Multiplying Pass Concepts with the BOW Series

When we want to increase variability in our pass game, one of the first places I go to is the BOW concept. I love BOW because the majority of my pass game has built-in answers for everything except a well-coached Cover 2, which BOW is great against, and it doesn’t require changing anything else around the play.

My drop back pass game is Flood and Cross, which both create a 3 level vertical stretch to the play-side. My quick game is Stick and Arrow (AKA Snag or Y Corner), which I teach as a horizontal stretch on the flat defender. All 4 of those concepts are 3 man route combos. As a base, I keep my HB in protection and check him over the ball with a back-side Basic route coming behind to create a quasi-BOW concept. When I tag BOW to any of these concepts, we can get to our Cover 2 answer faster because of a 5 man protection, and now we have the ability to run 3 man concepts from 2x2 with the HB as our flat route on the play-side.

BOW = Basic + Arrow

Nothing changes for the QB. On Stick and Arrow Quick Game, he is reading the flat defender to throw the Arrow or Flat. He can access the Corner or the Blazer if we get a Trap CB in the Flat, or if the CB covers the Flat late, he can reset to the BOW concept back-side. On Sail (Flood) and Hog (Cross), he is reading top-down. If the Safety nails on the Sail or Cross, he can throw the Blazer 1-on-1. If the Safety sinks, he is hi-lowing the flat defender with the Sail or Cross and the Flat. Again, against Cover 2, he has the tagged-in BOW back-side. Against man, it’s my job to create runaway opportunities through formations and motions while the QB maintains his top-down eye progression.

The progressions are the same as we are getting eligible skill players in the same places on every concept. Even in 6 man protection with the HB check releasing over the ball, it can still act like a BOW concept if the QB has to exhaust the progression to the back-side.

---

I’ve mentioned I love BOW because it attacks the coverage that our primary pass game can’t - Cover 2. What BOW does is it creates a hi-low on the Hook defender. Being that it’s Cover 2, the Safety cannot nail down on the Basic as he could in Quarters/Cover 4. That forces the back-side Hook defender to come up to play the Arrow or sink under the Basic. The CB should not be a factor in a properly run BOW concept as we should be running away from him with the Basic. This is also why I prefer BOW to having a route completely in the flat like I see so many teams do. The CB could release the Basic to a sinking Hook defender and expand with a Flat route, Bubble, etc.

Paid subscribers will have access to the rest of the article where we discuss two other ways to run the BOW concept and why I’m not worried about a 5 man protection when we want to activate this tag.