Quote Originally Posted by mraynrand View Post
you at least need to have a back of some kind in the backfield to run play action. Duh. So a critical factor for the GBP is how often they go empty. Sorry, I have no numbers, but seems important for run game 'threat' and ability to fool the defense. But a always, the reason you pass all the time is because your guy/offense does it so well.
Michael Salfino @MichaelSalfino
We had play action stats for a long time. You could at least see that there was no correlation between play action success and running efficiency. And it’s been obvious for decades that there is no correlation between running well and passing well, period.

Defenses REALLY want to stop the run, often to their detriment on 1st and 2nd down. As an example, I give you the phantom play action.

Well, now I can't find it. But someone had video of Peyton Manning faking a handoff to empty space and the ILB taking a step forward to fill against the run. It was an empty backfield. And I believe he has done this numerous times. Point is, you almost don't need to run or threaten to run, to make PA work. Its instinctual in Defenses to obsess about the run first. Its the first read for the ILBs normally.