The Shallow Cross and the Holy Trinity from Bunch

Making Passes Look Alike Part 2

As discussed in the last article, sending all your receivers vertically is often very difficult to pattern read for zone defenders, safeties, as well as the very disruptive rovers/floaters. However, any quick look at the football landscape reveals that many, many teams successfully use lots of shallow crosses and flat routes. Given the discussion and some doodling on paper this is a surprise. These routes are almost silly: aside from being simple to jump and wall off for many defenders, they often give away what the one or two vertically releasing receivers will do.

However, my point is not that these routes are irrelevant, yet teams should be careful how they use them and it is possible that they are overused. For example, many coaches teach the passing game based on the reaction of one defender. For example, on the curl/flat combination shown below, the coach will say that if the linebacker widens with the flat, throw the curl. However, if the defense wants to, it can always double cover the curl and cover the flat one on one and take it away.



So, briefly, why do teams run these types of routes? Of first importance is who they are run against; often it is linebackers and safeties, who are weaker pass defenders. Second, the throws themselves are often easier than other throws, which can require more timing and the ability to squeeze the ball between defenders--many of these throws are simply underneath defenders.

Third, structurally, they are easy to understand and often easy to read. While this is a fear if the defense is too good, again, simplicity often favors the offense. If I send a player immediately to the flat, then I can quickly see the defense's reaction. If I send two receivers vertical it is not apparent to the QB who the D will eventually leave uncovered.

Lastly, while they (usually) are poor at threatening vertically, they can still be packaged together to create rubs, picks, and mismatches. Whether in the traditional bunch set or simply a shoot route by a running back versus a slower linebacker, we can all envision circumstances that make them effective. Therefore these routes, often better than 3 or 4 vertically releasing receivers are good at causing the defense to put itself in a numbers bind (I.E. three defenders to cover two receivers or four defenders to cover three receivers. This is what can win football games from a strategy point of view.) The point of this article is to show some of the right ways to use them and some of the proper considerations.

I'll begin with the shallow cross series as I have run it, which has a few variations and has come under a few names, including the West Coast "drive" concept, or just shallow cross in mine. It is a simple inside-out read for the QB, who reads the shallow cross, to a curl or in-breaking route, to the flat (or sometimes a wheel route). Sometimes there are backside reads as well, but for now I will just show it with a post route and a backside flat to control the outside linebacker for the crossing receiver.



In the lower left is how Purdue runs the play, which is basically the same even if the techniques are slightly different.

However, no matter how you dress it up, the play does not exist in a vacuum. In my earlier article I talked about the same plays being run from multiple formations. Yet, the D cannot be totally fooled if every time one guy comes in, another pushes vertical, and another goes to the flat. It simply becomes recognition and reaction for the defense; in other words they can pattern read you.

Quickly, I'll show a few other combinations of routes that look similar. First, the now famous mesh/snag/triangle route:



And the follow/angle combination:



Shallow, snag, and follow (which is what I call them--insert Shakespeare's famous question here) form what I call the "Holy Trinity", which are imperative for any good passing team, particularly if you plan to use the bunch packages. Intuitively, you can see the advantage to using these together, but it becomes more apparent if I draw it first as what the stems look like on each play, and then as a branch of possibilities:



Since that looks a bit messy, here is each route individually:



The defense cannot pattern read anymore, because every play is like a kind of dynamic route tree. You've achieved the same equilibrium with these short routes as you had when all your receivers vertically released.

In this case you can still get double teamed, but they will be unable to jump the underneath routes for fear that a shallow may become a whip or that a shoot route may become a wheel or an angle route.

Conclusion

All this is part of making your offense cohesive. Again, no play exists in a vacuum. You do this for the same reason that you run draw plays or that you run your play action passes off of your favorite run plays instead of plays you don't even run. They keep the defense honest and make you difficult to defend. If I have five pass plays but they all look markedly different, I become easier to defend. If I can mix in all the formations, substitutions, and then, even if the defense accurately reads run or pass and can identify the receivers, yet still can't tell if there is a whip or a shallow coming, or a corner or a curl (or a post), then I have been successful.

It doesn't really matter how you integrate it into your system, whether they are separate plays or tags or whatnot, but the important thing is to make it difficult for the D and easy to teach. For the last two diagrams I will show you how Spurrier integrates this same idea into his two favorite pass plays (which, to add to the confusion, are built off his favorite run play, the lead draw).

First, Spurrier loves the curl/corner read play, which I discussed in this article and the common dig/post pass, shown below:



Laid on top of each other, it looks like this to the defense:



He's been doing this for years. Constant three way threats all around, the threat of multiple vertical receivers, including post and corner routes, are all staples of the Old Ball Coach's offense.

Making Pass Plays Look Alike

Pattern reading is one of the most crippling tactics a defense can employ against an unprepared or poorly organized pass offense. Even a successful passing team can suddenly find themselves unable to get anyone open. Think about what it is like trying to throw against your own defense when they all know your plays.

I was actually kidding: if your own defense can always identify what you're doing, then that is probably a sign that you need to rethink things. The issue is that as often as possible the defense should not know for sure where the receivers will wind up until the ball is actually thrown. This is done by making routes look alike.

The first thing is that your eligible receivers must learn how to explode off the ball and make every route look like they are going deep. If a receiver can explode and make the DB think he is going deep, and then has the skills to stop and change direction in two (or sometimes three) steps, then he can always get open versus one defender. Imagine a pass play with four (or five) vertically releasing receivers: each could go deep, stop, or go in or out at any time. Further, no single receiver can afford to be double teamed until the intentions of some of the other receivers have been given away, at which time the ball should already be thrown.

In fact, most 3-step drop passing games and many timing routes look just like this. Below are some diagrams of possible combinations and routes put together (some put together quite casually, not all are vouched for as great plays).

Drawing the route tree can be thought of as showing what it is like for a defensive back: he is backpedaling and he sees all the potential ways that receiver could go. However, if he can pattern read, even if he doesn't know with 100% probability what a receiver is going to do, if he can narrow it down to one or two things, then the offense is on a slippery slope downhill.

So, if defensive backs have a hard time pattern reading vertical releases, then what can they pattern read? Well, they read routes that immediately show where the receiver is going, as shown below:

I.E. Shallow crosses and flat and shoot routes. Or in other words: the bread and butter of many, many football teams' passing games.

Homer Smith wrote a few articles that very convincingly decimated the usefulness of some of these routes, particularly the flat route. You can threaten no more than one defender, who can always take it away. In the world of football strategy, this is not how you win football games. You win football games by isolating your players in one on one matchups that they can win and score against and occupying two defenders with one receiver, thereby creating those one on one matchups. Defenses will trade one for one every single time. Think about what bunching or stacking receivers is intended to do, or the multiple threats that tight ends and H-backs can present.

Moreover, these routes a) are easily covered or "squeezed" by the LBs, b) they usually signal exactly what the vertical releasing WRs are going to do (i.e. if the slot flies to the flat, then the corner knows he will only run a go or a curl, but will not run an out route), and c) does not threaten the deep coverage so the safeties can help double team the downfield receivers.

I used to be a bit more sceptical, but I think it is safe to say that the NFL, from a strategy standpoint, is obviously the most sophisticated football being played at any level. (Though certain strategies, such as many option football strategies, are deemed too risky because of injury to the quarterbacks.) There is simply so much more time, money, and experience at every level of the teams--from players to coaches to technical assistants, and there is too much incentive and reward for success for it not to be.

Thus, I think it would be a fair test to say that if these routes are as useless as they seem to be on paper under careful analysis, then someone would have realized this, whether explicitly removing them on purpose, or implicitly they would get phased out when they analyze piles of play results and use the most successful rotues and packages.

A quick scan of any NFL game will show you that lots and lots of shallow crosses and flat routes are being called, completed, and used successfully. While running the risk of asking the obvious (or simply making the simple complicated), but why?

The first, and probably most important reason, is that these routes are simply shorter and easier to complete than other quarterbacks. Most are less than 6 yards, compared with the vertical stem routes, which are 10-15 yards (at least) downfield, and, knowing that we can use the Pythagorean theorem to determine how far the pass actually needs to go, this could be a 15-25 yard difference between a 5 yard route and a 12 yard route. This is important both because of simple success rates, but also because football teams and quarterbacks are human, psychological beings, and I am a big believer in getting QBs established early with easy throws to get them comfortable.

Second, they do focus on the LBs and the undercoverage, who are often weaker defenders. This is a less strong reason because routes with vertical stems can and still do attack these underneath defenders, but there is no mistaking it with the shorter routes.

Lastly, while you do immediately lose deep threats from the route, you can still create new route trees off these pass releases, creating new uncertainty for defenders, which is what I will discuss in my next article.

Three-Verticals and Converting Pass Patterns

To kill two birds with one stone, I will continue to elaborate on the topic of pass pattern adjustments that began with Spurrier and some other plays by discussing the three-verticals play, known as "787" or the corner/post/corner combination. This is a big-play pass play effective versus all coverages, primarily cover 2 man or zone.

In this play, here diagrammed from a base Pro-Set, the outside receivers will run post-corner routes, and the inside receiver, Y, will run a "middle-read" route, or "adjustable-8". The running backs will control the undercoverage with a shoot and a swing route. The outside receivers and the middle receiver have simple keys to help them adjust their routes based on the coverage and the leverage the defenders are using against them.



Below is some video of the Patriots running this play (though with tight splits for the receivers and flipped as I have it drawn up):



Keys for Outside Receivers
The outside receivers are going to read the "two Bs" we emphasize to them every day: Bail or Bump. In this case bail is any coverage with the defender off 7 yards or more as long as he takes his read steps backwards.

Bail Technique

In this case the receiver will get a free release and will run a true post-corner route, as shown below. Beginning with the outside foot back, he will release vertical for 7 steps and should reach at least 10-12 yards. He will plant on his outside foot and break at a 45 degree angle to the post for three steps, looking back at the QB on the second. On his third step he will plant his inside foot hard, open his hips and break for the corner at a hard 45 degree angle.



As shown above, we teach that if the corner stays inside he will break hard for the near pylon. If the corner stays outside or quickly is back over top of him, he will drive his outside elbow and plant his outside foot flat to the LOS, and begin to come back for the football. If this happens he will catch it at 18-22 yards (this requires QBs without strong arms to have great timing). I will get back to the QB shortly, but the QB is instructed to "throw him open", and the receiver must get to the football, whether it is thrown upfield or back flat to the sideline.

Bump or Up Coverage

For bump coverage, the corner may employ several different techniques: he may align off and then step up (roll-up corner); play hard man inside or outside; or be in cover two, aligned outside and playing zone. Each is shown below:



Versus a roll-up corner, the receiver must abandon his vertical step-based stem and must instead stem inside to get proper leverage.

Against man he will abandon his steps and look for the quickest vertical release to a depth of 10-12 yards. The move at the top is the same, if abbreviated. He will sell the post, look at the QB, then break for the corner. If the receiver does not beat the bump coverage he will get back over top and push vertical.

Lastly, against a cover 2 corner, he will free release inside to a depth of 5-6 yards, then push to 10-12, stick his inside foot to the post to sell the safety, then break high to the corner. He will allow the QB's throw to get him to the open area.

Middle Route

The middle-read receiver will take the fastest vertical release he can. He does NOT want to get slowed by the second level players. He will get a pre-snap and a post-snap look at the middle of the field. If the middle of the field is open (MOFO - cover 2, 0) he will go for it. If it is closed (MOFC - 1, 3, 4) he will run a square-in route.



He will take the fastest release and push to a depth of 10-12. If he reads MOFO he will stick his outside foot and head for the nearest upright. He wants to catch the ball at 18-22 yards, and is expecting to get hit after he catches it.

If he reads MOFC he will plant hard at 10-12 and will stick his outside foot and make a 90 degree cut. If he reads zone he will try to make eye contact with the QB and find the window between the linebackers to catch the football. If he reads man he will burst and sprint away from his defender.

Undercoverage Control Routes

Here, they are RBs, but they can also be tight ends, wingbacks, H-backs, etc. They will run control routes. The shoot is a straight route to a depth of 3 yards, no wider than the numbers. The swing is a straight run out from their original position (5 yard depth) for 4-6 steps and then they will look over the inside shoulder. Will get no wider than the numbers and no deeper than the LOS.

QB Drop and Reads

This is a 5-step drop timing based play, so the offensive line must be able to hold their blocks. The QB will take a 5-step drop with a hitch step, keeping his eyes downfield.

His primary key is the weak safety. Even before he understands coverages he must be able to find the weak safety and watch his movement. On this play, if the weak safety goes weak (cover 2, or lines up as a middle safety and rotates weak) the QB will read strong (Z-1, Y-2, A-3). If the weak safety stays in the middle or rotates strong, then the QB will read weak (X-1, Y-2, B-3).

Notice the QB reads outside to in on this play. This is a timing route and the primary timing is between the QB and the corner route.

As shown above, once the QB determines which direction he is going it then becomes a strict progression read, where he actually is reading the receiver rather than the defender, looking for open grass. This is similar to my article on the all-curl route, where the QB keys the middle linebacker and then does a strict progression. This also helps with "throwing the receiver open", and has actually helped cut down interceptions, since the QB has a better idea of whether the receiver is actually "open" rather than the reaction of one particular defender.

Below are diagrams versus various coverages, with the W/S circled:



Note: The QB needs to be be able to identify Cover 4. Since the play is designed to attack Cover 2 zone and man, and is very effective at it, you can expect the D to try to catch you by playing Cover 4--where they outnumber your deep receivers--and force an interception. With the W/S staying weak it indicates to the QB to go strong, which is good, but overall he wants to find the best outside matchup. We hope the middle route can control the safeties a bit, and the hard post-corner move can still get the outside receiver open. Regardless, this is not my favorite call versus Cover 4.

And below is video of the play as used by the Airraid teams. Courtesy of "otowncoach."



Conclusion and Other Uses

Below is a quick diagram of the play from a one-back formation, and the route shown for play action from the I-formation. It matters little to your players what wrinkles you add to it, but, as per my article on personnel and formations, it can matter a lot to the defense. The idea is to get you doodling; it can be aplied to lots and lots of situations.



This is one of my favorite passes. It is extremely adaptable to many offenses, formations, personnel, and situations. Furthermore, it is an aggressive pass play but also is very precise and can be well protected. It is not just a heave or throw without purpose. It is part of a well-crafted, timing-based passing attack.

Substitutions, Personnel, and Formations

Anyone who has watched Edge NFL Matchup (the best football show on television by far) is familiar with the idea of "matchups" or "formationing". However, rarely is the concept used properly by coaches. Often, even experienced coaches will give lip service to "using multiple formations" and that, without purpose, if you run X number of plays in Y formations it somehow inherently makes you a better offense. Further, tactical substitution is even less understood. Sometimes not substituting is tactical (i.e. the wishbone or run and shoot looks the same pre-snap every play), but substitution and formationing are tools to be used by the crafty coach.

The great advantage to formations and substitution versus new plays and schemes as a tactic is that new schemes and plays require the coaches and players to learn something new. Whereas, on the whole, a formation, once learned, can be used over and over in many different situations, and a personnel grouping only requires that other players learn certain responsibilities (which can sometimes be demanding if that player is required to learn several significantly different positions). However, the coach can pretty much substitute or throw in a new formation at will, and the players pretty much will execute their task regardless of who is in the game or what the formation is.

Formationing

I will discuss this the least, since the literature and discussion of formationing is more widely available, and I think the most useful approach to this is for individual coaches to spend some time doodling it onto paper to see what can be discovered on their own.

However, this is the first tool used. Each defense has various strengths and weaknesses, and often defensive coaches, consciously or unconsciously, will often try to overcompensate for these weaknesses through personnel or tactics, so that creates further games. However, knowing these strengths and weaknesses is important for any offensive coach. For example two situations are digrammed:



On the left, the offense lines up in trips, which is troublesome for a defense that wants to play cover 2. The three frontside receivers require coverage from the undercoverage defenders, and the QB and RB can option or run the ball to either side, putting the inside linebackers in a bind. Further, with a favorable matchup, X versus the single cornerback presents different problems, particularly for slant routes. Thus the offense can kind of work a progression of frontside quick passes, strongside running to weakside running, to weakside passing, making the lives of the defenders, particularly those two inside backers, miserable.

In the diagram on the right, versus a 3 man front, vs what we would call a 3-4 strong stacked (or a 3-5 if the team uses this consistently as a base defense), we first line up in a balanced formation, seeing if the defense tries to load one side or another.

Most importantly though, with only 3 LOS defenders, we go two tight ends (we can go 2 backs and 2 tights if we truly want to be a powerful run team). First, we have six inside gaps (8 if you count off end runs) that the D must account for, and we can double team all of the LOS defenders and still have a free linemen, here the left guard, that can free release to block a second level defender. From here, as with the trips, the games would begin where we would want to run the ball, waiting until their contain defenders cheat inside or the free safety cheats up, at which time we would start throwing quick passes or passes off a run action.

Personnel and Substitutions

When planning for the year, it is important to identify your "studs" or the players that can change--and win--games on their talent, ability, and drive. These can take different forms, from gamebreakers to linemen who can pancake defensive linemen to a multitalented tight end or wingback, but they must be identified.

Second, you must flesh out your O with your best 11 players. I am a firm believer than you need a strong 11 players who are your "starters" and these will be the guys that help you score points and win games. I do not have guys that just stand out to the side or linemen we don't run behind, all are expected to contribute.

Starting from this helps discipline your thinking when substituting. Coming back to your studs and your best 11 helps prevent you from substituting without purpose or for purely cosmetic reasons; if I am going to take one of my best 11 off the field then I need a damn good reason.

The Value of Openers

First, when designing openers I like to, almost indiscriminantly, get the ball to some of my studs. As little as it should matter, psychologically it helps them get into the flow of the game, and they approach games more seriously and confidently knowing that we have plays designed for them to get the ball early when we practice our openers.

However, we also run lots of formations, motions, and a few substitution packages to get a feel for the defense. First, this can send them scrambling to see what we've thrown at them, but, most importantly, we want to see what they do. Do they put a linebacker or a safety on this guy? Do they shift their backers over? Do they shade their DL? Different coaches watch for these adjustments and we confirm a picture about the D. The more unconventional your offense the more important this is. From my experience teams would line up in all new defenses versus us almost every week, so our weekly preparation had to be contingency based rather than definitely prescriptive.

The big question we ask during the week and seek to confirm early in the game is: "Do they substitute based on situation (down and distance) or based on offensive substitution? Is there a breaking point where they shift between one or the other?"

This is very important, because it changes our entire method of substituting. If we know they like to go nickel on 3rd and 7, then we need to anticipate the nickel personnel and maybe we want to stay in base, or maybe we MUST sub in quicker players or else our RBs and tight ends will not get open. Conversely, if they substitute based on personnel, maybe we can do a power package on 1st and 10 and they will take out their free safety who we really fear in the passing game but is a poor tackler. This will be worked on all week as well as mid-game.

Again, the great advantage of this kind of strategy is it does not require the players to learn anything new. We do like our players to be smart (I used to tell them that by the time they leave I hoped they could all be coaches), but it doesn't require extra practice time to do this kind of stuff. A new trap play does.

Walkthrough of Situation

To help highlight what I mean, I will walk through one simple situation. Let's say we are a base pro-set team, with a halfback, fullback, tight end, split end and flanker. W want to make an adjustment and line up with the halfback split out as a receiver, so we move him outside of the split end and we look to see how the defense adjusts, as diagrammed below.



First, do they cover him at all? If they play way off, we may want to throw an immediate pass to H, who is our best runner, out in space. I've called this, seen our halfback make some people miss and score a long TD. Makes you feel like a genius, but is so obvious!



Here, they play man or some kind of "up" coverage. Importantly, since the cornerback's rule is probably something along the lines of "take the widest man" then our split end, our best or second-best receiver and route runner, is now matched up with a linebacker (it could also be a safety, and this could be advantageous as well).

Let's just say that it is pleasing to look up and see one of your speedy guys being covered by someone with their number in the 50s (or up!).

Obviously here we would try to isolate our split end on this player and let him beat his man on a pass route.

In the diagrams below the defense matches up with the corner on the split end and moves the LB out. Aside from the passing game, this is helpful for the run game, as we have taken a better run defender outside. Anyway, though, we now have H matched up on the outside with a LB.



Above we show the RB versus this backer in the backfield or split out. While he can run many routes from the backfield, he is not the threat deep that he would be, and the LB has more help from his safety and other cover man inside. However, split out on the sideline, he is on an island, and must first defend against the straight go or fade route (also the easiest to teach a RB who otherwise needs to learn other responsibilities).



Lastly, if we have been successful with all of these tactics the defense may get fed up and rotate a zone over to this side. First, we realize that we still have a strong run formation strong with our tight end. Second, it is a 3 receiver side, and we can flood the zone to this side where we can achieve an advantage. Thus are the cat and mouse games of offense vs. defense.

Motion and Shifting

I will be brief here, but motioning and shifting are easily applied to the concepts shown in this article.

The first thing about motioning or shifting is that they achieve the same purposes as formationing and substitution--it is the final formation that truly matters--but they generally give the defense less time to adjust and see what you are doing.

Motion

There is lots of overlap between motioning and formationing, but here is a brief list of reasons to motion (mostly taken from Bill Walsh).

1. Create a certain mismatch
2. Force the defense into a certain coverage
3. Put a player in best position to do a job (i.e. motion a RB out to go deep)
4. Confuse the defense's responsibilities
5. Disguise the play by breaking a formation tendency
6. Give them more to think about (motion causes emotion!)
7. Force defense into revealing keys (can be misleading at times)

Do NOT use motion cosmetically. If you are just motioning to motion, because you think you should, then you are wasting time and throwing off your offensive rhythm. You are better off getting to the line and calling the play on a quick count.

The special case of orbit motion or return motion, where a player motions in, usually to the center, and then goes back out to where he was, is on its way out. At one time this was very effective for determining if the defense was in man or zone, but has become increasingly less telling, and you see it less and less at the higher levels of football. If you see value in this motion then by all means use it, but its usefulness is decreasing.

Shifting

Shifting, as compared with motion has a few strengths and weaknesses. First, its strengths are that more than one player can shift at a time, and, as shown below, you can actually change the strength of a formation (which can be done with motion but not as easily or dramatically). This is maybe the most powerful adjustment at the LOS you can make.



The primary weakness of a shift is that your players must be set before the snap, giving the defense some time to adjust, while motion allows less.

Conclusion

This is the probing approach to formationing and personnel. It is not reactive in the passive sense. "Take what the defense gives you" has been changed from useful advice to a condemnation of conservative playcalling.

However, to some extent, it is still true when approaching the game tactically. This is formationing, shifting, and substituting with a purpose: intelligent strategy incorporates what the other team is doing, while staying true to your team's strengths.

Moreover, football is still a game of talent and people. If their 11 are better than yours, it probably matters little whether H is in the backfield or lined up wide as a receiver or if you shift your tight end from one side to the other. However, you look for what you can get. If you can find one personnel advantage then you can potentially trigger a structural change that can open up the rest of your offense and put your other players in position to succeed and contribute.

During a game you may have 2, 3, or 4 of these little mini-games going on. Moving this guy here, motioning that guy there, recreating the formation and doing something different, etc. A well designed and well taught offense can do these without confusing your players, putting the D in a bind. Conversely, a well designed and well taught defense can react to all these little offensive tactics and still let their players just go out there, play some football, and hit somebody.

To reiterate a running theme, football is a very simple game. The actual concepts you use, the number of ways to put 11 (or 22) pieces on the field is more finite than we think. All we can do is to teach our players as best we can during the weeks and then on gameday put them in the best position to succeed.

Playing Pitch and Catch - Spurrier's Favorite Pass Play

Been plenty of boring stuff on the site about statistics and all that mumbo jumbo (hey I like that mumbo jumbo!), so here is a more true-to-form article about some bread and butter: passing offense

Who better to analyze than the Ole' Ball Coach, who will be back this fall at South Carolina? I for one am looking forward to catching some of the other USC games, now that Spurrier is back in coaching.

Despite his lack of success at the Pro level, Spurrier's offense is still one of the most well crafted offenses around. (I still think that Spurrier's lack of success at Washington was for many reasons, and likely it was not purely his offensive scheme as some would like to say. If it was schematic then some of it was due to some of the publicized protection issues, which I have not gotten the opportunity to study on film properly.)

Anyway, if you watch any old Spurrier tapes or if you see them this fall you'll see plenty of post/dig combos, the smash (hitch/corner combo), and the scissors (post and a corner combination), but the play that has always defined Spurrier, at least for me, is his Ralph/Lonnie combo.

Spurrier runs a handful of read routes--nothing like the run and shoot--but this is one that he will run over and over, often on successive plays. In brief it is a play that combines two plays that almost everyone runs into one play: the curl/flat and the corner/flat combination.

For him this is a 7-step drop play that he will commonly run with fake run action in the backfield, usually faking the lead draw. Thus the routes are a bit deeper. However, the same principles can be run at the high school level very easily at a 5 step pass with slightly shorter routes.

The basic theory is that versus cover 3 or off coverage he wants to run a 15 yard curl, and against cover 2 he wants to attack the deep third with a corner route. Below is Ralph/Lonnie drawn up in some common formations.



The read is fairly simple, though, like any other read route, requires lots of repetitions. Spurrier will rep this endlessly--often versus air--using coaches and dummies to help coordinate the reads along with the typical 7 on 7 and one on one drills.

I'll begin with the other receivers first and then finish with the option-route receiver and the QB. Spurrier has traditionally used a FS1, FS2, BS1, etc type system to teach his routes, but this can be integrated with any kind of playcalling system you use.

From a traditional pro-set the backside split end will burst inside for 3 steps, then push upfield to 15 yards and then break for the goalpost versus MOFO (middle of the field open, like cover 0 or 2) and flatten on a square-in versus MOFC (middle of the field closed, like cover 1 or 3).

The running backs will check release to 5 yards over the tackles, or a single back will settle over the ball in the area between the tackles at 5 yards, showing the QB his numbers.

The FS#2 will run a flat route to 4-6 yards. If he is a slot receiver he will push vertical for 3 steps, exaggerating his burst, before breaking to the flat.

The option receiver's rules are as follows:

1) Take normal split. If on the near hash no farther outside than the inside of the numbers.

2) Versus any "off" coverage (3 or loose man) he will simply burst straight off the line at the outside hip of the defender, sell the go, reach to 15 yards and curl back to the QB ("chop, stop, and return" in my terminology), looking for the QB's eyes, finding the window between defenders. There essentially is no read if the corner is playing you way off.

3) Versus "up" or press coverage he will inside release, taking a 3-step inside release, burst to 15 yards. This is the actual read.

The receiver is looking if there is someone deep and to the outside of him (deep 1/3). If there is he will settle at 15 on a curl and look for the QB's eyes. If the defender stays on him, it is man, and he will run his corner at 15, stick his foot, and burst somewhat flatter than 45 degrees.

If the defender lets him go and there is no deep 1/3 defender, he will run his corner route. At 15 yards he sticks his inside foot and breaks to the corner at a 45 degree angle, expecting to catch he ball between 20 and 24 yards downfield. Usually, versus cover 2 another defender--the hash safety--will rotate over and play the receiver heads up if he took an inside release. The receiver will run his corner route off this defender.

4) If you burst straight off the line and the corner comes up or does not move his feet, then immediately inside release for 3 steps and use your read rules: look for the deep outside 1/3 defender. The route may look funny on paper but it will still be effective.

The QB will read the safeties on his drop and should have a good pre-snap read, anticipating what the route will be. He looks down the middle of the field on his first 5 steps, and if the safety(ies) move out of position he can look for the post immediately.

Otherwise the read is option route, to flat, to underneath (backs). On the last two steps of his drop he will look at the deep 1/3, also looking for a deep outside 1/3 defender. His rule is very simple, if there isn't a deep 1/3 defender he will look to throw the ball in the "open grass"--essentially throwing the ball where the defenders aren't and anticipating that his receiver will also get to where the defenders aren't.

If there is a deep 1/3 defender, he should see the curl developing in the same line of vision, and will look through the window looking to deliver the curl route, sticking the ball right on the receiver's numbers.

Included in his read of the "open grass" this includes the flat defender being held short and not dropping back to get in the line of side of the corner or the curl. One of the few good hard and fast rules for QBs is to never throw the ball over a retreating flat defender, be it a cornerback or a linebacker.

It should be noted that Steve's quarterbacks were always very good at going through their progressions; we remember the deep posts, the many curls, the corner routes thrown, but his team's ate the defense up, infuriated defensive coordinators and troubled the linebackers and safeties by consistently finding the check-down and underneath receivers.

Below are diagrams of the play versus Cover 3, Cover 2, and Cover 1 (you can imagine it versus Cover 2-man).

Cover 3

Cover 2

Cover 1


A few more notes on the play:

1) This play is designed versus cover 3 and cover 2. Some good defenses are very good at switching back and forth from these defenses and catching you perennially with curls versus cover 2, corners versus cover 3, and never getting the right call. This play eliminates that, and the corner is a good man to man route versus cover 1 and 2 man. However, the play is not designed for cover 4 a.k.a combo coverage (bracketing by the corner and safety) and, while the post and the corner are often good calls versus cover 0 (all-out man blitz) this may not be the right call because of timing and protection. I'll save cover 4 and ways to defeat it in another article.

2) A very good high school team that I know of uses this play as their go-to play, and they simplify it by always having the option receiver inside release and read the outside coverage. You still get the same curl route you do with the straight stem, but if the deep 1/3 defender shows his intent early they will have the receiver fade his stem back out to the sideline and away from the safety abit, too.

3) Also, this school runs this play as a 5-step drop play where the curl and the corner routes are run at 12 yards rather than 15.

4) Another adjustment that can be made with this play is to make some kind of switch call, switching #1 and #2. In this case it becomes a kind of read smash, but the play and the read for the QB are the exact same. The outside receiver runs a hitch at 5 yards and the inside receiver bursts straight up the field to 12 yards, doing the same outside 1/3 read. Versus a deep 1/3 player he runs the curl, if not he runs a corner either for the open grass in the zone or sticking and breaking away from his man defender.

Below is a diagram of this.



5) Lastly, I didn't cover it (I'm not really the authority since I have always taught a strict progression, though have worked on it with experienced QBs.) but Spurrier teaches a lot of "look-offs." For example to help open up the curl/corner Spurrier's QBs will often look down at the flat during or near the end of their drop to keep the defender short. This has obviously served him well. I have always stressed reading the defense or the appropriate defender (usually free safety or middle linebacker) on the beginning of the drop (1st step in 3 step, 3 steps in 5 step) and then going to a strict 1-2-3 progression for the QB.

However, when I've had experienced QBs who were excellent at reading coverages pre-snap and who quickly got a read on the key defender, they could then use their 2nd, 3rd and sometimes 4th and 5th steps looking at the 2nd or 3rd receiver in the progression before looking back at #1 and then progressing (did I explain that well at all? Haha).

Controlling the Ball With the Pass - Bill Walsh

Old article from 1979 but still a good one. From the Unofficial Westcoast Offense Site:

Emphasis below is mine--

Controlling the Ball With the Pass
BILL WALSH
former San Francisco 49ers and Stanford Cardinal


My philosophy has been to control the ball with the forward pass. To do that we have to have versatility-versatility in the action and types of passes thrown by the quarterback.

Dropback Passes

We like the dropback pass. We use a three-step drop pattern, but more often we will use a five-step drop pattern of timed patterns down the field. From there we go to a seven-step drop. When our quarterback takes a seven-step drop, he's allowing the receivers time to maneuver down the field. Therefore, we will use a three-step drop pattern when we are throwing a quickout or hitch or slant which, by and large, the defense is allowing you to complete by their alignment or by their coverage.

The five-step drop pattern for the quarterback calls for a disciplined pattern by the receiver. He runs that pattern the same way every time. He doesn't maneuver to beat the defensive back.

Too often in college football, either the quarterback is standing there waiting for the receiver, or the receiver has broken before the quarterback can throw the ball. These are the biggest flaws you will see in the forward pass. Now when the receiver breaks before the ball can be thrown, the defensive back can adjust to the receiver. Any time the quarterback holds the ball waiting for the receiver to break, the defensive back sees it and breaks on the receiver. So the time pattern is vital.

Play-Action Passes

You can't just dropback pass. You have to be able to keep the defense from zeroing in on your approach. That's why the play pass is vital. By and large, the play-action pass will score the touchdown. The dropback pass will control the ball.

For play-action passing, we have certain blocking fundamentals that we use. We will show different backfield actions with basically the same offensive line blocking. We will go to the play pass as often as we can, especially as we get to the opponent's 25-yard line.

...

In Scoring Territory

I have seen many teams march the ball beautifully, but right around the 15-yard line, they are already warming up their placekicker, because right at that point defenses change, the field they can operate in changes, and suddenly their basic offense goes all to pieces.

My contention is that if we are on their 25, we're going for the end zone. Failing at that, we will kick a field goal. In an evenly matched game, I don't want to try to take the ball from their 25 to the goal line by trying to smash it through people, because three out of four times, you won't make it. Unless you are superior. Of course, if you are vastly superior it makes very little difference how you do it.

Why? First, every defensive coach in the country is going to his blitzes about right there. The pass coverage, by and large, will be man-to-man coverage. We know that if they don't blitz one down, they're going to blitz the next down. Automatically. They'll seldom blitz twice in a row but they'll blitz every other down. If we go a series where there haven't been blitzes on the first two downs, here comes the safety blitz on the third down. So we are looking, at that point, to get into the end zone.

By the style of our football, we'll have somebody to get the ball to a little bit late-just as an outlet to get 4 or 5 yards, to try to keep it. But from the 25 to the 10, we're going for the end zone.

...

Short Yardage

We have standard passes to throw against a goalline defense. Too often people try to go in there and butt heads with good linebackers on the goal line. Too often they don't make it.

If we get inside that 5-yard line, half the time we are going to throw the ball. Now, if you're marching through somebody, you can just close your eyes and hand the ball off But when it's very competitive, that goal-line pass is vital. So we have a series of those. We never call them anywhere else on the field.

When we are around their 35-yard line in a short-yardage situation, if we don't see somebody standing deep down the middle, we're probably going to go for the six points.

To make it on third-and-1 we will often throw to a back out of the backfield. Third-and-3 is the toughest of all to make. We have a certain list of runs and a certain list of passes. When we have a third-and-3, we don't grope. We go to it.

Risk and Return in Play Selection

Below is a chart describing the probability (based on a normal distribution) of gaining 10 yards in 3 plays, based on a particular play's expected gain/variance relationship (or three different plays with the same characteristics):



Chart courtesy of reader Brad Eccles.

You can muse on this for some time, but this is accounting for losses, as well. It shows the important relationship between risk and return but also demonstrates--looking at the steep slope for the results on the right hand side of the chart--that average or expected return has a huge effect, implying that higher return rather than conservative playcalling strategies are beneficial, even accounting for risks (standard deviation).

Quick caveats: This is highly abstract, and takes no account of down or distance or position on the field; what may have a low standard deviation or high return in one circumstance may not in another. Also, the standard deviation for higher returns may need to be higher than 20. I still am looking for a large enough set of data to analyze.

Lastly, and this is not a bad thing, is that the assumption of a normal distribution may be off, because I would imagine that returns for a football play are heavily skewed (i.e. in a single play it is more common to gain 30 or 40 yards than it is to lose 30 or 40 yards.). This may also work in the favor of aggressive playcalling, particularly if you can quantify turnover/field position risk.

Mini-Curl/Spacing Concept

A play that is gaining in popularity is the spacing/mini-curl. A simple route that happens quickly (especially important with protection becoming more and more difficult), Norm Chow at USC, the University of Michigan and many others have been using this play.

This description comes via Ted Seay, via the Chucknduck boards.

Coach: No film, but the following comes from Jody Ashby, on Coach [Andrew] Coverdale's staff at Newburgh Castle HS in Indiana:

Spacing - is the old curl/out route cut in half. So, think miniature post curl, arrow, and a sit route. You can make this look a ton of ways, but I'll give you the most basic way we would run it. Michigan does a lot of this (for your reference). Lets take a bunch formation, the outside receiver who is off the ball runs a miniature curl (4 yards vertical, skinny post to 7, drumroll and stick the toe in the ground, present your numbers to the quarterback, you will get some width on your initial steps to help create spacing), the middle receiver on the ball, runs the mini sit route (he should aim for the far shoulder of the "danger" defender, his depth should be @ 4-5 yards, he is the outlet), the inside receiver is off the ball and runs the arrow route (he should get width fast, aiming point would be 4-5 yards, but should emphasize width first, if he reaches the numbers and hasn't received the ball turn up).

The quarterback uses a big 3, because we want the mini-curl. He will use his shoulders to encourage the flat player to chase the arrow, opening up the mini-curl lane. He will often see the arrow pop open quickly reading flat defenders shoulders, but he will complete it for 2 yard gains, if he's patient, the mini-curl will work itself open. If his mini-curl lane was invaded from inside, he would go to his outlet "the sit." We often have a single on the backside of this and we will always check to see if we can throw single first. If we are unable to throw single, then we should have the numbers (unless 0 coverage) to work the spacing route. If you have "The Bunch Attack" book and look at the mesh route with a stem call, which gives you a sit route (because of the sandbox rule), there you have it - A quick version of mesh stem AKA "spacing."

Diagrams below are mine:

All-Curl

Expect some run game posts coming up soon, but first a post on one of my all-time favorite plays (though less good now versus the prevalent cover 4 and cover 2 defenses).

This has always been one of my favorite calls versus single-safety teams, and has been around since about the first time Angelo Bertelli threw a spiral.

The play is a horizontal stretch with 5 potential passing lanes stretching 4-under zones. Cover 2 zone with 5 underneath zones is difficult to throw this pass against and cover 4 with the safeties bracketing the curling receivers is also a threat. However, this is still a pass many teams use and will continue to be effective.

The techniques are simple:

12 Yard curl route by the outside receivers. Some teams teach an inside release or various stems or things to do at the top of the route. I still think that the best way to run it is to simply burst hard vertical for 12, selling the go route. Attack the outside hip of the cornerback with off-coverage. This route should be calibrated with steps, to achieve perfect timing.

Versus press coverage take an inside release and then push to 12, and box out your defender.

Flat or shoot routes. See my post about runningback routes . If you are a tight end or a slot receiver you will also take a direct shot to 3 yards, no wider than the numbers. If you are a slot and you have press man, push up the field a couple yards before breaking it out. Otherwise, shoot right away.

Last, the inside control route is a sit route over the ball at 6-8 yards. If a tight-end then it will be at 8, we say 6-8 if it is a slot split out 4-5 yards who must get inside as well.



Below is video of the New Orleans Saints using this play:



The QB will take a 5-step drop. The first read is the sit #1, curl #2, and flat #3. If he throws the sit it will be thrown on a rhythm--5-steps and no hitch step. If he throws the curl or the shoot it is 5-steps with a hitch step.

On his pre-snap read he will do his normal scan of the defense: left corner, safeties, right corner, back over the linebackers with eyes on the DL, back to left corner, repeat. He wants to identify the weak safety, the safety structure (1, 2, 3, 4), the mike-linebacker and any potential unblocked rushers.

On his first step off the line he will eye downfield at the safety structure. He doesn't need to think out "oh, it's cover 3" but he should get an idea of where the flow is. Also, keeping his eyes downfield will help hold the defense.

Then he will look at the Mike linebacker (middle linebacker or first linebacker inside Will in a 3-4 look), reading his drop. If he drops straight back or strong, then the QB will work weak (sit, to weakside curl, and shoot).



If he drops weak, then QB progresses strong (sit, strongside curl, shoot/swing).



That is it. Very simple. From there he reads passing lanes. "Do I have a clear lane to throw the ball?" The receivers on the curl routes are looking to make eye-contact. They will naturally find the proper window.


Next I'll briefly touch on a few adjustments one can make to the slot man to help the pass versus some different coverages and provide a different look.

First, versus cover 4 we will send the slot/tight end on a seam or post route to clear out the safety and to open up the lane for the curl.

Normally, the safeties will bracket the curl and there is nowhere to go with the ball.



However, with a post, now there is a passing lane to the strongside.

Next, is when we split out the player running the sit route we will have him run what we call a "shake", which is sort of a square-in/shallow cross. This is something we got from Gary Crowton's Louisiana Tech days. The slot will take a 4-5 yard split from the tackle. Basically he has some freedom to get open, keep running or find a window. He will inside release, push upfield to 5-6 yards. Versus man and he will stick and break flat, versus zone he will hook up, showing his numbers to the QB. He wants to catch it underneath the Mike linebacker.

Jeff Tedford on Quarterbacking

Start with the playbook, which Tedford wants quarterbacks to "learn" rather than memorize - akin to thinking in a foreign language rather than simply memorizing the right sentence for ordering dinner in a restaurant.

"So much of the game is the mental part, being prepared scheme-wise, and understanding the game, and understanding the concepts, so they understand on every play where to throw the football," Tedford says. "It's not memorizing; you find a lot of times that kids will memorize, but they have to understand the whole concept, and the whole field. There's a purpose for everything we do with every position, and they need to understand what that purpose is."

...

As he teaches understanding of the playbook, Tedford begins by drawing diagrams with pencil and paper. From that, he'll move on to the checkers. Across a table from his quarterback, Tedford arranges 11 checkers in a defensive formation, against the quarterback's offense and asks the quarterback to show what's happening - what's the formation, what's the pre-snap read, what's the play call, what are the possibilities out of the formation, what are the protections, what are the routes? "I'll make them say the snap count, the whole thing, and what happened," Tedford says.

I've never used checkers to teach a quarterback, but if Jeff Tedford says something about quarterbacks, I'll listen. Read the full article here.

Shovel Option (Urban Meyer)

The shotgun options and shovel options have become very popular recently, particularly with Utah Coach Urban meyer taking the job at Florida. Below are some coaching points from J.C. Easton (formerly coach of Raines H.S. and currently semi-pro coach) again from Jerry Campbell's site from this thread here.

Qb takes snap and attacks EMLOS. His aiming point is 2 yds. outside the original alignment of the play side end. IF DE comes upfield to QB, the QB will throw the shuffle pass to the back. The RB's land mark is inside hip of PST. BSG pulls and leads for the RB. If the DE crashes inside following the down block of the PST, the QB keeps and gets his butt upfield! The play side slot receiver takes bucket step and gets in pitch relationship with QB. He looks for pitch!!! This is out of spread gun.

Out of an EMPTY GUN the play works identically. The 3 receiver on the trips side replaces the RB as the guy who gets the shuffle from the QB. On the snap, he runs down the LOS with his land mark the inside hip of the playside tackle. This example features the play being run to the open side, away from the TE who is flexed to about 6 yds.

Here is a video link from the thread from another poster, which is very helpful. Also, below I have shown a couple of (very quick, sorry for the sloppiness) drawings to help show what this looks like.

QB Questions - Pre-Snap - Louisiana Tech/Gary Crowton

(1) Scan the coverage. Is it man or zone coverage? Are there two safeties, one safety, or no safeties?

(2) Check the perimeter and the edges of the box. How will I be protected? Will I be protected?

(3) Point to the "hot" defender away from the protection call. You are identifying the defender that must come to create a "hot" throw away from the call side. This is vital if you do not have a built in "hot" receiver to handle a 4th rusher backside.

In my offense the QB actually makes the # of safeties part of the snap count. We audible rarely and the QB will actually step out when he does it, so we have no need for long-winded "Black 81!" type notes. Our snap count is "Go! 2! 2! Hut! Hut!" or "1! 1!" depending on the # of safeties.

Also, these questions are imperative not only for the moment but also to help you as a coach. A quarterback who is asking himselves these questions every play not only will make better decisions, but will come to the sideline and help you make better decisions.

Urban Meyer - Zone Read

Football's Golden Son for now is worth looking at a bit. Nothing revolutionary, but lots and lots of coaches incorporate some of these concepts now, and they are quite sound. I have never incorporated the triple from gun and am not an expert--check out Jerry Campbell's books and notes or study Meyer and others' offenses this coming fall--but it is fairly easy to incorporate the backside read by the QB in the zone or any frontside run play from gun.

Petrino at Louisville will incorporate this into more than just the zone, which is how I have used it. I use the QB read of the backside end with our "base" or "Wrap" or guard-pull scheme, which I diagrammed a few months ago here.

The University of Louisville will pull both the backside guard or the backside tackle (not something I do as much because it is harder to get the tackle over there in time) but both are viable tactics and easy to do.

Incorporating the QB read is simple and can essentially add another runner to your offense. From there you can add a pitch relationship with another runningback or a slot man. (Check out the earlier article on the no-back shovel and Meyer's offense here.)

Also, along with this are some broad outlines about the Utah/Bowling Green/Meyer offense and some coaching points, and diagrams from the 2002 Bowling Green playbook (very simple, so not overly informative, but the written material is excellent).

Mike Sanford - Bill Williams Football Clinic, San Diego, Ca March 2005

Offensive Strategy and Goals

1. about 65% run 35% pass
2. 95% out of shotgun
3. Most physical and best zone blocking team in the country
4. Stretch the defense across the field and make them play assignment football

3 Critical Keys

1. Protect the football
2. Score in red zone
3. Convert third downs, practice scenarios

5 Offensive Goals

1. Win
2. Score 66% red zone TD
3. No Turnovers
4. 45% on 3rd down conversions
5. 55% run efficient (4 yards a carry)


Wide receivers have key blocks every single down

Center's snap needs to be perfect everytime

Zone Read Play - 14/15 Read

Rules

- 7 in the box / cover 0 = audible to option or pass
- 6 in the box = block playside 5 and leave 1 (backside DE) Read
- 5 in the box = block 5 (give inside zone)

Running Back:

Alignment:

- Toes at 6 yards, inside foot on guards outside leg

Footwork:

- Shuffle step, step replace step and go, looks like a draw play, close gap with QB, responsible for creating mesh point, rollover ball , hands together even if QB keeps

Aiming point:

- Outside leg of PSG, Read first man of center to outside foot / butt of tackle (B gap)
- Slow to, Fast through - make cut and get vertical

Quarter Back:

Alignment:

- Toes at 5 yards, shotgun (practice everyday with center for a perfect snap)

Footwork:

- Wide open step, pivot opposite foot, extend ball, watch inside shoulder of read man - upfield = give
stay home = give
down line = keep

Aiming point:

- C gap in general
- Read C gap defender - could be DE or LB


Offensive line:

- Inside zone blocking front and backside
- Splits are 2 ft guards, 3 ft tackles

Sprint-out and Half-roll Passing

Discussion of half-roll protection and diagram from my original website:

Our half-roll protection is very similar to that used by the run and shoot, except our QBs have more freedom to keep rolling out. It is actually designed as a full-sprint out, but the QBs usually end up stopping and setting up after a half or semi-roll out.

It has been a great benefit to vary the launch points for our QB. I am a firm believer in dropback passing, but a simple way to roll-out has been very effective. Further, this has helped a diverse number of QBs, particularly shorter QBs and ones without strong arms. I think many QBs can be more comfortable with the rollout and half-roll passing game.

The Rules:

Backside Tackle: Backside Tackle: Turn and Hinge
Backside Guard: Turn and Hinge
Center: If covered or shade to callside, reach. If uncovered with no shade to callside, turn and hinge.
(Note, on turn and hinges, unless you make immediate contact begin to get depth to stay between the QB and your man. You do not want to be still on the LOS as the DE comes upfield)
Playside Guard: Reach, plug hole/backside
Playside Tackle: Reach (Note: On any reach block, if you are unable to reach, ride your man out to the sideline. Don't get beat outside trying to reach hopelessly. A man pushed out of bounds and kept on the LOS is just as effective.)

RB: Take two steps to callside, looking at outside rusher. Look for OLB or outside rusher to come shooting, block first color that shows. If none show, check middle and then backside. You are the QB's bodyguard. Step to rush, do not wait for him to get to the QB.

QB:Pre-snap look is key. QB will go at a 45 degree angle to a depth of 5-6 yards and then will level off. He will need to get his eyes up, and look downfield. He can continue moving parrallel to the LOS, but he must know when he must stop and step up in the pocket and deliver the ball. If he breaks contain he can continue out, he does not have a set place he has to be, but he must be smart.

This is a protection reliant on the QB being smart. On a dropback everyone knows he should be in the pocket, 5-7 yards behind the center. In this protection his blockers are doing the best they can and he needs to find the best space to throw or run the football from.

He must help his blockers by not getting into trouble and thinking he can outrun everyone. He must have a good sense of timing and be well practiced, as this type of dropback is not as carefully calibrated as our 5 and 3 step drops are. However, its simplicity has been a real asset to us.

Below are some of my favorite sprint out/half-roll pass routes and a (very) brief discussion of each. I like to keep them simple. Also, this series becomes even more viable in the red zone, where giving your QB a run-pass option can be a huge boost to your O. Also, most of the passes are designed to go to the outside, since a) one advantage of moving the pocket is making these passes shorter, b) it puts the defenders in a tougher run/pass bind and c) throwing on the run is easier when the receivers are either stationary or moving in the same direction as you are, so we try to limit receivers to these two categories.



1: My favorite movement pass. The outside man runs a post-curl, looking to make his post move at 8-10 and then curling at 13-15, depending how upfield the defenders are. #2 wants to run a 10 yard out. I like to speed cut this out, but some good passing teams prefer a sharp cut. The QB reads outside to in. He wants to throw the out route every time, but if they fly out he will point his shoulders inside and throw the post-curl. If the post-curl isn't there he thinks run, looking to cut back against the grain. I've seen more than a few long-TD runs by QBs on rollouts, almost all cut-back runs.

2. My second favorite. #1 runs a whip. He will release inside and push to 6 yards and turn back to the QB. Versus man he will pivot and run back to the sideline, versus zone he will turn back to the QB and slide with him. #2 runs a 10-12 yard corner. The QB reads corner to whip, again looking to run/cutback if they are not there. Great in the red-zone.

Also, you can run this from trips sending a man on a seam route (#3) or a go route down the sideline (#1). Either can hurt the defense, but the go is the easier throw for the QB.

3. Great sideline route. Outside receiver runs a comeback to the sideline, making his break at 15. The slot pushes to 12-14, turning inside to the QB but pivoting back outside. Again, the QB reads outside to in.

4. This is a simplified version of the run and shoot choice route, diagrammed in 6. You can tag or call the single receiver's routes, and then from there read across the field as the receivers come into the QBs view. Some coaches would prefer to read deep to short for the deep cross and shallow cross/drag, and while this would be desirable, the receivers come into the QB's vision in this order and this will better reflect how the defenders will actually react to the receivers.

5. This is our adjustment to the first play I diagrammed. Here, the slot runs an out and up and the post-curl looks to whip back out to the sideline a bit more. Great if if you've thrown this a few times and the deep cover men (safeties/corners) think they can jump your possession passes.

6. The run and shoot choice route, thrown in just because it is so effective. Most of you won't want to install all the reads (I didn't), but it's a play many teams have had great success with.