Over the second half of the regular season the Tiger-Cats underwent significant changes at the quarterback position.
A season-ending injury to starter Zach Collaros resulted in rookie Jeff Mathews receiving his first career CFL start, following that up with four more.
A subsequent late-season injury to Mathews gave way to a tandem of QBs for the Ticats, as both Jeremiah Masoli and Jacory Harris saw time in last week’s regular season finale. Heading into the team’s first playoff game, both quarterbacks are preparing as if they’ll be starting, and it’s quite possible that both see the field for the second straight game.
Along with the changes in personnel at the quarterback position, the offensive game plan has been altered, including the re-introduction of the read-option run play to the playbook.
The reasoning behind the re-introduction is simple, the read-option is a versatile play that was the basis behind a system that Jeremiah Masoli ran extremely effectively in college.
Masoli executed the Oregon Ducks’ variation– or many variations, for that matter– of the option offence in college, earning himself attention as one of the nation’s top players, and that success with the read-option has been carried forward in his previous CFL appearances.
The read-option play in its most basic form is a run play that is based on timing and deception. To be executed properly, it requires a quarterback who is able to make quick decisions at the mesh point (the exchange point where the quarterback and running back cross paths).
The formation:
On the variation of the read-option that the Ticats run, the backfield is generally aligned in the pistol formation. The quarterback lines up in shotgun formation, five yards behind the centre, with a single running back lined up on the inside zone.
The play:
The read-option, as mentioned previously, requires the quarterback to make a key decision at the mesh point between himself and the running back. Off the snap, the running back crosses in front of the quarterback, giving the look of a standard inside zone run; however, rather than simply handing the ball off to the running back, the quarterback pauses at the mesh point to read a defender.
The defender that the quarterback reads is the outer-most defender in the defensive front, who remains unblocked on the play. While the offensive line executes zone blocks on the remainder of the defensive front, the edge defender remains unblocked. This defender must make a decision to either play the running back on the inside zone run, or stay put and defend the outside quarterback run.
Based on whether the edge defender bites on the handoff or stays put, the quarterback makes the decision to either keep the ball and push to the outside OR hand the ball to his running back.
Example A: The handoff
On this particular play from last season’s Week 2 game against the Edmonton Eskimos, Jeremiah Masoli and CJ Gable display a great example of “Option A” in the read-option, the handoff.
At the mesh point, Masoli reads the unblocked edge defender, identifying the fact that he is not going to bite on the supposed handoff. Because the defender does not crash down against the inside run, Masoli hands the ball to Gable, who is able to weave his way into the end zone essentially untouched by the Eskimos’ defensive unit.
Example B: The keep
In this second example, also from last year’s Week 2 battle with the Eskimos, Masoli and Gable show off “Option B” of the read-option, the quarterback keep.
On this play the edge defender is the unblocked halfback, positioned on the outside of the defensive line. Masoli reads the defender at the mesh point, recognizing the commitment to the inside zone run. With the defender scraping down to defend the Gable run, Masoli pulls the ball and pushes to the outside to exploit the open field that has been left vacant by the defensive back.
There are many variations of the option play, and multiple formations and packages that support this particular play, but this is the format which the Ticats tend to utilize in their offensive game plan.
Whether Masoli gets the start for the Ticats offence or he comes in for certain packages in the game against the Argos, look for the team to utilize the read-option for the second straight contest.
