Nice read, J2. Rec’d.

TO has been running a lot of these in camp, FYI.

2 patterns allow receivers YAC opportunities, slants and crossing patterns and neither is used to its full capabilities. that’s why Lee Evans has not blossomed into an elite receiver like he should have by now. he is a third of the field receiver. teams know it and can easier gameplan for it. I hope this year is different.

as simple as high school football philosophy out.

I have also noticed the exact same thing about NE – not too famalair with NO.
It definitely has the greatest change of getting YAC. Green Bay does slants all day which is why I know they led the league in YAV in ‘07 – don’t know about ’08.

The Tenneessee Game and the Chicago game. We seen slants and crossing patterns. Not alott mind you but there was some signs. They could of changed focus so not to give up anything or maybe they are not comfortable with them against the 3-4. I believe they will resurface during the regular season.

but they need a second player, like Nelson or Steve Johnson manning the middle of the field as well….this lack of cross ing patterns has been part of our weak offensive arsenal for too long

Crossing patterns were a huge part of the success of the Kgun.

in good shape for crossing patterns. I’m no expert but i think you need decent size and speed or uber quickness. With TO he can cross all day in a way Lee Evans can’t. although, I would note that the Redskins cross Santana Moss a lot, and he is smallish, but he is very quick and they never let the pattern develop too long, so he gets the ball quickly. The big speedy guys can easily beat up the covering corners and outrun the linebackers.

I love crossing patterns and I hope we see them. They are an easy 8-10 yards a pop and they stall the linebackers.

Great read! Love the observations. Hope we see a lot of crossing patterns and slants this year.

The extensive use of the crossing route is a Bill Walsh thing, but for the same reasons that we’ve all described.

Running two crossing routes needs to be a sometimes thing, because running it all the time does not stress the defense enough. More importantly, for any crossing route to be successful (dig, slant, etc) you need to stretch the seams of the zone. Without that, the zone will collapse on the route runner. So even if he makes the catch, the LB’s close and limit the YAC and potential first down.

Example play (from the K-Gun): Lofton (x-receiver) on the left side, has the option to run a fade or a comeback. Either way, the RCB is committed. Beebe (y-receiver) does the same on the other side, committing the LCB. McKeller runs a streak or post, committing at least a safety to the middle of the field, and forcing the ILB’s to maintain discipline in their drop depth (usually 10 yards off the LOS). This opens the field up for Reed (z-receiver) to run a seam route, slant, dig, or out, depending on how he read the field. If he chooses slant, the LB’s are off the LOS enough to open up the middle of the field.

Interestingly, this is exactly how Wes Welker gets open as well.

The Screen Pass. I would direct the Bills’ offensive minds to watch tape of the Packers. I know the screen is a relatively radical play, but maybe we could just try one now and then, especially when D linemen are trying to kill Trent on 3rd and long. Heck, it’s better than the 6-yard out pattern on 3rd and 10.

I think we will see more of them this year. The Bills personel hasn’t really suited routes like these. I’ve been a Josh Reed defender at times, but he’s slow and crossing routes aren’t really his thing. He gets open more through finding dead spots and presenting a target or simply using body control to gain enough seperation to be open based on timing. Reed isn’t a guy who you can run in a straight line to beat the defender. Evans has been the only player on the team who has shown an ability to get open down the field, so Buffalo has to use him on those routes early and often to keep the defense back some. They also open up digs and comebacks which Evans runs well. And I don’t think Evans is quite the superstar WR that a lot of Bills fans think he is. He’s more Bernard Berrian than Steve Smith (and that isn’t a bad thing). Our TEs simply havn’t been good and I think Roscoe is pretty bad. It seemed like the Bills tried to use Hardy on some crossing routes last year, but he couldn’t have been much less ready to see the field. With TO in town, we should see more crossing routes and more completions in the middle of the field.

I’ve been hoping for more crossing patterns for a long time now. I’d especially like to see Evans run more underneath stuff. He’s been mostly a one trick pony his whole career, so maybe it’s time to see if he can do anything else.

The problem is I’m not sure our OL can give Trent enough time to consistently hit these passes.

We saw GB hurt our D with these because our pass rush couldn’t get to Rodgers. The key is to keep the pocket for the QB to let his WR’s get across the field.