Learning About Pro-Style Offenses

Most people understand the differences between a wide receiver and a tight end, though few know the difference between an X and a Y receiver. When it comes down to it, the terminology of an offense is an important factor, and in that terminology we can find out what each position means and what role they perform in the grand scheme of a play.

While I do not know the exact specifics of the Patriots offense, or how they truly designate each position, having played in a pro-style offense in college, I learned the breakdown of how each position has specific designations, roles, and terminology within themselves.

To many fans receivers are either a "slot" WR or an "outside" WR, but in reality any player can line up anywhere in the offense. This is why we see players like LaFell in the slot, Edelman outside, a running back as a receiver, or a tight end as a running back. In my experience, there are five designations for offensive skill positions: X/Y/Z/H/R. Each has a role in terms of where they line up on an offense.

As a starting point, typically, the X and Z positions are purely wide receivers (as long as there are at least two WRs in the personnel package). Y is typically a tight end or wide receiver. H can be a wide receiver, tight end, running back, or full back. R is typically reserved for running backs, but can be a wide receiver or tight end in empty five receiver sets.

Within these designations, there are rules as to where you line up in a play call. This is where the confusion begins.

When it comes to how this relates to the Patriots, we can place players within these designations to get a better understanding of what they do. The X receivers are typically Brandon LaFell or Aaron Dobson (and now Chris Hogan and possibly Nate Washington). The Y is usually Rob Gronkowski. Edelman, Amendola, Martin, and Harper are typically Z or H receivers. The H position can be anyone in reality, whether it is a second TE, a FB, another WR, or even a second RB. Finally, the R position is typically held by whichever RB is involved in the play, though it can be another receiver if no RBs are in the personnel package.

When it comes down to where these positions align this cheat sheet is helpful. The X receiver will always go to the side of the field away from the play call (for Left/Lou the X would go to the right side of the field, for Right/Rose the X would go to the left side of the field) and be on the line of scrimmage, whereas the Y receiver/tight end will always go to the play call side (for Left/Lou the Y would go to the left side of the field, for Right/Rose the Y would go to the right side of the field) and also on the line of scrimmage. I will explain the Z and H positions in detail later.

(*Apologies for my brutal handwriting in these images. This was from 5 years ago in a stressful environment as a college freshmen trying to learn all of this on the fly. Please forgive me.)

When it comes to the formations, there are another set of rules that apply. For instance, in our offense the Filly personnel call would indicate that the Y position was a WR. The alternative was Pony personnel that would make the Y position a TE.

Rose/Lou are calls that impact where the Z receiver lines. The Z receiver has the most in play when it comes to the Right/Left or Rose/Lou calls due to the fact that if Right/Left are called the Z goes to the side called and outside of the Y receiver. If Rose/Lou are called, the Z goes to the X side of the field but inside of the X. The diagrams below shows how this applies.

And then there is the H position, which is the most versatile position on the offense. The H position can line up just about everywhere on the field, which is one of the unique aspects of it in comparison to the X, Y, and Z positions. There are eight possible locations the H can line up in any one given play: Shout, slot, shin, strong, weak, wing, whip, and wide. The "S" based designations indicate that the H is on the strong side of the play (so in Left/Lou it would be the left side, for Right/Rose it would be the right side) and the "W" based designations indicate the H is on the weak side of the play (so in Left/Lou it would be the right side, for Right/Rose it would be the left side). The H can line up anywhere in relation to the other positions, and due to their ability to line up as wings/fullbacks they can be WRs/TEs/RBs.

I did not forget about the R position. Similarly to the H position, the R position can be designated to line up anywhere with the same tags, but more often than not the R stays in the backfield and runs appropriate routes or participates in pass protection.

Not all formations can be easily worked into these terms though, which creates a variety of special formations. With trips bunch (trio as the play call), trips stacked (stack as the play call), and various two TE formations (dover for two WRs on one side and two TEs) and doubles (two TEs) these formations break typical conventions with the terminology.

It is also important to note that players like Edelman can change positions depending on the personnel, which means he has to know these rules for every possible position and not cross them up. For example, if there is a two TE, single RB set with Edelman and Amendola at WR, Edelman could be the X, Gronk could be the Y, Bennett the H, Amendola the Z, and Lewis as the R. But if you were to have Hogan in there instead of Bennett, it could be Hogan at X, Edelman at H, Amendola at Z, Gronk at Y, and Lewis at R. One minor change could completely alter where you line up and and what your responsibilities could be. This means most WRs are expected to know all of the roles and all of their rules in order to be used as needed, based on the personnel.

In order to know which route you're supposed to run on a play you need to understand what side of the play you're on and where the other receivers are in relation to the overall formation. The #1 receiver is the outermost receiver to the passing strength side (the side of the ball with the most receivers, not including backfield RBs) or the outermost receiver to the play call side in balanced formations (equal number of receivers on both sides). The single is the backside receiver opposite of whichever of the prior two scenarios make the #1 receiver.

Then comes the actual plays and routes run. Each play has a fairly set combination of routes that run from the play side to the back side. The main thing that changes is where each position lines up. The table below shows the route combinations for each individual play. The first column is the route combination name in the play call, the 1/2/3/4/single columns are the routes that are run from each of the receiver positions, and the Field Location column tells where these plays/combinations are likely to be run. At the bottom of the page it lists the tags that can be added to the play calls that alter certain aspects of the play.

Want to know the number of routes players need to know? Here's a list of the 32 different routes (the glide note/drawing underneath the actual list is the 32nd) that can be ran from each standard position. Certain routes have rules within themselves as well, adding another level of complexity to the position. For instance, on a play where it calls for a corner route, if the defense is in a cover two the receiver runs a 17 in order to avoid the CB, but if the defense is in man or cover one/three the receiver runs a 15. So the receiver has to read the defense the same way the QB does or the entire play could be compromised.

For instance, take a guess how many routes were in my route tree in college (a pro style offense)?

— Adam Bogdan (@PatriotsInform) April 5, 2016

Now here comes the culmination of all of that information: the actual play design. This specific play is called Cougar. It employs a flood concept where the goal is to "flood" one side of the field in order to overwhelm zone defenses. In the diagram you can see the detailed concept, the read progression of the QB, and the visual of the play with Filly personnel on top, and Pony personnel on bottom. The call you would hear for the top play image would be Hop (the motion of the H receiver) Lou (to determine formation) Weak (the location where H lines up) Rocket (explains to the OL/RB the QB will need more protection to the right) Cougar (actual play call). The Filly call would be made to someone on the sideline if the formation required a personnel change.

Here is another play, Bill, that includes routes that change based on what the defense does. In the top play diagram, the X receiver releases vertically if there are two high safeties and at a 45 degree angle if there is only one high safety. The Y receiver (TE) runs a drag, but if there is man coverage on him he progressively runs deeper as he drags (stair climb). The H has three potential options on this play depending on the amount of safeties that stay deep. He runs a go if there is a single high safety (to pull the safety aware from the dig), a skinny post if there are two high safeties (to split the safeties), and a post if there is no high safety (to enter the open part of the field). The Z receiver runs a speed out if he's facing soft coverage (don't need to create quick separation) or a square cut if he's facing press coverage (to gain separation on the tight coverage). If the play is with Pony personnel, the Y (TE) runs a dig and the RB provides a checkdown flat route. Given this one singular play where any player could essentially line up at any one of these positions, a player has to remember up to 11 different routes for a single play, where most are dependent on being able to read the defense the same way the QB does.

I've detailed on my Offseason Spreadsheet where each Patriots player will likely be slotted in terms of positions and depth chart, knowing fully that these roles are far from concrete with this offense. Here is a quick/simple break down:

Three WR Set:                    Two TE Set:                 Three WR/Two RB Set:
X: Chris Hogan                   X: Chris Hogan              X: Chris Hogan
Y: Rob Gronkowski            Y: Rob Gronkowski        Y: Rob Gronkowski
Z: Danny Amendola           Z: Julian Edelman           Z: Julian Edelman
H: Julian Edelman              H: Martellus Bennett      H: James Develin
R: Dion Lewis                    R: Dion Lewis                 R: Dion Lewis

This is important to note when you look at where the Patriots have depth at and where they don't, especially when looking at potential free agents and rookies. You don't want to use a player out of their usual/natural position unless necessary, and you don't want to have guys who are unfamiliar with all of the fine points of the terminology. This has become one of the most difficult aspects of the Patriots offense and why so many players have struggled to acclimate themselves. Other teams simplify their playbook or use alternative terminology which makes the transition difficult, and as we've seen, the Patriots employ a lot of unique looks and route combinations. The receivers need to be able to see the defense the same way Brady sees the defense in order to run the correct routes and connect. As we've seen with the likes of Chad Ochocinco and numerous rookies, it is something that can turn amazing athletic talent into a wasted roster spot if they cannot pick up these various mental aspects of the offense.

I know this is a lot thrown at you, and most people won't be able to read this once and get it all (I spent countless hours and over two years trying to get it all down). If you have any questions or want me to further explain any of these concepts or terms feel free to tweet at me @PatriotsInform. I hope this helps some of you have a better understanding of a pro style offense and in turn the Patriots offense and what it takes to be a player in this offense.

If you are feeling generous I have a donations page set up here: https://www.gofundme.com/PatriotsInform. I am not paid to write these articles, to create these spreadsheets, to send my tweets, or for the app I created. I do it for fun and in hopes that it helps fellow fans learn a bit more about their favorite team. Thanks for reading.