Playbooks
Breakdown
Counter out of the Wildcat Pro formation is a power run play built around misdirection and gap blocking. The diagram shows the direct snap ballcarrier taking a counter step left before pulling blockers lead him back to the right, with the offensive line down blocking and the backside guard or fullback pulling to kick out the edge defender. There is no route concept here since this is a pure run play, and the primary read progression is the play side alignment: the runner reads the pulling blocker's kick out block first, then the lead blocker in the hole, and finally cuts off the linebacker fill to find the crease.
Defensive Reads
Watch linebacker depth and flow pre-snap, since fast flowing linebackers who overpursue the initial counter step get gashed on the cutback. Identify if the defense is running a heavy box look with eight or nine defenders, since that alignment can beat Counter at the point of attack if the kick out block fails. Look for edge defenders staying home instead of crashing down, which takes away the pulling blocker's kick out lane and forces the runner to bounce outside into a low hole. On defense, spam a user linebacker to sit on the interior gap and read the pulling blocker rather than chasing the counter step misdirection. Man coverage on the backside with no extra run support struggles to stop this since Counter relies on gap integrity rather than numbers advantage, so stacking the box against Wildcat personnel is the best counter.
Usage Tips
Run this out of Wildcat when defenses expect a pass or jet sweep look, since the deceptive backfield action from the direct snap sells run action away from the true hole. Check the defensive front pre-snap for overshifted alignments toward the initial counter step, since that tells you the backside is vacated for the cutback lane. Use this play on early downs (first and ten, second and short) to stay ahead of the chains and keep the defense honest against Wildcat run tendencies. Pair Counter with Jet Sweep from this same Wildcat Pro set so the defense has to respect both directions of misdirection, forcing linebackers to hesitate on flow reads. Sequence Counter with Power later in the drive since both plays use similar pulling blocker action, making it harder for defenders to key the true play side.
