An important element of Navy’s offense for the past 16 years has been the play-action pass.
For a triple-option team that pounds opponents on the ground, that aerial threat was a critical feature. It kept defenses honest by making them pay for selling out to stop the run.
Navy has never thrown the ball very often, but has always been very effective when it does. That’s because slotbacks and wide receivers that block on almost every play are usually wide open on the rare occasions they release downfield on a passing route.
How many times during this current triple-option era have the Midshipmen caught the secondary napping and connected on a big play downfield?