X & O's- Using "High/Lows" to Win in the Passing Game

The game of football has seen a complete change in the way it is played over the last 15 years, especially at the highest levels. Gone are the days of “Three yards and a cloud of dust” and “Using the run to set up the pass”. In fact, the 10 highest NFL league wide passing totals have come within the past 10 years. The 12 greatest years in the NFL by completion percentage have all come within the last 12 seasons. The last five seasons all rank within the top five for fewest rushing attempts per game in NFL history.

This change in style has penetrated all levels of football. Colleges, High Schools, and even youth league teams are all embracing the passing game. “7-on-7” football has left its roots on the practice field and become almost a sport unto itself. Flag Football, which features almost exclusively passing, is now being broadcast on national TV. We are becoming passing game obsessed.

While the game has continued to evolve at all levels, there are some bedrock truths that remain. You have to block. You have to tackle. And the best coaches are looking for ways to isolate and expose the opponents’ weakness.

“The Defense Can’t Be Right”

When the basics of “option football” were first invented, the object was to isolate one defender and make him choose between one of two offensive players. If the offense executed correctly, the defender could never be right. This idea led to the explosion of option football, especially at the College and lower levels. This brand of football dominated the game for decades starting in the 1940’s and was still used by the option powerhouse Nebraska to win three National Championships in the 1990’s.

While defenses searched for ways to stifle the option, offensive coaches looked for new ways to apply option principles to other areas of the game. Two of the leading innovators of the passing game, Bill Walsh and Steve Spurrier, incorporated option principles into their innovative attacks.

One the main ways Walsh and Spurrier chose to isolate zone defenders is with “high/low” passing concepts. A “high/low” is simply when 2 recievers isolate a defender between them, with one going beyond the defender (High) and the other staying in front of the defender (Low). Both Walsh’s “West Coast” offense and Spurrier’s “Fun ‘n’ Gun” used these concepts as a staple of their attacks.

The Concepts

Drive

Bill Walsh’s Drive Concept

The Drive concept involves a drag or drive route going underneath a Dig or Square in. Both routes come from the same side and place a “ high/low” strain on 2nd level defenders. You can tag different the other receivers with whatever you like. Drive is a very flexible concept.

We liked to run Drive out of a Trips (3 WR to a single side) set. Most defenses gave us a 1 high cover 3 look to this formation. This is what our version of drive against those coverages looked like:

We would always peek at the X pre-snap for a 1-on-1 shot if available. Post snap we would use the back out of the backfield to take away the flat defender (W), allowing us to have a true “high/low” on the Middle Linebacker.

When facing a team that likes to mix up coverages, or if we wanted to run it out of a 2x2 set, Drive could look like this :

Drive out of a 2x2 Formation

In this formation, the QB would base his read on coverage. 1 high safety he would work the go to the sail to the drag to the dig. 2 high safeties he would work the drag to the dig to the back coming out.

Below is Arkansas, under Bobby Petrino, running Drive against LSU.

Shallow Cross



Shallow Cross can be quite similar to the Drive concept. The goal, just like Drive, is to create a “high/low” on a 2nd level defender. The routes creating the “high/low” are a drag and a dig .The main difference is that in Shallow Cross the drag and Dig are coming from opposite sides. Another difference is how we go through our progression.In Drive, we liked to go low to high, back out of the backfield to drag to dig. In Shallow Cross, we want to go high to low.

The Qb would always look at his deep shot on the post here first. If the safety gets preoccupied by the dig route by #2, you could take that shot over his head (Post-Dig is the crux of the Mills concept, which we will discuss later). Once the QB cancels the post he can now “high/low” the 2nd level wall defender (In our diagram above that would be the Will linebacker). If the Will lets the dig run by him and tries to track the drag coming across you throw the dig. If the Will tries to run with the dig and wall him off from coming inside, you hit the drag on the run in front of him.

Below is Boise State running the Shallow Cross. Notice how the wall defender comes up to take the drag route opening up space for the dig behind him.

Mills

Mills is a 2 WR concept we briefly touched on in the Shallow Cross breakdown. It was made famous by Steve Spurrier and named aft one of his WRs at Florida, Ernie Mills, who was so successful running it. Whereas Drive and Shallow Cross were both “high/lows” on 2nd level defenders, Mills is a “high/low” on a 3rd level defender.

Mills is best run against a 2 high safety look, but can be run in forms (especially with play action) against a 1 high look. The concept has become increasingly popular as many defenses are switching to the pattern matching Quarters coverages made popular by Nick Saban.

Many of the popular versions of Quarters involve the safety keying on the #2 WR to his side. Mills has the #2 Wr run right at this safety hoping to occupy his eyes and attention. The #1 WR will run a deep post over the top of the safety. If the safety drives on the dig, the post will be open over the top. If he bails to get underneath the post, the dig should be open. Many offensive coordinators will pair this route combination with something to occupy the 2nd level defenders, like a drag, a short curl or even playaction .

Below are two examples of Oklahoma State running Mills. In both clips they hit the post behind the safety who has decided to drive on the dig route.

Smash

Spurrier’s version of Smash

One route combination that is often paired with Mills is the Smash concept. Smash is designed to “high/low” a cornerback. Smash has many variations, but the one often taught first is the #1 WR running a short hitch route and the #2 WR running a corner. The QB simply reads the CB. If he drops underneath the corner route, throw the hitch. If the CB drives on the hitch, throw the corner route.

Smash is very simple and easy to teach. It has spawned many variations and is extremely popular. It is an extremely flexible concept that works against almost any coverage. Below are some of the many different ways to run Smash.

Smash run more traditionally on the right side and inverted on the left side. The space being attacked is still the same

Run out a 3x1 Set with the outside WRs running 5 yard ins with the ability to expand toward the sideline away from wall defenders.

While not following the exact structure of Smash, we have taught the following concepts at the same time because they are so similar : Fade-Out and Slot Fade.

On the left is the Fade-Out Concept, and on the right is the Slot Fade concept

These two concepts both attack the same areas of the field as Smash, the 5-6 yard flat area and the area 15-20 yards behind the CB. The read is the same for the QB on all these, it’s just a different way to present the “high/low”.

Below is Boise St. running Slot Fade

97-Mini Mills

Steve Spurrier loved to run this combination inside the 10 yard line. You often get man coverage this close to the end zone, but Spurrier would still use this miniature version of Mills to create tons of space in the endzone. The #2 WR runs a hitch at the goal line and the #1 Wr runs a slant behind him towards the back of the endzone. When the safety drives on the hitch a big hole is left behind him. If he slow plays at all you can fire the ball into the hitch.

When Florida famously put up over 50 points between the hedges in 1995, Spurrier called this play for a couple of TDs.

If you want to watch the entire game, you can also see Florida score running Mills and Smash.

Conclusion

These concepts have all stood the test of time and been used by coaches all over. They all offer some schematic flexibility and can be run against a variety of coverages. They can be easily incorporated into any offense. There are old sayings in football that there are no new schemes and that everybody steals schemes from other coaches. If you are gonna steal you may as well take from the best offensive minds . Bill Walsh and Steve Spurrier would certainly be high on that list.