The Routes: Nine Cuts and a Screen

Every pass concept is built from a small vocabulary of individual routes, and once you know it a broadcast stops sounding like code. The short ones first. A hitch (or curl) runs five to eight yards and turns back to the quarterback; a slant breaks inside at a sharp angle after two or three steps; an out breaks to the sideline; a flat route is a back or tight end drifting toward the sideline at the line of scrimmage; a stick is a tight end settling in the first open window. These are the fast, safe throws — the ones that beat pressure and pick up first downs.

The intermediate routes work the middle at ten to fifteen yards. A dig (or in) breaks square across the field; a post angles toward the goalposts; a corner angles toward the pylon; a comeback drives deep and snaps back to the sideline. Then the deep ones: a go (or fly, or streak) runs straight past the defender; a fade is a go along the sideline, thrown high and outside so only the receiver can reach it; a seam is a go up the hash marks, into the soft spot between deep zones; a wheel is a back who starts to the flat and turns up the sideline. Finally the screen — not a route but a play: the quarterback lets the rush come, then throws behind it to a receiver with blockers in front.

Two things to watch for. First, routes are told by their breaks: count the receiver's steps, then watch which way he plants — inside, outside, or vertical — and you will name the route before the throw. Second, every route has a coverage it is built to beat. Slants and digs attack the space behind linebackers in zone; fades and comebacks attack a corner playing alone in man; seams and posts attack the hole between two deep safeties. The next module puts routes together into concepts; this one is the alphabet.