Pin and Pull

Pin and Pull is a perimeter run scheme that blends the covered-and-uncovered reads of zone football with the angle-blocking and pull mechanics of gap schemes. Instead of assigning fixed pullers or demanding difficult lateral reach blocks, linemen determine their roles at the snap through three skimmable priority blocking rules:

Pin (Covered Lineman)

If a defender is in your inside gap or aligned head up on your body, execute an angle down-block to pin him inside and seal the interior.

Pull (Uncovered Lineman)

If your inside gap is clear and an adjacent teammate pins down on the defender outside you, pull around that pin block into the perimeter alley.

Base or Drive (Interior Wall)

If you are uncovered but the teammate outside you pulls away into space, base-block your outside defender to prevent interior penetration and build the inside wall of the alley.

Here is how each lineman executes the rule against a standard Over front on a sweep to the right:

Tight End (Y) [PIN]

Aligned on the edge with a 7-technique defensive end in his inside C-gap. With inside angle leverage on the end, his rule is PIN. He down-blocks to collapse the edge defender inside.

Playside Tackle (RT) [PULL]

With the tight end pinning the C-gap defender inside and no defender head up, the tackle is uncovered. His rule is PULL. He pulls behind the tight end's pin block into the perimeter alley with an opportunistic 'kick or log' read on the Sam linebacker (S): kicking him out if he widens to set the edge, or logging (hooking) him inside if he spills.

Playside Guard (RG) [BASE / DRIVE]

Has a clear inside A-gap, but a 3-technique defensive tackle sits on his outside shoulder in the B-gap. Because the tackle outside him is pulling away into space, no teammate is down-blocking on the 3-technique. If the guard pulled, the 3-technique would run unblocked into the backfield. His rule is BASE/DRIVE: engage the 3-technique man-on-man to build the inside wall of the alley.

Center (C) [Block Back / Reach]

Secures the interior by blocking back on the backside 1-technique Nose in the A-gap (or reaching an odd-front 0-technique) to protect the pulling track.

Backside Linemen (LG, LT) [Cutoff & Hinge]

Backside linemen do not pull across the formation on a perimeter sweep. Instead, they execute scoop, cutoff, and step-and-hinge rules: stepping playside to wall off linebackers, then hinging back to secure trailing backside pursuit.

Ball Carrier Track & Read

The running back presses the perimeter on an outside sweep track aiming for the tight end's outside hip. He reads the pulling tackle's block in the alley: cutting upfield through the lane if the tackle kicks out the edge defender, or bouncing around the corner if the tackle logs him inside.