As a play caller, one of the most important things is to be prepared to score touchdowns in the red zone. This is often an
area that can be overlooked, as all coordinators are working to conjure up the “big
play” (myself included...).
Josh McDaniels of the New England Patriots, as one of the
best coordinators in the NFL, has his team prepared in the red zone. This
specific example shows how he takes an idea that the Patriots use regularly, to set up a constraint in a high leverage situation.
The Patriots use the dig route quite often, in both the
middle of the field, and red zone. This play in fact uses multiple dig routes
on the other side of the field. McDaniels uses the route below to take
advantage of that tendency.
Julian Edelman runs this route to perfection. At the top of
the route, he leans inside to get his defender to lean towards the dig route.
The timing from Brady is impeccable. The video link is below.
In the NFL, that split second difference in timing is the
difference between a touchdown and a 4th and goal field goal
attempt.
As a coordinator, it is important to have counter punches
for your main plays. In the red zone, these counter punches can become knockout
punches.
This route is very similar to the "Spin" route in the Mike Martz offense. If you want to learn more about this route, and how to use it at the high school or college level, take a look at my new book:
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