Four verticals
What it is
Four receivers run vertical routes to stress a deep shell that has only two or three defenders in it.
Why it matters
Four verticals is arithmetic applied to the deep third of the field: three deep defenders cannot cover four verticals, and two cannot cover four either. Against Cover 3 the seams are the answer; against Cover 2 the inside verticals split the safeties. The routes are not truly straight — the inside receivers bend to the landmarks the coverage leaves open, which is what makes it a read rather than a track meet.
Both sides of it
Running it
Outside receivers run vertical on the numbers; inside receivers push up the seams, bending to the open landmark — outside the hash against a single-high safety, splitting the safeties against two-high. Seven-step timing. The quarterback reads the deep middle: one safety means throw a seam away from him, two means work the middle or the checkdown.
Stopping it
Somebody must carry every vertical. This is the concept that punishes spot drop hardest, because a defender who settles at his landmark lets the seam run past him. In Cover 3 the hook defenders carry the seams as far as their rules allow; in quarters the safeties match number two vertical. The backside is where teams get beaten, because the low-hole defender relaxes when the ball goes the other way.
Also called
Programs call this four verts, verticals, seams or four vertical. The Coach answers to any of them.
Related
This entry is authored, not generated. It is one of 205 in the index that the AI-ssistant Coach retrieves from, and that Film Study tags clips against.