Quarterback run game
What it is
Designed runs for the quarterback — power, counter, draw and sneak — which restore the numbers a defense takes away.
Why it matters
A quarterback who is a genuine runner turns the box count in the offense's favour, because the defense must account for a ball carrier it can otherwise ignore. Designed quarterback runs are the blunt form of that advantage: no read, just an extra blocker and an extra gap. The cost is exposure — the position is not built to absorb the carries a running back absorbs.
Both sides of it
Running it
Block it exactly like the corresponding running-back play and hand the ball to nobody. Because the back is now free, he becomes a lead blocker or a decoy running the opposite way, which is what makes a bash concept work. The sneak is the extreme case: quick count, low pads and the quarterback following the double team behind the centre and guard.
Stopping it
Count the quarterback in the box before the snap. A defense playing a light box against a running quarterback is outnumbered by arithmetic and cannot fix it with effort. Linebackers must fit the extra gap the quarterback creates, and on the goal line the answer is low pads and interior penetration — a sneak is stopped in the first six inches or not at all.
Also called
Programs call this QB power, QB counter, sneak, designed QB run or bash. The Coach answers to any of them.
Related
This entry is authored, not generated. It is one of 205 in the index that the AI-ssistant Coach retrieves from, and that Film Study tags clips against.