bump and run coverage

In one view, the bump and run originated in the American Football League in the 1960s, one of whose earliest experts was Willie Brown of the Oakland Raiders.{{Cite web |last=STRAUB |first=LUKE |date=2018-01-09 |title=Raiders' legend Willie Brown recalls glory days |url=https://www.petaluma360.com/article/sports/raiders-legend-willie-brown-recalls-glory-days/ |access-date=2024-11-27 |website=Petaluma Argus-Courier |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |date=2019-10-22 |title=Hall of Fame cornerback Willie Brown dies at age 78 |url=https://apnews.com/article/c7f5fcdc45124731b8d9d8296a0ba1f8 |access-date=2024-11-27 |website=AP News |language=en}} Before playing for the Raiders, Brown was a rookie with the Denver Broncos in 1963 and played there through 1966.{{Cite web |title=Willie Brown Stats, Height, Weight, Position, Draft, College |url=https://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/B/BrowWi01.htm |access-date=2025-04-10 |website=Pro-Football-Reference.com |language=en}} In another version of the bump and run's origins, Brown created the bump and run defense as a linebacker at Grambling University, and then first brought it to professional football in 1963, when he was a defensive back with the Denver Broncos.

In yet another version of possible origins, Jack Faulkner gets significant credit for development of the bump and run. Faulkner was head coach for the Broncos from 1962–64, during Brown's first two professional years.{{Cite web |title=Jack Faulkner {{!}} Pro Football History.com |url=https://pro-football-history.com/coach/122/jack-faulkner-bio |access-date=2025-04-10 |website=pro-football-history.com}} While Faulkner was the Los Angeles Rams defensive backfield coach in 1958, the team tried out future Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Famer K. C. Jones as a defensive back. Using his style as a basketball defender, Jones would cover receivers at the line of scrimmage and hand check them as they ran down the field. Jones decided on a basketball career, but Faulkner took the knowledge of what he had seen from Jones with him when he became an AFL defensive backs coach with the Los Angeles Chargers; and then to Denver, where Willie Brown became a pro player.{{Cite web |date=November 21, 2017 |title=Bump and run, or just boxing out? K.C. Jones left impact on NFL {{!}} Pro Football Hall of Fame |url=https://www.profootballhof.com/blogs/2017/11/blogs-stories-from-the-pro-football-hall-of-fame-archives-bump-and-run-or-just-boxing-out-kc-jones/ |access-date=2025-04-10 |website=pfhof |language=en}}{{Cite web |title=1963 Denver Broncos Rosters, Stats, Schedule, Team Draftees |url=https://www.pro-football-reference.com/teams/den/1963.htm |access-date=2025-04-10 |website=Pro-Football-Reference.com |language=en}}

On the other hand, National Football League defensive back Pat Fischer, who is closely associated with the bump and run, believes that cornerback Abe Woodson, who taught Fischer the technique when they both played for the St. Louis Cardinals (1965–66), originated the bump and run while playing for the San Francisco 49ers in the late 1950s and early 1960s. In another telling, Fischer said he learned the bump and run in the early 1960s from teammate Jimmy Hill, at the urging of Cardinals defensive coach Chuck Drulis.{{Cite news |last=Shapiro |first=Leonard |date=October 9, 2024 |title=Undersized cornerback was a fierce competitor |work=Washington Post}}{{Cite web |title=Pat Fischer Stats, Height, Weight, Position, Draft, College |url=https://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/F/FiscPa00.htm |access-date=2025-04-09 |website=Pro-Football-Reference.com |language=en}}{{Cite news |last=Steinberg |first=Dan |date=January 12, 2015 |title=Scot McCloughan's dad, Pat Fischer, and the birth of bump-and-run coverage |url=https://go.gale.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CA397114533&sid=sitemap&v=2.1&it=r&p=AONE&sw=w&userGroupName=anon%7E352b4022&aty=open-web-entry |work=Washington Post}}{{Cite web |last=Turney |first=John |date=2024-09-24 |title=State Your Case: Abe Woodson, 'The Willie Mays of Football' |url=https://talkoffametwo.com/state-your-case/state-your-case-abe-woodson |access-date=2025-04-09 |website=Talk of Fame |language=en}}{{Cite news |last=Steinberg |first=Dan |date=January 11, 2015 |title=Figuring out the coverage |work=The Washington Post}}

Pro Football Hall of Fame executive vice president Joe Horrigan, stated: "'But if I were to say who generally has been credited for it, Willie Brown is generally historically credited with popularizing the bump-and-run - not inventing it, but popularizing it.'" Mel Blount of the Pittsburgh Steelers specialized in this coverage to such a point as to cause numerous rule changes (see below) strictly limiting when and where a defender may make contact with a potential receiver in order to make it easier for receivers to run their routes and increase scoring.{{Cite web |title=Mel Blount, NFL 100 |url=https://www.nfl.com/100/originals/100-greatest/game-changers-46 |access-date=2024-11-27 |website=NFL.com |language=en-US}}

In contrast, under NCAA rules, contact is allowed anywhere on the field as long as contact is in front of the defender and a pass is not in the air.{{Cite web |last=Kirshner |first=Alex |date=2018-08-30 |title=College pass interference rules are better for DBs than the NFL's |url=https://www.sbnation.com/2018/8/30/17488358/ncaa-pass-interference-rule-nfl-differences |access-date=2024-11-27 |website=SBNation.com |language=en}}{{Cite web |date=2018-07-30 |title=Understanding The 5 Yard Illegal Contact Rule In The NFL - vIQtory Sports |url=https://www.viqtorysports.com/understanding-5-yard-contact-rule/ |access-date=2024-11-27 |language=en-US}}

This play works well against routes that require the receiver to be in a certain spot at a certain time.{{Cite web |last=Hatman |first=Dan |date=2017-02-15 |title=ITP Glossary: Bump And Run Technique {{!}} The Scouting Academy |url=https://scoutingacademy.com/itp-glossary-bump-run-technique/ |access-date=2024-11-28 |language=en-US}} The disadvantage, however, is that the receiver can shed contact and get behind the cornerback for a big play.{{Cite news |last=Nguyen |first=Ted |title=Explaining the four coverage categories: Man, zone, zone match and man match |url=https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/2275485/2020/12/22/defense-coverages-types-man-zone/ |access-date=2024-11-28 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}} This varies from the more traditional defensive formation in which a defensive player will give the receiver a "cushion" of about 5 yards to prevent the receiver from getting behind him.{{Cite web |title=Top Defensive Back Drills For Practice |url=https://www.glazierclinics.com/football-coach-resources/defensive-back-drills |access-date=2024-11-28 |website=www.glazierclinics.com}} In the NFL, a defensive back is allowed any sort of contact within the 5 yard bump zone except for holding the receiver, otherwise the defensive back can be called for an illegal contact penalty, costing 5 yards and an automatic first down, enforced since 1978, and known colloquially as the Mel Blount Rule.

• American football strategy

{{reflist}}

{{Gridiron football maneuvers}}

{{American football strategy}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bump And Run Coverage}}

Category:American football strategy

Category:American football terminology