Playbooks
Quick Reference
Breakdown
HB Sweep out of Shotgun Bunch is a designed edge run play with the offensive line pulling to seal the perimeter as the HB takes the handoff and stretches wide before deciding to bounce outside or cut back inside. The bunch alignment to one side pulls extra defenders into a compressed area, creating natural lane displacement on the edge for the sweep. This is a run play with no route combos or play-action shown, so the primary read progression is simply patience: press the sweep hard, read the pulling linemen and edge defender, then decide between bouncing outside the last block or cutting up through any interior seam that opens.
Defensive Reads
Watch linebacker depth and flow at the snap, if they crash hard to the play side immediately you can user a blocker to cut them off and hit the cutback lane. Identify whether the defense is running a nano blitz off the edge, since a fast contain defender can blow up the sweep before the pulling lineman gets there. Check safety alignment pre-snap, if both safeties are deep in a two high shell the box is lighter and this run has more room to operate. Man coverage on the bunch receivers often means those defenders are occupied and not helping in run support, which favors the sweep hitting outside. Watch for a user-controlled defender flying downhill from depth, that is the biggest threat to this play since it can beat the pulling blockers to the edge before the HB turns the corner.
Usage Tips
Run this behind bunch formations when the defense shows a lighter box count, since the tight receiver alignment often pulls a safety or corner into run support responsibilities pre-snap.
Check the defensive front before the snap, if you see a heavy overload to the play side edge, consider audibling to HB Base or Inside Zone instead since the sweep needs room to develop outside.
Use hot routes sparingly here since this is a pure run design, but you can motion the bunch receivers to create a numbers advantage or force the defense to declare their coverage rotation.
Mix this in on early downs, especially first and second and short to medium, to keep defenses honest before hitting them with Read Option or End Around from the same bunch look.
Pair HB Sweep with Counter Y and Reverse from this set to keep linebackers guessing on flow direction, since all three plays start with similar backfield action but attack different edges.
