Over the next few months, we are going to spotlight Offensive Coordinator Brian Daboll’s offense. Daboll entered the NFL in 2000 with the New England Patriots, and over the course of the next 16 seasons, he held several positions, including Defensive Assistant, Wide Receivers Coach, Tight Ends Coach, Quarterbacks Coach, and Offensive Coordinator. When the opportunity arose to jump to the college ranks at Alabama, Daboll seized it. As the offensive coordinator and QB coach at Alabama he got to learn from one of the best organizational managers, but it also gave Daboll a chance to work with college talent and to incorporate some of the college concepts into his playbook. This could be extremely useful, as more and more of those concepts are seeping into NFL playbooks nowadays. The move worked, and it landed him an offensive coordinator gig with the Bills. This series is meant to give you an idea of what is available and taught in Daboll’s offense; it doesn’t necessarily reflect the extent to which he will use these concepts. I will be periodically using cut-ups from Charlie Weis’s playbook to give you an idea of the terminology and basics of the concepts. But that does not mean Daboll’s playbook is labeled in the very same manner, with that said let’s dive in. Today we are going to start with the play structure and terminology utilized in the passing game.

Terminology

Brian Daboll comes from the Bill Belichick coaching tree, and on the offensive side of the ball he has traditionally utilized the Erhardt-Perkins (E-P) offense. The E-P offense, much like the Air Coryell and West Coast offenses, is not based in a method of attack like most fans think. In fact, the three systems are actually methods for its players to learn the scheme. The systems, simply put, are a language. The E-P system specifically, is a method of conceptualizing the plays in a streamlined manner so that the offensive players are able to memorize the plays easily.

“I look at it as a bunch of coaches sitting in rooms late at night organizing and getting things together to help players be successful.” – Co-creator of the E-P system, Ray Perkins

The system is built so that players can spend less time worrying about their assignment and more time focused on applying the concept from an array of formations and personnel groupings. For example, take a look at one of the most popular paired concepts in this system: ‘Ghost’/’Tosser’. Here is the play we are going to break down: F-left, 73 Ghost/Tosser.

Formation

So, to start, the F-Left or F-right is the formation. In this case, it’s a 2×2 set with the QB under center, and the back offset to the strength of the formation (TE side).

Pass Protection

The number 73/72 is the pass protection. Simply put, it’s a 70-series protection (5-step drop from under center series) where the line is going to slide away from the number (second number in protection, so in 73, 3). On F-left, 73 Ghost/Tosser, the offensive line will slide AWAY from the call (3). Odd numbers are to the left and even numbers are to the right, therefore the offensive line is sliding away from the call, to the right or to the weak side and will be responsible for the Will LB if in the box.

Ghost concept

The Ghost concept is typically a two-man route concept with the #1 receiver running a go route and the #2 receiver running a 10-yard out. So these rules apply to those two receivers REGARDLESS OF THE FORMATION OR PERSONNEL GROUPING. On the F-left, 73 Ghost/Tosser play call, the #1 is the F (fullback), and he will be running the go route meant to stretch the defense vertically and clear out the coverage. The Y (TE) is the #2 receiver, and he will be running an 8-yard out instead of the 10-yard route because, on this play call, the running back is flaring out, so it becomes a three-man route concept. The H (tailback) will run a diagonal route into the flats area. Generally, the QB will attack with this concept if he sees single high, zone coverage, such as Cover 3.

Tosser concept

This is one of the most utilized concepts in the game, it’s simply double slants. Both the #1 and #2 receivers are running slants. If the QB sees the defense in Cover 2 or man coverage pre-snap, generally speaking, he will start his read and progressions to this side. So REGARDLESS OF THE FORMATION OR PERSONNEL GROUPING, the #1 and #2 receivers are both running slants.

Flare control

Most of you are asking yourself, what is flare control? Flare control is a technique to get the running back out into a route immediately to help the quarterback and route concept develop. By immediately releasing the back into a route, this forces the defender responsible for the RB or the flats area to execute their job depending on the coverage. This will, in turn, make the read for the QB easier, and not allow that defender to ‘green dog blitz’ if the back stays in to block. It will also prevent that defender from dropping deeper to defend routes that may attempt to push the ball downfield. For example, if the QB sees Cover 3, the flats defender will buzz to the RB and allow the QB to hit the out route by the Y (TE) behind him. So the Ghost concept becomes a flood concept because of this flare control. Here you see how important that flare control can be when the defense brings a blitz. Tua Tagovailoa knows his offensive line is sliding left, leaving an unblocked defender into the boundary. The ‘hot’ call is to the H, so he quickly fires it out to the flats (See ‘hot’ adjustment below).

As you can see, a lot can go into a play call, so the E-P system minimizes the verbiage of a play call so that the players can play faster. Offensive players will be able to know their assignment based on the concept and where they are aligned within the play call. So Daboll can run this concept out of various formations and personnel groupings.

Another caveat to the conceptual-based learning and organization is that it allows the offense to run tempo or no-huddle much easier. As mentioned, regardless of who is in the game, the play organization and structure give the offense the ability to control the tempo of the game. Last season, Alabama utilized play cards like these to relay the entire play to players on the field. These cards are typically the formation, protection, and concepts.

But this is something that I doubt they will utilize on Sundays.

So when Daboll wants to go to no huddle or operate in two-minute situations, the play call and process from call to snap is more efficient because of the structure of the playbook.

The E-P system will allow the offense to run much more tempo by streamlining concepts. As we all know, Saban loves to incorporate things on offense that give his defense issues, a tactic teams should encompass vs. the #Pats. 100 plays in team period!? Crazy.. pic.twitter.com/h3I7NjW6QS — Cover 1 (@Cover_1_) May 14, 2018

That’s because receivers will not have to memorize the route tree and the infinite number of route combinations based off of said route tree. In other offensive systems, generally speaking, each route would be assigned a number (route number) in the play call based on the route tree. That could make the play call a lot longer and more difficult for the players slotted in those positions.

But by organizing basic two and three-man route combinations in concept form, it allows the offense to pair the combinations to hypothetically beat any sort of zone or man coverage, and do so on the fly.

You could easily pair the two-man ‘Ghost’ route concept

with a two-man route concept called ‘INC’ (in+curl),

and get the following:

The Crimson Tide do not huddle and are in tempo, so they call that combination and get an explosive play to WR Calvin Ridley:

Over the course of this series, we are going to examine the highs and lows of Daboll’s time in Tuscaloosa while outlining some of the most basic concepts that got him the job in Buffalo. This rundown on the basic structure of the E-P offense will help you understand play calls and how Daboll is going to attempt to maximize the players and playbook strategically week to week.

_______________________________________________________________

We have you covered off the field too at Cover 1 | The Shop

Subscribe to our YouTube channel

Subscribe to the Cover 1 | Buffalo Podcast on iTunes

Subscribe to the Cover 1 | Buffalo Podcast on Google Play

Subscribe to the Cover 1 | NFL Draft Podcast on iTunes

Subscribe to the Cover 1 | NFL Draft Podcast on Google Play

Become a Premium Member Today!

Exclusive members-only content

Sneak peek at content

In-depth analysis, including scheme, play and player breakdowns

Scouting reports and advanced analytics analysis

Access on unlimited devices

And More!

_______________________________________________________________

Affiliate Sponsors