The Los Angeles Chargers "Super Drive" Concept

With a lack of sustained playoff success and not too many prime time offerings, the Los Angeles Chargers are often forgotten about in the NFL X&O landscape. This off season, I decided to take a deep dive into their passing game and learn what put Phillip Rivers at the top of the league in 2018.

There were a few concepts that immediately jumped out to me. This article will focus on one particular concept. I refer to this concept as "Super Drive". This play is featured as the cover illustration for my book, The 2018 Los Angeles Chargers Pass Game Index. The concept looks nearly identical to the traditional 2x2 Drive concept. The traditional variation is diagrammed below (diagrams via JustPlay Sports Solutions).

"Super Drive" is very similar to the traditional 2x2 Drive concept, with one minor tweak. The running back will free release swing to the front side of the concept instead of check-releasing to the back side of the play. "Super Drive" is diagrammed below:

The quarterback reads this concept outside - in. After a quick glance at the post route (pun intended), the quarterback can work the wheel to the swing to the drive route.This minor adjustment has major implications for defenses. The video link below shows how effective this concept was for the Chargers in 2018.

https://twitter.com/b_peters12/status/1128101109619359744?s=21

By calling this concept on first downs, the Chargers saw a high percentage of single high safety looks with this concept. Against single high coverages, the strong hook defender is placed in a tough spot. With the free release of the back, he must commit to getting width and depth. This opens up a wide lane for the drive route. If the weak hook defender commits to the drive route, the inside release dig route will fill that void in the defense.

The slight inside release of the dig route plays an important role in freeing up the drive route against true man and man-match coverages. The inside release will help prevent any route exchanges between the two weak side defenders, and in some cases created communication lapses for the Chargers' opponents.

These minor tweaks are the avatar of Anthony Lynn and Ken Whisenhunt's offense. The Chargers used many unique variations of traditional NFL staples to maximize their efficiency in the passing game.

I decided to turn this off season study into a reference book that shows each concept the Chargers called, along with a breakdown of the concepts' efficiency based on down/distance/red zone etc. The 2018 Los Angeles Chargers Pass Game Index can be found on Amazon by Clicking Here.