pin and pull

Offense

also: pin-pull · pin and pull sweep

An outside run where covered linemen pin their man inside and uncovered linemen pull around them. A cross-family play that lives in the Wing-T, the Air Raid and the Gun T alike.

Offense

pin and pull, the play

Every covered lineman blocks down and pins the defender on him inside. Every uncovered lineman pulls and goes around, leading the ball outside. The assignment is decided by alignment rather than by the call, which means one play blocks itself correctly against several fronts without a check.

That is what makes it unusual. Most outside runs need the line to win a race to the edge. This one gets pullers to the edge instead. It gets them by using the defense's own alignment to decide who goes.

Also calledpin-pull
Not to be confused withoutside zone, toss and pitch

A note on how the term is used

Pin and pull is not Wing-T property, despite where it often gets filed. It has its own chapter in a Simplified Air Raid source, its own dedicated material elsewhere. It appears inside Gun T teaching, which puts it at three sources across two families and makes it cross-family core alongside power, counter, trap and the zones.

Where you will hear it

  • Wing-T
  • Gun T
  • Air Raid run game
  • wide zone offenses