A New Way to Run Flood

The Vikings and Rams have introduced a new variation of Flood. Let's break it down.

Flood is one of my favorite concepts. It has the ability to answer any coverage, and it is very QB-friendly in that it can be taught in a multitude of ways based on the individual QB’s preferences and skillsets: pure progression, progression with an option/alert, defender read, and shell read all immediately come to mind in terms of different ways I could teach a QB to read a Flood concept.

The idea behind Flood concepts is to get three eligibles at three different levels along the sideline. In my offense, I want a receiver in each of the following locations:

• Deep: 20+ yards

• Intermediate: 12-15 yards

• Flat: <5 yards

This spacing does not allow one defender to cover two routes, and most zone coverages do not put three defenders in position to defend these routes. Man coverage is an answer, but that answer can be easily countered with formations and motions. A well-played Cover 2 can give Flood concepts trouble, which is why I like to pair my Flood with a back-side Bow concept to Hi-Low the back-side linebacker in Cover 2.

This variation that McVay and O’Connell have introduced over the last few years, more so this past season, breaks traditional Flood rules a few ways:

• It doesn’t use a traditional Sail route or 10-12-15 yard Out route as the intermediate layer

• Deep layer comes from a Pylon route instead of a Go, Post, etc.

The offense is still achieving the same goal of three receivers on the same sideline, but it’s a significantly different route distribution than a traditional Flood concept. I run my version a little differently. For the original, PEARLS means “Pylon-Swirl” as can be seen by the handwritten note on the original diagram. I translate PEARLS as “Pylon-Curl,” and I have seen it run that way at the NFL level as well. Paid subscribers will have access to the rest of the article detailing:

• Why I would prefer a Curl to a Swirl

• Coaching Points

• Install Thoughts

• Film cutup of the 2024 Vikings running this concept