OT: The A-11 offense?

So, I was reading PFW and they mentioned the A-11 offense (Welcome To The Online Home Of The New A-11 Offense).

Its an interesting concept. A PWF reader asked if any pro teams would ever consider it and the responder said "Hell No."

It seems cool, and it seems like it would absolutely work in high school where the size differences between positions aren't always tremendous.

I think in the pros, you would just see teams lining up 4 d linemen and playing blanket zone with the other 7 players and it would be good night offense. You'd need pro offensive linemen to block pro defensive linemen.

the gimmicky junk from HS never really translates that well .........but does anyone remember that Pats game in 05 (Maybe a monday night game) where none of the defensive lineman went into stances - they all stood upright a few yards of the line of scrimmage - I would say it was like a 0-7-4. Kind of an interesting wrinkle from Mangini/Belichick.

I have heard of a gimmick offense where the offensive lineman all took HUGE splits. I believe it was short lived.

jbb9s said:

the gimmicky junk from HS never really translates that well .........but does anyone remember that Pats game in 05 (Maybe a monday night game) where none of the defensive lineman went into stances - they all stood upright a few yards of the line of scrimmage - I would say it was like a 0-7-4. Kind of an interesting wrinkle from Mangini/Belichick.

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I think BB used that against Buffalo to freak out Bledsoe.

Are we going to go through this again? The A-11 is illegal at the Pro level. Almost every passing play would result in an illegal forward pass (players deemed ineligible receivers cannot catch an untipped ball) or an ineligle receiver downfield penalty. It is an NFL rule that on every play the offense must have five designated ineligle players located on the interior parts of the line.

yeah, I think mangini used that against us in the rain game last year, only there was maybe 1 dl.

2 questions:

1)does anyone remember the Falcons (I think it was last year) running a formation where everyone on the line rushed over to the left side of the field before the snap (except the center)? It failed miserably but it was interesting.

2)why doesn't Chicago long snap the ball to Devin Hester a few times a game?

jbb9s said:

the gimmicky junk from HS never really translates that well .........but does anyone remember that Pats game in 05 (Maybe a monday night game) where none of the defensive lineman went into stances - they all stood upright a few yards of the line of scrimmage - I would say it was like a 0-7-4. Kind of an interesting wrinkle from Mangini/Belichick.

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I think it was against the Flutie led Bills... they only rushed two, dropped everyone else back. 2000? Dunno... but I'm pretty sure it was against the Bills and Flutie.

In 2004 quite a few times the team employed a formation where Seymour would be the lone down lineman there would be five or six linebackers and the rest were DB's. It was a kind of exotic version of the nickle or dime package. That was when we had crazy depth at linebacker.

Wildo7 said:

2 questions:

1)does anyone remember the Falcons (I think it was last year) running a formation where everyone on the line rushed over to the left side of the field before the snap (except the center)? It failed miserably but it was interesting.

2)why doesn't Chicago long snap the ball to Devin Hester a few times a game?

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Lombardi made the old single-wing formation the foundation of his offense, and the Packers used to run it like no tomorrow. Of course, they also ran the ball something like 90% of the time back then.

SammyBlueCat said:

I have heard of a gimmick offense where the offensive lineman all took HUGE splits. I believe it was short lived.

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Offenses at lower levels of football will often do this if the defense doesn't have a large-split rule. Normally, defensive lines line up shading on offensive linemen; that is, unless the offensive line takes large splits, in which case the defense is supposed to line up in the gaps. That is the large-split rule and some defenses don't install it because gapping technique is different from shading technique - its a lot easier to get trapped playing gaps, for one.

So if your OC deduces a defensive line won't play gaps, they can just take tremendous splits, stretch out the defense and run dives all day long.

Wildo7 said:

2 questions:

1)does anyone remember the Falcons (I think it was last year) running a formation where everyone on the line rushed over to the left side of the field before the snap (except the center)? It failed miserably but it was interesting.

Click to expand...

This is called the "Swinging Gate" formation, and you'll most often see it in reverse on special teams, typically extra point attempts. If the defense doesn't know how to line up against it, the 2-pt conversion is usually easy off a toss screen. Otherwise, the kicking team will shift back to regular field goal formation.

The offense might be cool if they tweaked it for the pros. Imagine: 5 OL, 4 WR's, and Brady and Vick (I was thinking of running QB's and his name was the first to come to mind) next to each other behind center. The possibilities would be ridiculous...Brady handoff to Vick, Brady swing pass to Vick, flea flicker, end around from Vick to Moss, Brady toss to Vick to pass to a streaking Welker.

I am just blue skying of course. And I don't actually want the Pats to run this, I am perfectly happy with Brady to Moss and Welker and 3 RB's. But maybe a team with nothing to lose (Lions maybe?) who could use an interesting gimmick to get fans into the place.