Comments on: The “smash” route against man coverage

By: Cheesehead TV Matchup: Week 9 Offense | Cheesehead TV

Cheesehead TV Matchup: Week 9 Offense | Cheesehead TV — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 17:26:44 +0000

[...] Driver should find ample opportunities to work short, underneath routes this week, especially the smash. Really, it should be a clinic on Sunday – as poor as you might have thought the Bates scheme [...]

By: John Z

John Z — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 19:03:26 +0000

Against man coverage, the outside WR runs an angle-in, pivot back out to the flat route. Only against zone coverage does the WR run a hitch route automatically. By running this route against man, the WR has some chance of getting open and being an outlet if need be.

By: jgordon1

jgordon1 — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 15:13:03 +0000

as Chris said..the route must be presice and the throw accruate..another reason why teams play inside leverage is to have the ball thrown wide , with air and outside…We are only shown the successful routes…How many smash routes were incomplete in those games?

By: Paul

Paul — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 08:55:13 +0000

sorry last comment was not complete. Free safety can play over the top on the post with Mike support underneath and help on the long ball to the single receiver side.

By: Paul

Paul — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 08:52:59 +0000

Cover two vs Trips rotae the free safety alignment to the MOF then you have Cover two to the Trips side with Cover 1 to the weak Side.

By: steve sharik

steve sharik — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 06:02:11 +0000

“One reason for this is because many defenses who play man coverage use inside leverage to take away the quick slant passes that can gash them for big plays and are easy throws.”

This is why Greg Brown, among others, plays cover 1 (aka man-free) with corners in inside or outside leverage depending on the split of the WR. So, in the case explained above, for example, Stevie Brown would’ve been aligned in outside leverage. Yes, the slant is available, but with a MOF safety, it isn’t a TD.

You may be wondering, “What if it’s cover 0 (i.e., no safety help)?” All defenders use inside leverage. Yes, Stevie Brown would’ve been susceptible to the corner route, but if the D is playing cover 0, they should be sending enough blitzers that the QB doesn’t have time to take a 5-7 step drop and throw a corner route. If he does, then the coverage scheme isn’t the problem; poor timing and/or poor gap responsibility by the blitzers is to blame.

By: Jason A. Staples

Jason A. Staples — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 02:31:01 +0000

With as much man-free as FSU plays, I’d be surprised if Clemson didn’t run smash a good bit with Jacoby Ford in the slot. Clemson has put their fastest receiver in the slot for years against FSU, who nearly always puts a much slower safety one-on-one against a burner.

By: TomahawkNation.com

TomahawkNation.com — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 00:55:14 +0000

Yeah, Dr. B is right.

Clemson pattern reads and FSU probably throws the smash better than any team in the country.

By: Co-ach

Co-ach — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 18:04:43 +0000

We have an adjustment vs two safeties that we call crush. It is Smash to the boundary with a go and a post to the field. We have played against some teams with overly aggressive safeties that float over the top against the corner. Our response is to replace his void with a post. If the backside safety overplays the post we have a one on one 9 route. We have our best deep ball WR on this route.

By: Deaux

Deaux — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 17:12:56 +0000

Smash has almost become a better play against one safety defenses than against 2 safety pattern read defenses.

A well coached split safety team that reps pattern read during practice has the smash route as it’s number defensed play. Unfortunately, I have seen this first hand.

In the clip above you can see the corner turn his hips away from the post corner or towards the smash route. He also widens, which is almost a sure give away that it’s the smash.

A good pattern read team will eat this up. Instead of playing just the smash, he can play both the smash and get underneath the post corner for a pass breakup.