Breaking down the Redskins Spacing concept in the passing game

In the Redskins Film Room this week, we’re taking a closer look at some of the Redskins’ quick-game passing concepts. Previously, we broke down the Stick concept. Now we’re moving on to a concept that the Redskins like to play with, the Spacing concept.

Spacing is a three-man concept that does exactly what it suggests: It spreads out the defense to attack spaces between underneath zones. It’s typically run from a bunch formation with three receivers or from a stacked set with a tight end and a receiver stacked tight to the formation while the running back completes the third part. One receiver, usually the point man (the receiver at the tip of the bunch), will run a hook over the middle of the field. Then another receiver will run a slightly deeper hook in the seam somewhere between the hash marks and the numbers. The third receiver will then work out to the flat.

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The scheme is designed to stretch the field horizontally and works well against a Cover 3 defense. It’s usually a concept tagged on to the back side of another concept and is rarely the primary read for the quarterback.

Here against the Giants, we see a good example of the spacing concept from the bunch formation to the right. On the left side of the formation, the Redskins run Stick, which is where quarterback Alex Smith works initially. But for whatever reason, he doesn’t like his options with the Stick concept, so he resets to the middle of the field and progresses to the Spacing concept. The first read in Spacing is the hook over the middle, as it’s a natural progression for the eyes after reading the other concept on the other side of the field. Smith does an excellent job here of reading the leverage of the defender and stepping up into the pocket to allow the hook route time to open up. He hits it over the middle for a solid gain.

As you can see on that play, the Spacing concept does a great job spreading out the defense and attacking the holes in Cover 3, which the Giants ran on that play. Both of the hook routes are open, with the underneath hook-curl linebacker put in a bind where he can cover only one of the two routes. The Giants might have preferred the flat defender to stay on the second hook, but that would have left the flat wide open. In this coverage, the defense has only two underneath zone defenders to cover three receivers.

Against Cover 2 and Tampa 2, it’s not quite as effective.

On this play, the Cowboys run a version of Cover 2 in the red zone. The Redskins run their Stick concept to the right with their tight end and running back. On the back side, they run Spacing. In Cover 2, the defense has five underneath defenders, meaning it can match up with the routes from the Spacing concept. The middle linebacker takes the inside hook, leaving the hook-curl defender to take the second hook and the flat defender to cover the flat route. Fortunately for the Redskins, Colt McCoy is able to hit the Stick concept to his right, because the Spacing concept was covered. Had the Cowboys played Tampa 2 — which is similar but asks the middle linebacker to drop deeper — the middle hook could have spotted up underneath and been available. But against a flat Cover 2, it’s not particularly effective.

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As I indicated, Spacing is rarely the primary read for the quarterback. It’s typically a back-side combination that the quarterback can get to if his frontside read is unavailable. Occasionally, the quarterback will have the freedom to work to it first if the frontside read is a man-beating concept and the defense shows zone.

Here, the Redskins run their Spacing concept on the back side of a slant-flat combination. The read should take Smith to the slant-flat combination before he progresses to the Spacing concept on the back side, but Smith checks the coverage pre- and post-snap and quickly recognizes zone coverage. He then immediately works to the Spacing concept and hits Paul Richardson in the flat.

It could be argued that Smith should have stuck with the slant-flat combination, as the slant actually came open. The Redskins ran the same play in the same game, and Smith did go that way.

This time, Smith reads the play as it’s drawn up, working the slant-flat combination first before working to the back-side Spacing concept. He spots the flat defender in the Falcons’ Cover 3 working out to the running back, leaving a hole behind him for the slant. Receiver Maurice Harris does a good job of running his middle hook and grabs the attention of the linebacker who could get in the passing lane of the slant. He does just enough to get that linebacker to hold his position, leaving Smith with a throwing window to hit the slant. Unfortunately, the ball is slightly behind its target, and the receiver slips over trying to reach back for it, causing an incomplete pass.

Spacing is another quick-game concept that is more of a back-side complement to other quick-game concepts than being a primary read for the quarterback. The timing of the routes matches up better with the quarterback’s footwork when the quarterback can read the front-side concept and then reset back to the middle of the field for the first hook. It’s another early installation that the Redskins can combine with a number of other concepts. Look for them to use it against teams that like to run a lot of Cover 3.

(Top photo of Paul Richardson: Joe Robbins / Getty Images)

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