Understanding an NFL Play Call: Spider 2 Y Banana

An NFL Play Call come across to us NFL fans as a long drawn out command that no one outside the league seems to understand. The long play calls are used to give the offense as much information about each different play as they can get out to the players in the limited amount of time that exists between plays. How plays are called in the league are different due to each team having their own terminology for plays that are the same. Most of these play are play designs that are part of a particular offense that is known as the West Coast offense. Most teams in the NFL run a variance of the West Coast Offense. An example of a West Coast play call is “Green Right Strong Slot Spider 2 Y Banana”. A play call that may be familiar to people that have watched a lot of football in particular Monday Night Football where analyst and former NFL Head Coach Jon Gruden has an obsession with this particular play.

I thought it would be insightful to breakdown this play and let people know what each part of the play actually means to each and every player involved in the play:

Green Right Strong Slot is the terminology that is used to describe the formation used in the play. The play is run out of 21 personnel which represents two backs in this case a HB and a FB and the one Tight End. The HB lines up behind the QB in the I position with the QB under center and the FB offset to the Strong Side that is the side to which the TE lines up on. The two WRs the X and the Z line up to the left with the X receiver lined up on the outside and the slot receiver playing off the line of scrimmage as the Z receiver.

Spider is the terminology that is used to describe the protection that is used on this particular play. Spider is in this case the term that is used to represent Slide to the Left Protection. Each of the Offensive Lineman on this play will move to their left on this play and block the player to their left. The slide on this play usually leaves an unblocked D-Lineman that will get chopped or cut down by the HB to stop him from getting home.

The number 2 refers to the series of plays. Each series of plays have different characteristics as well as being either a run or pass series. In Spider 2 Y Banana the number 2 means that it is a play action pass. The play action looks like a fake of a power run play that sees the HB chop an unblocked Defensive End down after the FB has bluffed that block and then goes out into the flat.

Y Banana is the passing concept that is used on this play that sees the Y receiver in the offense which is always the TE is running what is known as a Corner route that looks like the shape of a Banana. There are many different passing concepts in an NFL offense and this is just one of lots of different ones.

Spider 2 Y Banana is a play that really starts with the FB who is the primary target on this play and if he is open which he usually is the 1^st read for the QB in what is known as a progression. The phrase “You can’t go broke taking a profit” is often used when referring to this play due to how often the FB is open and picks up a few yards. The aim of the play is to get the ball to the TE on the Corner route but defensive coverage dictates the possibility to get the ball to the TE who is the 2^nd read in the progression usually works against Man to Man or a blown Coverage. It is most likely that the ball will go to the FB who is the primary receiver on this play or to the 3^rd read to the crosser from the weak slot position who will keep going on his route and won’t stop. The 4^th option on his play known as the Venus is basically an alert route and very rarely should be thrown to and usually means trouble as Andrew Luck knows all too well from the game against USC a few years back where he threw to the Venus on this play in a tied ball game in the 4^th quarter that ended up going back for 6 the other way. Luckily for Luck the Stanford Cardinals came back to win that game.