Slot Cross ClearOut Concept

Offensive Played Used: Cross Weak Flood

Default Pass Routes:

FL (B) - Post (we hot him on a fade or streak)
SE (X) - Corner Post ((we hot him on a fade or streak)
SL (A) - Cross
HB (Y) - Stop ( we like to hot route him on curl against zone or drag against man).
FB
(LB) - Swing ( we like to leave into pass block against zone coverage.
Against man coverage we may hot route him on a streak.


How the Concept Works on the Field:

The
play we call is the Gun Split Slot Cross Weak Flood. This play works
well against both man and zone coverage. Against Cover 1, the SE runs a
corner post route and FL running post, they both will attack the safety
playing the deep middle. There routes is designed to lift the safety ,
so that the SL can get open underneath on the crossing route. Against
zone coverage, there is a flood of receivers on the left, who run
differnet depths to expose the soft zones in the coverage.

For
most of the rest of this write up, we hot route the SE and FL on
streaks or fade routes.We do this to draw the safeties away from the SL
running the crossing route against man coverage. Against zone coverage,
we like to use the rocket catch when throwing deep to the SE or FL.

Vs Cover 1

Objective:

Against
Cover 1, it's pretty easy to beat with this passing concept. The SL
recevier runs a deep crossing route. By sending both the SE and FL on a
streaks, the safety will be forces to drop back to CBs deep. This
allows the SL to get open underneath on the crossing route.

Reads Vs Cover 1 Man:

SL
(A) - If man coverage is called, he will always be the first receiver
we look to throw to. With man coverage not being as strong on
underneath pass routes, his pass route is usually there for the taken.
SE
(X) - If the safety playing deep cheats towards the FL's side of the
field, we like to throw the ball to the inside. A lot of times the SE
will open.
FL (B) - If the safety playing deep cheats towards the
SE's side of the field, we like to throw the ball to the inside. A lot
of times the FL will be open.
HB (Y) - Although he will be open,
he may or may not be able to pick up much up yardage after the catch.
It depends on who is covering him. Against Cover 2 Man, we show how
like to hot route him on a drag. That same route, works against Cover 1
as well.
FB (B) - Most FBs don't have the speed to be effective
out of the backfield. If a fast player is packages in at FB, then the
swing route that he runs is actually effective. If our opponent likes
to bring the blitz, we will leave the FB in to pass block for extra
pass protection.

The defense comes out in the Nickel Normal
ROLB Blitz. This defense has the FS playing the deep middle, while
defenders are in man coverage. There is five man pass rush. The
pressure comes from the left side of the offensive line. Normally it's
going to be the RE or ROLB getting the pressure on the QB.

In the screen shot above, notice how the FS turns goes towards the FL.

With
the FS dropping back deep, the defender covering the slot has no
chanace. Notice he is a few behind the SL as we make the throw.

We make the catch and have room to run.

With the FS trying to run towards the FL, he has a lot of ground to cover. By throwing the ball hard inside ...

...
there should be enough room to make the catch. To be honest, we rather
throw to the open slot receiver than the FL, but we wanted to show you
it can be done. Just keep in mind there is not much room for error when
making this throw.

Alternate Patterns Vs Cover 1 Man

Reads Vs Cover 1 Man:

SL
(A) - If man coverage is called, he will always be the first receiver
we look to throw to. With man coverage not being as strong on
underneath pass routes, his pass route is usually there for the taken.
FL (X) - If the FL is not hot route on a streak, his post route can be just as effective when throwing the pass to the inside
SE
(X) - If the safety playing deep cheats towards the SE's side of the
field, we like to throw the ball to the inside. A lot of times the FL
will be open.
HB (Y) - Although he will be open, he may or may not
be able to pick up much up yardage after the catch. It depends on who
is covering him. Against Cover 2 Man, we show how like to hot route him
on a drag. That same route, works against Cover 1 as well.
FB (B)
- Most FBs don't have the speed to be effective out of the backfield.
If a fast player is packages in at FB, then the swing route that he
runs is actually effective. If our opponent likes to bring the blitz,
we will leave the FB in to pass block for extra pass protection.

Once we see the FL break towards the post, we throw him a hard bullet pass.

We take control of the FL and make the catch between the FS and RCB.

Vs Cover 2 Man

Objective

We
have two different versions of how we like to run this play. Both our
primary against Cover 2 Man is to attack both safeties by hot routing
the SE and FL on streaks to open up the crossing route by SL
underneath.

Reads Vs Cover 2 Man:

SL (A) - If man
coverage is called, he will always be the first receiver we look to
throw to. With man coverage not being as strong on underneath pass
routes, his pass route is usually there for the taken.
HB (Y) -
Although he will be open, he may or may not be able to pick up much up
yardage after the catch. It depends on who is covering him. Against
Cover 2 Man, we show how like to hot route him on a drag. That same
route, works against Cover 1 as well.
FB (B) - Most FBs don't have
the speed to be effective out of the backfield. If a fast player is
packages in at FB, then the swing route that he runs is actually
effective. If like to use pacakges this is a good time to do so. If our
opponent likes to bring the blitz, we will leave the FB in to pass
block for extra pass protection.
FL (B) - Very hard to complete a
streak or fade this year against Cover 2 Man. If you got great stick
control, you may be rocket or mini-jet pack. There is a good chance of
the SS knocking the ball loose or picking the pass off. If you are
playing against human with good stick stick on defense, watch out, he
may pick off a few of your passes.
SE (X) - See FL comments about, because the same applies to the SE.

Last
year a good majority of players like to run some type of Cover 2 Man
coverage. The Nickel 2 Man Under has the FS and SS playing the deep
halves of the field. There are five defenders in man coverage. All four
defensive linemen rush the QB.

If the defensive linemen are able to get quick pressure on the QB, look for one of the running backs.

Notice the safeties are drop back to play over the top of the SE and FL.

This helps leave the SL receiver that much more open on the crossing route.

We make the catch on the run and have plenty of space to pick up YAC.

Alternate Patterns Vs Cover 2 Man

Reads Vs Cover 2 Man:

SL
(A) - If man coverage is called, he will always be the first receiver
we look to throw to. With man coverage not being as strong on
underneath pass routes, his pass route is usually there for the taken.
HB
(Y) - By hot routing the HB on a drag, he now runs flat route to the
right. He will be open for bullet pass if for some reason the SL is
covered. If you look real close at the passing concept above, you
notice it's a three verts, to horizontal passinng concept. This concept
is also effective against Cover 2 zone because the FB running deep down
the middle of the field. If a fast TE or HB were to line up there, it
will something worth running if your opponent plays Cover 2 Zone.
FB (B) - The FB is not really an option to throw to, we hot route him on a streak to help the HB that much more open.
FL
(B) - Very hard to complete a streak or fade this year against Cover 2
Man. If you got great stick control, you may be rocket or mini-jet
pack. There is a good chance of the SS knocking the ball loose or
picking the pass off. If you are playing against human with good stick
stick on defense, watch out, he may pick off a few of your passes.
SE (X) - See FL comments about, because the same applies to the SE.

The HB and FB will cross each other. Often this causes a switch or causes the defenders to run into each other.

In any even the HB is wide open in the flat for a bulllet pass.

Once the catch is made, we take off up the field for positive yardage.

Vs Cover 2 Zone

Objective:

Against
Cover 2 Zone, the slot receiver is not going to be open, or if he is,
there is a very small passing window to throw to him. Instead we like
to look to deep to the SE or FL on fades. If they not open, we like to
throw to our check down and that's the HB running a curl out of the
backfield.

Reads Vs Cover 2 Zone:

FL (B) - We hot route
the FL on a fade. If he is tall receiver, we like to go deep to him and
use the rocket catch to make the grab.
SE (X) - If the SE is tall,
we look for him on the fade route and try use the rocket catch. If he
is not tall, we use the mini-jet pack to make the catch.
HB (Y) -
The HB is our check down receiver if we don't feel we can hit the FL or
SE deep. With the SL running the crossing route, he will keep the
defenders from getting in front of him.
SL (A) - Very hard to
complete a pass to him on the cross route. Just to many defenders. If
you try to throw to him, you risk the passing being picked off.
FB (X) - We leave into pass block.