All-22 Review: Elements of the West Coast Offense in Ravens Passing Attack Against the Steelers

In a West Coast offense, a majority of routes break between the numbers and the hash marks. Examples are short to intermediate routes that target the middle of the field. The west coast offense is based on three main philosophies: creating mismatches, overloading zones and exploiting holes in the defense. Let’s take a look at some of the west coast concepts that the Ravens used during their Thursday night matchup against the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Smash Route Combo

In a west coast offense, the routes of receivers are combined so that one of the two receivers are open. The smash route is typically made up of two routes: a corner route (run vertically and break to corner at 12 yards) from the inside receiver and a hitch route (run vertically 6 yards and then break back toward quarterback) from the outside receiver. The smash route creates a vertical stretch against the defense. The cornerback must choose to drop back and cover the inside receiver or come up and cover the outside receiver. The key defender for this route combo is the cornerback. If the cornerback sinks back to cover the corner route, the Quarterback throws to the receiver running the hitch route. If the cornerback comes up to cover the hitch route, the quarterback will throw to the receiver running the corner route. The Safety’s position is also important before the throw is made. The basic rule is to throw to the corner route unless it is taken away.

Against the Steelers, the Ravens run a smash route combo on their first passing play. On the pre-snap read, the Steelers line up in a Cover 1 man defense. The Steelers S Troy Polamalu is lined up over the TE and is in man coverage. Cortez Allen, the Steelers CB has given Steve Smith Sr a 7 yard cushion. The post route appears to have been taken away by the Safety, so Flacco will look to throw the hitch route based on the CB’s alignment on the receiver.

After the ball is snapped, Flacco makes the progression read on the Safety and the Cornerback. Polamalu has started to drop back to cover the TE, Dennis Pitta, and Allen has dropped back slightly expecting a deep route by Steve Smith Sr. After confirming that the deep route has been taken away, Flacco throws to the hitch route run by Steve Smith Sr. The result is a 14 yard gain.

The Triangle Read or Triangle Concept

Another west coast staple is the triangle read or triangle concept. The triangle concept is based on creating a horizontal and vertical stretch by three receivers. The typical routes run by receivers is a deep route (either a corner or fade), a receiver running a flat route and a receiver running a mini-curl. The quarterback makes a progression read across the three routes depending on the coverage creating a triangle between the routes.

In the second quarter on the Steelers 20 yard line, the Ravens run a triangle concept against the Steelers defense lined up in a 2 man defense. 2-man coverage is man coverage against receivers with the protection of two safeties in deep coverage. The primary weakness of the 2-man coverage are throws to the middle of the field.  

After the ball is snapped, Flacco makes a progression read across the three receivers to see where they are going. The WR, Steve Smith Sr, has a step on the cornerback, but the Safety, troy Polamalu is up top for help. This takes away the post route by Steve Smith Sr. The TE, Dennis Pitta, is running a flat route and is being trailed by the linebacker. If Flacco makes a throw, the linebacker could undercut the route and intercept the ball. The third receiver, Owen Daniels, has gained separation from his defender on the mini-curl route. Flacco throws the ball into open grass where Daniels is running to. It is up to Daniels to get the ball. This results in a 7 yard gain.

Adjusting to Coverage during a run

The west coast offense provides an additional advantage by keeping defenses from committing to stop the run because a short pass to an open zone could turn into a long gain. On a first down play in the second quarter, the Steelers line up in a run blitz defense against the Ravens’ Ace formation (2 TE, 2 WR, 1 RB). With 9 defenders playing the run, the Steelers overlooked Steve Smith Sr and left him uncovered. Polamalu lines up over Smith Sr, but is too far away at 12 yards.

After the ball is snapped, Flacco steps toward the Running Back, Bernard Pierce, and then throws around the blitzing Jarvis Jones to Steve Smith Jr in open space. The Ravens offense were able to keep the other Steeler defenders committed to stopping the run by selling the run. The result of this play was a 23 yard gain.