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    • Why the NFL is so obsessed with the Wing T offense
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    Why the NFL is so obsessed with the Wing T offense

    Online Niel Posted on

    No running, no fun. In 2024, the best offenses in the league are running the ball. That statement might sound like it’s straight out of the ’90s, but given how defenses prioritize stopping explosive passing plays, living through the air is a tough way to live. However, the best offenses aren’t just lining up in an I formation and calling iso and power over and over. To be a good running team, you have to be creative and deceptive. Offensive coaches are looking everywhere for ideas, and several teams have turned to one of the original offensive systems: the Wing T.

    The Wing T is a three-back offense. The starting lineup has two running backs and a wing lined up outside and behind the tight end. The wing serves as a third quarterback who goes on the move to receive handoffs or fakes as if receiving a handoff. Although the formation and games may vary from iteration to iteration, the basic principles are deception, game play, and speed. The goal is to replace the defenders with moves and fakes and to quickly hit the defense with runs from the fake.

    The Arizona Cardinals are hit defenses with an offense that resembles a single-wing offense, which is the original offense that Mike McDaniels’ Wing T evolved from Miami Dolphins The offense ranked first in yards per carry (5.1) last season by integrating the principles, ideas and plays of the Wing T. Matt LaFleur won games with the starting quarterback injured by turning his Green Bay Packers offense in a modern Wing T offense. Some of the league’s best players – Andy Reid, Sean McVay, Ben Johnson and Kyle Shanahan – have sprinkled Wing T concepts into their game sheets for years. Today, we see Wing T play all over the league.

    Why Wing T is making its way into NFL?

    The prominence of the jet sweep — in which a receiver goes into motion and receives a direct pass that runs to the perimeter — comes straight from the Wing T. During Jim Harbaugh’s first stint as head coach of San Francisco 49ershe started running wide receivers for Ted Ginn Jr. Harbaugh credited Sacred Heart Prep’s Pete Lavorato with teaching him to increase the fly after Harbaugh attended a clinic for Lavorato’s offense, a version of the Wing T.

    Now every team has jet sweep on offense. The game keeps defenses honest. Faking the jet to the receivers, then handing the ball off or throwing it to the running backs replaces the backs. Misdirection causes them to look and lean in the wrong direction, which is one of the staples of every Wing T offense.

    Wide receivers as running backs and play diversity

    Dan Casey built his reputation by posting interesting pieces on social media. He now consults for NFL teams, helping them add new ideas to their playbooks.

    “There’s just a greater need for diversity in the running game and being able to get touches off more guys,” Casey explained. “I think the days of being able to line up as one back and run wide are over. The defense just swallows that up.”

    Casey talked about what Liam Coen is doing with their two-spare sets, using Rachel White and Bucky Irving at the same time. Neither back specializes in lead blocking, so you can’t just block one of them for the other. You have to find ways to stress the defense to create an advantage for whoever is carrying the ball. Wing T games help you do that.

    Shanahan started using Deebo Samuel as a running back years ago with the 49ers. The Deadpool Pack. This has stressed the defense as they have to treat him like a wide receiver and trot out their nickel personnel (five defensive backs) when Samuel is part of a three-receiver set, but San Francisco can play still with two defenders when on the pitch. field.

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    “You trade some guys and any run looks good against the fronts you’re going up against,” Shanahan explained.

    “Just in the conversations I’ve had with a lot of guys in the NFL … obviously, you’ve got your running back and then every team wants a receiver they can hand the ball to. Not just on sweeps, but inside transfers,” Casey said.

    In the clip above, Detroit Lions runs a cheat straight out of the Wing T playbook: a basic concept called the “Sally” variant. In the play, there must be an element of fake off the run with a handoff to a player in front of the quarterback, usually with the linebacker either blocking the trap or blocking the lead. Lions led it with Jared Goff making a pitch to the runner before handing it off to the catcher Amon-Ra St. Brown in front of him with the center and tackles blocking for him. Sally is the most important Wing T play you will see in the NFL on Sunday.

    Giving defenses a new look and adding layers to games

    “Defenses have gotten really good at matching that, the basic version of run plays,” Casey said. “So you have to change the calculation or change the fit somehow. The beautiful thing about these Wing T concepts is that there is no paradigm for defense that fits. It’s not like he sees that every day in practice. So when I talk to guys in the NFL, a lot of times they say, “I need something that people haven’t seen a lot of because once they see it and repeat it, they can ruin it.” “

    Of course, running a base play in the infield will still work if you block it correctly, but defenses have seen it so many times that they can instinctively play it and get to the right spots. Whether they can hold the field, shed blocks and make tackles is a different story, but just making the defense guess where they need to be or where they fit on the run gives the offense an edge. That’s where these Wing T backfield actions come into play.

    In this clip, Kansas City Chiefs simply run a play inside the zone. However, before Patrick Mahomes handed the ball to the running back, he turned his back to the defense to fake a reverse to a wide receiver before completing his spin and getting back into position to hand the ball off to the running back. The Chiefs also added another layer of deception, as teams usually run inside the zone, away from the side where the backs are compensated. So if the back is lined up to the quarterback’s left, they would run the right zone. In the clip, the runner was lined up to the left of Mahomes, but ran inside the left zone.

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    Another main tenant of the Wing T is the quarterback who turns his back on the defense to run fakes. Many Wing T playing cards have a whole series of plays called the “spinner”, which involves spinning the quarterback to hide the ball from the defense. With the rise of snap formations throughout the league, quarterbacks will typically hand off the ball with the ball carrier coming in front of them. By integrating spinner concepts into the rifle, they get the element of deception back even from the gun.

    Taking it to the next level

    The biggest lesson to take away from the Wing T offense is not the game, but the sequence. In every game, there is one counter and another. If a defense overplays the outside, it can fake an outside play and hit you inside or vice versa. McVay took the league by storm when he was first hired by the Los Angeles Ramsbuilding their playbook with this philosophy in mind. With the Dolphins, McDaniel took the element of deception and layering to another level. Foot game ball and hand game fakes Tua Tagovailoa which they perform are a height of the techniques established by Wing T.

    Week 10, 12:09 left in first quarter, first-and-10

    On this play, Tagovailoa first faked an inside hand to the defender to his left before throwing the ball to the receiver. Malik Washington on the reverse. The nifty part of this play is having the center and guard fake like they’re blocked before draining to the perimeter to block for Washington.

    Tagovailoa reversed to counter fake left. The right guard and tight end faked to the left to get the linebackers to step in that direction. Tagovailoa tucked the ball behind his pivot before throwing the ball to Washington. He did a good job of moving his body facing the rim so the defense didn’t suspect he had the ball and made as little movement as possible toward Washington.

    This piece is straight from a Wing T playbook, but with a few tweaks.

    The quarterback turning his back on the defense and all the fake possibilities add more layers of deception when teams want to pass the ball, leading to better play action.

    Here, the Packers Malik Willis turned his back on the defense to fake an outside pass before throwing a screen.

    In today’s age of easy access to information, crimes are looking everywhere for inspiration and ways to eliminate defenses. Of course, they went back to football’s origins for inspiration, because the principles of offense never go out of style. Cheating and speed sequencing are a lethal combination. Wing T offenses weaponized those elements to near perfection decades ago. Modern offenses take notes and add their own twist.

    (Top photo of Tua Tagovailoa: Bryan Bennett/Getty Images)

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