"route running & why what Robert Woods does is so important"

jrry32 writes:

Success in the NFL is about identifying players who fit your identity for the offense and acquiring them. It’s clear that McVay did not feel that Britt was a fit. As for Woods, the Bills barely threw the ball. Woods accounted for about 23% of their yardage in the games he played. On an average passing offense, that would have resulted in over 950 receiving yards for a 16 game season. Now, I’m not trying to say Woods is an amazing WR. Rather, I’m saying that the circumstances were not conducive to a guy like him producing. Look at what McVay says about Woods: “He understands and makes everything look the same. Great body control. One of the things you really appreciate about him is when he’s at the top of his routes, his ability to create that immediate separation because he makes guys truly feel like he’s stretching the field vertical, then he snaps it down at 15 with good body lean.”

I definitely want to elaborate on what McVay just said. It’s a beautiful explanation. I want to talk a bit more about route running and why what Robert Woods does is such an important thing. McVay explained that Woods makes all his routes look the same. One would expect that’s a pretty common thing in the NFL, but it’s really not. A lot of NFL WRs have tells. The easiest tell is that some WRs run routes at different speeds based on the depth of the route. Changing speeds as a route runner can be a high level skill that some WRs master to dupe CBs. However, most WRs change speeds because they aren’t refined route runners. The bad type of changing speed is when you come off the line slower on shorter routes than you do on longer routes. CBs pick up on this, especially CBs who watch a lot of film. It helps them to determine when to squat on short routes or bail to cover the longer routes. Refined route runners will sell their vertical stem aggressively off the LOS no matter what route is being run. This forces the CB to always respect the vertical route instead of squatting. The best route runners change their speed to deceive CBs. They know how to change the way they sell their vertical stems to bait CBs into making mistakes. This is a high level concept and very few guys in the NFL actually do it(because not all schemes allow for it). Stevie Johnson used to be incredible at it, but Buffalo also gave him a lot of leeway to freelance in their scheme.

Another important part of making your routes all look identical is that it gives you a two-way go. You’ll often hear that phrase when a HB is in the open field and a safety has to make the tackle. In that situation, a two-way go means that the HB can cut either way, and the safety must play more cautiously because he can’t box the HB in. When discussing route running, it means that the WR can cut either way. It has the same benefit for route running. The CB has to play the break more cautiously if the WR can cut either way. If the CB catches the WR tipping his hand by allowing his eyes to deceive him, leaning before his break, or letting his body get in front of his feet (i.e., turning his shoulders/head before he has exploded off his plant foot), it gives him an extra step or two to break on the route and the pass. You want the CB to have no idea which way you’re breaking because he won’t be able to break on the route until after you’ve committed (after you’ve broken down and dropped your plant foot). That will earn you separation.

Something you’ll see talented route runners do is “tilt” a DB before the break point. Here’s an example of Woods doing it:

There are many ways to tilt a DB, but it basically means get the DB leaning in the opposite direction of the way you plan to break. If his momentum is taking him the wrong way, it will get you that much more open. Here, Woods does a nice job with his release off the LOS. You will see guys generally use three moves in the NFL. You have a straight release, a one-step release, and a two-step release. Here, Woods utilizes a straight release and uses his hands to keep Lane from tying him up on the LOS. After getting off the LOS, watch Woods aggressively get back onto his vertical stem and try to stack Lane. While, he’s not able to totally stack Lane, he does an amazing job of using his vertical stem to tilt Lane. Watch Lane’s hips and shoulders. Because Woods is leveraging his route inside, Lane opens his hips and shoulders inside. When Woods quickly breaks down and makes his speed cut outside, Lane has no ability to undercut the route or stick with Woods on the break because Lane’s momentum is taking him away from where Woods is going. The other great part about this play is that Woods leveraging his route inside holds the C-2 safety inside. That gives Woods more room to work with after he makes his cut. This is a great display of route running. Leveraging your vertical stem is one way to tilt a defender. There are other ways to tilt defenders, including using a variety of subtle fakes (such as head fakes or shoulder fakes).

In addition to tilting a defender, you want your WR to be able to use his vertical stem to open up a defender’s hips early. This is why it’s important to make your routes look the same and aggressively sell your vertical stem. If you can get the defender to open his hips early, it’ll earn you much more separation on stop routes. And if you can trick him into squatting at the wrong time, you can get him to open his hips late which will earn you separation on vertical routes. Antonio Brown is one of the masters at changing speed to get DBs to make mistakes in this regard. One such move is that Brown will come off the LOS slower than he normally does to lull the DB into squatting, and then he’ll suddenly accelerate hard to scare the DB into thinking that he was trying to bait him. This will cause the DB to flip his hips and aggressively bail. At this point, Brown will break down and make his break on a stop route. When he catches the ball, the DB will be 5-10 yards up the field, and that will allow Brown to pick up yards after the catch.

Getting back to my earlier point about why WRs aggressively selling their vertical stem doesn’t always create separation, this is because some WRs don’t have the athletic traits to scare the CB. For example, I always used to say that Brandon Gibson was a precise route runner but not a good route runner. What I meant by this is that Gibson’s routes were run in a textbook fashion. He aggressively sold his vertical stem, he ran his route to the proper depth, and he took the correct number of steps in making his break. However, Gibson lacked the vertical speed and explosiveness out of his breaks to back DBs off. Thus, despite his textbook route running, he wasn’t tilting DBs or causing them to open their hips early. In addition, Gibson wasn’t a creative route runner. If you lack the physical attributes to scare the DB, you have to use skill and intelligence to create separation. Gibson never had the feel for how to use subtle fakes or changes in speed to get the DB off balance. Woods has that ability.

There are two final points I want to make. Route running changes based on the coverage type and leverage. This is why it’s important to have WRs who can read defenses, understand your offensive scheme, and adjust on the fly. Some offenses are more complex than others in how much reading of the defense they ask their WRs to do. The Patriots are an example of an offense that is very complex, but it also makes it very difficult to cover their WRs because of their ability to adjust on the fly to what you’re doing(if they have the right WRs for the system). Also, different schemes allow differing amounts of freedom for their WRs. A lot of offenses sync up their route concepts, QB drops, and steps in the routes. Thus, it is important for the WR to run his route to the proper depth with the proper number of steps in the proper amount of time. Improper depth could screw up the route concept or make the QB’s throw look inaccurate. Improper number of steps often will lead to improper depth or improper timing. Improper timing will cause the QB to hold the ball longer or give the DB extra time to break on the route (depending on whether the WR is early or late). Thus, it will depend on the scheme how much freedom WRs are given to incorporate changes of speed and fakes into the route. It will also depend on the WR’s ability. If you’re an elite WR, the QB and team will give you more freedom to use these high level skills than they will the #4 WR on the roster.

Anyways, I hope this was helpful.