5v5 Offense

Two crossers run opposite ways two yards apart, so any defender chasing one has to get through the other.

QB reads
Which crosser comes out of the traffic clean. It is a look, not a progression.

vs Man
Both defenders arrive on the same grass at the same moment. One goes over, one goes under, and whoever goes under is late.

Three routes to one side at three depths — flat, out and sail — stacked in a single vertical slice of field.

QB reads
High to low. Look at the sail first; the moment a defender commits, the level above or below him is open.

vs Man
Three routes, three defenders, nobody wrong. Against man a flood is three separate races down one sideline.

Four receivers running straight, spaced so no deep defender can cover two of them.

QB reads
Count the deep defenders before the snap. Three deep means the seams win; two deep means the middle does.

vs Man
Four one-on-one races with no help. The concept is doing nothing — whoever is losing his matchup is the throw.

A corner over the top, a hitch sitting underneath and a flat running away from both — a triangle out of one bunch.

QB reads
The flat defender. If he runs with the flat, the hitch is open behind him; if he sits, throw the flat.

vs Man
Traffic. Three receivers off one spot means three defenders trying to follow through the same two yards of grass.

A hitch at five yards under a corner route at twelve, both to the same side and in the same throwing window.

QB reads
The deepest of the two defenders. If he stays, take the hitch; if he leaves, the corner is behind him.

vs Man
No conflict at all. The corner sits on the hitch, the safety runs the corner route, and smash becomes two separate one-on-ones.

One receiver breaking inside, a back running outside underneath him. Two routes, opposite directions, one defender between them.

QB reads
The flat defender, and nobody else. He picks one and you throw the other. One read, one beat.

vs Man
Both are covered by whoever is on them. The flat is a hard cover from inside leverage, the slant a hard cover from outside.

An inside receiver to five yards who sits down against zone and keeps running against man, with a flat route under him.

QB reads
Read the coverage off the stick route itself — if he sat, it is zone and he is open; if he ran, it is man and you have the flat.

vs Man
The stick never stops, so the defender never gets to pass him off. It is a chase, and the flat underneath is a second problem.

Two receivers on the same side both breaking inside, stacked so one defender is between them.

QB reads
Whichever slant the inside defender does not take. Fast, flat and off the back foot.

vs Man
Two inside breaks from outside leverage. Both defenders are running across the field with no help inside them.

Three receivers clustered inside about six yards, usually to one side, with nothing outside them.

What it creates
Traffic before the snap. Three defenders have to stand in one small square of grass, then the receivers leave it in three directions.

vs Man
Three defenders in a space the size of a car, each obliged to follow somebody out of it. Whoever guesses wrong is beaten at the snap, and nobody has run a route yet.

Three receivers to one side, spread across the field rather than clustered, and one or none to the other.

What it creates
An arithmetic problem. Three receivers running into two defenders' areas leaves somebody uncovered before anyone has run a good route.

vs Man
Man travels with the receiver rather than the space, so spreading out costs the defense nothing. Three defenders follow three receivers and trips has bought you very little.

Two receivers on one track, one directly behind the other, rather than side by side.

What it creates
A free release for the back man. Nobody can get hands on him without going through the receiver in front, so he leaves the line clean every time.

vs Man
Two defenders standing in each other's way, having to agree before the snap on who takes the front man and who takes the back one. Whichever they pick, one of them starts late.

Nobody in the backfield. Every eligible player is split out, and the quarterback stands alone.

What it creates
Maximum receivers and a defense with nothing left to guess about. Every player who could catch it is already where he is going to start from.

vs Man
Everybody is covered and nobody is spare, because the offense has put every eligible on the field and the defense has had to answer each one.