Touchdown blocks: they look good on your receivers. (Football).

IT HAS NEVER BEEN difficult to get a large corps of receivers to come out for our football team. When you throw the ball around as much as we do, it becomes fun to be a receiver. But it takes more than catching to become a great receiver.

A receiver becomes great when he begins making the downfield blocks that pave the way to the endzone. We call them "touchdown blocks." Without them, our ball-carriers are not going to break off those long touchdown runs.

We ask our receivers to master four kinds of blocks. Each is predicated on maximum effort and aggressiveness, beginning with an explosive release that lends the impression of going deep.

By driving off hard on every play, our receivers will put the defensive secondary back on their heels, stunting their aggressiveness. This is their prime point of emphasis on every phase.

STALK BLOCK (DIAG. 1):

The first blocking technique used by our receivers. They must release aggressively at the nearest secondary defender, assuming a position of inside leverage between the man and the ball-carrier. They wait for the defender to commit to the run, then engage him.

The key point in the stalk is to keep the feet moving. The feet are as important as the hands in the execution of the block. Our receivers will stalk on all plays to their side of the formation on the inside. We want them to maintain control of the defender for 10 seconds, long enough to thwart the defender's chances of making a tackle. We will go to any lengths to emphasize the importance of this block.

STALK BLOCK (DIAG. 2):

Used whenever the play call is designed to hit at or outside the receiver alignment. The difference between the stalk and stalk-square lies in the leverage position of the receiver.

As in the stalk block, the receiver will explode off the LOS and settle down to make the defender commit. By squaring up with the defender, he can take him whichever way he wants to go.

If the defender commits inside, the receiver will attack his outside shoulder (Diag. 3). If the defender commits outside, the receiver will attack his inside shoulder (Diag. 4).

We use the stalk-square whenever the POA is at or outside the receiver's alignment, allowing the ball-carrier to read and cut off the receiver's block.

We give our backs the opportunity to make their own cuts whenever possible, rather than having the receiver block dictate his path.

Once the defender commits, the receiver must fully engage him to prevent him from making a play on the ball-carrier. Again the key point is to keep the feet moving. It can never be overstated: The good stalk block is made with the feet.

CRACK BLOCK (DIAGS. 5-6):

This is not a base block for our receivers. It is used to shorten the flank (the outside edge of the defense). In this scenario, the receiver will crack-block the first defender inside of his alignment while an offensive man aligned closer to the core of the formation will arc-block, as shown.

CRACK BLOCK PROGRESSION (DIAG. 7):

The initial release of the receiver is flat to the LOS, enabling him to set up the block and read the movement of the targeted defender. With this release, the receiver can track the defender and put himself on a line to make the block.

At the POA, the receiver must get his head across the front numbers of the defender.

While the crack block often results in a big hit, it doesn't depend upon "de-cleating" the targeted defender. Simply stated, the goal of the crack-receiver is to prevent the targeted defender from making a play on the ball-carrier.

The general rule for the crack-receiver is to block the first defender inside his pre-snap alignment. If this defender falls off the receiver's path, the receiver should continue on his track to the next defender inside (Diag. 8).

The crack block is a valuable adjustment that can vary our base blocking principles. It is a good game-plan adjustment against defenses with fast-flow linebackers vs the outside run.

The crack technique is also good in setting up the "shallow-across" route in our play action passing game.

Diag. 9 shows how we can block our toss sweep with a crack/arc combination of wide receiver and fullback.

Diag. 10 shows how we use the same action to implement the shallow-across with play action.

MID-FIELD CUT-OFF BLOCK (DIAG. 11-12)

This is a receiver technique that we emphasize a great deal on play calls to the opposite side of the offensive formation. The aiming point for a backside receiver is 8-12 yards downfield, depending on the receiver's initial alignment.

A No. 1 backside receiver will release immediately off the LOS on a diagonal path to a point 12 yards downfield and 10 yards playside of the deepest secondary defender (Diag. 11).

We tell our receivers that our goal is to make a touchdown block on a safety. While we may not physically block the safety each time, this aiming point will put us in position to make a key downfield block on a defender in pursuit of the play.

A No. 2 or No. 3 backside receiver will take a similar release to a point 6-8 yards downfield and 5 playside yards of a second level defender (Diag. 12). Being in closer proximity to the targeted defender, an inside receiver should always be in position to make a block vs a pursuing LB or secondary player.

These key blocks on pursuing backside defenders are truly touchdown blocks that make exciting long runs possible.

CONCLUSIONS:

We love to throw and catch on offense. Our receivers have had a lot of success on the catching end and their contributions have been a source of great pride to us.

We believe that their aggressive blocking is what sets them apart from other receivers. We never overlook their importance in our running game.

Coaches who are not emphasizing this facet of the game can do their running backs a favor by beginning to talk up "touchdown blocking" to their receiving corps. It will pay them to put their trust into the hands (and feet) of their receivers.