Horizontal Passing Sets with Vertical Results

with Kevin Kelley,
New England Patriots Offensive Analyst in 2021-2022;
Presbyterian College Head Football Coach in 2021;
Pulaski Academy (AR) Head Coach from 2003 to 2021;
2016 All-USA Coach of the Year;
2021 Innovator in Analytics Award Winner (Entertainment Analytics Conference);
2021 inductee - Arkansas Sports Hall of FameKelley's teams were 216-29-1 and won nine state titles;
featured on ESPN, HBO Real Sports, Fox Business News as well as in Sports Illustrated and Time Magazine

Kevin Kelley adheres to the philosophy that the more square yards a defender has to cover, the less effective the defense becomes. Using a horizontal set with a vertical pass mindset, he has adhered to this philosophy while winning nine Arkansas State Championships and throwing for over 4,000 yards per season.

Using game film, Coach Kelley covers every aspect required to teach this explosive offense. This offense forces opponents to defend a multiple formation offense that spreads the field and attacks the defense in a variety of ways.

The first key in making this passing game go is to read the safeties and determine what they are trying to take away. Coach Kelley believes alignment is paramount to what they do on offense and explains his 2x2, 3x1, 4x1 and 3x2 sets. He uses as many as 10 different formations in the first 10 plays of each game to determine how the defense will align, so he can pinpoint their weaknesses.

Using a powerpoint before quickly moving on to game film, Coach Kelley discusses the pre-snap and post-snap read of his quarterback as well as the horizontal spacing of a defender. He believes the quarterback needs to take care of one defender with his read and the receiver will take of the other defender with his route. He coaches his quarterbacks to be patient on linebacker reads because they will give you "false reads," but tells his quarterback to be "quick" on safety reads.

You will see game cut-ups of route concepts as Coach Kelley teaches the dynamics of each play and what will make it successful. Man routes, read routes, and routes to isolate a short defender are all covered. He shows you how he uses play action to isolate the short defender and use his momentum against him. The "Spider" package includes play action off of the fly sweep and puts defensive reads in conflict with Spider Y, Spider Screen and Spider Y-X Flare.

Kelly provides a number of tips on:

• Crossing routes that will protect your receivers from getting 'lit up' after the catch
• Quarterback reads - regardless whether it's Zone or Man Coverage - that are essential to your offense's effectiveness
• Receiver reads and reactions that will allow even your 'less talented' receivers to shine
• Keeping a vertical philosophy in the Red Zone to maintain pressure on the safeties

Coach Kelley gives you a thorough break down of a passing game philosophy that can be easily and successfully applied to many of today's offensive sets. Let Coach Kelley teach you how to hang a half a thousand on your opponents this season by developing an outstanding passing game in your offensive system.

66 minutes. 2014.