If you’ve ever watched a gap scheme run play get stonewalled at the line of scrimmage, the problem usually isn’t scheme. It’s technique. Two offensive linemen get their hands on a defender, nobody moves anybody, and the running back has nowhere to go.
The double team block technique is the single biggest separator between an offensive line that displaces people and one that just occupies space, and it’s teachable in one period if you break it into the right pieces.
How Do You Teach A Double Team Block In Football?
A double team block technique is taught by pairing a covered lineman and an uncovered lineman on the same defender, giving each blocker a distinct job: the covered lineman drives his aiming point through the defender’s near number to displace him vertically, while the uncovered lineman climbs off the same double team to redirect the second-level linebacker. Teach the steps and aiming points separately before you ever combine them.
This article breaks down two distinct systems we use to teach the double team, the footwork progression for each, the hand and pad level cues that make it click, the drills to install it, and the mistakes that kill it before it ever gets to the linebacker.
Combo Block Vs Double Team: What’s The Difference?
Coaches use these terms interchangeably, but they’re not the same job. A double team is two linemen combining on one defensive lineman with the intent of driving him off the ball.
A combo block is that same double team with an added rule: one of the two blockers is reading the reaction of the second-level defender and will climb off the double team to take him. Nearly every double team you see on tape at the high school and college level is actually a combo block. The double team creates movement, the combo block finishes it by getting a body on the linebacker.
This matters for install because you’re not just teaching “get movement.” You’re teaching two jobs on one call: the covered man’s aiming point and footwork, and the uncovered man’s climb technique and timing.
Two Systems For The Double Team Block Technique: Crowther And Gallup
There isn’t one universal double team block technique. We teach two, named for the tool and the footwork pattern that go with each, and we assign them by whether the lineman is covered or uncovered on the play.
The Crowther Technique is for the covered lineman, the one with a defender lined up directly on him. It’s named after the Ray Crowther double sled, a piece of equipment built with a curved top pad that simulates a defender firing out low. If you don’t have one, get one. They’ve been around since the 1930s for a reason, and there’s a real teaching value in a pad that forces your lineman to get underneath it instead of over it.
The Gallup Technique is for the uncovered lineman, the one working off the double team toward the linebacker. It’s a three-step shuffle built around staying square and downhill instead of drifting laterally into the block.
Both techniques exist to solve the same problem from two different angles: how do you get displacement on the down lineman while still keeping a clean track to the backer. Neither one is “the double team block technique.” They’re two halves of the same rep.
Crowther Footwork: The Trigger Step And The Knee Through The Crotch
For the covered lineman, footwork starts with what we call the trigger step: the opposite foot moves first, not the near foot. That first step isn’t about ground gained, it’s about getting the hips moving and building a new base to drive off of. The second step is where the whole rep lives.
That’s the step that drives the play-side knee and shoulder through the defender’s inside number, and the coaching cue we use is blunt on purpose: knee him in the crotch. Say it exactly like that with your players. Abstract cues like “explode your hips” don’t stick. That one does.
From there it’s shoulder, forearm, knee lift, all working together to lift the defender off the ground. The verbal cue that gets this across better than any diagram is the single-arm kettlebell swing. Tell your lineman to reach between his legs and rip up, arm locked straight, the same motion as a one-arm kettlebell swing.
The mistake almost every young lineman makes on this rep is turning that rip into a chicken wing, bending the elbow early instead of keeping the arm locked and long. Fix it by having him overexaggerate the reach before the rip until the long arm becomes the habit.
Aiming point matters as much as the steps. We teach the shoulder landing on the defender’s near number, not backside. Work too far across the defender’s body and you’ve defeated the entire purpose of the double team: you’re not driving him off the line, you’re just standing him up.
Gallup Footwork: The Three-Step Shuffle And Rock The Baby
The uncovered lineman’s job looks nothing like the covered man’s. This is a three-step shuffle, driving off the backside foot with the inside leg staying high, almost like a high-knee mentality rather than a traditional drive block first step. One, two, three, and on that third step you rock the baby, twisting the hips through to knock the defender over into the covered lineman’s lap.
The single biggest teaching point here is that the shuffle has to go downhill before it goes lateral. If a lineman gallops laterally into the double team right away, there’s no vertical or horizontal displacement, and that spills the run play right into the defense’s help. Aim through the defender’s near rib cage, not the far shoulder, and let the rock the baby finish create the redirect, not the first two steps.
What Drills Teach Double Team Blocking?
The install progression we run goes in this order, and skipping steps is where most staffs lose value:
- Air work. Both linemen walk through footwork with no bag or sled, just steps and aiming points.
- Sled or shield work. This is where a Crowther sled earns its keep, or a bag held low by a coach or teammate for the covered lineman. The curved pad forces the lifting action instead of a flat push.
- Half-line double team vs. a live defender. Add resistance and a real aiming point.
- Double team to second level. Only once footwork and posture are clean does the uncovered lineman climb to a linebacker, live or bagged. Rushing this step is the single most common install mistake we see. A lineman who hasn’t mastered his own footwork will bail early to chase the backer and never finish the double team.
If you’re building install periods around progressions like this, our how to block in football breakdown covers the base fundamentals that every one of these steps depends on before you ever add a second blocker.
How Do Double Teams Fit Into Run Schemes?
The double team block technique is the engine behind every gap scheme run: power, counter, duo, and any downhill isolation play. The whole point of these schemes is to get movement on a specific down lineman regardless of what the rest of the defense does.
Duo in particular is built almost entirely on double teams at the point of attack, with both linemen reading the same defender before either one climbs. Zone schemes use a different rule structure since the covered lineman’s aiming point and step shift based on shade, but the core displacement principles are the same.
Defenses try to defeat double teams by getting skinny, splitting the double, or having the down lineman fight pressure and spin out of the double team’s grip. This is exactly why the aiming point matters so much: shoulders on the near number and a locked arm ripping up through the legs makes it much harder for a defender to split the double or get skinny than a double team that’s all hands and no lower body.
Common Mistakes On The Double Team Block Technique
Stepping with the near foot first on the Crowther side. This skips the trigger step entirely and leaves the lineman with no new base to drive off of. Fix it by isolating the first step in air work until it’s automatic.
Going lateral too early on the Gallup side. Any lateral movement before the third step kills vertical push and spills the play. Fix it with a cone or line on the ground that the lineman has to stay square to for the first two steps.
Chicken-winging the rip instead of keeping the arm locked. This turns a lifting technique into a pushing technique and costs you displacement. Fix it with isolated arm-only reps against a bag before adding legs back in.
Aiming too far across the defender’s body. This is the mistake I see most often at the youth and JV level: a lineman trying to “take the whole sled” or the whole defender ends up working backside and defeats the entire purpose of the double team. Keep the aiming point on the near number every single rep.
Rushing to the second level before the base rep is clean. When I install this with my line, I don’t let anyone touch a linebacker drill until their footwork and posture on the base double team look right for at least a full period. Chasing the climb too early builds bad habits that are hard to coach out later.
What Are The Coaching Points For A Double Team Block?
The coaching points are: trigger step with the opposite foot, second step drives the knee and shoulder through the defender’s near number, arm stays locked through the rip, shoulders stay square to the linebacker, and the uncovered lineman’s shuffle goes downhill before it goes lateral. Say these cues the same way every single rep so your players build the same picture in their head every time.
Coach’s Takeaway
The double team block technique isn’t one skill, it’s two. Teach the covered lineman’s trigger step and rip separately from the uncovered lineman’s shuffle and rock the baby, drill them individually before combining them, and hold the line on aiming points. Movement on the double team wins gap scheme football, and movement comes from footwork and pad level, not effort.
For more on the individual blocking fundamentals that feed into this technique, we’ve also broken down how to coach the pull block and how to coach the hinge block, both of which show up constantly in the same gap scheme run game as the double team.
FAQ
What footwork do offensive linemen use on a double team?
The covered lineman uses a trigger step with the opposite foot followed by a drive step through the defender’s near number. The uncovered lineman uses a three-step shuffle, driving off the backside foot and finishing with a hip turn into the defender.
What is the difference between a combo block and a double team?
A double team is two linemen combining to move one defender. A combo block is that same double team with a built-in rule for one blocker to climb off and take a second-level defender once the down lineman is controlled.
How do you coach OL to move a defender off the ball on a double team?
Focus on aiming point and pad level before hands. A locked arm ripping up through the legs with the shoulder on the defender’s near number creates far more displacement than two sets of hands pushing flat.
What drills teach double team blocking?
Start in air with no resistance, progress to sled or bag work with a low pad to force lift, then add a live defender at half line, and only add the second-level climb once footwork is clean.
For rules context on legal contact and blocking technique at the high school level, the NFHS football rules are worth keeping on hand, and if you’re building out a full install calendar around these techniques, that’s exactly the kind of drill sequencing we break down inside vIQtory Pro.