The Jet Sweep: A Comprehensive Guide to Football's Dynamic Play

The jet sweep is a dynamic and versatile play in American football that has gained popularity at all levels of the game. It's a perimeter-attacking play designed to get the ball to a fast player in space, stressing the defense horizontally and forcing them to react to pre-snap motion. Often used at the high school level, where the hashes allow offenses to exploit wide sides of the field, the jet sweep can be a game-changer when executed correctly. This article delves into the intricacies of the jet sweep, exploring its variations, blocking schemes, coaching techniques, and complementary plays.

Understanding the Basics of a Sweep Play

A sweep is an outside running play in American football where a running back takes a pitch or handoff from the quarterback and starts running parallel to the line of scrimmage. This allows for the offensive linemen and fullback to get in front of him to block defenders before he turns upfield. The play is run further outside than an off tackle play. Variants of the sweep involve the quarterback or a wide receiver running with the ball, rather than a running back.

Toss Sweep

A toss sweep is a play that is usually run out of the I formation or single set back formation. In recent years, it has also been run out of the pistol formation. The quarterback takes the snap, reverses out, then tosses the ball to the tailback. When run from the I formation, it allows the fullback to pick up any defenders who have penetrated into the backfield. Blocking from the offensive line ranges from straight zone blocking to pulling the playside guard.

Buck Sweep

The buck sweep is usually run from a Wing T formation that includes a variety of play fakes. The quarterback takes the snap and fakes trap to the fullback. He then hands off to a halfback or wingback, who runs to the outside. The buck sweep is normally blocked by pulling the playside guard to kickout the force defender, and the backside guard pulling and turning up on the playsided linebacker. This allows for the other linemen to downblock on the other defenders, giving the offense an advantage when it comes to blocking angles.

The Lombardi Sweep

Vince Lombardi, head coach of the Green Bay Packers, was fond of the sweep. In the 1960s, he utilized the Packers sweep play-also known as the Lombardi sweep-in which guards Jerry Kramer and Fuzzy Thurston rapidly pulled out from their normal positions and led blocking for the running back (typically Paul Hornung or Jim Taylor) going around the end.

The Jet Sweep: A Modern Variation

Also known as the fly sweep, this sweep is a running play that is run from a set with a wide receiver (flanker) split out to the side away from the play, often run with the receiver in motion. The quarterback receives the snap and turns or runs toward the receiver, as the receiver makes a deep arc into the backfield behind the quarterback, where there is an exchange either by handoff or by pitching the ball to the receiver. This play typically resembles Student Body Right, in that every available blocker blocks to the playside.

Quarterback Sweep

The quarterback sweep is a running play where the quarterback takes the snap from center, typically in a shotgun formation, and then runs to the outside. This play can best be run by a fast, athletic quarterback.

Coaching the Jet Sweep: Techniques and Considerations

Coaching the jet sweep involves careful attention to detail, particularly in the exchange between the quarterback and the receiver, and the timing of the motion.

The Exchange/Mesh

The jet sweep is a play where a receiver or running back comes in motion and takes the handoff from the quarterback as quickly as possible. Many coaches use the play not just to get the ball to the edge in a hurry, but because of all the other things that it allows an offense to run. Usually before we install Jet, we have already installed "stretch" with our backs. This makes it very simple for us to install Jet as it only adds motion and slightly different exchange. We coach up the mesh as a normal handoff exchange initially, however, we will work the forward toss exchange as well…. looking for best timing and ultimately what our QB and Jet Back are most comfortable with. Some years we may handoff, some years we may toss… At North Murray we have done it several ways. We want our slot coming full speed in motion and we look to snap the ball when he gets to the tackle, to give the quarterback time to seat the ball and work the exchange. We have done it a variety of ways. It’s always been a very good play for us. I prefer to hand it off. If you have to worry about fumbling the ball on a base play, so you want to pitch it so it will be ruled an incompletion…then you probably shouldn’t be running it anyway. I use this as a Pop Pass. easy way to get pass/receiving yards and if dropped it is an incomplete pass. The easiest way I cue this is for the QB to pop the ball onto a table and let the WR/RB take it. It should should have some slight hang time and be in the direct path of the player running the jet. After completion the RB/WR should slightly bubble to get outside of an DE/DT who might get up field and then follow the blocks of the offensive tackle and RB, 1 cut and get vertical. We generally like the snap to happen as the jet sweep runner gets to the near tackle. He aims for 1/2yd in front of the qb. We read this on both our jet sweep and jet power read play so we ride and hand off or pull. We do not toss it forward for a pass. If under center, the jet man need to aim for 1 yd. behind the QB to give him room to make the hand off. We tried it with the handoff and it wasn't as smooth as I would have liked. My QB suggested it be a toss since it was to the WRs and it worked amazingly.

Throughout my coaching career I have worked in many different systems from Single WIng to Wing T to Spread. Run jet sweep almost every way you can think. Ran it out of gun as a read. Under center. The most interesting way that I have ever ran jet sweep is from a coach I worked with several years ago who made it an integral part of his offense. We ran the wing-t and he ran a lot of sweep then fake sweep and dive behind. His motions all looked like Jet sweep. He had "Imo" and "Omo" where the wings would run and settle in A gap for a lead block inside (Imo) or outside the tackle for a lead block for toss (Omo). Regardless the motion back would accelerate off the line like jet sweep to chop his feet and settle for the appropriate gap. The most interesting part of this was how he taught the handoff. Most offenses, from under center, hand the jet sweep off backside A-gap to facilitate the reverse out. He had the handoff in playside A-gap with no reverse out. It gave the ball carrier that extra step over the defense and they would hesitate to commit because of the threat of the dive. He had built into the playcall jets left and right and we showed it every play unless there was an imo/omo. We have handed it off, and typically read it with an RPO. Our best call with it has been to run it out of a 2x2 spread and run a slant on the backside. Easy read for the QB on if the LB flows with the jet, they keep it and hit the slant. I've done this 2 ways. It varies from year to year based on the QB & WR we are doing it with. Some years we have tossed it forward to make it a forward pass. Other years we have just handed it off. I know some coaches have said they have to practice the timing but truthfully for us it never really takes that much time to do. We coach up the mesh/exchange on jet sweeps by using the terminology "ride & slide" with our QBs. Similar to any veer type of mesh, the QB lower body and upper body must be in sync with the jet action. You "ride" with your hands allowing the jet back to continue their momentum. You "slide" with your feet for two reasons: 1. gives us the element of the read or PAP 2. If the exchange isn't clean and the ball ends up on the ground, we are already moving, in an athletic stance ready to pounce on it. On my level we front toss it. If there’s any mishandling of the ball it’s an incomplete pass. We tell the refs before the game how we run our jets. When I was at the higher level, we meshed like outside zone. Generally speaking I prefer a quick handoff exchange between the quarterback and receiver, as this allows easier fakes for counters and plays to be run off the jet action. This is the easiest way to coach this because it's similar to an outside run handoff for the quarterback and you don't have to change his footwork much, and while the forward pass can be tempting, there's too much that can go wrong timing-wise to put that in an offense for me. For us we switched into a toss for Jet Sweep. The idea of going to the Toss is to get the ball in the hand of our playmakers as quick as possible & allow the playmaker to get to top speed and the edge as quick as possible. By going to a toss on the Jet Sweep, it allows our player to be at top speed while turning the corner on sweep. He no longer has to slow down to handle the mesh. I personally am in favor of this because…1) WR’s/Slots catch passes. They are pass catchers. Toss allows them to treat it like a catch.

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Key Blocking Considerations

Receivers are also critical blockers for the Jet Sweep. Especially at lower levels, many teams will run their Jet Sweep blocking scheme the exact same as their outside zone scheme for their offensive linemen. At higher levels, teams will emphasize being able to reach the defensive end to the play-side or will rely on misdirection with blocking schemes going the opposite way of the Jet Sweep. The following is the blocking scheme for the offensive line if they are blocking for the Jet Sweep.

The Packers do a fantastic job blocking on the perimeter here. Allen Lazard, at the bottom of the screen, is initially blocking head up on the man over him. The way the Packers are blocking, the free safety is going to be unblocked. However, on his release, Lazard realizes that the corner has turned into his frame and shown that he’s in man coverage. Meanwhile, the Packers here are fully committing to misdirection in their blocking scheme and are sending the offensive line and running back the opposite direction to pull defenders. That makes the block outside from Lazard and the tight end even more critical. The tight end engages with the defensive end just briefly enough to slow them down and allow for the jet sweep player to get the edge. He then climbs to get the first defender inside to wall them off and prevent pursuit.

The Jet sweep can be especially difficult for defenses in man coverage. The defender over the jet player has to navigate across the field and through traffic to make the play. The Rams are running the same concept as the Packers with the offensive line selling outside zone away from the jet sweep. That again leaves the tight end and receiver outside as essential parts of the play. Purdue is running another version of the blocking scheme for Jet Sweep. The play-side tackle to the jet sweep now loops out and acts as the lead block for the sweep instead of the tight end.

Pre-Snap Reads and Defensive Analysis

As the motion happens, I am looking into the secondary and the edges to see what movement and coverage/run fit I get. If I see the backside alley open up, I will throw an RPO slant to the grass backside. I also want to see how the free safety plays the jet. When we are preparing for a team that has the ability to run jet sweep, we go in treating it as though they are a triple option team and we want to make sure that we have all options accounted for. If they are good and efficient with the jet, we have found that our kids will struggle to differentiate the jet from other complementary plays with the speed at which they are running it. Rather than try to have our kids guess on the fly we want to make sure that we have all the potential options covered. Some teams have shown tendencies based on the pace of the motion or if they are pulling lineman based on the play. We are looking at numbers on the edge and personnel. If we can get numbers on the perimeter, then it should be a great play. If we are handing off to a flanker or slot that runs a 10.6 in the 100m, then it should be a great play. How is the secondary playing it? Rolling to the motion? Triggering from a half field safety spot? Are we getting heavy flow from backers to the Jet motion? This can be an automatic after a big play (sometimes without the shift) or based on the rotation of the Defense to motion. For the compliments is based on how they handle the jet. We ask ourselves going into the game, how will they adjust to jet? Do they spin safeties, bump the backer, or travel with motion. If they spin and possibly trigger the ps overhang, we can either adjust the blocking scheme on perimeter or hit them with play action. If they bump, that means they may be lighter in the box for power read. Do they match my #´s? Do they match my #´s but over play alignment to the outside? We are looking at whether the defensive end can be reached. If he does not get easily reached, we will block zone opposite and take advantage of a Defensive end who squeezes with the veer block of the tackle. We will call the counter with the QB or running back. We call the counter based on whether a team is slanting with motion or rotating safeties. We will also have a four vertical play action of it to take advantage of rotation. We have pulled both the backside tackle and the Y depending on the personnel and formation. Our coaching point is Get to the numbers. We look for flow from the LBs and how quick they move, and specifically if they trigger on Jet. We have run jet sweep well and teams will see the jet motion and trigger their LB that is play side to hit the C gap.

Maximizing the Jet Sweep with Complementary Plays

The plays you run off of your jet sweep threat are just as important as the jet sweep play itself. For any offensive play I always like to start with the run scheme and then build from there. With jet sweep I like the ability to get on the edge with jet, have an inside track play with a quarterback and also a counter play with a quarterback. Also want to have the ability to run play action with a vertical threat to keep the safeties honest and a boot type of play action causes problems for the defense. Definitely want to have the ability to screen away from the motion. Favorite plays off Jet are handing the inside zone opposite the Jet sweep fake, and play-action post/wheel off the Jet/inside zone fake. On the goal line, faking the Jet and flipping it to the tailback going the other way can be a good play also, especially vs. vs DE box like Inside Zone. Zone cuts back in the same direction as the jet action. vs LB bump we like Wide Zone opposite the jet action. And when we get Safety rotation down to Jet action, there's an opportunity for play action. Play Action verts or vert switch. Inside run playside either power read, regular power/ qb power, or veer. Weak side run like counter/qb counter, or shuffle option. We run GT both to the jet side and away from it. We also run our shallow concept and the jet guy replaces where the inside receiver would normally go as an outlet throw. The best complimentary plays we had off of it were a playside RB seam route or a backside RB wheel. The wheel was often the more open play but it took far more time to develop so the seam was more successful overall.

A) To the boundary - 11p 2 x 2 set with Y off. Jet towards the Y, fake the jet, #1 WR runs a seam from a tight split, Y runs a bender, and the back runs up the sideline. The receiver who fakes the jet continues into the flat. These patterns are the same side the motion is going towards. To the field - We have also run #1 WR on a deep curl from a wide split, RB runs up the seam, and the Y runs the bender. 11p Tight end attached. 2x2 - Bring the Z in motion and fake. #1 runs a fade, #2 runs a bender and the RB runs up the seam. B) 12 personnel 2x2. Jet the receiver, Seam/Post by the Y and a wheel by the RB. This is a pattern away from the motion. Good vs. C) 10p, 2x2 Jet - Throw a tunnel screen back to the single receiver - good vs. A great look we have had from it is Jet screen away. The jet power read has to be one of the best plays in football. So hard for the defense to stay disciplined at the pace things are happening. Jet counter read is a nice changeup if they are over-playing the box players. A good amount of 2 safety teams will roll a safety down to jet motion and you can take advantage of the momentary 1 high with 4 verts if you can get this out of empty or if your TB can wheel into a vert in 10p. Lastly, I'll screen off of anything… Run…

Common Formations

There are a couple of different ways you can execute this play in the spread. You can have the 4 stalk block the SS (defender covering him) or you can have him crack like shown in the diagram. You do not have to pull the play-side guard, you can just have him step play-side and look to cut off defenders pursuing to the ball carrier. Having the 4 stalk block the corner is asking a lot. That is a difficult block for him to hold. Having the guard pull out and block the SS will allow the jet motion back to cut right off of the block. Plus, the crack block is super effective in youth football. If you are getting man to man coverage you can have the X run the corner off. The X needs to split out really wide to take the CB out of the game. There are a couple of ways you can run the jet to the TE side. You can have the TE pull out and lead block or you can have the guard pull and lead block. You can even have the 2 cheat over and have him lead block. After running the jet to the SE side mostly, you will catch the defense off guard running it to the TE side.

The Jet Sweep in Youth Football

The jet sweep play in youth football is an extremely explosive play. It will force the defense to roll or slant their defense to the motion side. Play action off of jet sweep is very explosive. You can have the jet motion back run out for a pass, lead, or kick out block. Very fun for the kids to execute. Motion player cannot go or lean forward until the ball is snapped. Motion needs to be at full speed. The motion timing is the most challenging aspect because every player will differ in speed. It is the QB’s job to get the timing and snap count down. This will come with reps. A good starting point is having the QB/center snap the ball when the motion player is between the tackle and guard. Again, depends on age and speed. Motion kills man to man coverage. QB must carry out fakes to the opposite side. On this sweep from the wing t formation we have the wide receiver cheat down and crack the defensive end. When the defense starts to over play the sweep you can bring the WR down and crack a DE or OLB that is slanting or playing wide to stop the sweep. You can see we brought the TE over to give us an extra blocker. We love doing this because the defense doesn’t even realize we are unbalanced, at least early on. We call this our “heavy” formation. We want to get right to the line of scrimmage get set and run this play. Running jet sweep out of the shotgun will allow you to utilize a mobile QB. You can do a couple of different plays off of jet sweep action. The QB can keep the ball and run behind the jet motion player. The QB can run a counter, trap, or ISO/Power off of the jet sweep action as well. Once the defense over plays the jet motion, hit them with QB trap. You can have the 2 fill for the pulling guard or he can fake lead blocking. The great thing about the shotgun formation is that it makes the defense account for the QB as a running threat.

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