Provincia de Buenos Aires All-Time Team

Diego Maradona and Daniel Passarella 

Please also see my All-Time World Cup Team Index.

Argentine-born players capped by other national teams
Angels with Dirty Faces with Di Stefano in the WC 1958
Argentina All-Time Team before 1978,
Argentina All-Time Team After Maradona.
Provincia de Córdoba, Argentina All-Time Team
Provincia de Santa  Fe, Argentina All-Time Team
The City of Buenos Aires
Argentina All-Time Team without players from Santa Fe, Cordoba and Buenos Aires 

This is my selection of all-time 23 member team for Provincia de Buenos Aires in Argentina.   I did a separated blog team for the city of Buenos Aires. This team is based on birth places.  The number 23 is chosen because this is the same number of players selected in a World Cup Finals.

The Province of Buenos Aires (Provincia de Buenos Aires)is the largest and most populous Argentine province. It takes its name from the city of Buenos Aires, the capital of the country, which used to be part of the province and the province's capital until it was federalized in 1880. Since then, in spite of bearing the same name, the province does not include Buenos Aires proper, though it does include all other parts of the Greater Buenos Aires metropolitan area. The current capital of the province is the city of La Plata, founded in 1882.

The Province of Buenos Aires (Provincia de Buenos Aires) has numerous professional soccer teams. Club Atlético Independiente and Racing Club de Avellaneda are the most famous. Outside the Metropolitan Region of Buenos Aires, Estudiantes de La Plata, and Gimnasia y Esgrima La Plata stand out.

Note: I do not think that this team should be taken seriously.  The City of Buenos Aires and the adjacent 24 partidos (districts) in the Province of Buenos Aires are considered to be one metropolitan area. It is hard to separate players within Greater Buenos Aires (Spanish: Gran Buenos Aires, GBA) from the city itself.  I created separated teams for the city of Buenos Aires and Buenos Aires Province, largely because 18 of my Argentina All-Time team came from either the city of Buenos Aires or Buenos Aires Province.  So it is not interesting to do a combined City/Province team.

Team
GK: Ubaldo Fillol (San Miguel del Monte)
Ubaldo Fillol was considered one of the greatest Latin American keeper. He was the 1978 WC winning goalkeeper for Argentina.  He also went to the WC Finals in 1974 and 1982. In 1977, he became the first keeper to win the Player of the Year award in Argentina. For his club career, he started with Quilmes.  He played mainly for River Plate.  He also had spells with Racing Club, Flamengo, Atletico Madrid, etc.

Ubaldo Fillol and Daniel Passarella

GK: Sergio Goycochea (Zarate)
Goycochea was the substitute for Nery Pumpido both in River Plate and in the national team, and got his big break in the 1990 World Cup. When Pumpido broke his leg Argentina's second group game against the Soviet Union, he took over and helped Argentina to reach the Final.  In total, he played 44 times for Argentina.  For club football, he played mainly in Argentina, but also played in France, Brazil and Paraguay.

GK: Hugo Gatti (Carlos Tejedor Partido)
Hugo Gatto was nicknamed El Loco (The Madman). At the club level, he won three national championships, two Copa Libertadores tournaments, and one Intercontinental Cup with Boca Juniors. He would frequently leave the penalty area to function as an additional field player. He also played Atlante, River Plate, Union Santa Fe and Gimnasia. He was voted Player of the Year of Argentina in 1982.  He earned 18 caps. He went to the World Cup Finals in 1966. 

CB/RB: Jorge Olguín (Dolores ) 
Jorge Olguín started his career at San Lorenzo in 1971, where he won three trophies (1972 Metropolitano, 1972 Nacional and 1974 Nacional). In 1978, Olguín was included in Argentina's world cup squad playing as a rightback. He was sold to Independiente after the World Cup. In 1984 Olguín was sold to Argentinos Juniors, where he helped them win their first and only Copa Libertadores title. 

RB: Enrique Wolff (Victoria)
Enrique Wolff began his career with Racing Club in 1967. He played for the club until he was transferred to River Plate in 1972. In 1974, Wolff was transferred to UD Las Palmas in Spain, and 3 years later he joined Spanish giants Real Madrid where he was part of the championship winning sides of 1977-1978 and 1978-1979.  He also played for Argentinos Juniors and Tigre. He was capped 27 times.  He went to the World Cup Finals in 1974.

Enrique Wolff

CB: Daniel Passarella (Chacabuco) 
Daniel Passarella was one of the best center-backs ever played the game.  He captained Argentina when it won the World Cup in 1978. He also went to the WC Finals in 1982, but he was forced into have a non-playing role in 1986 after a row with Diego Maradona. He was also known for scoring over 140 goals in his career, very high for a defender. His career was associated with River Plate. He also played for Fiorentina and Inter Milan in Italy.

CB: Roberto Perfumo (Sarandí) 
Nicknamed El Mariscal, Roberto Perfumo is considered as one of the best Argentine defenders ever. At club level, Perfumo played for Racing, River Plate and Brazilian team Cruzeiro. He was a legend with Racing Club in Argentina winning the Primera title, the Copa Libertadores and the Intercontinental Cup.  He was considered their greatest player. He had 37 caps for Argentina.  He played in 1966 and 1974 World Cup Finals. 

Roberto Perfumo and Antonio Rattín

CB: José Ramos Delgado (Quilmes)
Born in Argentina of the Cape Verdean ancestry, he started his playing career in 1956 with Lanús. He moved to River Plate where he played 172 games in 7 seasons with the club. After a short spell with Banfield, he moved to Brazil's Santos, where he played alongside Pelé. He continued playing for Santos until the age of 38, making a total of 324 appearances and scoring one goal.  Capped 25 times.  He went to the 1958 and 1962 WC Finals.

CB: José Salomón (La Plate)
Salomón started his career in 1934 with Talleres before moving to Racing Club in 1939.  Salomón had 44 caps for Argentina including 21 in the Copa América a national record he shares with Oscar Ruggeri. He was part of two Copa América winning teams but his career was ended in the 1946 edition of the competition by a Jair Rosa Pinto tackle, sparking a riot and pitch invasion and fueling the Argentina and Brazil football rivalry.

LB:  Alberto Tarantini (Ezeiza) 
Alberto Tarantini had 61 caps between 1974 and 1982 for Argentina. He was the starting leftback for Argentina in 1978 and 1982, where Argentina won their first WC in 1978. For his club career, he played for River Plate, Boca Juniors and Talleres de Córdoba, River Plate, and European teams SC Bastia, Toulouse and FC St. Gallen.   He was infamously known for his career in England with Birmingham City where he only lasted 28 matches. 

Alberto Tarantini

LB: Jorge Carrascosa (Valentín Alsina)
El Lobo (The Wolf) started his career in 1967 with Banfield. He was signed by Rosario Central, where he was part of the squad that won the Nacional 1971.  n 1973, he joined Huracán where he won a second Argentine championship in his first season, the Metropolitano was the clubs first championship since the professionalisation of Argentine football in 1931. He was a member of the 1974 World Cup squad.

CM/DM: Antonio Rattin (Tigre)
Antonio Rattin played his entire career with Boca Juniors.  He was remembered for getting send-off against England at the World Cup Finals in 1966, in which he refused to leave the field.  This incident, and others surrounding the same game, arguably started the long-lasting rivalry between the national teams of Argentina and England.  He earned 34 caps and also went to the World Cup Finals in 1962. 

CM: Fernando Redondo (Ardrogue) 
Fernando Redondo played his first game in the Primera División at only 16 for Argentinos Juniors, and remained five years with the team before moving abroad to CD Tenerife in Spain.  He joined Real Madrid in 1994, where he would become one of the best central midfielders in Real Madrid's history.  He won two Champions' League with them. For the national team, he only picked up 29 caps because he had issues with various managers.

Fernando Redondo 

CM: Antonio Sastre (Lomas de Zamora)
Antonio Sastre played most of his career for Club Atlético Independiente and São Paulo of Brazil.  He formed a forward line with Vicente de la Mata and Arsenio Erico with Independiente. He is one of the 24 players inducted into the Argentine Football Association Hall of Fame. He was an all-round midfielder who could play well almost anywhere on the pitch due to his intelligence and versatility. From 1933 to 1941, he was capped 34 times, winning the Copa América in 1937 and 1941.

RW: Omar Oreste Corbatta  (Daireaus) 

Corbatta is one of Argentina's greatest right wingers.  He played mainly for Racing Club and Boca Juniors, winning four major titles and scoring 86 official goals with both teams combined. He lost the Copa Libertadores to Pele's Santos in 1963. Capped over 40 times. He was part of the Copa América-winning team in 1957 and 1959. Corbatta also played in the 1958 World Cup, contributing with three goals in three games in an eventual group stage exit.

Omar Oreste Corbatta

LW:  Félix Loustau  (Avellaneda) 
A member of River Plate's "La Máquina, one of the greatest team in the history of South American football. He won eight national titles during his time at the club. He usually played as an outside left and he is considered to be one of Argentina's greatest wingers. Because the peak of his career was during the 2nd World War, his international career was very limited. Nevertheless, he played 28 times for Argentina scoring ten goals.  He won three straight Copa America in 1945, 1946, and 1947. 

FW/LW: Raimundo Orsi (Avellaneda)
Orsi was considered one of the greatest forwards in Argentina's history.  He started his career with Indpendiente in Argentina before lured away to play for Juventus. he won 5 league titles with Juventus.  Later in his career, he would play in Brazil and Chile.  He was capped by Argentina 12 times winning a silver medal at the 1928 Olympics.  He switched to play for Italy in 1929.  He was a star player as Italy won the WC in 1934.

AM: Ricardo Bochini (Zarate)
Ricardo Bochini was Diego Maradona's idol.  He was a legend at Independiente.  He joined the club during the middle of the club's 4 straight Copa Libertadores victory.  In 1984, Bochini would lead them to another Copa Libertadores and the Intercontinental Cup.  He never got his opportunity with the national team.  In 1986, Maradona insisted the inclusion of then, 32 years old Ricardo Bochini.  He only played 5 minutes against Belgium in the semi-final.

AM: Diego Maradona (Lanus)
Maradona was considered the second best player in history after Pele.  He won the World Cup in 1986, scoring the best goal in the history of the World Cup when he scored against England.  He also played in the WC Finals in 1982, 1990 and 1994.  For club football, he was best remembered for leading Napoli to break the dominance of the Northern Italian clubs in the Serie A.  Napoli won two league titles and a UEFA Cup.  He was also considered to be Boca Juniors' greatest player.

Diego Maradona

SS/FW: Adolfo Pedernera (Avellaneda) 
Pedernera was a member of  "La Máquina".  He is still considered by many to be one of the greatest Argentine players of all-time. He was elected the 12th best South american footballer of the 20th century in a poll by the IFFHS in 2000. He moved to Atlanta in 1947 and Millonarios in Colombia.  Because of the Second World War, he did not play many games for Argentina. He still won the Copa America 1941 and 1945.

SS/FW:  Omar Sivori (San Nicolas)
After Argentina won the Copa America in 1957, Omar Sivori joined Juventus where he enjoyed 8 successful years.  He was credited with the resurgence of the club.  With John Charles and Giampiero Boniperti,  he formed "the Magical Trio" with the club.  He won the Ballon d'Or in 1961. He also played for River Plate in Argentina and Napoli in Italy.  He won the Ballon D'Or in 1961.  He played for both Italy and Argentina.

Omar Sivori (R)

FW: Humberto Maschio (Avellaneda)
With Omar Sivori and Antonio Angelillo, Maschio earned the nickname "Angels with Dirty faces" collectively as a group. In 1957, he moved to Italy to play for Bologna after Argentina won the 1957 Copa America.  However, it was in Atalanta where he became a star and earned a bigger move to Inter Milan.  For Argentina, he scored 12 goals in 12 games.  Later he played twice for Italy.

ST: Hernán Crespo (Florida Este)
Hernán Crespo started with River Plate. He went on to play for many big clubs in both Italy and England.  He won three Serie A scudetti, a Copa Libertadores and a Premier League title. At international level, Crespo's career was limited by playing at the same time with Gabriel Batistuta, but he still managed to score 35 goals and is Argentina's third highest goalscorer. He played in three FIFA World Cups: 1998, 2002, 2006.

Hernán Crespo 

Honorable Mention
Claudio Canigga (Henderson), José Luis Brown (Ranchos), Juan Sebastián Verón (La Plate), Carlos Tevez (Ciudadela), Juan Román Riquelme (San Fernando), Manuel Ferreira (Trenque Lauquen) Norberto Alonso (Vicente López),  Daniel Bertoni (Bahía Blanca), Juan José López (Guernica),  Julio Olarticoechea (Saladillo), Herminio Masantonio (Ensenada, Buenos Aires), Miguel Ángel Santoro (Sarandi, Bueno Aires), Manuel Seoane (Avellaneda), Ernesto Lazzatti (Bahía Blanca), Matías Almeyda (Azul), Diego Milito (Bernal), Gabriel Milito(Bernal), Fernando Gago (Ciudadela).


Squad Explanation
-- As mentioned above, the city of Buenos Aires and parts of the Province of Buenos Aires are considered to be one metropolitan area. Moreover, I seriously doubt the accuracy of the birthplace of the players in question.   They might be born in the city, but spent their entire life in one of the 24 partidos of the Greater Buenos Aires.  So please do NOT take this blog team seriously.
-- For example, Alfredo Di Stefano was born in Barracas, Buenos Aires.  It is next to Avellaneda which is a part of the Provincia. Avellaneda used to be known as Barracas al Sur (Southern Barrascas).  La Boca, home of Boca Juniors and birthplace of José Manuel Moreno, is also across the river from Avellaneda.  They are not on this team.
-- Javier Zanetti was listed as born in Buenos Aires, but he grew up in Dock Sud, outside the city.  Anyway, I could never dig into the early life of every single Argentine players.  So I stayed with the simple birthplace as the main criteria.  He is not on this team.
-- Diego Maradona, Omar Sivori, Roberto Perfumo, Daniel Passarella, Adolfo Pedernera, Félix Loustau, Alberto Tarantini, Fernando Redondo and Ubaldo Fillol  are members of my Argentina All-Time team.
-- Only two players Félix Loustau and Adolfo Pedernera were members of  "La Máquina".  By contrary, the City of Buenos Aires All-Time Team featured 4 players from River Plate's "La Maquina". 
-- Hugo Gatti was Boca Juniors' club hero, but his international career was limited as compared to Antonio Roma.  Sergio Goycochea had a great World Cup run in the 1990 World Cup Finals, but he was not as highly rated as Roma.  
-- José Luis Brown (Ranchos) replaced Daniel Passarella as the starter on the 1986 World Cup team after Passarella left the team.  He scored one of the goals in the Final against West Germany. he only made honorable mention.
-- Rightback Enrique Wolff was largely forgotten because he played in the 1974 World Cup Finals, where Argentina did not do well.  His stint with Real Madrid was also short.  The other rightback selected is Jorge Olguín.
-- Leftback Julio Olarticoechea (Saladillo, Buenos Aires) saved an opened goal against England in the famous quarter final between Argentina and England in the 1986 World Cup Finals. The goal would have made it 2-2, and a comeback by England was possible.  His name was immortalised in Argentina for that play.  
-- Fernando Redondo is underrated.  Manager Daniel Passarella did not to call him up for the 1998 World Cup Finals because Redondo refused to cut his hair.  He explained: "I was in great form. But he had particular ideas about discipline and wanted me to have my hair cut. I didn't see what that had to do with playing football so I said no again." Redondo only played 29 times for Argentina and most of his caps came between 1992 and 1994.
-- Antonio Sastre can also drop back to the midfield.  So I do not need Juan Sebestian Veron.  
--  I wrote a blog about Ricardo Bochini. He was Diego Maradona's idol.  He was not given much chance with Argentina during his prime, but he was included on the 1986 World Cup team.  I took him over Norberto Alonso, who got his spot on the 1978 World Cup team. I was very undecided between Ricardo Bochini and Juan Román Riquelme.  In the end, I took Bochini because of his relationship with Diego Maradona.  Maradona insisted Bochini to be on the 1986 team.
-- Ricardo Bochini and Daniel Bertoni formed a famous partnership with Independiente.  Together, they won three straight Copa Libertadores: 1973, 1974, 1975.   Daniel Bertoni (Bahía Blanca) made honorable mention because I already have Omar Oreste Corbatta on the right wing.
-- I thought that Carlos Tevez and Hernan Crespo were about the same, but Crespo scored 35 goals for Argentina while Tevez only got 13.  I also selected Crespo over Deigo Milito, Herminio Masantonio (Ensenada, Buenos Aires) and Manuel Seoane (Avellaneda)
-- Humberto Mashio had a 100% scoring rate with Argentina.  He scored 12 goals in 12 appearances.  He was top scorer at the 1957 Copa America.  He is also a member of "Angels with Dirty faces" along with Omar Sivori.
-- Claudio Canigga (Henderson) was well-known because of playing in the World Cup Finals and his long blond hair.  He made honorable mention here.  

Daniel Passarella

Formation

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Written in Chalk: How to Attack Loose Alignment Tite/Mint Defenses in Run Game

Tite and Mint continue to be the defense du jour among Twitter followers, and as college teams start looking at what some of the best defenses did last year, I anticipate even more will start to implement the front into their package in some form or another. As it becomes more prominent, offenses are going to need to start adapting playcalls for the defense in order to maximize their output. But, of course, you don’t know necessarily a defense is going to run Tite on a given down or stay in that basic look post-snap, so you have to work within your system and not have plays that blowup if you see anything else. This post is going to look at ways of tagging specific base plays and adding wrinkles to better run your base scheme against 4i-0-4i looks.

Previously we’ve looked at the Fundamentals of Tite and Mint, and also some Pre-snap Adjustments to thing about in terms of split, motion, and blocking rules.

Duo or Jab Power/Dart with Short Motion Kick Block

If you run Power you don’t want to get rid of Power. It’s God’s play after all. So how do you maintain your angles while not getting to the point of bad match-ups that plague running power against the Tite front? The answer is to add a kick blocker with short quick motion. This will allow an H-Back to be responsible for kicking out the overhang, as you need to account for him as a box defender. Depending on the matchup, adjust the split of the playside slot receiver to either reduce the space that overhang is playing in (more safety type overhang) or widening him (more defensive back like overhang).

The easiest play to block up front is Duo. With the DL position, you are afforded to playside double teams vertical right into the LBs lap. Short motion from the H can act as the kick block of the EMOL or playside overhang. It’s the simplest means being physical with this front. (Note on Duo, I would expect the vast majority of the time it's going to bounce outside which is fine as long as you get movement with the playside Double)

For Power, with how many teams lag the NT back toward RB alignment, when presented with a 4i-0-4i, make the Center responsible for the NT. This maintains a solid, playside double, and with the backside 4i you can be confident in hinging the BST to cut him off (this will be the hardest part of blocking this, because the Center may need to step playside at the snap to ensure he leverages the NT, so your BST is almost going to have to scoop that backside).

Alternatively, you can swap assignments between the BSG so that you are pulling the BST and run Dart, as the jab step gives him time to clear.

To account for that swapping of assignments and the risk of the defense auto blitzing off the short motion H, a backside slant RPO is a fairly easy addition into the area where the backside overhang would typically reside. Just make sure your slant receiver is identifying the will and adjusting his slant accordingly; the QB is reading the backside overhang to determine pass/read, the receiver needs to make sure he’s not slanting right into the BSLB undercutting that route as the backside overhang and BSLB exchange potential gaps.

The jab in the backfield not only presents some counter flow, but it also holds that backside overhang temporarily to give the blockers time to clear, while also slowing the LBs from fast scraping playside and really forcing the play wide right into the overhang (if they are managing to still spill everything, reduce the playside, think of starting in 2x2 with a reduced split from the slot, pushing the overhang further inside and allowing him to be logged, getting the play outside the overhang.

What makes both of these plays difficult is the backside 4i, for the same reason Inside Zone struggles vs this front. But the gap blocking allows you to handle the playside doubles a little easier once you add the the playside kickout from the motion man. Because the front makes it so difficult to run between the tackles, another thing to think about is adding a crack block on the playside LB. This will likely force the safety into the fit but with the motion kick out, will help widen that C gap to make it more difficult to spill to the overhang and shut down that space.

Counter OT with Same Direction Jet Motion

We have angles within the box if we can find a way to account for the overhang. Again, quick motion limits the time for the backend to adjust. The motion receiver will then read the overhang, if he stays wide, the motion man can stay on his sweep path, if the overhang triggers, the motion man can kick.

There are two schemes here that fit. Everyone and their brothers, fathers, sisters, mothers, uncles, and aunts loves Counter OT these days. At this point I’ll probably go to my grave not trusting it unless I have a backside blocker (rather than a read), but because people are running it, let’s find how to tag it. 

If we want to run a Counter OT Read, we need to block the backside 4i, we cannot read him. Why? If the 4i chases the pullers and the WILL folds back, we can’t account for both the BSLB and the backside overhang. So we need the center to block back on the 4i (a tough ask, but possible). This leaves the BSLB as the QB read. If the WILL triggers on the blitz or follows the pullers QB keeps and runs. A backside bubble gives the QB a third option off the backside overhang (note, the backside safety can still allow the defense to account for everything on the keep read, so if at all possible we want to hand the ball because we are confident we can at worst get a RB vs CB playside; nevertheless, you can maximize your space and force that safety to really attack his fit, which can open up other aspects of attacking Tite fronts, such as the free release of the slot to the safety, pump-and-go, etc.). Our main threat here is the PSLB shooting the playside A gap and blowing up our pullers. The backside Tackle needs to find the playside LB pre-snap and potentially break off his pull to handle him.

If we have a mobile QB we have better options, because the RB can account for the backside DE. By doing that, we allow ourselves to adjust the OL the same way we adjusted for Power above, get a playside double on the 4i and really cave him in. That going to make life clear for the pullers to really effectively kick LBs out who have to scrape over the top or log them inside if they try really hard to spill. That playside double also can combo off directly to the MIKE if he gets sent on a playside blitz.

Interesting twist on Counter G-T. Instead of running the Counter opposite of Jet motion, Oklahoma runs it to the same side, getting the Defense to overpursue outside and cutting it up inside for a big gain. pic.twitter.com/IXFx1s24Sk

— Barry Hoover (@BarryHoover) March 6, 2020

Outside Zone with Quick Motion

We have a few ways to adjust our outside zone scheme to account for life in the world of Tite. How we adjust will depend on if your QB is a run threat, how the backside LB is reacting, and what our offensive line is best at (quicker OL vs a mauling OL, a OL great at working combos vs one that is less effective, etc.).

The hardest part about running outside zone against the Tite front is reaching the backside ILB. Often, the NT will lag into the backside gap, forcing the center to release against a fast scraping LB, and he can't get there before the backside LB gets over the top. 

Let’s start with basic Outside Zone a same direction jet fake to hold the playside apex (or quick motion an H-back and lead block). If he widens with the jet, keep running the sweep threat. If he triggers, block him with the motion man (always block with an H-Back). The idea of starting in 3x1 and utilizing quick motion is an effort to keep those ILBs further to the 3 man side pre-snap. With the playside overhang accounted for, we can treat this zone scheme similar to Lead Outside Zone with our double targets moving back a man. This allows the playside OT and OG to combo to the lap of the PSLB and the Center and Backside OG to combo through the NT to the BSLB. Most importantly, it's significantly more wash for the backside LB to have to fight through, as you can hard set the edge and then work up to the second level. (If the 3x1 isn't providing enough insentive to push the ILBs to the 3 man side, consider starting in 2x2 and crack blocking the ILB with the playside WR, adding more wash for the backside guy to fight through and forcing the safety into the fit). Set your RB’s aiming point at the butt of your OT and let your OL react to the flow of the LBs to determine where he cuts. Simple.

I’m relatively critical of motion opposite the direction of the attack. Unlike against some other defensive structures, it really doesn’t put anyone is a significant bind. The backside overhang simply has a person running at him which he isn’t in conflict from. But you also don’t want to tip the direction of the play based on always motioning in the same direction, you need to have the ability to motion opposite. To do so, you have two real options.

First, like I’ve said, you need to account for the playside overhang, so now the PST’s job is to block that man. This is likely easier in less space, so you will adjust your receivers position in order to get that defender to come closer to the OL. This can be done by either motioning from 2x2 if the teams overhang moves further inside when he only has one receiver to his side, or it can be done by starting in 3x1 and reducing the same side split of the slot receiver staying to that direction (your choice will depend on your QB’s capabilities more than likely). This then means the PSG has the playside 4i and it is the backside double team from the BSG and Center that has to work up to the PSLB. This is a long track and likely means the play is going to need to cut back behind the PSLB. As such, you need to focus on washing the DL down the line and then reading the BSLB with an RPO scheme, which sometimes mitigates some of the issues dealing with fast flow from the LBs. Reduce the split of the backside slot in order to get into that window post snap to attack the WILL flowing to the run game or sitting in his zone.

And, as we've covered, the QB run does so much for equalizing numbers that it allows us to combine these two ideas. Here, you can run Lead Q Outside Zone, effectively match numbers playside, and utilize the split flow to influence the backers. Whether you want to combo to the LB or simply pin and pull it is up to you.

Update: We have an example

When they got tired of splitting LSU in half they just ran some good 'ol fashioned QB Stretch Lead to outnumber them to the perimeter. (11/14) pic.twitter.com/8QUbJXzAm6

— Coach Vass (@CoachVass) June 21, 2020

The second option is really not to run Outside Zone at all, but instead a wind back zone (also known as a gap counter). In this way, you are using the motion man as the wind back lead blocker back to what will be the playside overhang. The initial zone path of Outside Zone will cause the LBs to flow, so that when the doubles work to them they can simply keep them stuck to that side, only for the RB to wind back to the “backside of the play”. This again will take advantage of the fast flow LBs. Here, we are starting in a 2x2 and motioning to the 3-man side to try to force the ILBs to shift further to strength and improve angles for the combos to work to the 2nd level on the wind back.

Now, if your team is going to struggle working those doubles to the LBs and you really want to attack that C-gap, consider a G scheme. Note: a common idea on paper is that pin and pull is a great scheme to run vs Tite. Given the angles presented by the front, on paper it is absolutely perfect. The downside is that it is extremely difficult to account for the PSLB shooting theplayside gaps vacated by the puller, so if it’s used, it needs to be used as a changeup. A more permanent option is a Stretch G scheme.

In this case, we’ll vertical combo the playside DE with the OG/OT working toward the PSLB; the PSLB blitzes inside you move off that combo to account for him. The backside OG then needs to really work to reach the NT, with a possible cut on the backside, while the Center pulls around front side. This frontside vertical double is going to set a hard edge while the Center wraps around and takes any scraps that find their way to try to spill the play further outside.

Notice in this example that the pull actually comes from the backside of the play. Between the guard and the center you have to feel the NT and what he's doing to determine who to pull. Pulling the Center is nice as it allows you to get an additional blocker off the edge and account for most dangerous, but if the DL is moving with the doubles you have to wash those guys down, and the play will cut back in (the puller has to feel where the hole to the 2nd level exists). Moving it back to the Center more or less forces it to be an inside run, but a stretch G scheme can improve your angles when handling the backside flow.

I could watch Oregon’s OL on the Backside of Wide Zone vs. Tite Front all day long!

↩️ RG Overlaps Center to the Backside LB

✂️ RT Cuts Off 4i with a Swim Move & Basketball Box Out pic.twitter.com/zMKxVbXLdV

— Coach Dan Casey (@CoachDanCasey) May 1, 2020

Another option would be to pin down on the NT with the PSG. This eliminates the front side double, but allows you to safely pull the Center to the front of the play. This does violate some basic pin and pull rules, so those rules would need to be adjusted for the front (traditional rules would have the center reach a heads up NT rather than the PSG work back to him), but by pulling the Center, you keep the FSLB in the pullers vision, allowing him to check for the run thru.

This is really cool, and I think the best way to run OZ vs Tite. It will violate normal playside pin and pull with head up nose, but pinning down on NT with PSG and pulling C will give C ability to eye the PSILB run thru threat.

This is adapting whiteboard to practice https://t.co/B8z8knQmMj

— Space Coyote (@SpaceCoyoteBDS) May 17, 2021

G Lead with Short Motion

If you do want to run a form a pin and pull, I’d recommend limiting it to a G-Lead scheme, the C-BSG will combo toward PSLB in case the PSLB tries to blitz that frontside A gap, even though if the PSLB does anything but trigger down, the combo won't reach him (and should hope just to be able to reach the backside LB).

If you wish to motion opposite the direction of the play, consider cracking down on the ILBs to help seal the defense inside and wrapping to the overhang.

Crack Block with Duo, Power, and Down G

We’ve run away from alignment a lot now, and we’ve utilize short motion to get an additional blocker to the opposite side of the formation numerous times. So now, rather than cross the formation, will short motion to crack. This allows us to utilize motion as an option of changing angles and gaps, rather than always having the motion work the overhangs.

Given we’ve what we’ve seen above with running opposite alignment, let’s break that tendency and look at a Toss Read version. Here, the motion man will combo with the PST down on the DE back to the BSLB. The FSG will lead around to the overhang defender to lead the toss play. The BSG is going to pull around to the FSLB. If the FSLB widens with the RB, the QB will keep and run like Power. If the FSLB stays inside, the QB will toss to the RB in an effort to get to the edge.

Here they don't utilize utilize a read element playside, instead favoring to fake a mesh point and move the RB out into a lead block (so blocking instead of reading, though this may allow you to push the read element elsewhere since you no loner have to read the toss element). It also allows the playside puller to pull to the PSLB, as the lead blocker has an angle to block the overhang.

Does anyone run pin-and-pull with skip pulls? or is this more of a "super" power type of run vs tite front?

Front side G kicks out end but backside G leads into daylight pic.twitter.com/yzcUog7sgd

— Ted Nguyen (@FB_FilmAnalysis) April 9, 2020

If we want to read the End we can now crack block the LB. But to do so, we don’t necessitate the short crack motion (though we can always utilize it). Now, instead, we can utilize the motion man as a runner and add blockers for the give. Here, we’ll utilize the playside slot to crack the Inside LB and the RB and PST can lead to the overhang/safety. The double of the NT to the backside LB combined with the arc path of the OT will force the playside DE into a lot of space.

Note that you can utilize the WR to run and the RB to lead or lead with the motion man and give the RB the run tack, you can utilize Toss Read or Power read fairly interchangeably. It’s all ways of doing the same thing from an offensive perspective but finding the alignments that provide you the best angles or at times to break tendency.

Here's OSU running to a 4 man side to really emphasis numbers to the BASH threat.

Ohio State's sweep bash option out of quads vs. Tite front.

QB reads 4T pic.twitter.com/RfWt8Dst25

— Ted Nguyen (@FB_FilmAnalysis) September 4, 2019

Influence Wham

Again, we want to use our H-back in a variety of ways to force the LBs to think rather than trigger at the snap. The use of an H allows use to create new gaps at various points along the LOS. Here, we’re going to Wham the backside 4i. This is “Wham” rather than “Split” because the OT is going to fan out to the overhang. Here, we’ll show it run back toward alignment.

We can also influence pull to get to a similar picture, get the Guard out on the overhang and OT to the LB level.

Tight Counter OH

Another way to get into Counter OH is to widen the B gap. Here, the PST is going to pass set before blocking the playside EMOL or overhang. The pass set will trigger the End to get up field and widen, which will make him easier to kick. Then the H pulls through to the playside LB.

Tight Counter from @CuseFootball. Kick the 3 and base the 5. Free access throw and quick screen attached to the play. Syracuse O is an offense to watch. pic.twitter.com/2R9PIi5Zrs

— All-22 Film Breakdown (@All22_Breakdown) July 2, 2019

If the defense prefers Mint, you can even get into 12 personnel to find the advantage.

Pin and Pull

If you love the angles of pin and pull, I recommend utilizing 12 personnel and getting into TE-Wing combo. Why? The idea of Mint/Tite tends to be to spill to the overhang. Spill, spill spill. So let’s get in a nub set and push a mass of bodies outside so that it becomes increasingly hard to spill. Here, we get a Down Pin and Pull scheme.

Find ways to forces space defenders to play in a phone booth and overload the numbers. Eventually, defenses run out of spill, spill, spill players.

Belly Zone with Orbit Motion

There are two same side Belly Zone schemes. Again, we must account for the playside overhang, and in this case, it means arcing the OT. (Note: you can also go with the basic BASH plays, utilizing the RB as the outside threat and the QB as the inside run threat).

 In the first case we will read the BSLB. This would mean if the BSLB gains width, you will have the RB running a belly zone right at the frontside leg of the Center. Depending on where the Nose goes, the RB will run away. If the BSLB shoots down, the orbit swing should have multiple blockers in front of it to account for the safety and overhang.

In the second case, we will read the End. From a 4i this is a bit trickier, so we’ll want to stress the bend back. Because of that, we may need to account for the backside overhang folding inside. Because of this, we’ll actually set a pull call for the OG, which will force the bend back, with the pull and the RB reading the clear path to the second level.

For what it's worth, I'm not really a huge fan of either of these because Inside Zone is so difficult to run against this front and not get spilled into overhangs. So if you insist on running it, I think you need to have the ability to not just run with the QB, but utilize triple option keys to gain back any sort of advantage. Blocking angles, especially on the inside, are just very difficult to make work.

Midline
I'd been toying for a while with away to attack the front with midline out of 10/11 personnel), but struggling to get the blocking angles the way I wanted them to run away from the Jack. My initial thought was to run it away from the Jack, and I toyed with two options:

• Option 1
• Read PSDE
• OT arc to the Overhang
• Zone PSG/C to NT-> PSLB
• BSG/BST to BSDE-> BSLB
• Option 2
• Read PSDE
• Utilize quick motion to get blocker to overhang
• Down block PST to PSLB
• PSG/C to NT -> BSLB
• BSG/BST to BSDE hinge to Jack

With Option 1, I was really worried about how any NT push technique would quickly blow up the play(overall, the angles for a quick hitting play are generally poor anyway, as you wouldn't have time to reach the NT and move the PSLB to actually generate a good crease).


 For Option 2, I really struggled with the angle of the PST getting out to the PSLB through the PSDE. Either the PST has to step vertical and around, which if the PSDE widens, then the OT won't have time to get into his block before the PSLB and DE can manage the read element; or he has to cross the DE's face which would likely meet resistance as the DE's thought will be not to get sealed.

Turns out, Blitzology had just the answer ready. I love the cross block between the OT and Y-TE (could also utilize an Off-Y) to maintain the lead block to the Will element that I was missing when I was toying with it, but getting a slightly quicker player out to the second level. The downblocks, which I prefer to get more movement up front, really widen that gap, and force the WILL to react, opening up the read.

Blitzology

Follow the link to view a clip of this in action.

WR Alignment

The WR alignment will largely depend on a few things: 1) The QB’s mobility; 2) The QB’s ability to make post-snap reads; 3) The QB’s ability to run triple option.

Q run, itself, gives the offense a significant numbers advantage. The RB is an added player that can cutoff backside pursuit or be used as a lead blocker. Additionally, it allows you not to have to incorporate motion to get to some of the areas I diagramed above, preventing the defense from reacting in unique ways. If your QB is a capable runner but struggles to make post-snap reads, plan on using the RB as a blocker for QB runs, similar to the ones above.

If your QB is a capable runner and can make post-snap reads, you want to provide means of handling the backside games that defenses play to trick the QB on his give/keep reads. To do this, you may think about cracking the Backside ILB with a backside receiver and/or find ways to get into triple option. The defense has an advantage on the backside as they will typically have the CB, Overhang, plus safety, and have the option of flowing the BSILB to the play. So the ability to force it to be 3v3 in space is key.

One trick is to slow the safety from triggering down. Bubble from #2 will quickly result in the safety filling the alley. But a Now screen may slow the safety a bit more and still allow you to play triple option.

If your QB can’t really run, then you don’t want to spend resources holding the backside overhang. The backside overhang may fold back inside opposite flow, but for the most part it will be difficult for him to generate negative plays from his backside alignment (he’s limiting damage if it comes back to him). So what you want to focus on is adding blockers playside to better account for safeties and biggest threat. Reduce the split of the single side receiver to be able to RPO the backside ILB.

Screen/Draw

The power of Tite and mint is that it gives the overhangs the ability to play everything inside out, and still be in position to play the pass when they see pass sets up front. As the OL pass sets, the DE’s widen into the C-gaps in an effort to rush the passer.

But what this means is that if you can get the defense to key pass, you’re back to 5 on 5 in the box (or 6 on 5 if you have a mobile QB), and that is advantage offense.

An Angle screen from the RB hard sells the pass. RB releasing into the flat, OL pass dropping. DEs widen but are unable to chip the RB, allowing him to get width easily, keep the overhangs and LBs in pass drop mode, before the interior OL releases up to the LBs with the RB fitting behind. Pictured below is a double screen.

Texas Tech running a Middle Screen vs. Drop 8 Coverage

📝 I think this particular Screen is a brilliant answer vs. Tite Front Defenses that are predicated on Spilling the Football! Great way to attack the Midde of the Field! pic.twitter.com/FMNw8A0lo6

— Coach Dan Casey (@CoachDanCasey) June 13, 2019

Similarly, Gut Draw can be the same type of hard sell. Get a lot of depth with your OTs and then fold up to the LB level. You can run it with your RB, or, again, if you have a mobile QB you can Swing the RB to hold the overhang or simply utilize your RB as an additional lead blocker at the point of attack (the inside release similarly selling pass first).

Summary

The following is a summary of how to treat a loose alignment side in Tite or Mint:

• Account for the playside overhang as a box defender
• In gap schemes, the NT is a “backside” defender that the center will block back to, allowing you to double the playside End
• “Tight” or A-gap calls can specifically be used to adjust the double back to the NT if the defense starts overplaying the spill
• Utilize quick motion to alter post-snap numbers and create additional gaps. Alter your tempo if defense is in a front you aren’t expecting. Remember, motion should be an advantage, it becomes a disadvantage when your guys don’t know their assignments due to defensive reaction to the movement.
• Figure out how you're going to account for playside run through from LB level
• Adjust your receiver alignments to benefit the playcall. Think about
• How do I ensure loose alignment?
• How do I widen overhang?
• How do I reduce overhang?
• What triggers ILBs to shift out of 20 technique?
• How does short-side vs wide-side impact defensive alignment?
• How is defensive alignment impacted by 3x1 short-side vs wide-side?
• How do I change WR splits so I can time routes to read particular defenders in RPO game?

Etc.
Update: Great thread here from Coach Vass

Ole Miss had some of the best Tite front beaters vs. LSU, that I'd seen in a long time. The individual plays weren't as impressive is how they were packaged together. They centered on sawing the defense in half and getting lead blockers to the perimeter.

A thread (1/14)

— Coach Vass (@CoachVass) June 21, 2020

Update II: The great twitter follow @CoachDanCasey put out the a number of examples in this moment

⚡️ A couple Tite Front Beaters for the Offense! https://t.co/RgMAFPICsU

— Coach Dan Casey (@CoachDanCasey) July 27, 2021

Conclusion

There are a few aspects here. From an OL perspective, we are tagging plays to account for the soft edge overhang as a box defender. This is a “Loose” alignment adjustment, and if you get a hard edge, you will run the schemes as you typically do with an end involved. This is how we play Mint vs Tite, understanding that the overhang outside the Jack in Mint isn’t often going to be in the run fit, and if he is, can often be accounted for with the playside receiver.

The second adjustment is calling a head-up NT a backside defender in gap schemes so that your center is accounting for him rather than blocking all the way back to 4i (an exception may apply when you run Counter OT because of the lack of backside blocker). So it’s a slight adjustment to your rules, but it is not an overhaul of your existing system and it isn’t drawing plays specifically for static defenders in a Tite front. And of course, if the defense starts over-playing the spill and getting wide, you can always come back with a “Tight” or A-gap specific call to move that double back onto the nose (see: Tight counter OH).

Then there is the concept of utilizing quick motion. If you know what you’re getting, quick motion to add blockers, either lead blockers or jet motion or whatever, is great. Depending on the player that is impacted by the motion will determine if you sweep or lead block. But based on the defensive alignment, you run quick motion or you can slow things down. Either via a “Check with Me” or the QB’s ability to diagnose a defense, you can call the same plays, but “slow” the motion. If you expect Tite and get Tite, you can run your quick motion. If you expect Tite but get a 4-3 Over front, slow the motion, bring the H into his wing alignment or sniffer alignment and stop and give your front an opportunity to communicate how to block the scheme. You don’t have to move like lighting all the time.

It’s always important to remember, as I’m often reminded by my friends on the defensive side, defenses aren’t static. Your pre-snap motion will cause them to adjust. Post-snap they may blitz or twist. These adjustments are designed to handle that. If your motion causes the DL to shift, you have to understand how to block your scheme. Hard edge vs soft edge, bringing down another defender to LB level, overhang to Mint, who don’t we account for in the front, etc. Understand your built in rules so when the defense shifts out of the generic Tite, you know what to do, it’s fine to simply force them to communicate the motion, that gains you an advantage on defense. Also, you control the tempo of your motion. Quick motion is great because it limits the defense’s ability to shift and communicate but gives you the ability to add blockers to a variety of places, but always remember you can slow it down.

Lastly, understand what your threats are with each play call. I talked about defense shooting interior gaps vs Pin and Pull. How are you prepared to protect against that, because no one is lining up and always playing base. With these things, you can effectively attack Tite/Mint on the ground within your base offense.