 If you know the different offensive positions and have some sense of how a football game flows, the next thing you'll want to know are the different types of plays that an offense can run. So this video will be a bit like a glossary of offensive plays. Most can be described in a sentence or two, so I'm just going to go through these really quickly to give you a general sense of what each one is. And if you do want more information, almost every one of these play types has a Wikipedia article about it, so you can check that out if you want more information. As you probably know, the offense can line up in a number of different formations, but no matter which one they choose, they can do one of two things. They can either run or pass the ball in an attempt to move it forward. There's another video in which I describe the different type of routes that can be run by a wide receiver, and those can be mixed and matched on any play. So we'll look at a few more passes here, but let's start with the running plays. The simplest run play there is is probably the quarterback keeper, which is when our quarterback will receive the snap and just run the ball himself. He can do this as a design play, or if he drops back to pass but doesn't find any of his receivers open, he can just take off and run himself. Usually this will be done if the offense only needs a few yards to get the first down, but some of the faster and more athletic quarterbacks can use their speed as a threat on any play. Related to the keeper is the quarterback sneak, which will be done if a team is only a yard or less away from the first down or the end zone. In a quarterback sneak, the QB will receive the snap and immediately jump or dive forward as quickly as he can to try to pick up that short distance he needs. The most common rushing plays though will involve the running back. The quarterback can hand the ball off to the running back, usually the half back, although remember the half back actually stands behind the full back, and he can essentially run wherever he wants to, whether it's up the middle or around the outside the offensive line. If he is going towards the outside, rather than handing him the ball, the quarterback can pitch the ball to the running back and it would still count as a run. This type of play would be called a sweep play. The next type of play is a bit of a combination of the keeper and the pitch play, and this is called the option. In the option, the quarterback will receive the snap and then run to one side of the field while the running back runs up alongside him. As the defense moves to try to tackle the quarterback, he can then pitch the ball over to the running back just before he gets hit and the running back can carry on the play. Or if the quarterback thinks he can gain more yards by keeping the ball himself, he can do just that. Hence the quarterback has the option to keep the ball or to pitch it to his running back. It is important to note here that as soon as the quarterback crosses the line of scrimmage, he can no longer throw the ball forward. For the option to work, he must throw the ball either straight across or backwards when he throws it to the running back. And that leads us to the next play, which is a lateral. A lateral is a type of play we just described where the ball is thrown parallel with the line of scrimmage or backwards. In fact, this is one type of ball movement that can be made at any time by any player with the ball. You can always pitch the ball back to a player behind you. The next running play is something called an end around, which actually involves a wide receiver. In an end around, the quarterback will drop back as if he's going to pass the ball, but he will hand it off instead to a wide receiver who's running across the field, and he will usually turn up the field and continue running. But he could pass the ball to another receiver if they want to take that risk. This is mentioned in another video, but it's good to review. So two terms that you might hear are the play action pass and the draw play, which both sound kind of confusing, but they are actually quite simple. These do not refer to any type of specific play, but they are variations that can be used to throw off the defense, which is after all the reason why the offense is doing all these different kind of crazy plays in the first place. When a team does a play action pass, this means that the quarterback will fake a handoff to the running back before he throws the ball. A draw play is the opposite. The quarterback will drop back and act as if he's going to pass the ball, and then he will instead hand it off to his running back for a running play. So play action equals a fake handoff, and then he will pass the ball. A draw play is a fake pass, and then the offense will run. And finally, we'll end on a passing play called the Hail Mary Pass. When a team is losing by a few points and only has time for one more play, but they are very far from the end zone, or in other words, it'll take a miracle for them to win. They will send all of their receivers to the end zone, and the quarterback will throw the ball up in one final desperate attempt to catch a touchdown pass. Thus we have the Hail Mary. Those are far from the only plays that an offense can run, but the rest are usually related in some way or another to the plays that we just looked at. So the next time you're watching a game on TV, keep an ear out for these plays, and I'll bet you'll hear the announcer mention a few.