Swinging Gate Formations
The Swinging Gate formation can be effective for an extra point and field goal team. If for no other reason, because it eats up your opponent’s practice time preparing for it. Just accounting for the eligibles is an exercise in discipline on the part of the defense.
Also this play often occurs when there are emotional swings on the part of both sides of the ball. If the play occurs after a touchdown, you are normally running it against a dejected and frustrated defense. You can catch this unit thinking about what just happened instead of what is about to happen on the PAT. If the play occurs as a field goal attempt, the defense may be busy celebrating the 3rd down defensive stop. They may not be alert for any fake or deception that has been designed by the field goal unit.
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It’s for these reasons and others that the Swinging Gate formation and all that can go with it are a staple in some special teams coaches playbooks. FirstDown PlayBook has swinging gate help for you in the PAT/Fg section. There are a variety of ways to line up and yes plenty of creative fakes. FirstDown PlayBook has also provided coaching notes with every drawing.
You can easily take these diagrams and convert them to fit your team and just them to your personnel. You can look at this short video and it will give you a taste of what is in FirstDown PlayBook.
