Using play action is nothing new to anyone. But, maybe the way the West Coast Offense uses play action is a little different. The objective is the same – to utilize the defensive reaction to run action against them in order to complete a pass. This article discusses a number of methods to use same run action to complete a pass in the same general location.

I want to demonstrate how the West Coast Offense uses play action to attack the backside containment to create big play opportunities. This will be done by coupling the run action with high percentage passes. We will be examining this by looking at the possibilities from our play action off of 18/19 Wide, or our power sweep.

To check to see how the run action works in comparison to this play action, CLICK HERE to review my previous article – 18/19 Wide. This particular play negates defenses that like to attack, and get penetration up field. It also takes some of the aggressiveness away from defenses that like to get 11 men to the ball, and gang tackle. We try to get a blocker on the player responsible for containment, but we do have one play that runs a “naked” bootleg, and we will try to influence him to chase the sweep.

Since this player has a potential free run at the quarterback, we know this will result in either a completion or a sack..But, in every other occasion we will try to get a lazy cut off block on the contain man, also known as a “slow” block. So we have five plays that will demonstrate how to utilize this play action in conjunction with our running game, and the west coast offense.

We will look at five plays from the play action series:

1) X Slant (covered in this article)

2) Z Late

3) FB Slide

4) Y Late

5) Fox 2/3 Fullback Cross

X Slant – To set up this play, we send our best receiver to the wide side of the field. We want to get a defense more favorable to give us the space needed for the slant route. We want to move the strength of the formation to the short side of the field, giving our best receiver the most area to work with. This also gives him the space to beat single coverage or to defeat such a wide gap in the zone coverage.

The defensive structure of this defense is weakened by the linebackers alignment inside of the defensive end. The distance is too great for the linebacker to cover and leaves a open gap in the coverage. This coupled with the play action to the strong side of the formation will help to keep that gap open for the receiver to defeat his defender. The wide receiver runs his slant route as per his pattern rules.

This is a quick rhythm pass, so the quarterback cannot hold the ball. The quarterback makes his fake, and quickly gets his shoulders around so he can make a rifle throw. We like this call versus a corner who is playing with some depth. The tackle to the side of call, must stand up the defender and not allow him to get outside without a fight. He can allow him to cross his face. But, he must never allow him up field to get in the path of the throw.

This article is the second in a series of articles on Offensive Football by John Anderson, author of West Coast Offense at the Youth Level. The book is available at The CompuSports Media Exchange.