I learned the finer points of this “West Coast Offense”
staple during the spring of my junior year at Texas.
I played for very progressive offensive coaches, and the 49ers were in
their heyday: Steve Young throwing short passes to Jerry Rice with huge runs after the catch were common place on Sunday sports highlights. What the 49ers called “2 Jet Flanker Drive” was a bread and butter play of the San Francisco
passing game and a key play in their assault on NFL defenses. My coaches decided to adopt the play, and that spring, “Scat Z Under” as we initially installed it, literally changed my life as a football player. Running a shallow crossing (AKA “drag”) route was one of those things I just had a feel for, and a few big plays in scrimmage situations helped me make a name for myself. These big plays helped vault me from a career on the scout team (where most “walk ons” toiled) to traveling and lettering as a senior. Needless to say, I was sold on the concept, and have worked on refining
it’s teaching points my entire career.
Very early on in my career, I have had the great fortune of installing the passing game at each stop. What I have come to label as the “Drag Concept” has been part of our Day 1 installation at every stop. Not only does the concept provide solid answers vs. man, zone, and blitz coverages, but the techniques employed also provide carry-over to subsequent installation days. As a result, instead of giving players a dizzying array of techniques to master, a solid foundation
is taught, and the lessons to follow are merely reinforcing that initial teaching.
In future posts, I'll get into the details of teaching the concept. For now, let a few video examples suffice: