Running Shallow Cross Route Concepts in Your Pass Game

I like running shallow cross routes in the passing game.  Let me rephrase that, I love them.  It probably has to do with the fact I am a big fan of Air Raid pass concepts.   Nevertheless the more I study it has become clear that no matter your offensive system, you need to include some form of the shallow concept in your pass game.

This is a topic which has been covered extensively on the internet by various websites, most notably by Chris Brown on his SmartFootball.com website.  There are different variations of these concepts coaches run with the shallow at four yards, the dig at twelve yards; with complimentary routes of streaks, posts, or comebacks. My contribution will show how I will run these plays as an offensive coordinator.

Here are a list of reasons of why you should consider adding the shallow cross pass concept to your pass game.

• Can be run from multiple formations.
• Easy throw and catch.
• Can result in explosive plays
• Attacks multiple coverage's.
• Defense can never key which receiver is running the shallow route.

The first play shown here is the infamous Y-Shallow Cross made popular in the Air Raid.  This is probably the most popular of shallow cross plays and is simple to read and install.

Ace Right Flex 60 Y-Shallow Cross

OL	60 protection is the half slide protection to the left.  Against a four down front as shown, the right guard and tackle will block the man over them.  Center, left guard, and tackle will slide left.  If it is a three down front, then the right guard slides left as well while the right tackle stays on the end.
Y	is aligned four yards from the right tackle in a flex position.  At the snap he inside releases at a 45 degree angle left to two yards depth and then flattens across going no deeper than two yards.  It is important he gets an inside release, or else this messes up the timing of  the route.
H	is aligned 4 yards from the left tackle off the ball.  At the snap outside releases and gets to 10 yards depth then stays flat across at that depth.  Needs to outside release to help read of either man or zone for the QB.  If it is man get across the formation.  Against zone he finds the hole in the coverage and sits.
X	is aligned middle to bottom of numbers and runs a 12 yard post.  This is the alert route, thrown either in zero high or if the safety keeps jumping the dig to then take a shot down field.  MOFO split the safeties, MOFC keep it a skinny high post between numbers and left hash.
Z	is a -3 to top of number split and runs a 16 yard comeback.  This is the last route in the read, usually will be thrown if getting soft coverage on the outside.
F	check releases checking the called Mike to SS.  After releasing aims for a four yard route.  This is the check down during the read for the QB.
QB	this is a three step drop from the gun.  Read is low to high, with primary key being man over the H. Shoulders turn to run with H, it is man and look to throw shallow. Square shoulders is zone, area read linebacker drop on whether to throw Y or H.  Third read is Z on the comeback and finally check down to the F or run.  Footwork progression is drop steps reading to throw Y; first hitch step looks H; second hitch look Z; third hitch is run or throw check down.

I run the shallow route at two yards because of the pressure it puts on linebackers.  They want to re-route receivers coming across the middle while in zone coverage; running the shallow at a four yard depth makes this easier for them to do.  Receivers are affected in that either they get stopped coming across or to avoid contact will run the routes at the wrong depth.  Running the shallow at two yards makes linebackers commit in their zone drop to either step up or not, which cleans up the read to throw the shallow or dig.  By running at two yards, my shallow receiver doesn't sit vs zone, putting pressure on the linebackers even more against a receiver going full speed

I like the comeback as part of the read because I feel it helps attack a team that is playing zone coverage.  It helps attack the flat defender.  If a backer or safety doesn't widen enough and cheats on the dig, this allows the window to open and throw this route.  It also fits with the fact that I don't like to just have a clear out route and make sure the defense has to cover all five potential receivers.

Here are some of the shallow cross plays I will run as OC.

Ace Right Flex 60 H-Shallow Cross

Ace Right Flex 60 Z-Shallow Cross

Ace Right Flex 60 X-Shallow Cross

Now one of the first things you may notice about my plays is I have my back stay on the same side.  If the shallow route is coming towards him he will run a check circle instead of a check arrow.  This is different than other versions that coaches run where the back flips sides and just runs the arrow when in a 2x2 formation.  I personally feel that by flipping the back,  it can give a key to the defense that if a shallow cross is being run it will come from the same side as the back.  I could be totally wrong about that being a key, any feedback would be appreciated in the comments.

You also may have noticed that with the shallow routes being run from the outside receivers I have the slot player to their side running a corner route.  A comeback isn't practical and a corner still attacks zone coverage while providing a read on the flat defender.  A better option may be a choice route of either a corner or deep out based on safety looks, but that is something to look deeper into at a later time.

Here is how I would run the drive pass play from a 3x1 look.

Right Trey 60 H-Shallow Drive.

Pretty much the same that most coaches have.  I have thought about flipping the back to the other side and having the X run a post with a F wheel and Z comeback.  Any coaches had any experience running those route combo's?

And lastly I have already mentioned I like empty.  I can even run the shallow crosser from an empty look.

Empty Right 50 Y-Shallow Cross

Hopefully I have made clear why I like running the crosser route concepts.  As I mentioned at the top, this is how I will run these plays.  There could be better ways to run these pass concepts and I would like to hear what other coaches think or do.  Please leave your thoughts in the comment form below.

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Spread Offense GT Counter Play-Action Pass

This is a topic that came up on Coach Huey with another coach asking if anyone had any experience running some play action pass off of the GT (or Guard Tackle) counter action.  The GT counter has become a huge play within the spread especially at the high school level that having a pass off of the action is a great way to slow down a defense from immediately crashing the pull.

This play can be run from a doubles, trips, two back, and multiple other formations with effectiveness from the gun.  The first three drawings are of how you can run the GT Counter from the gun in three of the formations.  I haven't gone into great depth about how to block the running play against the different fronts, since you could block it differently than I would up front with the line.  Again these are just examples to give you an idea on how you can incorporate play action passes using the GT counter action.  The motions I give are pretty generic but they can be adapted to how you call it.

GT Counter Plays

Doubles Yo-Yo 37 Counter

In this formation you can see that we bring a receiver in motion to block the backside end.  I would use a larger receiver like a TE so that they can make this block.  I used Yo Yo to represent the Y going in a motion one way and then coming back to make this block.

Right Trey Halo 36 Counter

This play we have the H coming across to the left, hence the halo and blocking the end.  Again this is setting up the defense using that motion to get them thinking run.

Blue Right 36 Counter

As you can see we run this out of two backs as well with the back that isn't getting the ball crossing in front first to pick up the backside end.  This is where this play can get extremely effective, you have started to pull the defense more into the box which will allow you to get a back out on one on one coverage against a backer or safety.  You should be able to win this more often than not for a big play.

GT Counter Play-Action Pass

Now that we have run the counter play with the motions, you will start to find the defense want to cheat to the side opposite of the motion.  It happens with kids, especially high school kids who see the play and then want to get a jump.  So here are examples of the play run off of these motions and formations.

Doubles Yo Yo 137 Counter Boot

Even though the play goes to the right it is called 137 because the line action is the same as running 37 Counter.  The 100 is added to signify to the players it is the play action pass.  This is a simple yet effective way of not over complicating your team.

As you can see by the draw up, our motion receiver will chip the end then get out into the route.  The QB is going to watch the end and see if he can get outside on a boot or needs to pull up and get rid of the ball now.  The QB should get depth should he choose to roll out, to avoid any chance of that end catching him.  He should take a quick glance at the deep ball and see if it is coming open but the quick shoot route or 10-14 yard crossing route will be the routes most likely coming open.  The deep split route can be the last read if the high safety or safeties are coming up on crosser.  If nothing is open run the ball.   It is important that the line doesn't get too far down field in their play action look.

Right Trey Halo 136 Counter Boot

Same as what happened above the chip and then out into the route is vitally important.  It will help sell the run to the flat defender giving your receiver a chance to get out and run with the ball.

Blue 136 Counter Boot

This formation has been where I have really seen this play hit for big yardage.  The defense has packed more into the box and sold for the run, Usually the back slipping out into the flat is open by at least 10-12 yards, leaving them one on one with a safety to make the tackle.  

Now for a lot of coaches these routes are very similar to the boot routes they run off of the inside zone from the gun.  One of the great things is that your kids don't have to learn a lot of new routes and can still have an effective counter to a defense cheating against your counter play.

And lest you think you can only run the play with two receivers to either side you can still call the play and run it with three receivers to one side as shown here.

Right Trips Ha Ha 137 Counter Boot Flood

So there you go coaches, an idea on how to run some play action passes off of counter action in the spread. Of course this isn't the end all of be all when it comes to pass combos and routes.  I would love to hear from other coaches what their experience has been and ideas on route combos, please leave your comments below.

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Funny to Think About Now

So one advantage to moving back has been the ability to watch some classic football games.  Here are a couple things that stood out to me this past week that really kind of made me chuckle about the offense side of the ball.

I was able to watch the 2005 Fiesta Bowl between Utah and Pitt on ESPN Classic.  It was near the end of the game when Brent Musberger asked his co-announcer Gary Danielson if Urban Meyer was going to have trouble running his spread offense in the SEC?  Well Gary of course replied that he thought so because of the speed of the linebackers and d-line.  Why does that give me a chuckle?  Well 5 years later the spread offense like Urban Meyer is alive and well in the speedy SEC.  Seems like commentators forget for all the speed on one side of the ball, the other side will have it too.

The second game I saw was the 1993 Rose Bowl game between Washington and Michigan on the Big Ten Network (yep even the west coast gets this channel).  In the second quarter Washington is driving for the go ahead touchdown and Brent Musberger (man that guy has done a lot of games) is commenting on the passing game for the Washington offense.  At this particular point they were 10 of 12 passing with 188 yards and one touchdown.  Their run game was ineffective as Michigan had basically everyone in the box.  Right after he says this, Washingon runs the ball being stuffed on two straight runs.  Brent then comments that Washington fans are probably thinking, stop running the ball and just pass it!!!  Next play, Mark Brunell passes for a touchdown and Washington goes ahead 21-17.  This made me chuckle because of how insane it would seem to coaches now doing your offense that way.

It is just kind of funny to see how football has changed since that 1993 bowl game.  Offenses more spread out and defenses not stacking the box as much (Washington was basically like a 5-3 that game).  I think at some point the tighter formations will make a return but just interesting to see how much the game has changed from even just a few years ago.

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Pass Protection When You Go Five Wide

After my last post about the passing game from 5 wide, I was asked to talk a little about what we did for pass protection using the five wide set.  One of the difficult situations when passing from empty is that you will only have five blockers and a defense that can bring six pass rushers while locking up man to man.  So what can you do as an offense to provide protection without giving up big sacks?

This last season I had my line step to protect inside gap to outside gap first.  The reason behind us doing this was because the fastest way to get to the QB is from the middle of the line.  We would step down half a step to protect that inside gap, if no rusher showed then we would look outside.  However as I look back on this past season I would like to make some changes to our empty pass protection to better protect the QB.  Not that we had many problems last season when we went empty but I am always looking to optimize our performance.

What a lot of teams like to do when it comes to pass protection is either slide the whole line right or slide left:

This type of slide protection can help your line pick up outside blitzes to one side but also help pick up a middle blitz that many 4-2-5 teams will employ.  Against a 50 front team, the backside guard and tackle of the slide need to check inside gap first to help teammate and then look outside gap to help pick up rushers.

So if a team brings six rushers what needs to happen?  Again you need to protect inside gap first and the QB is responsible for the sixth rusher to get rid of the ball.  Ideally you want that sixth rusher to be an outside rusher as he will have further to come and the QB can see him and even throw the ball to the area that has been vacated.  Your receivers also need to recognize the blitz and help the QB out by adjusting their routes to help the QB get rid of the ball quickly.  They need to look and see if there are any safeties over the top.  If the QB sees that there is a 6 man blitz coming he can also audible to a hot route.  You might want to slide protect to the backside of your QB since that is the side he won't be able to as easily see the outside rusher coming.  

I have also thought about widening our line splits a little more to widen the defensive front to help slow down their line stunts and also their outside blitzes.  My only concern is the middle blitzes that will come and if we get to wide if our tackles will be able to slide and pick up the defender over the guard.

You can also help make that pass rusher go further by rolling your QB out of empty.  You can use your 3rd receiver to act as a lead blocker and run roll out pass plays.  You can even go quads and do roll out game with the 4th receiver staying in to block.  

By getting rid of the ball quickly, you will start to force that pass rush to slow down.  Every time having to chase the QB then go chase the ball after it is down field will start to wear down the rush.  Combine that with a run game and you can keep the defense guessing instead of just always rushing the passer  

The biggest thing you can teach your line is that they don't need to make a huge block when it comes to pass blocking.  Sometimes all they need to do is give a nice push to knock the rusher off track to give your QB just a few tenths of a second more to get rid of the ball.  Watch this video from FSN's Sports Science to give you an idea of what I mean.

So there you go, just an idea of how you will want to do some pass protection when going five wide.  I would love to hear other coaches thoughts and what they have taught their players.  Any coaches widened their splits when in empty and how did that go?  Like I said I am looking to optimize the blocking for this coming season.

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Example of Passing Game in Empty

Even though we are a team that doesn't necessarily do empty all the time I have found that I like going empty and wanted to talk more about some plays you can run from the empty set.  In my previous post I talked a little about the run game from empty.  Today I would like to talk about using the passing game from empty.  A great advantage of this type of offensive set is that it puts the defense in a real bind by spreading them out allowing more one on one situations.  Because of the quick passing game one thing that you can find is that it starts to tire the defensive front out.  They start to rush the QB, ball is gone and they then have to turn and chase the ball carrier.  If a team blitzes it is the same situation as they will have to turn and run once the ball is gone.  Teams will have to be rotating multiple players and this again can put help your offense as you will be wear a defense down.

One disadvantage obviously is that there is no back in the backfield to help block and so you need to have a good short passing game to help prevent teams from blitzing.  One of the most common passing plays that teams will run is where all five receivers will run hitches.

Empty Right 50 All Hitches

By the spacing you set up, it will help allow your receiver to find the open spot in the defense.  The inside curls can help punish a team that brings it backers that can also be checked into go routes if the middle backers blitz and the defense is in cover 0  This is a great universal play against zone and man to man coverage.  Usually against zone you will find on the three receiver side that #2 receiver will come open quite a bit.

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Run Game Out of the Empty Set

I really do like going empty on the offensive side of the ball and find that it puts the defense into a bind on what they have to do.  While spreading the defense out, this formation also allows you the opportunity to still have a run game out of empty.


Jet Sweep


A great play that is commonly used is the Jet Sweep by teams.  You bring the slot back in motion and at the snap as he is going full speed is given the ball by the QB or if you are really good, he can read the backside D with the QB keeping.  Line blocks just like a stretch play and the ball carrier reads and makes his cut upfield.  If the defense starts to cheat a backer to cut off the run on play side, the slot on the 3 receiver side can align closer to cut that player off.  

If the backside backer goes in motion with the motion of the slot, then your QB will want to pull the ball.  A great compliment play especially if a defense starts cheating to the motion is a QB counter play.  


QB Counter Play


This play is a great way to take advantage of an aggressive defense and allow you the opportunity at some big plays.  As you fake the hand off to the motion back, the QB follows the pulling tackle.  The back can carry out his jet sweep fake or you can have him go pick up the backside end to prevent him from disrupting and chasing the play down from behind.  

Another way to take advantage of an aggressive defense as well is to play action off of the motion and try to take advantage of a safety that is rolling or coming up early to stop the jet sweep play.

Play Action Post SE Drag

This is a just an example of using the run to also set up your play action passing game as you take advantage of a defense that rolls to the 4 receiver side.  By isolating 1 on 1 backside you can have a favorable match up.  If the safety rolls too far the post can take advantage of the defense.  If the safety stays in the middle you can look at the post if the defense isn't in a zone or check down to the drag or swing route.  Another play change that you can do is have the 3 players actually slow block a screen to the motion player if the safety stays in the middle and it looks like the defense is staying in a 3 deep zone.  

There you go just a few examples of having the run game out of an empty set and how you can also take advantage of what a defense gives to you.  You really can force the defense to run a coverage that you like and get them into a position that favors your offense.  Coaches let me know about your experiences running the ball out of an empty formation.  Also what your opinions are of the example plays I have shown here.

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What I Am Learning About Play Calling

So this coming season I am looking to try and take a more active role and start calling the offensive plays for the Sophomore Team.  As we have been doing the workouts I have started to learn a very important point while calling offensive plays.

That is the importance of setting up your plays by running other plays.  Coach Bateman has helped by pointing out the need to set up other plays to start running them and then coming back and running a play that compliments it to allow for success.  If you are looking to be a successful offensive coordinator you need to recognize how you set up your offense.  Looking forward to this season, I am extremely excited to see what happens this year.

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Air Raid Part II

This is a favorite play of mine. My youth team ran this play and it worked to perfection. This was one of our best plays as we ran it. This is taken from the current Air Raid passing system as well. This play is easy to read and understand and can be deadly.

On this play the first read is actually the flat defender covering the H position. It's a read by the QB and H defined by where the flat defender goes. Second read is the Y then Z then F. X is designed to clear the area by going deep but if you have a blitz coming the QB can hit that route to. Sometimes the CB might even leave the X to cover the flat which you can exploit.

Again ease of simplicity of the reads, and getting rid of the ball quickly is a reason for my liking the Air Raid. This is an offense that can score quickly and bring you back into games. I was able to run this one pass play out of four formations another bonus of the Air Raid.

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Air Raid

Being a graduate of BYU I have had a chance to study more the Air Raid passing system. In my opinion this is one of the easiest ways to pass and not confuse your players too much. Another reason I like the Air Raid is that you can run many of the same plays out of different formations. There are some plays where the routes will always be open. Let me give you an example of such a play.

Below is 50 check shallow that BYU uses. The first read on this play is actually the middle backer. The main route is not the post but actually the dig done by the H-back. As Coach Anae puts it, the dig is always open. What you will start to see is that safeties will come up hard on the dig which opens the post deep. The X route would be a check route to see if the safeties are coming up. The Z and F routes are the last routes of the progression but if you notice that the defense is having trouble defending those two routes on the backside you can let your QB know to look for those routes.


This is what I love about the Air Raid passing system. Quick short routes, that will allow you to be able to get rid of the ball quickly. The defense has pressure put on it to defend and the reads are easy. If you are looking for a fun offense that is easy to learn. This would be a good offense to start out teaching in my opinion.

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