Breaking down the Redskins Sail concept in passing game
In this Redskins Film Room series, we’re taking a closer look at some of the Redskins core passing concepts, breaking down how they are run, why they are effective and what they work against. Previously in this series, we reviewed the Race concept, next up is the Sail concept.
Sail, also known as flood, is a multi-tiered concept that attacks all three levels of the field, all on the same side. The idea is to flood one side of the field, with one receiver running a deep post, another receiver attacking the intermediate area on a corner route and a third receiver working to the flat to occupy the underneath part of the field.

The Sail can be run from a variety of different formations and personnel groups, with all possible eligible receivers having a potential role in it. In it’s most basic form, it will look like the picture above. The outside receiver runs a deep post, also known as a CDD, meaning clear deep defender. The primary goal of that receiver is to take the top off the defense, clearing the deepest defender and opening up space behind him for the corner route. The corner route is commonly run by a tight end or slot receiver from inside, although recently it’s become more commonly run by running backs that get lost in coverage out of the backfield. Finally, a third receiver will work to the flat to occupy the underneath section of the field.
Advertisement
This is a great concept to use against zone defenses because most zone coverages aren’t able to cover all three sections of the field on the same side. The deep post will typically clear the deep defender, which will leave a single defender in between the corner and the flat. The quarterback can then simply read the leverage of that defender and throw either the corner route or the flat based on that leverage.
Here, the Redskins run Sail from a two tight end set down in the red zone against the Falcons. As quarterback Alex Smith drops back, he looks to his left to read the Sail concept, the outside corner runs with the deep post while the safety moves over to cover it inside. That leaves one zoning defender to cover both the flat and the corner routes. Smith spots that zoning defender working to the flat and begins to throw the corner route behind it. However, something he sees causes him to hesitate and bail out of the throw. Perhaps he thought the outside cornerback was about to peel off the post route and work down to the corner route, but that never materialized and the corner route was wide open for a potential touchdown. Smith, however, missed his opportunity.
Sail has become a very popular concept to run in the NFL given the spread of cover-three schemes in the league. Like we saw in that play against the Falcons if the flat defender stays with the flat route underneath, the corner route is left wide open behind him. So most teams teach their flat defenders to sink back to try to match any potential Sail routes and then break down on the ball thrown in the flat in front of them.
That’s precisely what happens on this play against the Saints. The Redskins run the Sail concept to their right, with the Saints using a Tampa-two coverage against it. The safety had the post route over the top while the outside cornerback sunk deep to match the corner route. That leaves the flat route wide open with 15 yards between the flat defender and the receiver in the flat. Instead of taking the flat, Smith works to the back side and checks it down over there, but he could have had a potentially bigger gain had he thrown to the flat on the Sail side.
Advertisement
Another way the Redskins run the Sail concept is with a crossing route from the back side. This allows the Redskins formation fluidity as they only need two receivers on the same side of the field instead of three. It also means the running back can afford to stay in protection without having to worry about getting out to occupy the flat.
In this play, we see the Redskins run what they might call “X Drive Y Sail”. To their left, they have receiver Mo Harris and tight end Jordan Reed run the Sail with Harris running the deep post and Reed on the corner route. To the right, the Redskins run their basic Drive concept, which asks one receiver to run a shallow cross and the other to run a basic cross behind it. That shallow cross is instructed to keep running and replace the flat route of the running back in the Sail concept. It works perfectly for the Redskins on this occasion as the Texans have their deep defenders occupied by the post route from Harris while the shallow cross from the back side takes the attention of the underneath defenders. That leaves Reed wide open on his corner route for a 24 yard gain.
One of the concepts that the Redskins like to combine with the Sail concept is the Race concept we looked at previously. They will run Sail to one side with the Race concept on the other. The Redskins call this combination of concepts “America’s Cup”, which is a set of sailing races.
This is a great concept to use against teams that play heavy zone coverages, particularly cover-two and cover-three. The quarterback will be tasked with diagnosing the defense and then picking a side to work to based on the coverage. Typically the quarterback will work to the Sail concept unless he gets cover-two, in which case he should work to the Race concept. On this occasion, the Texans’ pass rush gets the better of the Redskins’ offensive line and the quarterback is sacked before he has the chance to hit either the corner route of the Sail concept or the crossing route from the Race concept.
Sail is a good concept for the Redskins to install early on, especially for a rookie quarterback. It overloads one side of the field, giving the quarterback a half-field read while forcing the defense to defend on all three levels, something that many zone coverages fail to do. It’s a staple of the west coast offense, and indeed just about every other type of offense in the NFL given its effectiveness against zone coverages.
(Top photo of Vernon Davis: Geoff Burke/USA TODAY)
ncG1vNJzZmismJqutbTLnquim16YvK57kGlpcm1pbXxzfJByZmluX2aFcL7EnaqkoZ6oeqe1y6Zkq6efonqjvsSaoqKml2KxsMPNZquhnV2orqq4jJymp5uVpcFw