Playbooks
Quick Reference
In 2 playbooks
Breakdown
HB Dive out of Singleback Spread 10 personnel aligns four receivers wide with the HB stacked behind the QB in the shotgun-less look, spreading the defense horizontally before running a downhill A-gap dive. The offensive line uses a straight-ahead blocking scheme with the interior linemen climbing to the second level, and the HB reads the initial double team for a crease directly behind the center. This is a pure run play designed to punish light boxes and attack aggressive linebacker fits with a quick, decisive hit north-south.
Defensive Reads
Key the middle linebacker depth at the snap, if he is stacked tight to the line pre-snap this run has almost no window to develop. Watch for a nano blitz or A-gap blitz package, since a free hitter in either interior gap kills this play before the HB can get to the crease. Identify whether the defense is in a two-high shell with light box numbers, that is the ideal shell to attack since defenders have to travel further to fill. Look for defensive tackles getting a quick jump and stacking the center, one-gap penetrating fronts disrupt the blocking scheme faster than two-gap fronts. Track the user-controlled defender at linebacker, if the user is spying the A-gap or flowing downhill immediately, abandon this call and shift to a perimeter run instead.
Usage Tips
Check the box count before the snap and only call HB Dive when you see six or fewer defenders in the box thanks to the four-wide spread alignment.
Use this play on second or third and short since the one-cut design does not have the field width to overcome negative down-and-distance situations.
Pair HB Dive with Wide Zone or HB Cutback from this same set so the defense has to respect both an inside A-gap hit and an outside stretch look from identical personnel.
Hot route a slot receiver into a quick slant if you see man coverage creeping toward the box, this keeps a linebacker honest instead of letting him crash down early.
Snap the ball on a quick cadence against defenses that like to shift linebackers late, the dive hits fastest when the defense is still settling into its front.
