Breaking Down Scott Turner's Passing Game, Part 4
Part 4 of a series breaking down some of the core passing concepts in Scott Turner's system and how he likes to disguise them.
This is the fourth installment of my series looking at how Commanders Offensive Coordinator Scott Turner likes to run his passing game. In the first three parts, I broke down how he runs the Dagger concept, his variations of the Sail concept and his go-to call in short-yardage situations, the Mesh concept. Be sure to check those out if you missed any of them. Today though, I’ll be looking at one of the staple concepts across the NFL, but particularly in a vertical passing attack like the Air Coryell system, four verticals.
Four Verticals
Four verticals is about as simple as it gets when it comes to attacking down the field. In its most basic form, the offense has four receivers all running straight down the field on go routes. There will also be a checkdown option, typically the running back releasing late out of the backfield after checking any potential pass protection assignments.
Here’s a perfect example of the basic four verticals concept. Washington works with an 11 personnel group, consisting of one running back, one tight end and three wide receivers. Turner has the receivers and tight end split into an even two by two formation and all four of them simply run go routes. The read for the quarterback is typically based on the safety rotation. If the defense rotates to a single high safety, the quarterback will work to the inside seam routes as the safety can’t cover both. If the defense uses two deep safeties, then the quarterback has to work outside to one of his receivers running down the sidelines, as the safeties can cover the seams and have more ground to make up to get to the sideline. If all the vertical options are covered because the defense drops back deep to protect against deep shots, then the quarterback can work the running back as a checkdown option underneath, typically on a choice route with a lot of space to pick up yards after the catch.
On this occasion, the Falcons play a two deep safety coverage, which leads quarterback Taylor Heinicke to look outside to Terry McLaurin. McLaurin flys by his corner and the safety can’t get over in time. Heinicke delivers a nice pass and drops it over McLaurin’s shoulder for a big touchdown.
That’s the most basic form of four verticals, but teams have evolved a long way in the passing game over the last few decades. The more popular way to run four verticals now is out of a three by one formation.
This time, Washington uses a trips set to the left with just McLaurin outside to the right. Now the concept is still four verticals, meaning the offense has to find a way to attack the seam to the right side. So the inside receiver to the trips side of the formation runs an over route, crossing over the middle of the field while still working vertically. That route can be a very hard route for teams to cover as the third receiver to one side is often carried up the seam by a linebacker or met by a safety dropping down, which makes it a tough matchup if a team uses a formation that allows their top receiver to work from that inside position. But the read still remains the same for the quarterback. With the defense in a two deep coverage, Heinicke looks outside but feels both routes are covered. Instead, he works his checkdown to the running back underneath.
The checkdown to the running back is probably the most common way this concept plays out. Good defenses should be able to adjust to the four verticals and protect against the deep shot, but the downside of that is that it leaves a lot of space underneath for the checkdown. With a back like J.D. McKissic or Antonio Gibson, this can lead to big yards after catch opportunities. You can see as this ball is thrown that McKissic has just one defender within about 15 yards of him. Unfortunately the Panthers do a good job rallying to the ball and making the tackle to keep the gain to a minimum, but the potential for big chunks of yards is obviously there.
There are lots of small adjustments that can be made to the four verticals concept to make it more effective. At the most complex levels, the routes can all be changed based on how the coverage plays out. The outside go routes can convert into comeback routes or stop routes against certain looks, the seam routes can convert into seam benders or even post routes depending on the coverage. One of my personal favorite adjustments is designed to beat Cover-3 teams specifically.
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