Counter Trey
The back jabs one way and the ball goes the other, behind two pulling linemen from the backside: one kicks out the edge, the other turns up into the hole for the linebacker.
- The offense1 / 3
The look
Everybody playside blocks down. The back's first step is away from the play, and while the linebackers react to it, two linemen are already pulling across behind the line toward the side the ball is going.
- vs Flow2 / 3
The conflict
The linebackers step with the back's first move. By the time they find the ball it is going the other way behind two pullers, and they are on the wrong side of both.
- vs Flow3 / 3
The hole
Counter trey is power with misdirection added. Its yards come from linebackers who read the jab, stepped the wrong way, and now have to fight back through two pulling blockers to recover.
Why it works
Two extra blockers at the point of attack
Both pullers arrive where the defense did not expect bodies. It is the heaviest concentration of blockers any common run has.
The jab freezes the linebackers
A linebacker who hesitates for one count is a linebacker the second puller reaches cleanly.
It punishes an aggressive defense
The harder the linebackers flow, the better it works. It is the tackle version of the counter's whole argument.
How it gets run badly
A jab that is too big
One short step sells it. A big one puts the back behind his own pullers and late to the hole.
Pullers colliding
The first puller kicks out, the second follows and turns up. Get the order wrong and they meet each other in the backfield.
Running it without the bodies
Two pullers off a five-man line is the minimum. That is why this one is 11v11 only.
Who can run it
11v11 only. Two pullers off a five-man line is the whole scheme, and nine-man football does not have the bodies to spare. The counter that travels to every format, on a false step and no blocking, has its own page: Counter.
- 11v11Its offense
Take it to your team
Draw your plays in the football playmaker, collect them in the flag football playbook builder, and print play cards so every player knows them come Saturday.
Put Counter Trey in your playbook
Draw it in the designer, change the assignments, and save it to your playbook.
Open the designer