Introduction:
Bunches and condensed sets are all the rage in NFL and College Football right now. I’ve noticed a growing interest in studying these strategies this offseason. A great team to study as a starting point would be the Rams McVay offense. Studying McVay’s offense reveals it's roots back to the Shanahan system, the influence of LaFleur’s version of the offense, and McDaniel’s version of the offense as well. All of these coaches run similar systems, with some changes to fit personnel and address problems they found with the system.
During the past two seasons, we studied this system and incorporated more tight bunches and stacks. We originally started based more off the Rams run game—Mid Zone to the open side, and Duo to the closed side—but we morphed the system to fit our own needs. We transitioned to more inside zone from under center than a true mid zone. We also added outside zone as an auxiliary run with fewer tags than the 49ers carried. With the introduction let's dig in on some of the strengths and weaknesses of bunch condensed sets.
Why Condense?
Condensed formations aren't necessarily something new to the game of football. Bill Walsh spoke in a clinic on why he wanted to condense while he was at Stanford. His reasoning on why an offense should condense splits were many, the first he mentioned was the offense wants the ball to be in the air the shortest amount of time possible in the passing game. Condensing makes the receivers closer and the ball travel less distance in the air. The next strength he mentions is teams do not practice against it often making it something they need to practice that is different than what they have seen the rest of the season. Here's a clip of Walsh discussing this from the clinic.
In the same clinic Coach Walsh discusses how they used splits of their receivers to effect specific defensive players. This is something you can see in the modern use of condensed splits in the Shanahan tree, which is often play action based for many of their big plays. Below is a clip of Coach Bill Walsh discussing condensed splits in their play action passing game.
Looking at more modern trends in the NFL it appears that offenses are tightening more so than spreading out. Here is a tweet with average formation width in the NFL by season from Anthony Treash with Pro Football Focus.
As you can see Detroit, Houston, Miami, Los Angeles, and San Francisco were the most condensed offenses in NFL this past season. All fun offenses everyone except for Detroit is in the Shanahan Tree, and Johnson's offense in Detroit had some similarities. These offenses were some of the best in the NFL this season in yardage, points per game, and made the play offs. Let's dig into more of the strengths of condensing.
Strengths:
Condensed formations and bunches are versatile. They can be used in both running and passing plays, which can keep the defense guessing. In a running play, the close grouping of receivers can help to create a strong blocking front. In a passing play, the same grouping can create confusion and opportunities for receivers to get open. This versatility makes these formations a valuable tool in any offensive playbook. The versatility doesn't end with the ability to both effectively run and pass from these sets, but also the ability to move player's within the bunch to set up better match ups offensively not just in the pass game but also for blocks. Attached are some images from a playbook demonstrating some examples of how bunches were changed to put players in better match ups, or in better positions to perform blocks.
Another advantage of condensed formations is that they can cause confusion for the defense. It’s harder for defenders to predict the routes that the receivers will run when they start so close together. Players were aligned closer which was a great indicator of crossing routes, or out breaking routes. These are indicators because you're creating space outside to run routes because you're further from the sideline, but also helps with crossers because you're closer to the center of the formation so crossing for mesh or deep crossers in play actions are much easier due to alignment. Depending on the RB alignment you can create less visible 3 or 4 man bunches to the defense. This uncertainty can lead to breakdowns in coverage, allowing receivers to get open. Additionally, the close proximity of the receivers can lead to natural picks or rubs, where a defender is slowed down or obstructed by another player, creating even more opportunities for the offense.
These same reasons also make condensed stacks and bunches help make better use of space. By starting in a condensed formation, receivers have more room to run their routes. This can be particularly effective in the red zone, where space is at a premium because the field has more width than depth. A well-executed bunch formation can create the separation needed for a receiver to get space in the Red Zone. Here is a video discussing how Bunch Sets create more space.
Concerns:
There are some concerns to be aware of when incorporating more condensed stacks and bunches into your offense to be aware of. An old Coach I worked with once said in defending the Delaware Wing-T that, "Unconventional offense, gets unconventional defense." This is something we found running more condensed sets to be true because of the creation of more gaps in the run game, and bunch checks from the defense that we may not have as much film for the sets that you may need some answers for ways you'll be defended as compared to base defense for traditionally spaced sets. Defenses also because of their alignment in relation to the offense can hide blitz better based on less space for players to cover allowing them to disguise as well as align to execute in blitz situations. This was shown by the Chiefs Defense often and in particular this past Super Bowl against the 49er's who were able to disguise nickel blitz against the 49er's condensed sets. Below are some tweets showing defenses playing against condensed sets, including a double corner blitz Alabama ran against a condensed set.
I would suggest looking into most common defensive checks to bunches and stacks to have a plan to attack them. It is crucial to understand how they'd pass off switch releases, and how the defense can include and mix the run fit from these checks. It is also important in these condensed sets to have a plan for when the defense pressed the point. One of the most common tools defenses use to defend bunches is to press the point and disrupt the releases of the bunch or stack. It is crucial to have tools to create separation with press on the point or the timing of multiple receivers will be disrupted. An answer we found to the defenses ability to disguise was more use of shift, trade, and motion to see how defenders related and showed man, zone, and other responsibilities on defense.
Another concern to address with bunch sets is that receivers and skill players will need to block in the run game. This is not necessarily only something in Bunches and stacks, but due to the condensed defense the receivers may based on the alignment be closer to the point of attack on a run play or be required to block a backer, or potentially a defensive linemen. Being locked in on Mike points and making blocks at the point of attack needs to be something you plan for and set players and your team up for success with. The rams do a great job of showing the benefits of this treating Cooper Kupp as a second Tight End often in these sets and using him on these blocks where they know he can succeed, and protecting it with play actions and movement passes. Most teams don't always have a player like that which is why the versatility of moving the players in these formations sets up the offense for advantageous positions. The run game can also be creative to take advantage of defensive responsibilities you see as you have studied tape, and confirmed ideas watching your opening script of plays on how the opponent will defend this package. Crack toss is a prime example of this where receivers blocking defensive ends is a successful position if the defensive ends are bending down the line of scrimmage, where as duo with the Z pouring through is a great call is your Tight End can block the defensive end and you trust the point to block out on a contain Sam Backer playing outside leverage. These bunches aren't just great in the pass game to help create free releases for non-point players but also for extending the surface and adding gaps in the run game.
In conclusion Condensed sets when combined with stacks and bunches can add to any offense whether pro-style, gun RPO, Option, or any offense you're running. The benefits include confusion of defense and potentially calming them down, creating free releases for some players, creating extra gaps, or creating space for the offense to attack. The concerns of the defenses ability to disguise, seeing defenses play something you weren't expecting or if you're players can perform blocking with less space are things to think about when thinking about majoring, or minoring in this style of offense. Hopefully there are some things you can add from this article and ways you can expand on this by condensing in times, or condensing parts of formations. If you liked this article and want more bunch information enjoy this video below on how to run a tight bunch at the High School level, and subscribe for more blogs including daily YouTube All-22 Film uploads.
The desire to spread one flank and condense/bunch the other led me to create my Wild Bunch offense:
https://www.amazon.com/Wild-Bunch-Conflict-Theoretical-Approach-Offensive/dp/1503245462/