As most of those who know me personally, you that I am NOT a fan at all of the toss play, toss sweep or any type of outside run play in that regard. There are more negatives then positives, in my opinion, when you run the play.
First and foremost most people who want to run the toss play say, "we want or need to get the edge." In todays football that is a big fallacy, simply because you don't "need" to get the edge. There is enough run plays to keep teams honest inside the tackle box to give your linemen an advantage. Why do you need to get the edge? Or have to get outside on a run play? Too many coaches this day in age want to try to live in the past with that play, because of those reasons alone. It is a negative thought process.
Another negative I see with the play is you're asking one or possibly 2 linemen to pull and get outside of the tackle box, which is something that they are not used to doing. I mean seriously, an offensive lineman pulling around and trying to block a defensive back? It is absurd in my opinion. There are plenty of ways of getting outside, using screens, reverses, keeps, etc without having to ask your linemen to pull and get out onto the perimeter. This is putting your most important people on the field at a disadvantage.
Another negative I want to talk about with the toss play is that when you pull a lineman especially out onto the perimeter, you are now creating a seam or a lane for a defensive back or linebacker to run through. If you are a defensive coach you must be licking your chops scouting teams that shows outside runs such as toss or jet sweep. For defenses, it is a fast flowing play. And defensive players are taught that when they see that type of action to get to the edge faster then the offense. For defensive coaches, it is an easy read to make an easy read to teach your players.
No Counter???!!!!!
Coaches who are obsessed with running this play, don't realize that it is the only play when you have no counter action off of it. What I mean by that is when you're trying to get to the edge or perimeter and the play is not there, it's not like you can stop on a dime and cut it back because you're just taking yourself out of the play in general.
An example of this would be a simple isolation play. When you run an Iso play, and if the play design is not there you can still go forward into another gap in get some sort of positive yards. On a toss or jet sweep, you can't. You just have to live with lost yardage because the play is so far behind the line of scrimmage.
Now, most coaches who do like the play and run it will say: "I will just bring two more people to the point of attack to get out on the edge then the defense can handle." I think this is a little misleading. When you bring more people to the point of attack or a formation that coaches think gives them an advantage to run this play, that just brings more people from the defensive side of the ball to that point of attack. And in my opinion its just too much for something you really don't have to do.
My final example of this is teams who come out in Bunch. The formation itself is great but, its pretty predictable. Sure, you have your basic run plays that work. But the only main runs that you have is the toss and defenses already have an advantage just by scouting you.
As always, gives us some feedback. Coach Marrogy
