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AFM Magazine


Dragon Attack

The Barcelona Passing Game
by: Peter Vaas
Offensive Assistant, Barcelona Dragons
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Throwing the football is done in many ways and for many reasons. In Barcelona, we want to be aggressive with the football. We always want the defense to be concerned with our ability to attack them deep and often.

We are a one-back, multiple formation team that will run the ball because the defense is trying to take away our vertical passing game. Our most frequently used pass concept is Jets — getting four receivers to threaten the defense deep. We know that a major impact on winning football games is to have a big play occur. We attempt to create our big plays; not force them.

Over the past two seasons, we have run 1197 plays. Of those, 693 have been passes. That's 58% of our plays, discounting sacks and scrambles. We threw our Jets concept 68 times, or very close to 10% of all our passes thrown. We had a 57% completion rate and averaged better than 18 yards per completion. It has been a very productive concept and one that we install on day one.

The coaching points we use are:

Our base formation consists of three wide receivers and a tight end. (See diagram one.) We also use four wide receivers quite often. (See diagram two.) In teaching our pass concepts, we refer to the widest receiver to either side as No. 1, the next receiver to the inside as No. 2 and the next as No. 3. When we have two receivers on each side of the formation, we refer to it as a 2-2 formation. When we have three receivers on one side and one on the other, we refer to it as a 3-1 formation. This is important because of how we teach.

We try very hard never to refer to a receiver by the position he plays. We want all of our players to know all positions, and more importantly, to understand what we are attempting to accomplish and their role when executing each play.

Jets is our four-vertical play. Our objective is to beat the defense deep for the quick score. We will always designate a receiver when calling the play. The play could be called one of the following: Jets H, Jets Y, Jets W, Jets X or Jets Z. It is never just called "Jets."

The idea behind designating a receiver is that if the defense doesn't allow us to win deep, we have one receiver who has a right to the middle of the field. He will break off his route and utilize the middle of the field to get open. Accompanying the designation of a receiver with a right to the middle is the responsibility of the other inside receiver to stay wide and not interfere with the middle at all. We run it as a five-step drop, getting the QB to a depth of eight yards.

The No. 1 receivers will try to beat the corners deep. If unable to do so by the time they are 15 yards downfield, they will convert their deep routes into hooks at a depth of 18 yards. The No. 2 receivers will read the middle of the field. With only one safety in the middle, they will both work for as much width as they can get in order to put a horizontal stretch on the free safety. The back goes through his block-protection responsibilities and then runs a ball-hook at a depth of five yards. The QB has to digest a lot of information and then react accordingly. He must be aware of the personnel match-ups on the outside — what are the physical chances a No. 1 receiver will win on the outside? If he doesn't believe there is a strong probability of this happening, he will try to influence the middle safety with his eyes, getting the safety to turn away from the receiver he believes has the best chance of catching the ball. Finally, if the underneath coverage has attained enough depth or has had the ability to carry a No. 2 receiver, the QB will come down to the back and allow him to run with the ball.

The No. 1 receivers run streaks; with the corners playing underneath, it will be relatively easy for the receivers to get deep. They must attempt to release outside; if they cannot do this, they must widen their route after they pass the corners so that they are three yards from the boundary by the time they are 12 yards down field. We want to stretch the safeties; it is necessary to utilize the whole field horizontally. The No. 2 receiver, designated as H, runs through the inside number of the safety on his side. This forces the safety to show how he is going to play his half. If the safety works for width in order to make a play on the No. 1 receiver, the No. 2 receiver will widen to stay on the safety's inside number. This creates a good throwing lane for the QB. If the safety were to sit inside and play heavy on the No. 2 receiver, the receiver would break off his streak route and convert it to a square-in. The QB will have a lot of space to throw the deep ball down the sideline, to throw the square-in, or to come down to the back on a ball-hook. The No. 2 receiver who is not designated in the play has to run through the outside number of the safety on his side. This will get that safety to widen and get him to turn his back away from the potential in-route of the other No. 2 receiver.

To the No. 1 receivers, this may look a lot like cover-three. They want to win deep. And if they cannot, they convert their route to an inside-hook. The No. 2 receiver for whom the play is designated (H) will begin to read the coverage as though it is two-deep. If he cannot get to the inside number, he will convert the route to a square-in. The No. 2 receiver for whom the play is not designated must stay outside the safety to his side — just like in cover-two. The back runs his ball-hook.

This coverage becomes a one-on-one match-up of athletes. Who is going to win? The No. 1 receivers will basically see this as three-deep and read their corners accordingly. If they can win deep, they do so; if not, they will do an inside-hook at 18 yards. The No. 2 receivers will see it as man coverage, and the receiver not designated in the play must go deep. Whether or not he wins is not as important as taking his defender deep and getting to his outside number. This creates space in the middle of the field for the No. 2 receiver (H) for whom the play is designated. The H receiver wants to win deep, get on top of the defender covering him, and then widen his route in order to stay away from the free safety. The QB will try to control the free safety with his eyes by looking away from H at the start. Should H not be able to win deep after 18 yards, he will convert his route to a square-in. He will want to break the route off sharply. This calls for running the square-in by coming back downhill toward the QB, away from the defender covering him and across the face of the free safety. The ball-hook run by the back versus man coverage now becomes a crossing type pattern. He runs away from the leverage of the defender covering him.

All reads and responsibilities remain the same.

Diagram eight illustrates what Jets X would look like.

We want H and X to push vertically for six to seven yards and then exchange lanes. H now has all the reads of a No. 1 receiver and X has all the reads of the No. 2 receiver who has the right to the middle.

We also run the play from three- and one-formation configurations. There are some coaching points that are important when running the concept from these configurations. For example, the single receiver no longer reads what the corner to his side does; we want to force the streak and force it to the outside. This is emphasized in order to make the corner turn and run, look to the outside and become unaware of the receiver coming from the other side of the formation. The play is called to make certain that the receiver who stays on the side of the original three will have the right to the middle.

The single receiver must run an outside-streak. The No. 1 receiver on the three-receiver side has his normal reads. W will push downfield for six to seven yards, then cross the formation and aim for a point on the top of the numbers 18 yards deep on the other side of the center. He will cross the face of the free safety. After crossing the safety, he has the right to sit in the hole between the safety and the corner. H will push downfield with W; let W come under his release; and then continue down the top of the numbers, putting a stretch on the safety. The QB directs the safety with his eyes and throws to the open receiver.

Whenever we throw from a 3-1 formation, we instruct the back to run a swing to the single receiver side. But you certainly could still have him run the ball-hook. This is done for simplicity in teaching.

The single receiver runs a streak. Y is responsible for getting to the outside number of the far-half safety. H is responsible for running through the inside number of the safety to his side. If the safety plays him heavy, he has the ability to turn the streak into a square-in. The outside No. 1 runs a streak. The QB will read the safety to the three-receiver side. If the safety plays H heavy, the ball goes outside. If the safety widens to be able to cover No. 1, the QB should get the ball to H. Whenever throwing the ball down the middle versus two-deep coverage, we want the ball in the receiver's hands before he gets to 24 yards deep, and it must be a firm throw.

You can create a variety of mismatches and a great deal of confusion through the use of formations and motion, yet you won't confuse your players with a lot of new learning. They must understand the concept of what you are trying to accomplish and react within that concept.

Jets has been very good to us. Hopefully you will pick up a thought or two that you can use in your system.






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