Tribe Trips Sweep v 3-3

The Tribe Trips offense thrives against the 3-3 defenses we see week after week in six-man football. This front remains the most popular because it balances numbers in the box while letting coaches hide their best athlete at linebacker and create havoc with stunts. But when we execute our base plays starting with the sweep, we force them into tough choices that expose their aggressiveness.

Let's start with the typical 3-3 alignment we face. (Figure 1: Imagine a diagram showing our trips formation—center, guard, end on the line, inside receiver (IR) and outside receiver (OR) split wide to the strong side—with the defense responding: WDE shaded outside our center to the weak side, DL in the A gap over/near center, SDE wide outside our OR, CB out beyond the SDE, and the LB stacked directly in the middle, often right over the center or QB.)

Figure 1

This defense lives and dies by the talent and instincts of three players: the DL, the SDE, and especially that middle LB. Most teams put their most physical, smartest, and aggressive kid at LB—he's the one who reads flow, shoots gaps (A or B), and makes tackles. If he guesses right on stunts, he disrupts everything. Our job is to make him wrong consistently.

We attack this with our sweep play as the opener—it's fast, stretches them horizontally, and sets up everything else. The key blocking comes from our receivers using what we call "Love" blocking. The IR and OR combo the DL initially: they both engage him to displace him off the ball. Then, based on the LB's stunt, one sheds to pick him up. For example, if the LB blitzes the A gap (middle), the OR drives the DL inside to seal him while the IR peels off to meet the LB in the hole. (Figure 2: Diagram of Love blocking on sweep—IR and OR double the DL, LB shoots A-gap, IR sheds to LB, OR stays on DL; sweep runner hits the edge.)

Figure 2.

We never coach "who" to block—we coach "when" and "why." Our players read eye s, flow, and gaps on the fly. To keep it simple when things get messy, we drill GOD blocking: Gap, On, Down. Block your gap first; if no one shows, block the man on you; if that's handled, block down to the next gap. It's a reliable reset that keeps us physical. (For the full breakdown on GOD rules.)

For the IR specifically on sweep:

• He's the A-gap defender. If two defenders crash the A gap, he takes the one closest to the center (usually the DL squeezing).

• The OR reads the IR—if the IR blocks down hard on the first man in A, that opens the B gap, so the OR blocks down to seal it and widen the edge for the runner.

Figure 3.

We rep these reads endlessly in practice. Scout-team DLs jab step then cross the IR's face to wrong-foot him (Figure 3: DL jab left, cross right; IR mirrors with good footwork, stays square, hands inside, drives through). Footwork is everything—get reached and the play dies. We also drill against spins: better DLs spin out of blocks, so our IR has to stay balanced, anticipate the counter, and finish strong.Hard rule: No cutting the DL on sweep. It looks cool in highlights but fails too often against speed in six-man—the DL sheds and pursues, giving them momentum. The only exception: if two defenders shoot the same gap, cut the furthest rusher to take both out.

Figure 4

On the edge, our fullback (FB) handles the SDE in base blocking. He attacks the outside shoulder: hook if possible to turn him inside, or drive him out if he's setting the edge. (Figure 4: FB base blocking diagram). The QB eyes the FB's block for where to attack the strongside CB. If the FB hooks the DE with a reach block then QB will go outside the block; however, if the FB pushes the SDE out he cuts up the field inside the block (see Figure 5). These reads are post snap. It is very important to coach the QB to read the block and the FB to be decisive when making his block.

Figure 5

We leave the backside CB unblocked on purpose. Most teams teach him to crash run support on sweep, filling the alley aggressively. When the backside CB crashes, our play-action off the sweep fake kills them—especially the quick pass to the center in the flats. Force that WCB to hesitate or stay wide, and our run game has great success when the others make their blocks.

Figure 6

To create even more problems, we mix in variations from the same look. First, "Hammer" blocking: We motion or align the FB outside the OR, creating a true five-gap front (Figure 6: Diagram showing FB kicked out wide beyond OR, stretching the defensive edge).

This forces their SDE and CB to widen dramatically if they want to maintain contain. We lose some counter action to the FB, but all base schemes (dive, sweep, etc.) stay intact. Defenses stretch thin horizontally, and our sweep hits wider with better angles.

Figure 7

Second, Romeo blocking scheme: A simple flip that exploits LB keys (Figure 7: FB blocks the A gap directly, IR pulls from his slot to block the SDE). If their LB is coached to follow the FB flow (common when they read him as the lead blocker), he vacates his middle spot and chases outside—leaving huge cutback lanes or inside gaps for our runner. Big gains come easy. Coaching point: You can't run true outside sweep on Romeo—the IR pulling can't reliably hook a quick SDE.

When we chain the sweep effectively against the 3-3:

• The DL gets temporarily doubled and displaced.

• The LB gets picked up before he disrupts.

• The edge widens or collapses based on their pursuit.

• If they overcommit, play-action or counter off the fake exploits the void.

The sweep isn't just a play—it's our tempo-setter that makes the rest of the offense click. It punishes over-aggressive LBs and forces disciplined edges we can then attack vertically.

Next, we'll break down the dive play against this same 3-3—how we use inside runs to keep them honest and set up counters when they start cheating outside.