Route packages to beat ILB

The Air Raid utlilizes two concepts to attack the middle: Shallow and Mesh.

Shallow - From a 2-by-2 set, the outside WR's run fades, one slot WR runs the 1-2 yd. shallow cross and the other slot WR runs the 10-12 yd dig/in route (he can sit in the zone if needed)

Mesh - This can be run from different formations. For simplicity from a 2-by-1 set, one of the WR's on the 2-WR side will run a corner/post/seam, the other WR on the 2-WR side will run a cross at 5 yds., the WR on the single-WR side will run a cross at 6 yds.


The West Coast Offense uses a couple of concepts to attack the middle: the Drive and Texas concepts. Check out SmartFootball.com and look those up. Also, the WCO uses two backs to attack inside LB's. They have concepts where the backs will go straight up field 3-4 yds past the LOS and both will cut right or left (I think they call it Ricky and Lucky?). The Mike will bite on one or the another. Instead of having the backs go one way, the WCO gives a Bingo (?) call which tells the backs to cross much like the Air Raid mesh concept.

Last year, I saw the U. of Houston (Air Raid offense) try to mess with the LB's by crossing the backs from the shotgun. The back on the left would run a flat route (shoot/arrow route) to the right and the back on the right would run the flat route to the left. Doing this in combination with an inside WR running a Middle Curl would work well because the LB's might be occupied with the movement of the backs.

Study a lot of film and determine what the Mike or ILB's are keying. If they key on the backs a lot then you can use that to your advantage by sending the backs one way in order to free up the middle for you TE or another WR.