Jet sweep
What it is
A receiver in full-speed motion takes a handoff heading for the edge, arriving before the defense can adjust.
Why it matters
Jet is the purest speed-versus-leverage play in football: the ball carrier is already at top speed at the moment of the handoff, so a defense that has not adjusted its leverage before the snap simply cannot get there. Even when it does not gain, it moves the second level laterally, which is why it is so often paired with an inside run or a play-action shot off the same motion.
Both sides of it
Running it
The receiver motions flat and full-speed, timed so he crosses the quarterback at the snap. Playside blockers reach or arc to the perimeter; the backside is cut off. Most jet schemes carry a companion inside run or a boot off the same look, so the motion itself is doing work whether or not the ball goes with it.
Stopping it
Adjust before the snap, not after. The defense must bump its leverage with the motion so the force player is already outside the ball when it arrives — chasing jet from an unadjusted alignment is hopeless. The discipline test is the companion play: the backside end and linebacker must honour the inside run and the boot rather than sprinting with the motion.
Also called
Programs call this jet, fly sweep, jet motion or orbit sweep. The Coach answers to any of them.
Related
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