How to do the Smash Mouth Offense in Football

The ability of a team to run the football is imperative for success in the sport. An offense scheme, where the focus is to run the football, is the smash mouth offense. To run this offense a team must have an aggressive mentality and the correct personnel. When executed correctly a smash mouth offense can wear down an opponent both mentally and physically.

Instructions

1. Possess a physical and aggressive mentality on offense. To run the smash mouth offense the entire offense from the coaches to the players must be aggressive and physical. If the team is timid and possesses more of a finesse style on the offensive side of the ball then this offense will not work.

2. Play receivers that can block effectively. Unlike in a traditional offense where the receiver's primary job is to catch passes, in the smash mouth offense the receiver's primary responsibility is to block. If they can't block then the offense will be ineffective.

3. Utilize the play-action as the main passing play. Because the smash mouth uses the run sparingly, the opposing defense expects a run on almost every play. The play-action pass uses this defensive tendency to complete the few passes that are actually thrown when the quarterback fakes a run and then throws a pass.

4. Keep the score close on defense. The main problem with the smash mouth offense is that it takes a significant amount of time and plays to score. Therefore, if the other team gets a big lead it is almost impossible to win the game, because of the lack of quick scoring ability in the smash mouth offense.

5. Employ large and physically strong blockers on the football team. The smash mouth offense requires large and strong blockers to effectively run the football on most every play.

6. Simplify the offensive playbook. A smash mouth offense generally only runs a few plays compared to other offenses. Deception is not a goal of the smash mouth offense. The other team knows the plays are coming but because of execution and physicality, they can do nothing to stop them.