Pressures to Attack Full-Slide Protection

By Mike Kuchar
Senior Research Manager
X&O Labs
Twitter: @MikeKKuchar

Editor’s Note: The following research is part of X&O Labs’ special report on Developing a Pressure Check System, which can be found by clicking here.

Introduction

Full-Slide Protection (Diagram 70A): Full slide protection simply means the offensive line will slide all in one direction and put its back away from the slide. Here, the offensive line could slide in many directions, to the field, to the boundary, to the QB’s backside, etc. It’s important to get a tendency on where they are sliding most often based which could be based on down and distance and personnel.

Without question, full slide protection is the most simple to dissect and perhaps just as simple to attack. The key is to understand where they are setting their slide. Slides can be set to the back, away from the back, to the field or to the boundary. Once that tendency is determined, it becomes more sensible to attack away from the slide protection. We were surprised to hear that many defensive coaches are still seeing the majority of offenses employ full slide protection on a weekly basis. “We see so much slide protection in our league, everyone is doing it.” Butler Community College defensive coordinator Tim Schaffner told us. “We blitz the back to also work on the zone read.”