Your football offensive playbook does not have to resemble a big city telephone directory. With these five effective pass routes, your team will improve in pass completion percentage, passing yardage, and touchdown passes.
Fabulous Five
- The Hook Route can be successful on any down. Running a shorter route of first down is a great way to keep defenses honest. A deep comeback route completion on third down can lead to extending the offensive drive.
- The Screen Pass to a running back requires a lot of practice time initially, but your team will be able to run off big chunks of yardage when it is run effectively.
- The Corner Route can turn into a game-changer, especially if run after several successful short-to-intermediate passes.
- The Crossing Route is a physically challenging pass pattern, as it is a play where the receiver must be prepared to take a hard hit from the secondary at (or immediately after) the ball touches his hands.
- The Wheel Route involves two receivers in close proximity, crossing each other's paths to confuse the defense, primarily for a secondary playing man-to-man coverage.
Coaching Points
- Set up passing game with play-action passes which start out looking like one of your running plays.
- Think precision when practicing the passing game, make sure the receivers and quarterback know which location the ball is to be caught.
- When running plays with matching receivers on each side, simplify the learning process by 'mirroring' routes; having the matching receivers running the same pattern.