Football Blocking Tips:Man Blocking

Man blocking in football has been around since the early days of football itself and for many years was the main system in football blocking. Man blocking in football today is still being implemented, and with the debate ongoing between man blocking and zone blocking is still an effective blocking system. For those not yet familiar with man blocking the basis of it is that your offensive linemen have a set of blocking rules they follow for their plays and depending where the ball is being run will implement their blocking rules to determine who or what player the block. An example of a set of blocking rules would be: Gap-On-Over. Basically, in these blocking rules the offensive linemen prior to the snap would check first their "Inside Gap", followed by "On" or whether or not there is a down linemen lined up right on them ,and finally " Over" to determine if there is a player over them like a middle linebacker. On each check if there is a player in that area it's their man to block

Another element of man blocking is the trap play. Basically, the trap play is designed to allow a defensive linemen to proceed across the line of scrimmage at the snap of the ball untouched only to be blocked out or "trapped" by an offensive linemen that is pulling down the line of scrimmage from the backside. Usually on the play-side there is a double team, taking place as well as one of the linemen down blocking on a middle linebacker. With the backside Offensive Guard pulling to the play side and trapping you are basically out manning the defensive front at the point of attack. This is the basis of a lot of the Double and Single Wing blocking schemes.

Another option in your man blocking scheme would be to have a fullback in your backfield that always attacks into the second level of linebackers. By implementing a fullback in the backfield you can create more double teams on the line of scrimmage without giving up a block into the second level linebackers. As well, a fullback can create a lot of misdirection in the backfield which can compliment your trap blocking scheme.

Cheers!