The Smash Concept

The “Smash Concept” is a common passing

game concept at all levels of football from
the NFL to high school. It is often thought FS

of as a “cover 2 beater” but with a few

route adjustments can be effective against M S
almost any coverage. The Smash Concept E N T E
involves an outside receiver running a Stop X

A
Z

route (a.k.a. Hitch) with an inside receiver

F

running a Corner route (a.k.a. Smash or The Smash Concept

Flag). The stop involves three big, driving,
hard up-field steps as if you are going deep followed by two short steps as you sink your hips to stop the
route. The fifth step sticks the outside foot in the ground and the Wr turns inside toward the ball
showing his numbers to the Qb. The primary purpose of this routes is to hold the Db, the corner, low so
we can throw the Smash and then to work
lateral to stay open or get open. The
Smash route involves a 12 yard stem up
the seam and an inside foot plant breaking
FS
the route to the corner (on an angle to go
out of bounds at about 25 yards from the
M S
line of scrimmage). This route combination
creates a vertical stretch of the Corner in E N T E
X Z

the outside third. A Y

F
Sandbox Sandbox Rule

We teach “Concept Passing.” This means

that we teach our receivers and our quarterbacks to understand the spacing of the routes and how they
stress the defense. This allows us to run many variations and for our athletes to play multiple Wr
positions, as long as they know the concept being run. We teach “Sandbox Rules.” In any concept we
have two or three areas where we
expect/need a Wr to be for proper spacing
to create a vertical or horizontal stretch of
the defense. In the Smash Concept we
have a low Sandbox 5 to 6 yards deep at FS
the numbers. We have a deep Sandbox at
about 20 to 25 yards at the numbers. We M S
need a Wr in each of these Sandboxes at
E N T E
the end of their routes. Understanding the X Z

A
concept of the sandboxes allows us to run Y

variations such as “Switch” where the F

Switch - Sandbox Rule

inside and outside Wr’s switch routes. The
outside Wr running a Smash must them FS SS
inside (burst release) to 5 yards, then up
the seam before breaking to the corner
(and finding the sandbox). In order to get M S
to his sandbox, the inside Wr must run a E N T E
Zip (Speed Out) instead of a Stop since the X Z

A Y

Stop route would not put him in his

F

sandbox. Route Adjustment vs. 2 High Safeties

Route Adjustments

Both the Smash and the Stop routes will adjust slightly based upon the defensive coverage.

-Versus 2 high safeties (Cover 2 or

Cover 4) the Smash route will adjust
its stem. The Smash receiver will
FS SS
C C stem to 10 yards and then stick his
outside foot breaking to the post for
2 steps. On the second step he will
M S
stick his inside foot and break to the
E N T E
X Z
Corner. The Qb may throw the
A Y Smash Wr open by delivering the
F ball a little short and outside to
Cover 4 (4 Deep) throw the ball away from the hash
safety. Cover 4 will not allow the Qb
to deliver the ball to the Smash Wr because of the drop of the corner. Cover 2 will hold the corner in the
flats allowing the Smash to be open.

-Versus a Cover 2 corner the Stop route will

adjust. A Cover 2 corner will play outside
leverage anywhere from press to 5 yards
FS SS
deep. The corner will attempt to jam the Wr
and then play the flats. He will be in our sand
box, on our back. The Wr will execute a Stop C W M S C
route but he will shorten the stem and run a
E N T E
delayed slant after hitching up, running away X Z

from the coverage behind the OLB toward A Y

the hash looking for a window for the Qb to F

deliver the ball through. Route Adjustment vs. Cover 2

-Versus man coverage both Wr’s will
adjust their routes. The Smash Wr will
work a move to get quick, clean outside FS

release. He will stack the ILB/Db covering

him and shorten his stem to 8-9 yards
M S
sticking his inside foot and giving a good
W SS C
head/shoulder fake when breaking to C E N T E
X Z
the post. As with Cover 2, the Qb may A Y

throw him open by throwing a little short F

and outside. The Stop Wr will change his Route Adjustment vs. Man-1
route entirely. A Stop will not get open
against man coverage so we will run a route that will hold the corner low, out of the Smash route, while
also allowing the Stop Wr to get open
giving the Qb an option to throw the
ball to one of 2 Wr’s on that side. The
FS SS Stop Wr a “man-slant.” Instead of
taking the usual 3 step stem, which
M won’t get us open versus man, the
C
Wr will square his feet and work an
C W S
E N T E
X Z
outside fake as he works his hands
A Y and feet to get an inside release and
F cross the corners face. Look for the
Route Adjustment vs. Man-2 ball as soon as you cross the corners
face and continue slanting toward
the hash running away from the coverage of the corner. Another good option versus man that may be
tagged by the coach is the Pivot route. For
the Pivot route the Wr will start with the
man-Slant to 5 yards and then pivot back
outside to his original sandbox. FS SS

Front-Side/Backside vs. Mirror

M
In all of the examples above the routes
C W C
E N T E S
were mirrored. Both sides run the Smash X Z

Concept and get to their sandboxes. We A Y

also run the concept as Front-side/Backside F

plays. To the call side we will run the Smash Pivot tag vs. Man
Concept exactly as described above
including all of the route adjustments. To the backside we run a complimentary route that will take
advantage of the defense when they over-play the Smash to the play-side. We can tag any number of
route combinations to the backside but our automatic is a Seam-read (a.k.a. Tube route) and a Dig
route.
The inside Wr runs the Seam-read. He will
run up the hash to a depth of 10 yards. If
the hash is open (there is no safety on the
hash) he will continue up the hash. If the
FS
hash is closed (there is a safety on the
hash) he will stick his outside foot and
break to the post. Out of trips, the third Wr M S

will execute the Seam-read from the play- E N T E

X Z
side. A Y

F
The outside Wr will inside release to 5
Play-side/Backside
yards then climb to a depth of 13-15 yards,
sink his hips and plant his outside foot to level off and flatten out across the field.

Qb Thought Process

The Qb will take a 5-step drop (3

from gun) and read the throwing
FS lane. If no defender compresses the
throwing lane from underneath (the
M S corner) nor from the inside (the
E N T E
safety), he will deliver the ball to
X Z the smash. Versus a hash safety he
A Y
will throw the Smash open throwing
F
the ball a little short and outside to
make it harder for the safety to play
the ball. If the corner drops deep under the Smash the Qb will hitch up and find the Hitch Wr who is
working to get open versus various coverage techniques described above. If the safety compresses the
throwing lane from the inside and
overplays the Smash, the Qb will hitch up
and throw the Seam-read/Dig
combinations. If the play-side safety
overplays the Smash, we have the backside FS
safety in a 2 on 1 situation.
M S
Roll-Out
E N T E
When we roll out to this concept we alter X
A Y
Z

the Stop route to improve timing. We will

F

have the Stop Wr run a Check route (a.k.a.

Comeback route) or the Pivot route
described above. The backside inside Wr will also change his route to a Drag. Sometimes we will tag the
Check route as a “Dupe” telling both outside Wr’s in trips to run a Check. The Check route is run just like
a fade to a depth of 15 yards and which point the Wr throws up his outside hand as if the ball is coming
and then sinks his hips and sticks his
inside foot to open to the outside and
comeback toward the ball to about 13-
12 yards. The Qb will deliver the ball
short and outside forcing the Wr to FS
come to the ball so that the Db can’t
make the play. M S

E N T E
X Z

A Y

Roll-Out, Check

FS

M S

E N T E
X Z

A Y

Roll-Out, Pivot Tag

FS

M S

E N T E
X Z

A Y

Roll-Out, Dupe Tag