Run-pass conflict
What it is
Deliberately assigning one defender both a run responsibility and a pass responsibility, then throwing or running based on which he chooses.
Why it matters
This is the organising idea behind the RPO and behind most modern option football: the offense does not try to block the conflict defender, it makes him wrong. Identifying him is the whole pre-snap job — usually a linebacker with a run fit and a curl-flat drop, or a safety with an alley fit and a deep quarter. The defensive answer is never to make him faster; it is to change the call so no single defender owns both jobs.
Also called
Programs call this conflict defender, read the conflict or put him in conflict. 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.