The A-11 offense has been banned -

[bonedaddy401]

This is ridiculous. It is just a progression in the sport.

Link here

 

[Optimus Prime 4]

[No message]

 

[RebelBruiser]

Thinking about it, 5 players on every play must be ineligible receivers according to the rules of football.

They're determined essentially by their alignment. You have to be either on the end of the line of scrimmage or in the backfield. 7 men have to be on the line of scrimmage for the play to be legal, so only the 2 on the end can be eligible receivers.

In this offense, they have 2 QBs, a center, and essentially 8 wide receivers. On a given play, a total of 5 out of the 8 receivers and center must be ineligible.

I really don't have a problem with it, because as a coach, you just have to teach your players how to determine the alignment each play and figure out which players are eligible to catch a pass. They have to call the formation set at some point, and at that point, only one player can go in motion, and you should know who the 6 eligible receivers are.

I could see where it would be difficult if you were to play it man to man essentially, and your players knew which players could and couldn't catch a pass.

 

[Rebels7]

It was a loophole in a poorly written set of rules. There is a reason it wasn't legal in the overwhelming number of places that play decent football.

 

[FlabLoser]

What are we going to do, not allow formation shifts? Who says you have to have 5 guys out there that weigh 280+ pounds? If a team wants to put 11 WR-sized and numbered players on the field, so what? 2 QB's, so what....11 QB's, so what...

 

[Rebels7]

The entire offense was based on a loophole for punt formations. What these guys did (very creative, by the way) was just put 11 skill position players on the field and run fake punts for the entire game (the "QB" has to be more than 7 yards from the LOS). All they did was close the loophole.

It may be fun to watch at first, and it's innovative in a Pop Warner football sense. But at the end of the day, it's still bush league. And anyone who compares it to the spread or wishbone innovations is an idiot.

 

[patdog]

That offense was only "legal" becuase of an unintentional loophole in the HS football rules. All they've done is conform the HS rules to the already-existing college and pro rules.</p>

 

[Todd4State]

is people are going to look at the A-11, and modify it somewhat to fit in with the rules, and in about 10-15 years, it will be the next big offense.

I've had some thoughts about getting into a typical spread formation and instead of having a traditional RB flanking the QB, how about having two Pat White type QB's. The defense then wouldn't know who was throwing the ball. How about that for a two QB system?

 

[Rebels7]

but on my limited understanding of the offense, the whole idea is to make the defense confused as to who is an eligible WR and who isn't. They do this by giving everyone skill position jersey numbers and motioning constantly and shifting formations. It works because most high school kids aren't as versed in the eligible WR rules as they should be because they've never really had to discern who is and who isn't eligible. This is one of the reasons the "tackle eligible" play always works. But even with that play, the tackle has to check in with the ref before the play to let him know that they will be in a formation in which he is eligible.

All of that is a long way of saying that it's not the plays that they run that are so confusing, but the defense having no idea who or wear to cover.

 

[RebelBruiser]

You may be right. The only problem with that type of formation is that you will always have ineligible receivers well away from where the ball is being snapped. The danger in that is that the defense may overload the middle of the field and attack the eligible receivers, which leaves you in trouble.

I remember two years ago when we played Memphis, they lined up in a punt formation with 2 ineligible receivers split out wide to one side. Surprisingly, our staff under Orgeron had seen that on tape, and we only sent one defender out to guard 3 players, knowing that only one of the three could catch a pass. With extra players in the box, we blocked the punt easily, and scored a TD. That's what would likely happen if you took this A-11 to a higher level. Unless you gave it some serious tweaking, defensive coordinators would figure out a way to out-man you.

 

[HammerOfTheDogs]

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