive hitting for positive yardage. Linebacker blitz packages that send extra defenders through the A and B gaps will beat this play consistently since there are limited extra blockers to account for interior pressure.
Usage Tips
Run this on early downs like first and ten or second and short to keep defenses honest against your play action shots out of Power I. Check the defensive front pre-snap and look for light boxes with six or fewer defenders before snapping it, since heavy boxes with eight in the box will clog the A and B gaps immediately. Use this play to set up PA Boot Slide and PA FB Flat later in the drive since both plays sell the same fullback dive action before breaking off into pass concepts. Mix in HB Blast and HB Slam from the same formation to keep linebackers guessing on which back is getting the carry. If the defense shows blitz with linebackers crashing downhill pre-snap, this can actually hit fast since the fullback gets north and south before the second level flows.
