What is the Purpose of a Sweep Play in Football?

Series Summary

The game of gridiron football is an icon of Americanism. From its roots in early versions of rugby football brought over the Atlantic from England, football takes it place alongside baseball as the most American of sports. Though its name is somewhat deceptive, and in fact logically unsound, football is the most widely watched sport in the United States, and its championship game, whose name is not known only to those who have been living on the moon for the last fifty years, the super bowl is the most watched television event in the United States. The sport is the caretaker of the Greatest Game Ever Played, the NFL championship game from 1958, which hosted 15 then future hall of famers and historic names such as Johnny Unitas, and continues to delight audiences with its mix of complex strategy and physical play.

In this free video series, our expert Sean Hobson, will teach you how to run a sweep play on offense in American football. He will show you how to setup the sweep play, how to setup the offense, and how to setup a similar play, the pitch. Sean will also show you what the line does in a football sweep, what the quarterback and running backs do in a sweep, and how to run a sweep in the I formation. Sean will also tell you what off play receivers do in a sweep, and how each player finishes the play including the running back and the quarterback. Finally, Sean will give you some dos and don'ts for running a football sweep play.

Video Transcript

"Hi, this is Sean Hobson, for Expert Village. What we want to talk about now is why we use a play called the sweep/pitch. The reason we have two names for it is because a sweep play will be a hand off to the outside. If we have powerful running backs and can get up inside that's one thing that will make us successful. But, a lot of tailbacks can really exploit their talents when they get to the outside. You have to set this play up. You can't run to the outside every time or the defense will learn to adjust. Also, if you have a defense that is good at stretching the field, they're good at getting outside and containing the outside, you may want to stick to running the ball inside. We like to use the sweep play to get our players to the outside and use what speed we have in the tailback spot. The other one is called the pitch. It's the exact same thing as the sweep except the sweep is a hand off and the pitch is where we pitch the ball and let our running back get to the outside. One important thing when running the sweep and the pitch is not to get too far outside where you don't pick up positive yardage. You want to try to turn the ball up field as quickly as possible. This is a good play to get your guys to the outside and use their speed."