The Power Sweep has long been the Marquis running play for the 49ers, especially since Bill Walsh was the Head Coach. It has allowed the 49er staff to set up numerous play action possibilities.

   The Power Sweep has also long been my personal favorite as well. Ever since I began coaching offense, it has been an effective play for us.

    In the West Coast Offense, the Sweep play is called “18/19 Wide”. It carries the same rules and responsibilities since it was used by Vince Lombardi and the , then, World Champion Green Bay Packers.  Walsh believed that he could gain good match-ups on the corner with the sweep, and that it allowed him to dictate some mismatches against some Nickel and Dime defenses that may have been on the field at the time. The Sweep basically is designed to get a Back with good vision on the edge with Two quick Offensive linemen in front of him, and to seal the rest of the defense inside. You may have heard Chris Berman of ESPN playfully mocking Lombardi’s explanation of the play with his, “Seal here, and a seal here. And we run the ball …through the alley”.

    Below is the basic diagram for 18/19 Wide.

    One of the things that Lombardi and Walsh both liked about this play, was the ability of the play to be executed against any defense, even or odd. And this play was run against virtually every defense imaginable.

    The one who makes the decision as to how it is blocked is usually made by the Center. He will make the appropriate call when he examines the defense by checking as to its alignment. If the defense is set up in a 3-4 alignment, he will make an “Odd: call, which is also appropriate versus a “Under” or “Frisco” defense in our terminology.  If the defense has aligned in a “Over” defense, or
“Ram” defense in our terminology, he will make an “Over” call, and the quarterback will have the option to call an audible, or go with the original call. The “Crowd” call will be explained later.

    Here is a quote from the book, “ Packer Dynasty”, in which Lombardi Explains Vince’s view on this play:
 

      “ Theoretically, the play is designed to go around end. But, I don’t
  expect it will have to go that far if our linemen do their job properly
  and our backs learn to watch for daylight. The opening should develop
  back inside someplace, sometimes considerably inside. It’s going
  to look to some people like a different play every time we use it, But
  pretty soon they’ll be able to recognize it….by watching the official
  for the first-down signal”
      In order for the power sweep to become established as the corner-
  stone of the ground game, each of the offensive coaches had to study
  the techniques and prepare to help the veterans as well as the rookies
  learn much of their trade over again.  I was charged with anticipating
  the reaction of our opponents and advising Vince on adjustments and
  further innovations.
      “We may not know any more about football than most of the other
  coaches in the league,” Vince suggested after a particularly exhausting
  day-long planning session with play charts and the overhead projector.
  “But if we can put everything we know together so that it makes good
  basic sense and then drill-drill-drill it into them…” He began straight-
  ening the piles of charts, and it appeared he had no intention of
  completing the thought, when suddenly he jerked his head up to unleash
  that characteristic grinding smile punctuated at the right corner with a
  glimmer of gold. “…That kind of coaching, gentlemen, can make
  winners out of losers”.

    Now, lets go through the assignments. Keep in mind that the Centers call will also determine the block of the Onside Tackle, and the Fullback as well. I will list what Lombardi’s coaching point was for the play, and add some of my points in there as well  afterward.

Tight End – Lombardi wanted his Tight End to split from 6-9 feet from the Offensive Tackle. I never really wanted our Tight End to do that because it might tip off the play by is alignment. I told my Tight Ends to align the regular 4-5 feet.

    The Tight End is told to get into whoever is covering him and instruct him to do one of two things;

a) Cut off any inside penetration,
b) If he chooses to charge hard to the outside, then to simply turn him
upfield as if he were a pass rusher and take him out of the play.
this would allow the ball carrier to cut inside of him.

Lombardi’s Coaching Point: We tell the Tight (Y) End that under no circumstances should he allow penetration to his inside. We do not care how much penetration the defensive man gets to the outside. There is a particular technique which we ask the Y end to use here. We tell him to set up as if he were protecting the passer. We ask him to put his weight on his inside foot, keeping his eyes right on the numbers of his defensive man so that if the defensive man does come quickly to the inside, the Y end, with his weight on the inside foot, can drive that defensive man down the line.

    The best case scenario is to seal that defender inside, if the charge of the defender does come outside, we just ask him to wheel block him to the outside, so that the back can come inside. We know through experience that very seldom will the defender try to come directly over the Tight End. About 55 % of the time, this play will go inside the block of the Tight End. About half of that, the play will go way back toward the Center.

Onside Offensive Tackle – His responsibility will change with any call by the Center. On an “Even” call, the Tackle drives the man that directly over him. This does NOT count the fact that the defender may be shading his outside shoulder, in which case he drives that defender for an instant to set up the fullback block, and he will then Continue on to find the Middle Linebacker to block him.

Fullback – The Fullback works in tandem with the Offensive Tackle. He drives the first man outside the Offensive tackle, usually a
defensive end. If the Defensive End should charge inside, he will simply go by that End, and continue on to find and seal the Line-
backer inside.

Lombardi’s Coaching point for the Fullback – The fullback must make a direct attack almost over the outside leg of the offensive
tackle. The Fullback drives right at the first man that shows; I mean, the first defensive man the fullback sees. If no one shows,
in other words, the defensive end has moved inside the offensive tackle, the fullback seals inside for the middle linebacker.

Lombardi’s second Coaching point for the Fullback – The fullback is to take a direct approach, a straight-line approach at that defensive end. A very common error that we find even in the professional  is that most of the fullbacks try to take a roundabout approach or a circle approach. As a result, the defensive end can make a quick penetration coming way inside the fullback and knocking off the guards. Penetration here by the defensive end is as bad as it is by the outside linebacker. So we ask the fullback to go as fast as he possibly can in a straight approach, a straight line to make his block. In fact, we even tell him, if necessary,
to try to cheat upon the line a little-bit, to move up to toward that end before the ball is snapped.  We don’t care who knows it or sees it. The reason, of course, is so that he can make that block as quickly as possible. Penetration is one thing we do not want on this play.

My Coaching point for the fullback – Cheat up! Cheat up! Then we want him to “Chop” or “Break” the outside leg using his inside shoulder to the thigh pad on his leg. This will either stop him from penetrating or knock him off his legs altogether.

    In the case that the Center should make a “Crowd” call, this will affect both the Tackle and Fullback. On a “Crowd” call, even on an even defense, means that the Center feels he cannot make the onside block on the defensive tackle. In this case, he will now make his call “ Crowd”, making the cutoff block now on the middle linebacker. This informs the onside tackle that he must perform the cutoff block to the inside on the defensive tackle. It also tells the fullback that right now he’s got the defensive end.

Onside Guard – A rule for the onside guard, or right guard, in this case, is to pull outside and drive the first man outside the block of the tight end. The guard’s technique is to pull on a 45 degree angle. His first leg or his lead foot will be at a 45 degree angle as he leaves the line of scrimmage ( LOS). He must be aware of the fullback passing in front of him. He allows the fullback to pass in front of him and he quickly pulls behind him. He does this by gaining depth to give the fullback time to get by him.

    One of the common errors, of course, is that the guard is so quick to pull to get out there that he cuts off the fullbacks block. So, he must come behind the fullback. The fullback comes up in block to the outside of the tackle, and the guard comes behind him. Preferably, we would like for the guard to continue to the outside of the tight ends block. And the reason for this is that it forces the defensive man, the outside linebacker ( or man playing outside the tight end) to also continue to the outside. Later on , as the guards become more experienced, we will sometimes allow them the freedom to come inside the block of the tight end and go outside after the block on the Cornerback.

    The main thing we want the Guard to do is to drive this man, either upfield, or toward the sideline. If he drives him to the sideline,
then I always teach him to play off the defender with his hands, and then as the defender eyes the Back coming toward him, he is to “Cut” him off of his feet. Only twice have I seen a defender get back up to make the tackle once he had been cut, and only then when the play had been bottled up.

Offside Guard – My coaching point for the offside guard position is to pull flat down the LOS. I have seen far too many times in
practice and in a game situation where the guard pulled too deep. This caused a tangle of feet with the quarterback, and the play
was a disaster. His first step is flat. By flat, I mean he pulls down the LOS. After the guard clears the quarterback, he will pull again
to gain depth to clear the pile-up. He continues to look inside and he is instructed to take the first hole of daylight he sees. He will
then turn up into that hole and he, too, will seal inside, looking for the defensive pursuit.

Offside Tackle – This position either has the easiest or the most difficult assignment on this play.  What he must do is to prevent
and kind of plugging by the first man , usually the defensive tackle on the backside of the play. This means that that his technique will be to pull deep. One of the most common errors is to pull too flat. His pull is in direct opposition to the offside guard. If he pulls too flat, the defensive tackle has a great opportunity to in which to pursue the ball carrier because of the opening by the pulling guard. So we ask the offside tackle to is to pull as deep as possible, almost the same technique as onside guard uses in pulling for that cornerback. The deeper the offside tackle pulls, the better his position for this block.

    If the defensive tackle were to go in pursuit of the LOS, the offside tackle to take the first hole and seal it just like the offside
guard. However, usually what happens is that the defensive tackle comes into the hole to chase the ball carrier from behind: and
now we’re in position to make the cutoff block on him or to run-up his back, which is perfectly legal since all the action takes place
on the LOS. This even includes falling on the back of the defensive tackles leg, which drives them stark raving mad!

Split End (Weakside End) – The Split End, or weakside end,  is taught to release for the weakside safety, or just a straight release, and sometimes he may be in a “Near” position which is about 3 – 4  yards from the tackle.

Flanker – The flanker’s technique on this play is to drive off the Cornerback back away from the LOS. If the flanker can delay the corner from coming up to meet the play, the better the run will work. So, his technique is to come off the line and to simulate a pass so as to drive the Cornerback back.

    The flanker must be aware of the position of the near safety as well. If the safety comes up hard to stop the run, the flanker will have to break off the fake and take on the safety, and seal him from forcing the play outside.

Running Back – The running back for this play must have good balance and good vision to effectively run this play. He comes forward at the snap and received the handoff, and bows his path out just as  the pulling guards do. This gives him depth to effectively read the play and react to find the proper course.

Quarterback -  the quarterback open pivots to handoff the ball to the running back. After he executes the handoff, he must carry out his fake and speed out to the sideline. This may draw the containment in his direction. If he continuosly breaks containment, then this will set up the reverse, the bootleg, and the FB slide pass.

    So, in conclusion, this play became the focal point in which the Packers under Lombardi, and the 49ers under Walsh, depended upon in which to execute the running game.

    The Power Sweep was so variable, and so effective, that it was copied by nearly every team in the league. Lombardi’s new type of co-operative blocking scheme is now common place in the playbook of every team trying to run a complex professional style scheme.
 

References:
Packer Dynasty, Phil Bengton
Lombardi on Football, Vince Lombardi