

The basic responsibilities for Power are as follows: For example, below is a diagram of Power from one of Jon Gruden’s old playbooks. But NFL coaches have spent the past 20 years tweaking and adjusting the play, and now the proper form is gospel. The idea behind Power is as old as football itself, as having an overwhelming force at the point of attack was an obvious strategy as soon as someone first picked up a football versions of the play pop up as far back as in Michigan coach Fielding Yost’s playbook from 1905. Almost every NFL team runs Power, though some (like the Seahawks, Vikings, Steelers, and Bills) will emphasize it more than others, and it has produced some of the most dramatic plays in recent memory, including Marshawn Lynch’s infamous Beast Mode run. “There is nothing magical about the Power play,” Paul Alexander, the Cincinnati Bengals’ longtime offensive line coach, said at a coaching clinic in 2012. Let’s take a closer look at how Power and Counter were developed, why they work, and how teams are putting some new spins on some old plays. While football increasingly seems to revolve around quarterbacks who post gaudy passing stats in spread attacks, the inside running game remains the sport’s core no matter what offense a team runs. And as this GIF shows, they can be things of beauty:



They’re deliberate melees built on double-team blocks, kick-out blocks, lead blocks, and down blocks, and preferably finished off by a running back who drops his shoulder and levels a defender or two before going down. Power and Counter are so effective because their very designs are forged from aggression. While many think the term “power football” describes an attitude or perhaps even a formation, coaches actually use it to refer to something more technical: the Power-O and Counter Trey 1 run plays, which most coaches simply call Power and Counter, and which are foundational running plays in the NFL and college football.
Run n gun football meaning series#
Welcome to Football 101, a series intended to help you, the fan, better understand some common NFL and college tactics so when you see a long run or a pick-six, you’ll have a better grasp of how and why it happened.
