The Smash Route

In it's simplest form the Smash Route is a 2 man route combination that that puts a defensive player in a high-low dilemma. Basically you're between a rock and a hard place. It looks like this:

You can see the bind that this play is going to put on the cover 3 CB. If he plays whats in front of him he will take away the short hitch but give up the big play behind him on the corner route the TE is running. The Outside linebacker, who technically is responsible for the hitch route in cover 3 has a long ways to go to get out there, and when you run this play it is a good idea to have your receiver widen his split to make the defense cover more ground.



Now, when coaching your quarterback you have to get him to throw to the open receiver. Most quarterbacks want to throw the corner route every play because it has a higher chance of scoring but you have to stress that they make the easy throw to the open receiver whoever it may be. So if the corner drops hit the hitch:

And if the corner plays up on the hitch, throw the corner route:

Now that is the Smash Route in it's most simple form, but defenses are going to eventually make some changes and adjustments as to not get beat by this play. There are two things that teams have done to try to take this route combination away. The first things is the keep their corners very soft as to not give up the big play deep:

Our response to this has been to throw what we call a glance route. This can be a called play or a an automatic check anytime the QB sees a CB playing approx. 10 yards off a receiver. It is the QB taking one step and throwing the ball to the receiver who is running a one step hitch route, the QB really has to put the ball on him. Once the receiver catches the ball he needs to work outside and up the sideline:

That will usually suck that CB up closer to the line of scrimmage where we could like him to be if we want to successfully throw the smash route.

Another adjustment defenses make is rolling the safety over to help the corner route. This can lead to an even bigger play by running the backside receiver on a post route to the now vacated middle of the field:

Here are a few of my favorite ways to run the smash route:

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Here are some clips of a middle school team that I coached a few years ago running the Smash Route, note the QB rolls out to the throw.

Finally, here is a clip of Alabama torching Notre Dame with a version of the Smash Route (they did the same thing last year to LSU in the Championship Game).



Further Reading on the Smash Route:

Chris Brown at Grantland on Alabama's use of the Smash Route in the 2012 National Championship game.

Chris Brown at his Smart Football blog, on the Smash Route

Trojan Football Analysis on Mike Leach version of the Smash Route.