Our quick pass game has evolved over my six seasons as a head coach. We now rely heavily on the “Stick” pass in our game. Stick has become our QB’s most reliable concept and easiest to install. It is a versatile concept. It can be used in open field situations, red zone, goal line, third down situations and mush more. We like this because it is simple and it has become 75% of our quick pass package. Here are our rules:
Z: Go route and hold the top of the numbers. Important – try to collision the corners’ outside shoulder as you pass him to protect the stick.
Y: Stick route, split 5-8 yards from the OT. Vertical release to six yards, initially chasing the hip of the alley player. Turn in and hook up. Give QB eyes and hands. Be ready for the ball to come out hot. Stay away from the Mike and pressure release out, if necessary.
RB: Swing route and “steal second base” forthree3 steps. Snap head and eyes after third step. Gain ground back to LOS slightly. Sit on the numbers if there is not a throw before you get there.
QB: Alert go route. Progression is stick to swing. With numbers or grass this will work our backside concept. Throw the stick until they take it away. (In your mind repeat stick, stick, stick….if you can’t fit it in by third stick, call out to the swing) –
Diagram 1.
Diagram 1
On the backside, we have “packages” we attach to the plays. I will go into detail on those in a future blog. We game plan those based on the opponent and how they tend to defend us into the boundary or the weak side.
We try to dress our stick concept up as well. We attach it to our draw play (Diagram 2).
Diagram 2
We also dress up our stick with motion. One motion we have found to really effect the alley player is our use of “fast” motion by our RB out of the backfield. OLBers in our league tend to widen significantly with this motion, thus opening a big window for our QB to get an easy completion to the stick. If they don’t move, we treat it like a swing screen to our RB and have him in space with the defense out-flanked (Diagram 3).
Diagram 3
Additionally, on the goal line, one of our most productive throws has been our stick with a backside double slant tag. Our QBs like this because it gives them a way to combat aggressive man coverage with the double slants (Diagram 4).
Diagram 4
Lastly, we are adding a new wrinkle this year that we have noticed in our film study of collegiate teams. We are tagging our backside route concept. We are using four different tags to start on the back side. We are planning to make the “spot” or “snag” concept our base (Diagram 5).
Diagram 5
The “out” concept as our cover 2/man concept (Diagram 6).
Diagram 6
The “hard slant” is our way to isolate our best WR. Our WR runs upfield six yards, “buzzes” his feet, then hard slants vs. a CB that doesn’t move. He sits vs. a dropping CB and fades vs. a pressing CB (Diagram 7).
Diagram 7
Our last option is the “slip” tag. We like slip vs. man coverage teams or if we feel that the LBers are flying to defend the stick route (Diagram 8)
Digram 8.