Read Option

Watch the play side defensive end or OLB assignment before the snap, if he is aligned wide and crashes hard on run flow the QB keep read opens up immediately. Look for a defensive tackle shooting the gap on a nano blitz timing, this can blow up the mesh point before the QB even makes his read so know your snap to hand off timing. If the defense shows a heavy box with a linebacker creeping down pre-snap, expect a run blitz that outnumbers the blockers and consider checking to a quick pass instead. Man coverage on the trey side with no extra flow support to the backfield usually means the read defender is playing assignment football and will not crash, favor the give in that look. Zone shells with a spinning safety rotating late can signal a scrape exchange where the linebacker takes the QB keep lane, so have a plan to cut the HB back inside if you feel that exchange happening.