Four Verticals is a passing concept that is almost exactly what you'd expect: four receivers running vertical routes. The fifth eligible (usually a back) will check their protection responsibility if they have one, and then release into some sort of underneath route:

Image via Chris Brown, who has previously highlighted four verticals here and here.

While all of those vertical routes might look simple, the nuances of the concept are really what make it tough to stop

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Our offense is bad. The good news is we were able to see some success between the 20s last week against a fairly poor Rams defense that only got worse with injuries during our game.

Our weak point last week was easily red zone offense, as evidenced by four Phil Dawson field goals and zero touchdowns. Contrary to frustrated fan opinion, we did try to pass the ball in to the endzone on multiple occasions, we just couldn't execute.

After the jump I've highlighted a few of the areas where I think our offense needs improvement, as well as some things we did well against the Rams. While there are more positive plays than negative ones below, I am not attempting to place this game in a positive light: it was a soul-crushing loss, and I don't think there are any excuses for not scoring a touchdown against the Rams defense that was on the field last week. We played a bad game but that doesn't mean it was all bad or that we have to linger on that as fans. Enjoy.

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The San Francisco 49ers offense we saw last week was a great example of one that had an identity yet remained unpredictable.  The 49ers are best at running the football with RB Frank Gore and an offensive line that features three first round picks in LT Joe Staley, RT Anthony Davis, and LG Mike Iupati.

But they also had plays designed to disrupt our defensive keys and punish us for attacking their bread and butter plays. Passes to NT Isaac Sopoaga and LT Joe Staley were off of play action using the same formations and personnel that they use to run, and off of the same initial action as their inside and outside zone runs, respectively. In other words, those passes looked exactly like their runs.

One play that illustrates how the 49ers overwhelm their opponent with size and (tactical) leverage is their version of the sweep play.  This play is a modern adoptation to classic football, namely the Power Sweep used famously by Vince Lombardi.

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An introduction to protection can be found here.

Regardless of what pass protection scheme an offense is using, they can be faced with more rushers than they can block. When that happens, the offense will need to get rid of the ball quickly (before the untouched rusher gets to the QB), and they will want to throw to the void created by the blitz. Cue the "hot route."

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Announcers and casual fans can see defenders coming clean at the quarterback and immediately place the blame on an individual player.  Sometimes, they are correct in doing so.  But too often, observers of the game are unable to correctly recognize blocking responsibilities.

In this post, I'll discuss the three basic forms of pass protection, "BoB" protection, "slide" protection, and "combo" protection.

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I believe this is what they call a "dagger."

Down three points late in the fourth quarter, the Cleveland Browns had to stop the Cincinnati Bengals from converting a 3rd and 3 and running out the clock. Cincinnati stacked the box, leaving only one WR on the field in favor of "22" (2 backs, 2 tight ends) personnel. Cleveland countered by bringing an 8th man (Joe Haden) into the box, but 8 weren't enough.

DE Jayme Mitchell, who was lined up at LDE crashed down the line as RB Cedric Benson ran around him outside for a touchdown. When I watched this play live, I was furious at the undisciplined play and youthful mistakes of Mitchell and our line. Ready for five (four?) words you won't hear very often from me?

I was flat-out wrong.

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Check out part one and part two of this series.

The season is upon us and I am sick of looking at Sam Bradford in this offense instead of Colt McCoy in Orange and Brown. Needless to say, I'm looking forward to continuing this series for the Browns in the near future.

These concepts aren't constraint plays and are not as cohesively grouped as the running game and 1-step quicks are, or the shallow series and screens with inside motion by a WR: I just needed another post to split the passing game up a little.

Smash

Smash is a hi-low off of the CB/sideline defender. Typically, a WR runs a short curl that converts to an in against man. He is going to run up the field to around 6 yards and turn in, and then "just get open".

The inside receiver will run a corner route. Against man, he'll lean on his man and then break hard to the corner at 12 yards, against someone in a deep zone, the route will look a little more like a "post-corner" with him faking inside then breaking out. With no one over the top, he'll roll his route as to not lose any speed.

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For part one of the series, click here.

There are no two ways about it: the Rams threw the ball quite a bit last year despite playing a rookie QB and having less than ideal receivers on the outside. Their passing game involved several different passing concepts and I am willing to bet that Pat Shurmur didn't install everything in year 1 with Sam Bradford.

Most of the Rams' pass plays utilized short to intermediate routes along with 3- and 5-step drops. You'll notice a lot of motion, "bunch" formations and formations with receivers tight to the formation. One reason that St. Louis utilized these formations often was because of their reliance on the shallow crossing route.

Shallow Cross

Despite displaying variety, one mainstay of the Ram's attack was a series of plays revolving around the shallow crossing route.  

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