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A play-action pass (also known as a play fake or simply "play-action") is an
Rushing Success and Play-Action Passing
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A play-action pass (also known as a play fake or simply "play-action") is an American football
American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...
play. The play action starts with what appears to be a running play, but turns out to be a pass play; in this way, it can be considered the opposite of a draw play A draw play, or simply draw for short, is a type of American football play. The draw is a running play disguised as a passing play. It is the opposite of a play-action pass, which is a passing play disguised as a running play. The play is often used ...
. Play-action passes are often used against defenses that are focused on stopping the run. By initially simulating a running play, the offense attempts to deceive the defense into acting on the fake run placing them out of position in their pass coverage, and giving receivers more time and room to be free to receive passes behind the linebacker
Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and the defensive linemen. They are the "middle ground" of defenders, ...
s.
Offensive action during a play-action pass
*Thequarterback
The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...
takes the snap and drops back to hand off to the running back.
*The running back
A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive American football plays#Offensive terminology, handoffs from the quarterback to Rush (American football)#Offen ...
gets ready to take the hand off.
*The quarterback quickly pulls the ball back from the hand off position, trying to hide it from the defense. He then looks downfield for an open receiver.
*The running back continues to move up field as if he had the ball in his hands.
*The offensive line comes off the ball to run block, but then goes into pass protection.
*The receivers "sell" the running play by appearing to block at first, then break off into their pass routes.Use
Despite being one of the most effective kinds of plays, the play-action pass is not proportionately used. The belief is that a heavy running game must be maintained, but in fact even teams who heavily lean on passes have high success with the play-action./ref>
See also
*Flea-flicker
A flea flicker is an unorthodox play, often called a "trick play", in American football which is designed to fool the defensive team into thinking that a play is a run instead of a pass. It can be considered an extreme variant of the play action ...
— a type of play-action pass.
* Halfback option play The halfback option play is an unorthodox play in American and Canadian football. It resembles a normal running play, but the running back has the option to throw a pass to another eligible receiver before crossing the line of scrimmage.
The key t ...
— Like the play-action, but retains an option to actually run
* Draw play A draw play, or simply draw for short, is a type of American football play. The draw is a running play disguised as a passing play. It is the opposite of a play-action pass, which is a passing play disguised as a running play. The play is often used ...
— the opposite of a play-action, where a pass play is faked when it's actually a run.
References
American football plays {{American-football-stub