Beat the upline switch with a breakside fade
A neat wrinkle from PoNY's offense
Here's a cool and new-to-me sequence I noticed watching a recent highlight video. Chris Kocher (#31) and Sam Little (#9) of New York PoNY adjusted to Rhino Slam!'s defense against their upline cut with what I'll call a "breakside fade".
Let's first review the standard cat-and-mouse game between the offense and defense on upline cuts, and then I'll show you what Kocher and Little did differently here. Here's the play in question:
This sequence has two consecutive upline cuts. The first was relatively "standard", and so makes a good example for explaining what usually happens:
1. Offense attacks: The upline cut (especially in the form of a give-and-go) is a strong & consistent option for the offense. The thrower swings the disc to the side, perhaps gaining a few yards, and then cuts immediately towards the space in front of the receiver catching the pass:
2. Defense responds: Since upline cuts are so effective, experienced defenders are prepared to defend against them. The standard defensive response is a switch—the defender guarding the player the pass was thrown to will, instead of marking that player, "peel off" and defend the cutter making the upline cut. To complete the switch, the original defender of the upline cutter will go mark the player who now has the disc.
This is also sometimes called a "roll" technique, I assume because the marker "rolls" off the thrower to defend the upline cut.
Rhino Slam! switches both of the upline cuts in this sequence, here’s what it looked like during the first cut:
3. Offense responds to the defense's response: Defenses know upline cuts are powerful, so they counter by being ready to switch. But that's a common enough strategy that offenses have a counter to the defense's counter. The standard move for the upline cutter here is to...just stop. They want to make themselves available for a pass in between their original defender (who they've beaten) and the defender switching on to them (whose momentum is taking them further downfield).
If they time it right, they can still complete a short pass in between the switching defenders.
This probably isn't as beneficial to the offense as a successful upline cut would be (because 1. they gain less yards and 2. they catch the disc standing still facing backwards instead of having forward momentum facing downfield). However, it's the best option available for "taking what the defense gives you" against a skilled defense.
In this particular instance, Little (the upline cutter) doesn't have enough room to get the disc in between the two defenders, but he's able to get open with a second effort. (I'm sure there are better examples of this move out there; I'll update the post next time I see a good one [updated - see below].)
Update (2025-01-03):
It turns out Hive Ultimate already has a video on this topic too, see here:
And here’s a perfect example I found of Fury’s Anna Thompson stopping in between two switching defenders on an upline give-and-go:
3B. An alternative offensive response—the breakside fade: Now let's see the new twist Kocher and Little introduced. Little caught a short pass from Kocher at the end of the upline cut sequence highlighted in the screenshots above. Now Kocher starts to cut upline:
He's got 2 yards of separation from his defender, so we shouldn't be surprised the Rhino Slam! looks to switch again:
But here, instead of executing the standard "stop" technique (#3 above), Kocher abandons the upline cut and fades towards the breakside. Little immediately throws him a looping forehand pass to the breakside over both defenders. I've never seen this "breakside fade" before, but it's a lot of fun—I love the inventiveness and the use of space.
The defender—who thought they were guarding an upline cut—is well out of position, and Kocher can throw a wide-open backhand to gain 15 more yards. (In fairness to the defenders, they may have been playing at less than maximum effort given they were up by 7. Though if you watch the point this sequence comes from, they’re clearly still playing hard defense for the most part.)
Obviously there are a few factors that make this less common than the offense's other two options (pure upline cut, or "stop" move to beat a switch). It's a higher degree-of-difficulty throw, especially in the wind. And it'll only work if there's enough space. Here, the stack is far enough downfield and there's no 3rd handler defender, so there's no other defenders nearby who could potentially interrupt the pass.
While the degree of difficulty is higher, the rewards are bigger too—getting the disc on the breakside with a chance for an easy continuation throw.
To save you from scrolling up, here’s the clip again:
Side note: the way Kocher & Little each respond to the defender's vision is great as well. Note how Kocher starts his fade to the breakside while Kocher's defender is staring at the disc (Notice when your defender isn't noticing you). Then Little throws the pass after that same defender turns to focus on Kocher—they can’t see the disc has been thrown, making the throw even more effective.
I really enjoyed this sequence—it’s not often nowadays that I see a tactic that feels new to me! If you've got a teammate who'll work with you on it, add this little trick to your handler movement.
Would it be more effective to throw this looping forehand or an inside backhand here? or even a looping outside backhand once the mark arrives? I figure the throw doesn't matter much but still, every 1% helps
The nuances of when Kocher made the cut and when Little threw the throw wasn’t something I noticed at all! Thanks for pointing that out