Hot Routes

I have been coaching club football in Europe for the last 13 years and we have used "hot reads" on our drop back protection. We are primarily a double slot team (4 wide receivers) and one back. We run from under the center, as well as the shotgun. We have our single back (fullback to us) and our center block the "A" gaps, guards block "B" gaps and tackles block "C" gaps. We have our slot receivers basically just replace the blitzer. If it is an inside blitz, the slot runs what we call a circle route, if it is an outside blitz, he runs a flat route. If both come, we have the inside take president, even though we have the personnel to pick it up. If we are under center, our QB must use a back pedal drop, as he must read hot off both "D" gaps. Admittedly, this involves about 25% of our passing package.

We use a lot of sprint out protection (60% of our offense), where we block the backside gaps and we do not use a hot receiver in that protection scheme. We just know if we get two off the playside edge, we either will adjust by running our slide protection or we will immediately hit the flat, but the QB will also step up in the crease and in theory, our FB can block both defenders.

We also use the quick passing game on 15% of our passing game which is maximum protection with no hot reads. So, about 85% of our offense doesn´t require us to read hot. But, the most important thing is that we zone protect everything.

In 2001, we set European passing records throwing for 5122 yards and 54 TDs in 13 games. We had only 4 non-passing TDs. So, we got a lot of blitzing, as teams knew we would throw it every down. These stats came while playing 12 minute quarters. We had one receiver catch 107 passes for 1852 yards and another had 77 receptions for 1367 yards. A third receiver had more than 700 yards.

That´s the way we do it and have had a lot of success through the years. I think it all comes down to making a determination as to what you believe in and can get taught and are commited to.