Smart Football - Analysis and Strategy by Chris: Making Pass Plays Look Alike Page 1 of 3

Smart Football - Analysis and Strategy by Chris

Friday, August 19, 2005

About
Making Pass Plays Look Alike
This is a website dedicated to
Pattern reading is one of the most crippling tactics a defense can
technical football hosted by Chris
employ against an unprepared or poorly organized pass offense. Brown. Posts will be somewhat
Even a successful passing team can suddenly find themselves infrequent but much longer (and
unable to get anyone open. Think about what it is like trying to more detailed) than the typical blog
post.
throw against your own defense when they all know your plays.

I was actually kidding: if your own defense can always identify what Link to Main Page
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 Top Past Articles

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Smart Football - Analysis and Strategy by Chris: Making Pass Plays Look Alike Page 2 of 3

potential ways that receiver could go. However, if he can pattern

read, even if he doesn't know with 100% probability what a History and Analysis
receiver is going to do, if he can narrow it down to one or two
The Shotgun, the 'Gun, and the
things, then the offense is on a slippery slope downhill.
Shotgun Spread Offense
Has the Spread Offense Reached
its Apex?
What Killed the Run and Shoot?
Texas Tech's 31 Point Comeback
and the Hot Hand Theory
The A-11 Offense: A Pragmatic
Approach

So, if defensive backs have a hard time pattern reading vertical

releases, then what can they pattern read? Well, they read routes Football Concepts: Theory
that immediately show where the receiver is going, as shown
below:
How Many Concepts Do You Need
in Your Offense?
Rock-Paper-Scissors, Edgar Allan
Poe, and Play Selection
Organizing Pass Plays as Concepts
Substituting, Personnel, and
Formations
Packaging Concepts: Using Route
I.E. Shallow crosses and flat and shoot routes. Or in other words: Adjustments
the bread and butter of many, many football teams' passing games. Packaging Concepts: Putting
"Beaters" to Each Side
Homer Smith wrote a few articles that very convincingly decimated
the usefulness of some of these routes, particularly the flat route.
Football Concepts:
You can threaten no more than one defender, who can always take Application
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
Pass Protection, the Super Bowl,
one on one matchups that they can win and score against and
Tom Brady, and the Blind Side
occupying two defenders with one receiver, thereby creating those Notes on Practicing and Developing
one on one matchups. Defenses will trade one for one every single the Quick Passing Game
time. Think about what bunching or stacking receivers is intended The Shallow Cross and the Holy
to do, or the multiple threats that tight ends and H-backs can Trinity from the Bunch Formation

present. Playing Pitch and Catch: Steve

Spurrier's Favorite Pass Play
St. Louis Rams/Martz Shallow
Moreover, these routes a) are easily covered or "squeezed" by the Cross Concepts
LBs, b) they usually signal exactly what the vertical releasing WRs The Divide Route in the Multiple
are going to do (i.e. if the slot flies to the flat, then the corner Smash Concept
knows he will only run a go or a curl, but will not run an out route), Indianapolis Colts Stretch Play
and c) does not threaten the deep coverage so the safeties can help The All-Curl Route
double team the downfield receivers. Three Verticals and Converting
Pass Patterns
Switch-it: Put a Little Hawaii in
I used to be a bit more sceptical, but I think it is safe to say that
Your Offense
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 The Future of Football:
Numbers and Theory
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 Run/Pass Balance and a Little
too much incentive and reward for success for it not to be. Game Theory
Run/Pass Balance and a Little
Game Theory: Response to
Thus, I think it would be a fair test to say that if these routes are as Comments I
useless as they seem to be on paper under careful analysis, then Run/Pass Balance and a Little
someone would have realized this, whether explicitly removing Game Theory: Response to
them on purpose, or implicitly they would get phased out when Comments II

they analyze piles of play results and use the most successful Sharpe Ratio Part 1
Sharpe Ratio Part 2

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Smart Football - Analysis and Strategy by Chris: Making Pass Plays Look Alike Page 3 of 3

rotues and packages. Sharpe Ratio Part 3

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 Previous
used successfully. While running the risk of asking the obvious (or
Using the Pythagorean Theorem
simply making the simple complicated), but why?
The Dread Pirate Bin Laden
Inflation on the rise?
The first, and probably most important reason, is that these routes
I've Moved....Again!
are simply shorter and easier to complete than other quarterbacks. Three-Verticals and Converting
Most are less than 6 yards, compared with the vertical stem routes, Pass Patterns
which are 10-15 yards (at least) downfield, and, knowing that we Substitutions, Personnel, and
can use the Pythagorean theorem to determine how far the pass Formations

actually needs to go, this could be a 15-25 yard difference between Throwing the Slant
Draw Trap
a 5 yard route and a 12 yard route. This is important both because
Playing Pitch and Catch - Spurrier's
of simple success rates, but also because football teams and
Favorite Pass...
quarterbacks are human, psychological beings, and I am a big
Throwing Option Routes
believer in getting QBs established early with easy throws to get
them comfortable.
Site Related Stuff
Second, they do focus on the LBs and the undercoverage, who are
often weaker defenders. This is a less strong reason because routes Old Version of the Site
with vertical stems can and still do attack these underneath Old Blog Index
defenders, but there is no mistaking it with the shorter routes. E-Mail Chris

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