How Many Routes Does A Good Pass Play Need?

In my endless quest to discover new and better pass plays in NCAA 06, I often think philosophically when studying these concepts.

As much I love to sink into the depths of Air Raid, West Coast, and Air Coryell minutia, it is the holistic ideas behind these offenses that keep me coming back for more.

I’ve been practicing many pass plays over the last two weeks and I keep asking myself the same question:

How many routes make up a good pass play?

Let’s break down each example and see if we can come to a conclusion.

For the sake of this argument we will compare two types of pass plays: one where all five routes are viable and one where only one to three routes are needed.

The “All Five Routes” Philosophy

Let’s start with plays where all five routes can be used at any given time. A good example of this type of play is Ace Spread – Triangle which is below.

All five routes in Triangle can be used at one point or another, depending on the coverage.

From the right hash:

• Square beats Man
• L1 beats Cover 0
• R1 beats both Man, Cover 4 Zone, and any zone blitz which causes the area in front of the Center to be open
• Triangle beats both Man and Zone
• Circle beats Man and can also sometimes beat Cover 3 Zone

Now one would think that the more routes you have to work with, the better.

Let me give you a few of my PROS and CONS of using an All-Five play.

• The more routes you can use, the more areas of the field you can attack at the same time
• The ability to attack any Man or Zone coverage at once
• Great for teams with multiple good skill players
• More routes means the longer it takes to go through your progressions which leads to…
• By the time you’ve reached your last few reads, you may get sacked or turn the ball over
• You might not have (or need) five good skill players to make plays

The “Just A Few Routes” Philosophy

Now let’s make our case for the plays that only have a few good routes but can still be very effective. A good example of this type of play is Ace Big Twins – Cross which is below.

This play has only four routes, and only two of them actually work.

From the left hash:

• Square beats Man
• L1 beats Zone
• Triangle and Circle struggle mightily to get open, thus being useless

Even though only half of the routes are usable, the Curl/Flat combo can beat both Man and Zone.

Remember: you only need one Man and one Zone beater to have a useful pass play.

Here are the PROS and CONS to a play that only has a few routes to work with.

• Less routes means less to think about
• Some situations allow you to already know who you are throwing to before you snap the ball
• You don’t need a lot of talented skill players to make the plays work
• Only using a few routes leads to less opportunities to attack multiple areas of the field at the same time
• Some of these plays can only attack certain coverages
• Your Man(s) beaters can be double-teamed so not having another Man beater hurts

Conclusion

Please understand that both types of plays work great in NCAA 06. I love using both and will do so for as long as I live.

I just want to bring to your attention how some pass plays can be completely different from each other yet can still work on a consistent basis.

You can create entire passing attacks from one play type or another, or you can mix them up.

Questions like this can open up to other philosophical questions which is always fun to debate and learn from.

What type of pass plays to you normally use; please put your thoughts in the Comments section below.