Chip Protection

Chip protection has the running back or tight end deliver a quick blow to an edge rusher before releasing into a route. It's the compromise scheme: the back disrupts the rusher's path enough to slow him down by a count, then becomes the fifth eligible in the pass concept.

Chips are most common against wide-9 defensive ends, where the tackle is on an island and the angle favors the rusher. A well-timed chip from the back can knock the DE off his arc and buy the tackle the half-second he needs to settle his feet. Done wrong, the chip becomes a glancing blow and the back is late getting into the route — the worst of both worlds.

The trade is hot reads. A chipping back isn't available as the immediate hot answer to a sixth rusher. Most offenses pair chip protection with built-in sight adjustments — the slot becomes the hot, or the QB throws a quick out to the chipping back's side. Without a hot plan, chip protection is a free sack waiting to happen.