Making the Flood Concept Multiple in the Rollout Game
The Flood Concept is one of the best concepts in football. The Flood Concept is based around putting three receivers on one side of the field and forcing the defense to make a decision on who they are going to cover. When this is combined with the Quarterback rolling out and threatening to run, the defense is forced to give up an easy gain. Here is how making the flood concept multiple in the rollout game can take you offense to a new level.
Making the Flood Concept Multiple in the Rollout Game
In the Flood Concept there are three roles that receivers need to fill. The first role is the stretch man. This route is designed to force the deep defender on that side of the field to get deep and open up space for the two routes underneath them. The second role is the flat player. This route is designed to get to the sideline around 3-4 yards deep. The goal here is to put a player in the flats who can run with the ball after he catches it and threaten the defense. The final role is the hole route. The hole route is designed to fit between the flat and the stretch routes. This is who the route is designed to be thrown to. He is looking to get between the numbers and the sideline between 10-15 yards deep.
The base concept is very simple, but provides the foundation for the rest of the series. In the base concept #1 is the stretch, #2 is the hole and #3 is the flat. The receivers will take the simplest route to fulfill their role. The #1 receiver will run a Go route and press deep to open up the hole behind him. The #2 receiver will run a 10 yard out.
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The key to making this route successful is to have the #2 receiver press vertical before he makes his break. By pressing deep he make the defender over #2 honor the threat of two vertical routes. The #3 receiver will release into the flats and get to the edge quickly. If this is an athletic player who is a threat it will force the flat defender to come up to cover him and open space for the hole man behind him.
The easiest change to the Flood Route is to move all the roles inside by one receiver. This would mean that the the #1 receiver now has the flat, the #2 receiver is now responsible for the stretch and the #3 receiver has the hole. The #3 receiver will simply run a 10 yard out, just like the #2 would have run before. The #2 receiver will run a Go route to stretch the deep defender. The only new route will come from the #1 receiver. He is now responsible for the flat role. A simple flat route would put him into the sideline too quickly so instead he will run an expansion hitch. On this route he will aim for a spot 4 yards from the line of scrimmage and 2 yards inside of the sideline. When he gets to this spot he will turn around and face the Quarterback.
The ability to change up the routes for the Flood Concept makes it a dangerous route combination that can stress the defense. By using different receivers to fill different roles the defense is presented with a series of concepts that look very different. Meanwhile the Quarterback has the same reads and can keep things simple.
(See Also) Passing Concepts that work in Youth Football
