The Vertical Concept

The vertical concept is one of the most versatile and effective patterns in the passing system. Like the drag concept it is a two man game concept, it is also installed day one because the techniques are used in other passing concepts. "This concept puts extreme pressure on the deep areas and allows attack on any defense with with a high degree of confidence in a completion." (Gonzalez 74). Although some of these concepts might seem advanced for high school players, as long as they practice the concept will not be to hard to grasp. Below is a diagram of the vertical concept structure.

 Now that you know what the vertical concept is do you think you would ever use this play? If no then what would be your reason?

The Drag Concept

In this offensive formation it represents one of the most versatile means of attacking a pass defense versus multiple techniques and coverage. The person running the drag has the freedom to adjust to different types of coverage like man-to-man, zone, etc. This strategy combines a quick-rythem pass to one of the teams best players with the ability to adjust to different situations. "Two primary tags exist: drive which is used in 3-1 formations, and cross, which is matted with 2-2 formations" (Gonzalez). To create the same picture for the quarterback these two tags create the spacing of receivers across all formation categories. Below is a diagram of the basic route mechanics for the drag concept.

This offensive formation provides the team with a lot of versatility and is a reliable formation, Now that you know what this formation is, have you ever seen a football team use this offensive formation?

Protection schemes

It is important to understand that the creativity of any passing scheme is only as good as the protection unit can provide. Having a true protection first mentality is much more important than the protecting the passer mentality. Pass protection take precedence over pass patterns, as evidenced by the following teaching principles:

• Quarterbacks are taught the protection system before the passing system
• The cadence used at the line of scrimmage has the primary feature of being able to adjust protections or amend sight adjustments before the snap.
• Only one protection concept exists in the dropback passing game

(Gonzalez 46) 

There are many different types of pocket pass protection. Some examples of these could be 60/70 protection, 80 protection, 50 and 90 protection, etc. To get the basic idea of protections I will explain what some of these protections are and provide a diagram. The 60/70 protection is a six-man scheme that, in its most basic form, handles three rushers to either side of the ball. The 60 represents the front side of the protection to be the right while the 70 denotes the left side as the callside.

The 80 protection is a five-man scheme that uses the sane technique for the offensive line, while releasing five receivers. The line to the quarterback's backside is directed and the quarterback is now responsible to for handling any blitzers on the frontside.

To conclude protection schemes, it is more important that your pass protection is good rather than your passing game. This could lead to a teams downfall and you should always have a good pass protection. Do you ever pay attention to the pass protection? If you don't then next time you watch a football game observe the pass protection too.

Underlying principles for the use of multiple formations

"One of the key elements in this pass offense is its adaptability to multiple formations and personal groupings" (Gonzalez 20). Most college and high school football teams tend to have four wide receivers on almost every play and the use of multiple groupings can help an offense create a more advantageous match ups. From personal experience I have seen this too as I have watched college football and sometimes high school football. In the diagram below it shows space created for the Z receiver in a pass defense.

Multiple formations can also allow a team to take advantage of their best players. Certain formations can make a the front and run support predictable which makes the pass support more predictable. In this other diagram below it shows the wing set forces the defense to commit the strong safety to a force position, this also results in a soft corner technique.

To conclude the use of multiple formations helps substantially and to some degree standardize the defensive structures being faced. "At the high school and small college levels, many teams would prefer to leave their starting unit in the game, as opposed to the substitution defenses seen in larger college and professional ranks" (Gonzalez 21). From this it shows that high school and small college football teams don't use many different formations and keep their starting units in. Have you ever watched high school or small college football teams and then professional football? If yes then could you tell the difference in the formations?

Football passing: Basics of being a quarterback

Football can be a very complicated sport with all the rules and fundamentals. Although one of the most basic things in football is passing, or that's what everyone thinks. The passing game in football is much more complicated as it seems, as shown in this book Teaching the Modern Passing Game. This book is written by Dan Gonzalez and he shows us the basics to the passing game. He first describes concept based passing and shows us what a quarterback should do. The way Gonzalez defines this as is "The specific coordination of the quarterbacks feet and eyes in regard to certain spots on the field" (Gonzalez 10) This is just a basic understanding of this concept, after he describes this concept he shows us a diagram.

I sat in my room with a ball just visualizing this. I would hold the football in my hand and get a better feel for it.

He also includes two more diagrams for us to look at and observe.

In these diagrams Gonzalez stated that each concept have the following characteristics

• A feature of consistent rhythm
• An advantage player or conbination
• A pressure outlet in the quarterbacks face
• The ability to adjust to multiple formations

(Gonzalez 11)

These are just the basics to being a quarter back and where you should be looking when you throw the ball. Have you ever been a quarterback for a football team and used this concept based passing? If not then are you ever going to start try or use this method of passing?